The problem with a so-called progressive approach that views people as members of racial communities is that it is a thing-oriented, rather than a person-oriented, disposition. “The black community” is a community of people out there somewhere. It’s a theoretical people, but we don’t live and work and try to make it in life with a theoretical political construct but, rather, actual, flesh and blood individuals.
Only a theoretical community can be said to be of a certain mind on a trial verdict. Only theoretical people can be represented by self-professed leaders who claim to speak for an entire racial community. Real life is person-oriented. Actual, versus theoretical, communities consist of black individuals such as Van Jones and Thomas Sowell. Al Sharpton and Ben Carson. Barack Obama and Louisiana’s Elbert Guillory. Which one of them speaks for the black community?
Christians especially should be wary of falling into the trap of the racial community mirage. We are members of a community – but it’s called the kingdom of God. If we are determined to take the Gospel seriously, we’ll put the unifying implications of Galatians 3 into action:
“In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 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. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
As Christians, this is where our identity lies. We belong to Christ, and in Christ we are all one.
There is no black community or white community. Just people. If we want to experience true diversity, let us each fulfill our potential as God’s image-bearers. Flourish according to the unique gifts and abilities that He has blessed you with as an individual. May more people turn to Christ in the midst of our turbulent times so that individuals of all races may experience true brotherhood in Him.
Jeff Wright, Jr. is a grateful husband, blessed daddy, and long-suffering Redskins fan. He is a Prison Chaplain in the “city of lost souls,” holds a ThM from Dallas Seminary, and is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. Jeff is a civil liberties activist on behalf of the “sacred order of freemen” and minister of the “fellowship of twice-born sinners.”
