Six ways the Bible undermines racism: (#5) God is love

Ephesians, Gospel of Jesus, racism, ,

This is my fifth post in this series. I am addressing how the gospel of Christ offers a cure to the pathologies of racism and tribalism. My first four posts in this series were:

Below are several verses from the New Testament about the love of God. I include verses about the healing compassion of Jesus Christ. These verses do not specifically address racism or tribalism. But these verses in composite remind us that self-sacrificial love is the primary behavior for which followers of Jesus Christ should be known. And this love is profoundly contrary to the sin of racism and its dehumanizing effects.

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. … We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:18–19).

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mat 5:9).

“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. …” (Mat 5:44–45).

“And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Mat 8:2–3).

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mat 9:36).

“When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Mat 14:14).

“Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way’” (Mat 15:32).

“Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And the man stretched it out, and it was restored healthy like the other” (Mat 12:13).

“and Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly” (Mat 17:18).

“The crowd rebuked [the two blind men], telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!’ And stopping, Jesus called them and said, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, let our eyes be opened.’ And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.” (Mat 20:31–34).

“And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him” (Mat 27:28–31).

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13).

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Eph 2:14–16).

“and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19).

The mere mention of Jesus should undermine racism

For those acquainted with the story of Jesus, the mere mention of the life and love of Christ should challenge racist attitudes and behaviors.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus seeks to save, cleanse, and set free those who are considered defiled, oppressed outsiders—those who are “other.” We see this in:

  • Jesus healing the leper (Mat 8:1–4)
  • Jesus setting free the demon-possessed man with an unclean spirit (Mark 5:1–20)
  • Jesus cleansing the woman with the blood disease (Luke 8:40–48)
  • Jesus revealing himself to the Samaritan woman (John 4:1–32).

Rather than dehumanizing them or ignoring them, Jesus saves them, cleanses them, restores their dignity, makes them part of his family.

One lesson to consider: From God’s perspective, we are all outsiders due to our sin. We are all “strangers and aliens” to God (Eph 2:12; 19). We all need the cleansing, restorative ministry of Jesus. Therefore, we dare not demean or dehumanize other persons, groups, peoples, races. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10–11).

A second lesson: In love, Jesus reaches across social boundaries to know others, to serve, to heal, to set free, to save. This kind of love for others can make us feel awkward. It was risky for Jesus. It can be socially risky for us today. But this is the very boundary-crossing-to-know-others kind of love that should mark the Christian community. Because it is often awkward, courage is required. Will we allow God’s love in us to give rise to that courage?

The life of Jesus—including his death and resurrection—comprises the embodiment of the love of God for all persons and peoples. The New Testament magnifies the egalitarian nature of the all-peoples, all-races, all-nations gospel (e.g., Acts 1:8; Rom 1:5; Gal 3:7–8). Racism is dehumanizing and destructive. But the gospel of the loving Christ is an affirming, honoring, elevating gospel for all peoples.

The embodiment of the love of God in Jesus Christ offers followers of Christ a glorious way of life—“the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph 3:19). This is not a personalized, individual experience that Paul is praying for in Ephesians 3. But if it’s not an individual thing, what is it?

Paul is praying for the love of Christ in community, in the church, in human relationships—and yes, across cultures and races (Eph 2:13–16). Observe that Paul prays, “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts [plural] through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints [plural] what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…” (Eph 3:17–19). Do you see the emphasis on the plural experience, the community comprehending and living this together?

Will we allow the “love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” to be the way of our human relations—as a living witness against racism and tribalism in our divided world?

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