Unity Series, Ch. 14: Reader Comments, #2

I received this comment:

“Personally, I have never understood how any professing Christian can be a racist. I am sure you have known some as well as I have. The passages referenced in this devotional make it obvious. If the twelve Apostles had been racists, then no Gentile would have ever been saved!”

Not only have I known a few, but we find them in the New Testament as well. Peter was a racist at the beginning of Acts 10 and in Galatians 2:11-13:

“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.”

Paul was writing to racists in Rome and Ephesus in their respective letters. These churches were international churches with attendant problems. There were teachings and commands to correct the problems. In order to avoid the problems and the requirement for teaching, we find it easier to be in separate churches. We can then hang on to our prejudice while thinking we do not have prejudice.

(Taken from Day & Night: Unity Series, 2003)

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