Ephesians 2: 13-22
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 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 vnew 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. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit
Therefore there is no privileging of one race over another in the church, as we stand all equally fellow citizens in the body of Christ, all inhabited by the Holy Spirit, and all reconciled to God through the cross before which we all stand accused of breaking God's commandments, but adopted into God's kingdom. Being white or black, Gentile or Jew, is then not a racial battleground upon which Christians should fight. Scripture does not treat any specific racial or ethnic identity as being more superior or inferior than any other, but rather treats them as irrelevant in the face of humanity's rebellion against God, in which all ethnic groups have participated:
Romans 3: 9-12
For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Under the levelling eye of God's law, all are under sin. And God shows no partiality to any nation, race, or ethnic group, but judges all as worthless. Even in the Old Testament, God's unique relationship with the nation of Israel was tested by their spiritual idolatry and falls into unrighteousness, and they too fell under judgment. By comparison, God showed mercy to Gentiles when they repented, as Jonah describes the response of Nineveh to the preaching of God's law, and how God rebukes Jonah's response as He extends grace to a foreign nation.
Jonah 3:6 - 4:11
The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from uthe violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent wand turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did,xhow they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort.So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching feast wind, gand the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
Therefore race does not define a person's position before God, grace extended through the cross of Christ does, under which all peoples stand justified, not by racial superiority, white privilege, or black victimhood, but by the blood of Christ which covers all in his righteousness.
In the name of Christ. Amen.
