Our Beliefs Position Statement on
Race Relations Our Beliefs Position Statement on
Race RelationsThe position of Covenant United Reformed Church on race
relations is that taught by Scripture in a variety of passages. Genesis 1:27
says that "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them." Scripture does not say that God
created white men or black men in His image, but that all
were created in His image. We are commanded in the Great Commission to "go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20) God’s people are drawn "from
every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues" and these will stand
"before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes" (Rev.
7:9).
The
practice of racial discrimination is inconsistent with what God has told us
about the nature and purpose of the one humanity that He created (Genesis
1:27-28). It is also inconsistent with Jesus Christ’s command in the Great
Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). The practice of racial discrimination must
therefore be regarded as sinful.
We repudiate and consider as heretical the teachings of all
those that claim the supremacy of one race over another in the eyes of God. God
redeems people from all races and from all nations. No one race or nation is
more precious to God than any other. For that reason, God requires the Christian
church on earth to seek to include people from all nations and races through the
preaching of the gospel. What matters to God is not what nation or race to which
one belongs, but what one does with the claims and demands of Jesus Christ.
Accordingly, we also believe that it is permissible for a
believing member of one race to marry a person of another race, as long as that
other person is also a believer. Moses himself, one of the greatest of all the
biblical prophets, was a partner in an interracial marriage for which God did
not condemn him. (Numbers 12:1-10).
The practice of racial discrimination is sinful. God gave
to His Church and to all individual Christians the task of making His moral law
known to all peoples and to all nations (Deuteronomy 31:11b-12, Psalm 51:13,
Isaiah 24:1-6, Matthew 28:19-20, Romans 13, and 2 Timothy 4:1-5). However, some professing Christians have at times
engaged in unlawful acts against people of other nations or races — or against
interracial married couples — for nationalistic or racial reasons.
We confess that the actions of some professing Christians
and of some groups claiming to be Christian churches that have been made against
people of other races have violated the laws of both God and men. No private
citizen has the right to take the law into his or her own hands. Instead, we are
to submit to the lawful rule of the civil government, which prohibits unlawful
violence against people and property, and which alone has the right to “bear
the sword” (Romans 13:1-7). By
engaging in such sinful and unlawful actions, these professing Christians have
brought dishonor to Jesus Christ and to His church.
The Church's primary response to those who willfully
endorse or practice racial discrimination should be the preaching of the full
extent of God's revelation found in the Bible. That preaching should include
preaching against all forms of sin — including the sin of racial
discrimination — as well as the preaching of the gospel of salvation. And that
same preaching must be directed to all
people – to people of all races and of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20,
Revelation 7:9).
Adopted by Council, November 1, 1999
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, ©
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation.
Used by permission.
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