Bible and racism
A sign of the end of the age
The problem of racism is very much in the news today. Despite
efforts to eliminate racism and ethnic hatred, the world continues to see race
riots, civil wars that involve fighting between ethnic groups, 'ethnic
cleansing', genocide, anti-Semitism and theories of racial superiority. That
this should be so today comes as no surprise to those who seriously read their
Bibles. Almost two thousand years ago Jesus Christ predicted that one of the
characteristics of the time of the end would be fighting between ethnic
groups:
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for
all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation [Greek
ethnos] shall rise against nation, and kingdom [Greek basileia] against kingdom:
and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places"
(Mat 24:6,7).
In the above passage, the original Greek word rendered nation
is "ethnos", from which we get our word ethnic. This word refers to an ethnic
class of people. The Greek word for kingdom, "basileia", refers to a political
institution. Thus the word ethnos, used separately from "basileia", shows that
there would be clashes between ethnic and racial groups, as well as between
nations, in the last days.
Were the black races cursed by God?
It is a common myth that the Bible, specifically in Genesis 9,
condones the enslavement of the African races, and implies that the black races
are inferior. Genesis 9 was used in the days of the black slave trade by
supposed Christians who wished to justify their horrible treatment of African
peoples. However, their interpretation of this passage was a flagrant misuse of
Scripture, a misuse of Scripture that unfortunately continues to this day in
some quarters. This incorrect interpretation has caused much tragedy and
suffering among the African races, and we need to put it to rest immediately.
Following an immoral incident involving Ham and perhaps his son Canaan, Genesis
9 describes how Canaan is cursed by Noah:
"And he [Noah] said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto
his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be
his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;
and Canaan shall be his servant" (Gen
9:25-27).
Those who try to maintain that the Bible teaches the
enslavement of African peoples, argue that since Ham is the father of the
African races, this curse amounts to a legitimization of racism against blacks.
However, while it is true that Ham is the forefather of the races that became
established in Africa, Ham was also the father of other peoples, such as the
people who lived in the Promised Land prior to its being conquered by the
Israelites. The main group of people living in the Promised Land at this time
were the descendants of Canaan, the Canaanites. For this reason the land was
also called the Land of Canaan. One group of Canaanites, the Gibeonites, tried
to trick Joshua into a peace treaty:
"And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye
beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us? Now
therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being
bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God" (Jos
9:22,23).
It was as a direct result of their trickery that the Canaanite
Gibeonites were cursed into servitude for the Israelites. This is the Biblical
fulfillment of the Genesis 9 curse. Even in the days of Solomon, several hundred
years later, this curse was still being fulfilled:
"And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel, their children
that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not
able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice
unto this day" (1Ki 9:20,21).
Of the above listed groups, the Amorites, Hivites, Jebusites,
and perhaps the Perizzites were Canaanite groups. Thus the curse (which actually
became a blessing!) was extended to other Canaanite groups as well. The
Gibeonites, according to Joshua 9:22,23 quoted above, were to be employed in the
temple service. This association with the worship of Yahweh, the true God,
opened up the possibility of salvation to these non-Israelites. This is a
foretaste of the grace God would later extend to all Gentiles
(non-Israelites).
"Christian" racism
While the Bible itself in no way encourages or tolerates
racism, it is unfortunately true that some Christians have been and are racist,
just as some non-Christians are racists. However, this is not a reflection on
the true nature of Christianity. One of the perpetrators of the myth of the
inferiority of the African races was the Catholic Archbishop of the Americas,
Bartolome de las Casas (1474-1566). Las Casas was a champion of the rights of
North and South American Indians, since he believed the Indians had souls and
thus needed to be saved. Thus he fought to end the enslavement of the natives of
the New World. However, he also recommended that African slaves be imported to
America, since they did not have souls and were thus inferior! As we have
already stressed, this view is definitely not Biblical.
