George W. Gradleck, a German psychiatrist, said that it is truer that our lives live us than that we
live our lives. What he meant was that repression, early loyalties and prejudices can get such a grip
on one’s life that they compel one to be what he is. Once the attitude of racism, for example, gets
into a person’s mind it takes an act of God to cleanse a person and set them free from its clutches.
Benjamin E. Mays in his book Seeking To Be Christian In Race Relations wrote, “It is probably
easier to be Christian in any other area of life than it is in the area of race. Here the practice of the
Christian religion seems to break down most completely.”
Since the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have witnessed the power of prejudice in the
Christian life. I have seen Christian people openly acknowledge that hate rather than love is the
strongest factor in determining their racial attitudes. If I was a black Christian listening to some of
the conversations of white Christians within the church, I would conclude that these people fail to
bear witness to the power of Christ to change human hearts. This judgment would be true in part,
but on the other hand the Bible makes it clear that even born again people are far from the ideal of
all things becoming new. The old clings to us and will not dissolve apart from the direct action of
the Holy Spirit. This is what we see in our text.
Peter had a wall of prejudice built up in him over the years of his training in Judaism. The
Gentiles were unclean, and to associate with them intimately was to defile yourself. Peter was a
leader of the church. He had spent 3 years with Jesus, and yet he still had a narrow racist attitude. It
took a direct revelation from God to get Peter to change the pattern of racism in his life. This is
recorded for the benefit of all ages to deal with believers who have a problem with prejudice. God
made it clear to Peter that he was not to call any man common or unclean. The Gospel was a
universal Gospel. It was to go to all people, which means that all people are equal before God.
They are all equally sinners, and they are all equally free to become saints by faith in Christ, whose
blood atoned for all people equally.
Peter said it was unlawful and against his conscience to enter into fellowship with Gentiles, but
God broke through the barriers of both law and conscience to show him that all men were to be
accepted as equals in the church. Revelation is superior to tradition, law or conscience. The
Christian is to obey God’s Word even if it means to break with all that you have been taught by your
parents, church or society. This is what Peter did when he entered the home of Cornelius. God not
only approved, but He demanded that Peter break with the traditions of Judaism. Christianity was to
be inclusive of all peoples. In Christ there was to be no segregation, discrimination or class. Paul
says that the citizens of the kingdom were to be treated as equals without distinction between Greek
of Jew, circumcision or un-circumcision, barbarian , Sythian, bond or free, but all were to be one in
equality.
This was the ideal within the kingdom that was to determine the attitude of Christians toward all
lost peoples. The Gospel was to go to all people regardless of race or color. Fhillip was led of the
Holy Spirit to reach the Ethiopian Eunuch of the Negroid race as one of the first fruits of missions.
Apparently the Holy Spirit considered them to be worthy of the Gospel just as he did the Jews.
Unfortunately, not all Christians have agreed with the Holy Spirit. This was not the case in the early
church or through the Middle Ages. Economic factors in the modern world have also led to
problems of racism. By racism I mean what Webster’s Dictionary defines as, “Assumption of
inerrant racial superiority or the purity and superiority of certain races, and consequent
discrimination against other races...”
The Christian cannot be a racist, for God’s Word is clear that all men are sinners that fall short
of the glory of God. One can be proud of one’s race and its achievements, which may be superior to
those of other races without being a racist. A racist is one who assumes that his superiority gives
him the right to oppress or discriminate against another. This is where the evil comes in. This
attitude developed in the white race toward the black race out of economic exploitation. Whenever
men choose mammon rather than God, great evil arises. Sugar planting in the West Indies required
many slaves, and Europe exploited Africa to get them. Some of the leaders in Africa were glad to
sell their own people into slavery for personal advantage. Every race has its Judases. On the other
hand, there were others who wanted to stop the slave trading. When Manni ruled the Congo in 1526
he appealed to the West to send missionaries, but instead they sent slave traders. It has happened
time and time again that when the door is open for evangelism the church holds back and exploiters
move in.
There is no telling what Africa might be today if Christianity would have been prepared to
fulfill the Great Commission. This happened during the time of the Reformation when the Catholic
church was corrupt and the Protestants were too busy to get involved in missions. While the church
did nothing the secular world busied itself in cashing in on the black gold of Africa. Slavery became
big business, and out of it grew racism. Racism is a form of rationalization. Men had to promote
race prejudice, and make the black out to be inferior in order to justify the cruelty of slavery.
Racism became essential for good business.
In the 1660's the planter class in America drafted and passed laws that made blacks servants
for life, and intermarriage was outlawed. Racism developed with the decision to ground the
economic system on slavery. This was the beginning of one of the longest wars in history, which
was the war between the blacks and the whites in America. It has been going on for over 400 years,
and there has been great violence involved. Every period of peace was only a time for the volcano of
hate to build up pressure for the next eruption. The blacks would put on their mask and pretend to
accept the system, but only until another leader would come along fight for their freedom. Paul
Dunbar has expressed how they felt in his poetry. He wrote,
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To Thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask.
The very first response of the Negro to white power was black power. The direct violent
resistance is not a technique that needs to be developed, for it is the natural response. The Negro
began with sit-downs and hunger strikes on the slaves ships. They were shackled together and
guards walked the decks with cutlasses. The blacks didn’t stand a chance, but there were repeated
uprisings. There are 55 documented mutinies between 1699 and 1845, and there are fragmentary
references to 200 more. Many of revolts took place on land, and in some places the blacks
encouraged Indians to rebel. The black man was always the loser, however, and it is estimated that
in this 400 year battle 100 million blacks have perished, and 20 million have been scattered over the
Western Hemisphere.
The Negro battle for freedom has been extremely frustrating up until modern times. When Dr.
King had the inscription put on his grave: “Thank God I’m free at last,” he was following a
tradition. An old Negro spiritual goes,
Oh freedom; oh, freedom
Oh, Lord, freedom over me,
And before I’d be a slave
I’d be buried in my grave
An’ go home to my Lord and be free.
Death was the only escape from bondage for centuries. The American slave was the absolute
possession of his master, and he had no rights that white men were bound to respect. The old South
was a totalitarian system dominated by the planter party. Human slavery was the party line and no
deviation was permitted in the church, school or legislature. Everything bad you can say about the
persecution of Christians you say about how the white Americans treated blacks. Freedom was
against the law. It was un-American to even hint that all men were equal, or that they had rights.
You can easily understand then why the majority of blacks were anti-Christian. Even those who
were Christians were very negative toward the whites.
One of the ironies of the whole thing is that the Negro was made a slave because of his
superiority. The planters tried to enslave the American Indians, but they tended to sicken and die
laboring in the fields. The poor white slaves were more durable, but it was too easy for them to flee
and get lost in the general population. It was the Negro alone that could hold up under the burden of
enforced labor, and his color made it impossible for him to hide. Once it was determined that they
were the best for slaves the rationalization for racism developed rapidly. Their fitness for slavery
was considered to be providential to the slave holder. They considered it the law of God that the
blacks be slaves to the whites. Theology and science were both used to support racism. The
Christian church was in bondage to the economic system, and it ignored the revelation of God to
Peter about calling no man common. They went right back to pre-New Testament days where Jews
and Gentiles had a wall between them. Now it was white and black but the wall was there. With
this background we can better understand why racism is still a problem in our day.
