A Gospel that is not explicitly anti-racist falls short of the Gospel declared in Scripture.

A Gospel that is not explicitly anti-racist falls short of the Gospel declared in Scripture.

The death of Jesus did not not only atone for individual sins. It had social and racial repurcussions as well. Look at Ephesians 2, where Paul addresses the ethnic hostility between Jews and Gentiles—

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ [blood=atonement language]."

Therefore Paul writes, "Christ made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility."

This atoning work was not automatic though. It required work and effort on the part of believers. And where the hostility remained, it had to be called out. Paul writes of the divisions in the Corinthian church that came out during Communion. Eating of an "unworthy manner" meant allowing some people to go hungry while others were indulging in gluttony (1 Corinthians 11:21). Imagine what Paul would say if he found that white American church had invented and supported a system that made Black bodies into expendible commodities—that many have yet to lament and repent from? I can't imagine he would say it would even be possible for us to take communion in anything but an unworthy manner.

Anti-racist does not mean not acknowledging race (so-called colorblindness). Anti-racist does not mean flattening out all our cultures, languages into some sort of monotone sameness. Look at the beautiful imagery of Revelation 7. John says he saw a great multitude "from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the Lamb." Note that he does not say that there were no more nations, tribes, people groups or languages. They still exist—but they stand together.

I am not talking about anti-racism because I've been taken by "Marxism" or because I've lost the track on my faith. Quite the opposite. Because of my love for Christ, my conviction that his atonement is for the world, and my deep commitment to Scripture, I am convinced and convicted that if I am charged to be a preacher, then I am charged to preach the whole Gospel. Not just the parts that make me comfortable or the people who listen to me comfortable. The whole multi-colored Gospel.