Racism isn’t a bad habit; it’s not a mistake; it’s a sin. The answer is not sociology: it’s theology!  – Tony Evans

Racism and racist are words thrown around a lot in today’s culture. Racism can be defined as a hatred toward, devaluing of, and discriminating against certain people because of their ethnicity or the color of their skin. That means racism is not limited to extreme or violent cases. It’s also not a white problem or a black problem. It’s a heart problem, a sin problem. Any individual, any person of any race or ethnic group can be guilty of racism. For us as Christ-followers, we won’t be part of the cure unless as we first humbly admit and confess any racism in our own hearts and institutions. 

During Promise Keepers some years ago, Tony Evans angered many white Christian men attending when he pointed that as fathers they’d be more upset if their daughter married a black man than if she married an unbeliever. Tony was right. The Bible never prohibits marrying someone of another race. It does prohibit a Christ-follower from marrying someone who is not a fellow believer. 

Yet, it has saddened me to hear some black pastors and my brothers in Christ deny that a black person can commit the sin of racism. God’s Word teaches that any of us can commit the sin of racism. I’ve seen racism from black to white and white to black, from Mexican to Caucasian and Caucasian to Mexican. And I was shocked when I was visiting on the other side of the world to see racism between different Asian ethnic groups.  

When it comes to racism, three core biblical doctrines are foundational.

Creation

The Bible teaches that God designed the world as a beautiful unity in diversity. God created each person as unique and in His image, in what’s known as Imago Dei. He endows every person with great dignity and value (Genesis 1:27-28). This truth alone should cause a Christian to work to repent of any personal prejudices and reshape cultural institutions that can put persons of a different ethnic group or color at a disadvantage.

Sin

The Bible makes clear that all sin, including racism, is manifested at the individual and cultural levels and that those roots go much deeper than we usually realize. It’s not enough to encourage individuals to repent of their prejudices; nor can we expect a purely structural solution to eradicate the persistent sin that festers in every one of our hearts. The perversity of sin must make us courageous to call out elements in world history or in nation’s past and in our present society that have been corrupted by racism. Nations, as well as individuals, are bound up in the complicated paradox of both God-given beauty and Satan-influenced sin.

Salvation

The Bible teaches that God sent His brown, Aramaic-speaking, Middle Eastern Son, Jesus, to rescue us from our sin and restore our unity with one another. Galatians 3:28 says: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. King Jesus will put this unity on full display when He returns one day to gather people of all ethnic and cultural heritages together before His throne. This unified worship won’t destroy racial distinctions, but will eradicate racial supremacy and sin once for all. The wonderful and practical takeaway is when Christ-followers display love, grace and racial unity, it serves as a “preview” of Christ’s future kingdom.

One of my favorite songs to sing as a child was, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world. How much love does Jesus have for the diverse people groups in this world? How precious are His people in his sight? So precious that our Savior willingly gave His life on the cross to redeem and restore us. 

The cross of Christ declares that all of us are equally sinful before God and therefore equally in need of a Savior. The only true and lasting solution to the sin of racism is the gospel. Education and other programs may help, but only the gospel can change hearts. The transforming power of the gospel is the clear biblical teaching that must be recovered in our day. 

Where is there any place of feeling superior towards anyone else in the face of the gospel? There isn’t any. The cross of Christ humbles us all. At the same time, the cross of Christ exalts us because it tells us that when we receive what Jesus has done, we’re equally forgiven, equally adopted, and equally saved for all eternity—and none of us did anything to deserve it. 

Some years ago, I had the privilege of watching Christian rapper and recording artist, Lecrae at a conference. Lecrae has shared the story of how he was visiting Beverly Hills one day and needed to buy a simple cotton T-shirt. So, he went into one of the regular department stores and he looked at the price tag on one of these T-shirts and he thought, “Oh, they must have put the wrong tag on this one.” So, he went and grabbed another shirt, same price—$640. For a T-shirt! He went to the owner and asked him, “All right, you’ve got to explain to me why this T-shirt is $640 dollars. I mean is some type of healing going to take place when I put on this shirt? Help me to understand why this shirt is $640.” And the owner replied, “Oh, it’s all about the designer. The designer’s name is there on the shirt. That’s what gives it its value. It’s valuable because of who designed it.” The shirt’s value wasn’t determined by what color it was or what size it was. Its value was determined by who designed it. 

Our value too is determined by our Designer. It’s what Scripture teaches. Our value, worth, and significance isn’t because of what color our skin is or what family we were born into. It’s because of WHO designed us. God has stitched and stamped His label on each of our lives. Every single person is priceless no matter what their religion, gender, skin color, educational background, financial status, job occupation, physical appearance, or physical age. Every person has intrinsic value because each one of us has been personally designed by the Creator of the stars! Not only are we all made in the same image. We all come from the same place, from Adam. And the cure for racism and every other sin is found at the same place – an old rugged cross where Jesus died and paid for our sin! 

The only cure for the cancer of racism is found in the Bible. God’s Word gives us a twofold cure: 1) It’s recovering the truth that every person is created in the image of God and worthy of our deepest respect. 2) It’s receiving the truth that every person is equally broken before God but can be forgiven and transformed through the cross of Christ. 

While we must never stop combatting racism, at the same time we must acknowledge that the only true hope is the gospel. It’s why Christ-followers are commanded to share His salvation and hope with everyone!