A
Statement From
The Office of the President
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
1333 South Kirkwood Road
St. Louis, MO 63122
The
Christian response to racism is centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ and is
shaped by clear Biblical principles. Among these are the following:
1.
GOD IS THE CREATOR OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS.
The
apostle Paul spoke of "the God who made the world and everything in it,
being Lord of heaven and earth," declaring that this God is the One who
"made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth..." (Acts 17:24,26).
He proclaims that God created out of one man all
members of the human family, established their place in human history, and
desires that they all seek him (Acts 17:27). All of humanity owes its origin to
God's creative act.
Any
and all attempts to identify certain people or groups as some how lesser members
of humankind are therefore a blasphemous affront to our Creator. Likewise, any
affirmations of superiority or comparative worth that are based on differences
in the nature of persons as human beings are to be regarded as an indictment of
God's work as Creator.
2. THE
DIGNITY OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS IS GIVEN BY GOD, NOT ACHIEVED OR EARNED.
Not
even the fall of humankind into sin has erased the central Biblical affirmation,
so eloquently summarized by Luther, that "God has made me and all
creatures." No human being, however distinguishable from a human
standpoint, is any less fully God's creature -- created in His image (Genesis 1:26-27;
9:6; cf. Acts 17:25,26).
In
racist ideology, the worth or value of an individual or group is determined
principally, if not solely, by genetic origin and/or biological characteristics.
Race, biologically defined, becomes the basis for drawing conclusions concerning
aptitudes, abilities and personality characteristics of individuals, for the
purpose, in turn, of making a statement about the comparative worth of a person
as a human being.
Scripture
teaches, however, that the value of all human beings is grounded ultimately in
the value God places upon them. The value of a person is not determined by
observable degrees of relative worth.
3.
GOD CREATED ALL HUMAN BEINGS TO HONOR AND SERVE HIM ALONE.
When
Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden, they succumbed to the temptation to be
"like God" (Genesis 3:5), God's rival. All who are born into the human
family joined in Adam's sin (Romans 5:12). The grave consequence of humankind's
rebellion against God is that Adam's descendants worship and serve "the
creature rather than the Creator..." (Romans 1:25).
Racism
grounds the identity and security of human life in self rather than God, in
creature rather than the Creator, apart from whom a human being has no identity
or security. Self-indulgent pride in "race," therefore, must be
regarded as idolatry in one of its crassest forms. It is an attempt to be
"like God."
4.
IN JESUS CHRIST, GOD BECAME A MAN AND SO IDENTIFIED HIMSELF FULLY WITH EVERY
MEMBER OF THE HUMAN FAMILY.
Of
Jesus Christ, the apostle John wrote, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the
only Son from the Father" (John 1:14). He was "made like his brethren
in every respect" except for sin (Hebrews 2:17; cf. 4:15; 5:2). The
genealogies of Jesus reveal that He is bound by ties of kinship not only to
Israel, but to all of humanity and that His mission embraces all of humankind
(Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-28).
Any
claim that there is something about the nature of another human being as such
that renders that person to be of inferior value not only denies the Biblical
doctrine of creation, but also calls into question what the Scriptures teach
about the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
5. GOD SENT HIS SON JESUS CHRIST TO BE THE SAVIOR OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS, IN WHATEVER NATION OF CULTURE THEY MAY BE FOUND.
God
"desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For
there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all..." (1 Timothy 2:3-6). Again
and again in Revelation, we read that God in Jesus Christ has completed His work
of salvation for and in all kindreds, peoples, languages and nations (Revelation
5:8-9; 7:9,10; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:15). Racism stands in opposition to the
gospel revealed in Scripture, according to which God has acquired the
forgiveness of sins for all people by declaring that the world for Christ's sake
has been forgiven. God's love for the world is indiscriminate and embraces
people of all cultures.
6. JESUS
CHRIST HAS REMOVED ALL BARRIERS THAT STAND BETWEEN HUMAN BEINGS, MAKING PEACE
THROUGH HIS CROSS.
St.
Paul writes, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been
brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both
one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his
flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself
one new man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God
in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end"
(Ephesians 2:13-16).
Racism
in the church poisons and cripples all sincere efforts "to maintain the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). Physical
characteristics or cultural customs are made to serve as "a dividing wall
of hostility" that separates brothers and sisters in Christ -- to which the
only appropriate response must be, "Is Christ divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:13).
7. LOVE
PRODUCED IN CHRISTIANS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT EMBRACES, WITHOUT DISTINCTION, ALL
PEOPLE IN THEIR NEED.
Foremost
in the list of "the fruit of the Spirit" that is to characterize the
life of those set free from the tyranny of their sinful flesh is love (Galatians
5:22; cf. 5:13-26). The "new commandment" given by Jesus to His
disciples is that they love one another as He has loved them, for "by this
all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another" (John 13:35; cf. 1 John 2:8-11; 4:20-5:3; Philippians 2:4-5).
The
Savior requires His disciples to love all those whom they encounter in life.
A
distinguishing feature of the love that He creates by His Spirit is its
non-discriminatory character. Just as "God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son," so now those who live by faith in God's son are to live in
love for all people -- a love made possible only through the power of God's Spirit
working through Word and sacraments.
8. THROUGH THE MEANS OF GRACE, THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF ALL CULTURES TO BRING PEOPLE TO FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AND TO MOVE THEM TO WORSHIP HIM.
God
is not dependent on one group or the other to make effective the gospel and the
sacraments. Rather, He enters His creation and communicates with human beings in
terms that are comprehensible to them in their differences. The day of Pentecost
demonstrates this dramatically. The apostles proclaimed the word of God to
people "from every nation under heaven." Each person "heard them
speaking in his own language" (Acts 2:5-6).
9. THROUGH
THE MEANS OF GRACE, GOD EMPOWERS CHRISTIANS "TO ABSTAIN FROM THE PASSIONS
OF THE FLESH THAT WAGE WAR AGAINST THE SOUL," INCLUDING THE SIN OF RACISM.
The
gospel makes us new creatures through the Holy Spirit, enabling us to discard
the sins of the unregenerate life (1 Peter 1:12, 22-23; 2:1-3). Just as speaking
evil of others, quarreling, malice and hatred toward others was far from the
mind of Christ, so, too, the minds of those regenerated in Baptism are to be
free from such evils. Likewise, the Lord's Supper unites us to the full and
complete humanity of Him who is the Creator of all and the Savior of all.
We Christians must not underestimate the evil of racism in the human heart, but we are to return daily in repentance to the Christ who loves us, so that also in this matter the victory of Christ's own grace and love may be manifested in our personal lives.
NOTE: In 1994, the LCMS Commission on Worship prepared a report entitled Racism in the Church: Overcoming the Idolatry that was distributed throughout the synod. Click on the link for a PDF version of this report. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view or print it.