Sin Problems Need Gospel Solutions, Prejudice Included
While wading through the swell of thoughts and perspectives concerning recent events, I find myself grieved over the senseless death of an image-bearer of God, as we all are, and I am reminded that human depravity continues unabated; that we dwell in a fallen wasteland where violence, injustice, and inequity cannot help but exist. The heart of man is desperately wicked, and we should see in ourselves the same capacity to sin that we see in those who would kneel on the neck of a man pleading for his life. If it grieves you to consider that, as it does me, then that is fitting. Human sinfulness is grievous. And it is appropriate for us to confront our equal share in its existence.
As we periodically remind our own kids that the world is a sad and broken place because of the Fall, my oldest often drops the blame squarely on Adam and Eve. “If Adam and Eve hadn’t done that, then the world wouldn’t be like this,” she concludes with logical simplicity. And while I agree, I have to expand her view of the issue a little bit and remind her that, if given the chance, we all would have done the same thing. We all would have cracked the cosmos and sunk the world into rebellion and ruin without anyone’s help but our own. The only difference between us and our biblical ancestors is that they “beat us to it” on the chronological timeline.
As Sara Groves confesses in her song “Generations,” “Eve was the first but she wasn’t the last. And if I were honest with myself, Had I been standing at that tree, My mouth and my hands would be covered with fruit. Things I shouldn’t know and things I shouldn’t see.” If we look back on the annals of biblical history and assume that we could have done better than Eve, or the Israelites, or David, or even Judas Iscariot, then that assumption rises up as the very proof that condemns us: our pride makes us think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Our view of God’s holiness is too low, and our view of our anticipated righteousness in any given scenario is too high.
Yet multiple concerns can exist at once, and so I must confess that I am also concerned about the Christian response to these problems. I’m concerned that Christians are inadvertently following their good and necessary compassion into the realm of secular philosophies and paradigms – (those big names like Cultural Marxism, Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and Identity Politics, which are rooted in assumptions about inherent prejudice and privilege among certain groups) – instead of filtering these real and difficult social concerns through a biblical perspective. I am concerned that the biblical perspective, which maintains its basic claims that mankind is sinful and that Christ is our only cure – has become scarce, and somehow inappropriate for the very situation for which it holds the most hope.
And yet prejudice is a sin problem requiring a Gospel solution, not merely a social problem requiring a political or cultural one. If we view this as an issue that is only national, racial, political, or temporal (rather than eternal) in nature, then we will reduce it to something that is too small in scope and we will come at it with the wrong solutions.
External laws cannot save or change the heart of man; they can only expose our sin and confirm our condemnation, demonstrating our desperate need for a Savior. If our answer for today’s social problems is anything other than the Gospel, then we’ve lost the plot and we need to reorient ourselves around the biblical distinctives that provide another way. As Darrell Harrison boldly claims in his podcast episode “Racial Reconciliation?”, our ultimate problem isn’t our need for horizontal reconciliation between men, but our need for vertical reconciliation to God as sinful human beings. That is where the problem begins, and that is why we must start there. If we try to remove the weeds from our gardens, but do not pull the roots up from the ground, they will merely sprout from the base once again. We know that we must address problems at their source.
Christians are called to justice. God requires us to pursue justice (Micah 6:8), and we find ourselves compelled toward it. Our innate desire to fix broken things is wired into us as creatures made in the image of God. We instinctively know that the world wasn’t meant to be this way, and now we yearn, as though in labor, for restoration:
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:19-23)
God is a God of redemption. The Bible’s overarching narrative is a story of redemption for His people. And now we long for that in our own small, messy ways because God allows us to reflect His nature in the imago dei. Yet, we need to pursue that change through biblical means, not secular, divisive, or temporary ones, like so much of what is offered to us today as the only appropriate solutions.
Fellow Christians, you are compassionate. That is good and godly. The fruits of the Spirit overflow with love, peace, kindness, and goodness. But let’s guide the flow of that compassion through the channels of discernment. The Gospel is sufficient; we do not need the world’s distorted philosophies to pursue biblical justice. Be wary of allowing your worldview to slip into secular paradigms like Critical Theory and Cultural Marxism, which only view the world as a system of power imbalances requiring ineffectual socio-political solutions; which perpetually posit one group against another in inescapable categories of race, biology, or gender; which use physical differences to place some people beyond reproach while automatically vilifying others. Don’t look for inherent vice or virtue in anyone based on anything other than that which equalizes us all: the total depravity in the heart of every man.
We spend so much painful semantic energy arguing over whether Black Lives or All Lives matter. Yet, the real locus of discussion here is whether This Group is Sinful vs. All People are Sinful. The fundamental truth is that All People are Sinful, and for that problem we have a gospel cure that works to change the heart of man, when everything else must fail. This is good news, for which we need not be ashamed.
The Gospel is for everyone. The fact that we might feel disqualified from speaking to important issues from a Gospel perspective because of our particular demographics demonstrates what is often so harmful and suppressive about these ideologies. The Bible doesn’t divide us along man-made lines, and we can remain faithful to the categories that God has given us for understanding and communicating His truths: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).
I’ve been looking to resources that can help me think more biblically, and less reactively, on these topics. Voddie Baucham’s video on Cultural Marxism (linked here) was super helpful for me. You will definitely benefit from learning how to discern between secular categories and biblical ones, and how to remain faithful to latter. Praying for us all.
Other resources:
The Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel
Recognizing Critical Theory and Why it Matters – Neil Shenvi
Recognizing Critical Theory, Stand Firm
Critical Theory and Intersectionality – What Every Christian Needs to Know with Neil Shenvi and Alisa Childers
Racial Reconciliation? – Just Thinking Podcast
George Floyd and the Gospel – Just Thinking Podcast
Racial Reconciliation – Voddie Baucham, Founders Ministry
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16
