Racism is a very topical issue at this time: in society, churches, and even homes. In this month’s blog, I examine not only whether racism is sin but the unpardonable sin – sin against the Holy Spirit – matter of great import to Christians preparing for Christ’s second coming.

Although I grew up in racially fractured country, as a young Christian girl, I didn’t believe that God was interested in stuff like racism, and that I could speak up against it in my church, school, and society as a whole. Attending churches with large portraits of a ‘white’ Jesus on prominent display, preachers rarely addressed racial issues in general nor racialized violence in particular, although we had our fair share of it. Topics like racism, social injustice and anything viewed as being outside of the salvation story was labelled “politics”, and therefore, a ‘no-no’ for the pulpit.

As I continue my Christian journey, I’ve realized over time that my childhood view that God maybe was indifferent to racism and racial violence was far from the truth revealed in His word. We are told that in Christ’s body, there are no national or ethnic boundaries. The church, the body of Christ, is a place where “there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male or female, and where “all are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). I believe this ‘oneness’ refers to the unity Christ prayed for in John 17: 20-23, a unity that can only come about through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

What is racism?

Racism is a complicated and misunderstood societal problem that we can’t ignore or run away from. It can be defined as the marginalization or oppression of an inferior and subordinate people group by a superior and dominant people group based on a socially constructed hierarchical system that views the visual racial and ethnic characteristics of the dominant and superior people group as better than that of the inferior or subordinate people group, and allows for partiality or bias by the superior group toward the inferior group on these bases.

The ideology of racism has worldwide reach: prejudice by whites on non -whites (black, coloured, and native peoples); and yellow peoples (Indians) on blacks and indigenous peoples, and even higher caste Indians over lower caste Indians.

Racism in the Bible

The Bible clearly condemns all forms of racism and views every person as equally valuable in God’s eyes based on the following scriptural principles:

One: All humans were created by God. God “created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (v. 27). Every person is created intentionally by God in his own divine image, making us equally valuable in God’s sight. Racism denies the very source of humanity, the image of God in man; destroying God’s likeness in every person and separating us from God and other human beings.

Two: Every person is equally valuable to God. At a time when many Jews considered Greeks to be unclean and inferior, and Christian Jews were trying to force Gentile believers to also perform Jewish rituals, the Apostle Paul addressed racism head on. He stated that “There is no difference between Jew and Gentile …” We are all one in God’s sight. In other words, other people don’t determine our value as humans; God does. Racism assumes that human beings are not equal before God and therefore not all a part of God’s family. As such, there is no place for racism among believers.

Three Salvation is available to all through Christ: God loves all sinners and wants all to come to faith in His Son. He “shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). We are also told to  go and “make disciples of all nations” (Mathew 28:19) – “nations” translated ethnos (meaning people groups) from which we get the word “ethnicity”. Racism is contrary to biblical teaching, especially the teaching about salvation., and the role of humans in this plan of God. God’s plan

Four: We must love everyone. God’s word is clear: You are to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Further, “If you show partiality [favouritism], you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:9). Peter testified to the Gentiles who sought to hear the gospel that God “… has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). Racism is a blatant denial of Christian faith, and the opposite of love – which is hatred.

Is racism sin?

 To answer this question, we need to first define sin.

Situational Evil: The classic definition of sin is that “it is the transgression of the law.” Adam and Eve purposely disobeyed God’s command and their sin plunged the human race into a fallen, sinful state. Their sin resulted in situational evil – the suffering, death, and hardship that are a result of living in a sinful world.

Lawlessness: Sin is also defined as lawlessness. 1 John 3: 4 says: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” The list of sins in Revelation 21:8, lumps together all those who engage in lawlessness (murderers and liars) as unfit for the kingdom of heaven.

Moral evil: The Apostle James says we sin when we don’t do the right thing. James 4:7 says ^“Therefore, to him who knows to do good [right] and does not do it, to him it is sin.” This could be called moral evil, the evil that people believe and do.

