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Contemporary crusaders for racial harmony often point to our common human dignity as the bridge toward reconciliation. Sounds great. But it was our lack of human dignity that got us racially alienated in the first place. Where and how do we get it back? Just claiming common human dignity does not get the job done.
Actually, the one thing that all the races really hold in common is sin. Something must be done to address that problem before authentic racial harmony can be achieved for good. Thus, the one thing that can bring us together is repentance and forgiveness in the shadow of the cross.
The apostle Paul preached with passion that both Jews and Gentiles are reconciled through the cross of Christ. Today, that goes for black, white, brown and any other human hue. Through Jesus, we all have access to the Father by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). Jesus makes two into one by destroying the dividing wall of hostility (2:14). Paul wrote: “His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” Ephesians 2:15-16, NIV.
There are still bigots among us who pit races against each other and deny our mutual human dignity. Decent people hold otherwise, affirming the equal measure of dignity that all races hold in common. However, that affirmation is not enough to forge genuine Christian reconciliation among the races. Real Christian unity calls also for a bold declaration of our shared guilt before God as sinners--equally lost without the forgiveness that Jesus died give us. It is the cross that replaces hostility with harmony. Only the cross unifies us forever, not our own qualities, even at their best.
Joel Mark Solliday , B.A., M.Div., is the editor of Campus CrossWalk and the pulpit minister of the Northern Light Church of Christ in Minnesota. A Pepperdine graduate, he later worked in their Campus Life Office. He served as a Missionary in Residence at ACU. He earned his M.Div. at Fuller Theological Seminary. His wife Katie is a fine school teacher and a great listener.
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