Unfortunately, there has arisen in the minds of some
Christians the illusion that Christ was racially white. But ethnology, history
and the Bible converge to show just how much of an illusion this idea really it.
It is common for people to portray the 'greats' in history in ways that are more
agreeable to their own sensibilities. Thus many whites have simply assumed that
Christ had fair skin, and some even assume that he had blond hair and blue eyes!
Of course, the simple rebuttal to this notion is that nobody knows what Christ
looked like. However, ethnologists affirm that Palestinian Jews living in the
first century were quite dark-skinned, with dark hair and eyes. The Anglo-Saxon,
Nordic and Slavic white races lived over a thousand miles to the north and
northwest of the Palestinian Jews. Thus the racist portrayal of Christ as a
'Great White God', presented by such groups as the Mormons, is to be
rejected.
We must distinguish between true Christianity as revealed in
God's Word, and the corrupt manifestations of Christianity that owe their
origins more to human reasoning. In other words, Christianity is not racist by
nature, although some individual Christians are (as are some Hindus, atheists
and other non-Christians).
Is Christianity a white man's religion?
It is sad, but true, that some white Christians assume
arrogantly that Christianity is a 'white man's religion'. Partly because of
these attitudes, many people misrepresent the Christian faith as the religion of
the white races, in much the same way that native North American religions are
the indigenous religions of native Americans.
However, historically speaking, the white races are relative
late-comers to the Christian religion. For example, the ancestors of the
northern European Anglo-Saxons continued to be full-blown pagans for centuries
after the Gospel message first went out on the Day of Pentecost (c. 30 AD).
Christ himself was a Jew, and hardly the Nordic 'god' of some
people's imaginations. Christ's immediate disciples were also Jewish, and it was
to the Jewish peoples that the Gospel was first preached. Before Christ ascended
into heaven, he told his disciples how the Gospel would first spread among the
Jews in Jerusalem, and then to the Samaritans (who were part Jewish) and only
then to the other parts of the earth:
"But ye [Christ's disciples] shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts
1:8).
Thus while it may be fair to say that some institutions that
call themselves Christian are manifestations of the modern 'white man's
religion', it is clearly untrue to say this of the Christian faith as
represented in the New Testament.
Evolution and racism
While the Bible teaches that God created all human beings
equal, the atheistic ideas of evolution have led many to adopt racist views.
Hitler, for example, was influenced by evolutionary Darwinism when he espoused
the racist view that the 'Aryan' race was superior to all others. One
manifestation of evolutionary thinking, known as social Darwinism, led to racist
and class policies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:
"The theory [of social Darwinism] was used to support political conservatism.
Class stratification was justified on the basis on 'natural' inequalities among
individuals, for the control of property was said to be a correlate of superior
and inherent moral attributes such as industriousness, temperance, and
frugality. Attempts to reform society would, therefore, interfere with natural
processes; unrestricted competition and defense of the status quo were in accord
with biological selection. The poor were the 'unfit' and should not be aided; in
the struggle for existence, wealth was a sign of success. At the societal level,
social Darwinism was used as a philosophical rationalization for imperialist and
racist policies, sustaining belief in Anglo-Saxon or Aryan cultural and
biological superiority." [Encyclopedia Britannica, 1986,
10:920]
More recently, Philippe Rushton, a Western University (London,
Ontario) psychology professor, created a stir when he published a race theory
based on the evolutionary development of humans. Rushton claimed that the black
races finished evolving first, followed by the white races, with the Asian races
last. His theory proposes that Asians are the most highly evolved humans,
followed by whites, with the blacks being the least highly evolved. Moreover,
Professor Rushton claimed that this made Asians the most intelligent, the blacks
the least, with the whites falling somewhere in between.
Rushton was roundly condemned in most quarters, and he lost
some of his academic privileges. However, according to the principles of
evolution, which openly teach that some species are more highly evolved than
others, there is no reason why a theory such as this should be automatically
condemned without serious investigation (which it was). Such a theory is quite
compatible with the tenets of the amoral discipline of evolution. Most people
seemed to reject Rushton's ideas for moral, ethical and religious
reasons.
