Race and the Gospel

One Subject, Two Kinds of Weariness

Some readers come to this page carrying wounds. A grandfather was turned away at a church door. A child was called a name on the playground. A man was followed through a store. Other readers come tired, because they have been told that the color of their skin makes them guilty of something they never did. Many have felt both. This study is written for all of you.

Scripture speaks to this subject clearly, and it speaks first about God. He made one human race. He loves its many nations. He sent His Son to die for every one of them. And He tells His people what to do when sin divides them.

So we will say three things plainly. There is one race, the human race: God hath made of one blood all nations of men (Acts 17:26), so no people stands above another. Racism is sin, and professing Christians, Baptists among them, have committed it and defended it with an open Bible. And the answer is not a program. It is the Gospel. Christ has made believers one: For he is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).

A Ditch on Each Side

The road through this subject has a ditch on each side. One ditch says that some peoples are better than others. The other says that your people are the most important thing about you, so that guilt and innocence, friend and enemy, are settled by your group. Both make a man's color the first fact about him. The Gospel will not stand in either ditch.