It is true there is only one race, the human race. This, however, we ought not to proclaim with pride. The point isn’t to affirm that the marginalized are just as valuable as the privileged. The point is to affirm that the privileged and the marginalized are all sinners. The one race isn’t such a good one. All of its members, apart from God’s grace, think themselves superior to all others. All of its members, apart from God’s grace, think themselves superior even to God Himself. The very core of our mess is our conviction that we are not a mess.
That we are all one race of sinners, and all given to thinking ourselves and our kind are better than others doesn’t mean that racism isn’t real or isn’t reprehensible. The solution isn’t denial but repenting and believing the gospel. How bizarre it has been over the past several months to see an ancient battle being replayed before our eyes, a battle between the redeeming of souls and the remaking of culture. To borrow from Spurgeon, there is no need to “reconcile” these friends. Not only is it both/and, but it is necessarily both/and, from beginning to end.
The first gospel, the one John and Jesus preached, was this- “The kingdom of God is at hand.” Such doesn’t make of either a social justice warrior. Neither, however, can it mean merely dragging souls onto the lifeboat. The truth is that the gospel is the glorious truth that Jesus is bringing all things under subjection. He has defeated our guilt on the cross. He is defeating our ongoing sin through washing us with the water of the Word. He is bringing enemies in through the proclamation of the gospel. He changes everything.
Which gospel most assuredly includes the good news that Jesus came to save sinners. The only way to solve the problem of some people thinking they are superior to others is for all of us to recognize our own sins. That is, the elimination of racism doesn’t come through government programs. It doesn’t come through wokeness education. It doesn’t come through cramming our history into the memory hole. It comes from recognizing our sin, crying out for God’s mercy in Christ, and being remade by the Spirit.
Hiding under the cover of racism is the sin of pride. Seeking to remove the former while leaving the latter is like trying to rid your lawn of dandelions by lopping off their tops. We don’t solve the problem by building our self-esteem, by beating our chests in pride. We do so by confessing our sin and beating our breast in shame.
The Christian faith has no new insight into the problem of racism because there is no new insight into the problem of racism. What the Christian faith has is old insight into the problem of sin, an old message that brings with it not just peace with God, but with each other, that brings with it the current glory that we all come before Him, every tongue and tribe, all the people of God, united by one faith, redeemed by one Lord.