If we use these Biblical definitions, we sin when we engage in racist behaviours or actions because we know or should know that such behaviours are not right in the sight of God, our Heavenly Father. Racism or hatred for someone is sin because it separates us from God. Jesus reinforces this idea in Mathew 5: 22 when He said this: ”But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

But there is another side to sin. While it is true that any sin is an abomination to a perfect God, meriting eternal death and requiring the blood of Christ for repentance and restoration, all sins are not equal on earth. This may be because each sin carries different consequences for the perpetrator from those affected by the sin. Murder, for example, causes more immediate physical pain than lying.  I would also argue that racism leads to physical pain and death. Just consider the centuries of unjust treatment, (whipping and lynching), enslaved people suffered at the hands of their owners.

Solomon, in the book of Proverbs identifies seven sins that are an abomination to God – deeply hated by our Heavenly Father: “a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren” (Proverbs 6: 16-19). Not only does racism fit into this list but it’s born out of several of these sins, and chief among them is the division that it causes in the body of Christ.

Racism and the Unpardonable Sin

I want to say at the outset that whatever the sin, if a soul repents and believes, their guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ. However, when someone rejects the work of the Holy Spirit, s/he is placing himself/herself where repentance and faith cannot reach them.  This is known as the unpardonable sin, the sin that God cannot forgive.

We are introduced to this concept in Matthew 12. In verses 22-32, we find Jesus casting out a demon by the Spirit of God, and the Pharisees claiming He did it by the power of the devil. He Jesus, then informs them that they can speak against the Son of man and be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. According to this passage, the unpardonable sin and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit did not happen when the Pharisees insulted the Son of Man but when the work of the Holy Spirit by whose power the demon was cast out was attributed to Satan.

What does this have to do with racism?

It is by the Holy Spirt that God works upon the sinner’s heart; when men wilfully reject the Spirit, and declare His power to be from Satan, they cut off the channel by which God can communicate with them. Unless we become vitally connected with God, through the Holy Spirit, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin.

We may leave off many bad habits, and for a time we may part company with Satan. But without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end.

It is clear that Jesus regards blasphemy against the Holy Spirit – permanently rejecting His identity and power as attested by the Holy Spirit’s transforming works as the worst of sins.  So, if anyone permanently rejects Christ’s identity in his creation, whether black, white, brown, or yellow as confirmed by the Holy Spirit’s power to change their lives and make them worthy in the sight of God, that person is in danger of committing the worst sin.

Ellen White, one of my favourite writers, provides some more food for thought on the unpardonable sin. She writes: “The sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit does not lie in any sudden word or deed; it is the firm, determined resistance of truth and evidence.” — Manuscript 30, March 1890, par. 16.

Also, “The unpardonable sin is never a sin committed out of weakness, by mistake, or out of sheer ignorance” but “is a continued and wilful attitude of hostility against the Holy Spirit; the proud, continued resistance against His guidance, the “persistent refusal to respond to the invitation to repent.” “For if we persist in sin after re­ceiving the knowledge of the truth, no sacri­fice for sins remains (Hebrews 10:26).”

If over time, a person refuses to obey the entreaties of the Holy Spirit to surrender and abandon a racist ideology and to be transformed, the danger persists. The Spirt of God will not always strive with man.  Unless, we are willing to work to love our neighbour as ourselves, to declare that racism, and any kind of hate is evil, we may be at risk. Remember, to deliberately refuse the grace of God, preferring to call good evil and evil good, is a sin that is irredeemable.

The good news—the Gospel—doesn’t just mean that we’re brought near to God. It also means we’re brought near to the people we once considered so different from ourselves. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). It is God who removes prejudice from the heart, and restores our relationships with people and groups we’ve mistreated. That’s called reconciliation.

God is a reconciling God and the Gospel is, at its core, a message of reconciliation.  God brings peace where there was once strife, and kindness where there was once animosity. He’s done it in us and He can do it between us and our neighbours—whether black, white, Latino, native, indigenous, or otherwise.

In addition, if we belong to Jesus, we are part of His movement to bring more reconciliation between people and God. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:18 – 20, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. As His representatives, we have the opportunity to share how the life-changing message of the Gospel creates a healthy relationship with God and healthy relationships between people, no matter who they are. Your job and my job, as we learn to follow Jesus step by step, includes reconciliation because the message of Jesus is that we all belong to God, together—no separation, no difference in status or worth.