Race and the Incarnation

In the recent election race played a prominent role.

Race is a profoundly volatile topic. One has only to look at outbreaks in the last 15 years or so of racially motivated violence and see that this is a problem that plagues humanity as a whole. In such places as Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, race has played a prominent role in the perpetration of violence.

What is meant by the term race?

It is a term that carries profound meaning and at the same time is meaningless. It can be used in a helpful way to acknowledge obvious distinctions in species and can be used to maliciously assert distinctions where none exist.

One meaning of the term is “a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group.” This is how Winston Churchill used the term when speaking to the Nazi Foreign Minister, von Ribbentrop, in the run up to World War II. He warned the foreign minister about the English. They were a “curious race” and should not be underestimated in a fight. But, as the end of the definition indicates, this is closer to what we understand today as ethnicity.

Usually we try to apply the term in a scientific way. For instance, in biology race indicates “a population within a species that is distinct in some way, especially. a subspecies.” This is a clinical and somewhat useful term and can apply to both people and animals. It is an acknowledgment that within species there are characteristics that exist among certain subcategories. This is a benign process when considering animals, but when used to categorize humans it consistently produces terrible effects.

Consider the following from the American Oxford Dictionary: “Although ideas of race are centuries old, it was not until the 19th century that attempts to systematize racial divisions were made. Ideas of supposed racial superiority and social Darwinism reached their culmination in Nazi ideology of the 1930s and gave pseudoscientific justification to policies and attitudes of discrimination, exploitation, slavery, and extermination.” For example, in our country, the current story line that declares as fact that we are about to inaugurate our first “black” president despite the fact that he is as equally white as he is black says more about our history than it does about his biology.

The roots of malicious and malignant use of racial categories are deeply intertwined in the fall of human beings. Soon after their rebellion we see relationships between humans begin to break down. The accusation against God by Adam that “the woman you gave me” was the source of all the trouble was not only an attempt to shift blame to God, but shows a willingness to consider oneself as better than another. Human beings, almost from the very beginning, have sought to build themselves up by devaluing others. It is the conferring of privilege and power upon a certain category of people that proves most deadly. In our country, the history of slavery reveals economic, scientific, and even religious justifications for the subjugation and humiliation of fellow human beings.

That being said, “theories of race asserting a link between racial type and intelligence are now discredited. Scientifically it is accepted as obvious that there are subdivisions of the human species, but it is also clear that genetic variation between individuals of the same race can be as great as that between members of different races” (American Oxford Dictionary). Such may be clear, but it is not forsaken. The abuse of these distinctions persists and proves a stubborn problem.

What has this to do with the incarnation?

Hear the words of Simeon upon being presented with the newborn Messiah:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

The baby in Simeon’s arms is the fulfillment of promises made from the very beginning. At the very outset, God promised that one born of a woman would come and crush the evil that had been unleashed through the serpent’s deception. As Simeon declares this “salvation” will be realized in all peoples.

The gospel of Jesus Christ cuts across ethnic, racial, economic, gender, in short, all categorical lines. For the preaching of the gospel creates a new people, a new race if you will, who are united not by cultural (and potentially sinful) distinctions or by genetic make up. What unites them is faith in the only-begotten Son of God as the promised redeemer; who by his life and death secured peace with God for all who believe in him, irrespective of nation, tongue, or tribe. And this power to embrace under one banner such disparate groups demonstrates that the mercy of God transcends our vile, sinful inclinations.