City Life Starter

The Word: I John 4:20

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

By Scott Fiddler

When God created man, He created him in the image of God. (Gen. 1:27). Consequently, all humans share the unifying characteristic of being image-bearers of the Creator. Within the image of God though there is also diversity. One of the ways diversity manifests is in racial characteristics. Racism then, which is defined as antagonism against another based on their race, is not just an offense against modern political norms but an offense against the Creator, His image, and as a result, ourselves, because we bear that image.

Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. (James 2:23). In response, God entered into a covenant with Abraham promising to multiply him and make him a people through which the Savior of the world would ultimately come. This people became the Jewish race. God’s choosing though was not on the basis of race but faith.

Thereafter, the world was divided between those who were in covenant with God (the Jews) and everyone else (the Gentiles). Even this distinction was superficial though because Hebrews chapter 11 makes it clear that those who gained favor with God did so by their faith, including a non-Jewish prostitute named Rahab.

Jesus then broke down the division between Jew and Gentile, making it clear that faith, not race is the basis for God’s favor. (Gal. 3:26-29). And that brings us full circle back to the fact that God created us in His image, and in that image unity and diversity coexist. Our conscience, which is branded with the echos of the virtue of God, is an example of that unity, but there is also diversity such as those traits that make one person a visionary and another meticulous. And while these diverse traits coexist in God, they are spread among His creation, as are racial characteristics.

Racism then is not just an insult to God because God created all races; it is an offense to the very nature of God, which the diversity of race reflects. Racism is the epitome of the contradiction John identified when he said, “If someone says, ‘I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.^’” (I John 4:20).