As recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia remind us, there is a segment of the white supremacist movement that insists upon following in Hitler's footsteps by appropriating Christian symbols and claiming to defend Christendom. As it has always been, racism in no way defends Christianity or Christendom, it is an abject mockery of it. There is no common ground between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and any theology/philosophy/political movement that seeks to divide the world into groups of "us" vs. "them" and thus foment bigotry, hatred, and violence.
At its very founding, the Church was given the mission of taking the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Jesus said to his disciples, "
go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19) echoing the promise of God to Abraham, "
all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:3). Paul would later clarify the import of Jesus' words by declaring that, "
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28). This list of Biblical references to equality in Christ could continue, for it is absolutely clear, without a doubt, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is God's message of salvation for ALL people, and that race, nationality, class status, and gender are in no way at all a barrier to God's grace, so much so that the Gospel
destroys all such distinctions within the Church. We, the people redeemed by God's grace, CANNOT allow discrimination and stratification to continue, as it does in society, within the Church.
The racists are not working
for the Church and Christianity, they are working
against it.
Can the Gospel save a racist? Absolutely, by destroying in him/her that same sin nature that all mankind shares, that same sin nature shared by murders, rapists, thieves, liars, adulterers, lovers of money, the prideful, hateful, and narcissistic. Racists are no worse sinners than anybody else when compared to the holiness and perfection of God, "
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." (Romans 3:23-24). The Gospel, that is the power of God, can save anyone, even the must vile among us, but that person won't
remain the hate-filled sinner they were before the grace of God, they cannot. If they remain enthralled to sin, of any kind, racism included, they
cannot be a true child of God, born again in Christ. John makes this point repeatedly in his first letter, "
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (I John 1:6-7) John goes on to speak of the absolute necessity of love among Christian, ALL Christians, "
Dear friends, let us love on another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (I John 4:7-8) If you don't love your fellow sinners saved by grace, if you hate the people who don't look and act like you who are a part of the Church, then you are not a Christian, period.
If you are a racist, right now, it is an ongoing part of who you are, then you cannot be a Christ-follower anymore than a person who right now continues to walk in the darkness of lust, greed, or pride. The people of God are
transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, here and now, they cannot continue to walk in the darkness. The people of God are not perfect, they will fail and need to repent, but they are not, nor can they be, people who walk in darkness, they cannot be racists. The White supremacists are not defending Christendom, they are anti-Christs.