Those who believe the Bible to be authoritative in such
matters do have reason to automatically reject all racist theories, as we will
see. It should be pointed out, however, that it would be unfair and simplistic
to portray all evolutionists as racist, just as it would be to call all
Christians racist. Still, there is one major difference. Some Christians have
read racist ideas into the non-racist Bible, while evolutionary principles
inherently support the idea of one race or species rising above
another.
Nevertheless, a chosen people
While the Bible does not teach that any one race or nation has
guaranteed access to salvation based on their race alone, the Bible does affirm
that God chose the nation of Israel as a special people to manifest His Name
throughout the world. Early in the first book of the Bible, God made a special
promise or covenant with Abraham, the father of the Israelites:
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed" (Gen 12:1-3).
Later, when the people of Israel had become a nation, God made
a further covenant with the Israelites:
"Now therefore, IF ye will obey my voice in- deed, and keep my covenant, THEN ye
shall be a peculiar [or, special] treasure unto me above all people: for all the
earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation"
(Exo 19:5,6).
For about two thousand years, God manifested His truth through
the Israelites and their religion. The special status of Israel did not mean
that no other people had access to the true God and salvation. Many Gentiles
(non-Jews) associated themselves with the religion of Israel and became
proselytes (converts) to the Jewish faith, a faith that taught that God created
all the world and all the people in it.
The wall of partition, and its removal
Unfortunately, many Jews became arrogant about their special
status and treated the Gentiles as inferior in God's plan of salvation. This
problem was epitomized in the following inscription in the Jewish temple court
at the time of Christ:
"NO FOREIGNER MAY ENTER WITHIN THE BARRICADE WHICH SURROUNDS THE TEMPLE AND
ENCLOSURE. ANYONE WHO IS CAUGHT DOING SO WILL HAVE HIMSELF TO THANK FOR HIS
ENSUING DEATH." [FF Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?
(revised, fifth edition). (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1985), p
93]
However, one of the most important aspects of the work of
Christ is that his sacrifice symbolically broke down this restrictive partition
between Jew and Gentile. The apostle Paul, who was the Apostle to the Gentiles,
wrote the following to Gentile Christians:
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made
by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain [two] one new man, so making
peace..." (Eph 2:11-15).
Christ made peace between the races, and thus Christianity is
a truly universal faith open to all races without restrictions of any
kind.
The equality of all races
Along with the teaching that the Gospel is open to all races,
the Bible clearly emphasizes that God created all humans equal, and all people
who respond to the Gospel will be accepted by him. Now that's good
news!
"... God shows no partiality. But in every nation [Greek ethnos] whoever fears
Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him" (Acts. 10:34,35).
"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of
heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life,
and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" (Acts
17:24-26).
Racism, and beliefs of racial superiority were quite common in
the ancient world. In addition to the Jewish feelings of racial superiority, the
Greeks commonly called all non-Greeks Barbarians. In light of the above quoted
passages that show the Bible teaching on the equality of all races, it is not
surprising that we find the most liberating statement in the ancient world in
the Bible:
"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye
are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed,
and heirs according to the promise" (Gal
3:26-29).
It must be stressed that the secular world can never offer the
freedom from racism that Christ offers. It is only 'in Christ' through faith and
baptism that this freedom exists.
The Kingdom of God: All nations living in
peace!
The Kingdom of God is a hope that all people can share in
through the Gospel, regardless of race. The Bible tells us that the Kingdom will
be established when Christ returns to the earth, and it will be a Kingdom of
righteousness and peace in which all races and peoples will live together in
harmony with a common religion.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S
house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isa
2:2).
God's ultimate purpose is that the knowledge of His glory will
eventually fill the entire earth, and thus all fighting and hatred between races
will be eliminated. The Kingdom will be a beautiful contrast to what we see in
the world today!
(SS)
