No Room for Discrimination in the Body

Prejudice is about making judgements or having an opinion about the characteristics of a person, place, or thing to rate them as inferior, superior, good or bad. Racism, however, is prejudice combined with social and institutional power by a group that has power financially, economically, socially, and relationally. It is a system of advantages and disadvantages given or not given based on skin color and/or gender. We all have experienced and or practiced prejudice even in the church. Sadly, there are people that refuse to go to church or have turned away from God because of mistreatment they have experienced by someone claiming to be doing God’s  work. This is not new.

For centuries, slavery was justified by the misuse and misinterpretation of God’s Word. Today, some reject Christ because they don’t understand the Bible’s use of the words ‘master’ and ‘slave.’ We are aware that slavery existed in Biblical times because the Israelites were slaves and Joseph was sold into slavery. As a result, it makes sense that the Bible speaks about how to treat slaves. We know that there were prejudices during Biblical times because the Jews thought they were better than the Samaritans and the Gentiles. The Pharisees thought they were better than everyone. We know that men felt they were superior to women. These were the sign of the times and God’s Word addresses them. But, what about racism? Was there any group in the Bible that had financial, economical, and social power who felt they were superior to another?

The Egyptians did. Moreover, when the Egyptian Pharaoh in the days of Moses felt that his way of life was being threatened simply by the number of Israelites, he set out to fix that problem. He used his power to control the number of Israelites, he used his power to work the Israelites into submission, and he used his power to control the Israelites financially and socially. Pharaoh evoked fear into them so that even the thought of protesting this mistreatment was resisted. As a result, God gave them Moses and with God’s guidance led them out of Egypt, out of bondage. Therefore, we know that there was race and favoritism issues in Biblical times. Despite those things, the Bible gives us guidance on how to respond to them.

God does not discriminate! “God is no respecter of people” (Acts 10:34-35). We are not better than others whether you are pastor, parishioner, or church leader. God cares about all people regardless of ethnicity, nationality, education level, or social status (Deuteronomy 10:17-19). God is not partial but accepts everyone from everywhere if they do what is right and fear Him (Acts 10:35). Jesus came to remove hostility and promote harmony (Ephesians 2:14-18).

Moreover, believers are baptized by one Spirit (Corinthians 12:13). Discrimination is a result of sin. The Bible speaks on discrimination, hate, and love but many times, churches continue in the segregatory methods of our ancestors. Today, many churches are divided like musical venues of the past. says, 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 (Galatians 3:28). Moreover, we should not judge people based on their social status (James 2:2-4).

PRAYER: Dear Father, I pray for love, understanding, protection, restraint and wisdom. Lord, help us set ourselves apart. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
By Sis. Patricia Towns