Race Has Divided Us

The words found in I Corinthians 1.10-18 record an account of division among the Christians at Corinth. Much like the quarrels among them where each of them says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ,” today many Christians say or their lives speak to the belief, “I belong to Black,” or “I belong to White,” or “I belong to Brown,” or “I belong to Yellow.” Or, though arguably for the purposes of cultural consistency and religious tradition, “I belong to the Black Church” or “I belong to the White Church.” But, has Christ’s Body been divided? No, race has divided us.

We cannot dismember His body neither should we attempt to color- code it. We know that Christ will not come back for a Black Church or a White Church, a Southern Baptist Church or an American Baptist Church, a conservative or a liberal church? No, Christ will return for a church “without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5.27). Unlike American social categories, right-standing with Jesus Christ is not a matter of position but condition. Which begs the question, “How have we cared for His Body?”

Still, we cling to our colors; oftentimes our racial convictions appearing stronger, more relevant, and purposeful than that of Christ’s challenges to us as His disciples. But, race was not crucified for me neither would a baptism by race provide regeneration. And it has been argued that God created the races, that God has set up this system of social powerlessness and privilege. But, to assert such a position would suggest that God shows favoritism, that He too ascribes to Herbert Spencer’s philosophy of “survival of the fittest” made popular by Charles Darwin, who used it as a synonym for “natural selection” despite the overwhelming scriptural proof to the contrary that easily invalidates such erroneous characteristics. There are no divinely sanctioned racial divisions for we all belong to Christ. Amen.

Rev. Starlette McNeill