“They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘peace, peace,’ where there is no peace.”

Jer. 6:14

BCC Staff Note: This blog is the first article of a four-part series on the BCC Grace and Truth website addressing racial reconciliation.

Our Need for a More Biblical Understanding of Racial Reconciliation

Racial reconciliation is a term that we all know and understand until you ask us to define it. After all, what does that phrase actually mean? How would we know whether or not we have accomplished reconciliation? Is reconciliation some kind of repayment? Is it an internal change of the heart? Is racial reconciliation renewed fellowship with another image bearer? Consider these voices within my church and college that are currently wrestling with this question:

“I am a white pastor devoted to serving my black church members; are we reconciled?” “I am a black small group leader that enjoys hosting the white members of my church each Wednesday night; are we reconciled?” “I am a black professor that enjoys teaching my white students; are we reconciled?” “I am a white biblical counselor that enjoys providing soul care for my black clients; are we reconciled?” “I am a white Ph.D. student who enjoys listening to my black classmate’s podcast on race; are we reconciled?”

If we do not know what racial reconciliation is (biblically speaking), we will make the same mistake that the priests in Jeremiah’s day made by crying out “peace, peace” where this is no peace. History is proving that the only thing worse than neglecting the racial wounds of our Father’s people is to heal the racial wounds of our Father’s people “lightly.” I would argue that this “light healing” accounts for some (perhaps most) of the black saints who are struggling to thrive among white churches that preach racial reconciliation.

As biblical counselors, we are appreciative of contemporary observations from historians, anthropologists, and sociologists. Yet, the inspired Scriptures truly provide all the resources we need in order to understand racial reconciliation. Bible translators use the contemporary English word “reconcile” to represent Paul’s intended meaning in several letters that are most relevant to our topic. These include Romans 5:10-11, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Ephesians 2:13-16, and Colossians 1:19-22. Within these texts, we find three important dimensions that provide a more biblical understanding of reconciliation upon which we can build our counseling methodology.

Objective Reconciliation: Payment

The first thing we find in the text regarding reconciliation is that it includes an objective dimension or payment. There is a clear theme of justification or atonement associated with reconciliation in all of the critical passages above. As Merida observes, “Jesus has erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.”[1] In the passages above, God is not simply changing His mind or turning His eye away from the sin-debt owed Him. To the contrary, we were reconciled by “the death of his son” (Rom. 5:10), “through Christ” (2 Cor. 5:18), “by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13), “in his flesh” (Eph. 2:14), “through the cross” (Eph. 2:16), “by the blood of the cross” (Col.1:20), and “in his body of flesh by his death” (Col. 1:22). One thing is clear; reconciliation is costly.

There can be no reconciliation with God apart from payment being made to cover humanity’s sin-debt. That payment was the crucified body of Jesus. This is the language of divine ethics and justice. Our Savior has reconciled us through objective payment and has commanded us to take up our cross and follow Him. Recall the connection that Jesus makes in the life of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 between the objective dimension of reconciliation (half my goods I give to the poor) with the subjective dimension (salvation has come to this house). Counselors who run quickly to the subjective and inter-subjective matters of reconciliation (forgive and forget) without addressing the objective, ethical damage done through racial sin will cry “peace, peace,” where there is no peace.

Subjective Reconciliation: Sanctification

Next, the Scriptures show that reconciliation has a personal, sanctifying dimension. The man in Ephesians 2 is not only “debt-free” (justified), but he is a “new man” (sanctified). He is objectively free and subjectively transformed. In other words, there is something different about his nature. He no longer sees himself or his neighbor as he once did; he has been given eyes to see and ears to hear. Paul writes, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:21-22).

Jesus legally atones for our hostile mind and our evil deeds (objectively) and then transforms our heart of stone into a new heart of flesh (subjectively) through the power of the Holy Spirit. Americans (particularly in the South) have been enculturated to associate black and white skin with certain beliefs and values that typically function below the level of consciousness. These internalized presuppositions of race and ethnicity are in constant need of the Lord’s sanctifying touch. If we attempt to speak about matters of race while assuming we see ourselves and others as the Lord sees us, we will cry “peace, peace,” where there is no peace.

Inter-Subjective Reconciliation: Peace

This is what most white evangelicals instinctively think about when discussing racial reconciliation: how can we get more black people to attend our church? The inter-subjective dimension centers on the renewed fellowship among black and white Christians and this is clearly present in the passages above (especially Ephesians 2 and Colossians 1). Not only has Jesus paid our debt, not only has He made us a new creation, but (grace of all grace) He has restored our fellowship with God and neighbor. The relational dimension found in reconciliation is most clearly seen through Paul’s use of the word “peace.” MacArthur writes, “What laws, ordinances, ceremonies, sacrifices, and good deeds could not do to make peace between men and God, Jesus did. Those things could neither bring men into harmony with God or with each other.”[2] We can add secular diversity training, politics, and legislation to MacArthur’s list of things that are equally powerless to accomplish inter-subjective reconciliation.

True inter-subjective reconciliation stands as the reward for those who have been faithful (objectively and subjectively) before God and neighbor. However, there has only been one human (Jesus, the God-man) who has lived with such faithfulness. Only through union with Christ are fallen image-bearers brought back into harmony with each other. The objective, subjective, and inter-subjective grace that reconciles all believers to Christ makes us, at once, ministers of reconciliation. As Christ has done for us, so must we go and do for one another. The more we commit ourselves to the challenging dimensions of objective and subjective reconciliation, the greater the possibility for true inter-subjective reconciliation among our fellowship.

Summary 

So back to my original question: what is racial reconciliation? Is it a form of repayment? Is it an internal change of the heart? Is racial reconciliation renewed fellowship with another image bearer? The answer is YES! But what are the implications for this biblical, three-dimensional understanding of racial reconciliation? What forms of payment are owed among black and white evangelicals? What subjective changes of the heart should we pray for? How do we experience true, inter-subjective reconciliation within the family of God? The answers to these questions deserve a dissertation, not a blog post summary, for they are complex and not one-sided. But, having pastored a multi-ethnic church (very imperfectly) for nearly a decade, let me offer this closing thought.

White evangelicals who are serious about capitalizing on the objective, subjective, and inter-subjective reconciling work that Jesus has already accomplished on our behalf are going to have to commit themselves with equal passion in all three dimensions. Speaking as a white Southern Baptist pastor, counselor, and educator, it is going to require us to sacrifice our social and cultural power to objectively support and promote the black brothers and sisters within our blood-bought family. Much of the current black disillusionment around race stems from white cries for greater inter-subjective reconciliation coupled with silence on the more objective issues within the church, college, and community. To make matters worse, we all seem to think that, subjectively speaking, we pretty much see ourselves and our neighbors as clearly as the Lord sees us, with little need for subjective transformation. Unless our passion for objective and subjective reconciliation catches up to our passion for inter-subjective reconciliation, I fear that we will continue to cry “peace, peace,” where there is no peace.

Questions for Reflection 

Do you tend to emphasize inter-subjective reconciliation over objective and subjective reconciliation? If so, what can you do to better address objective and subjective reconciliation within the church?

[1] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus In Ephesians, ed. David Platt and Daniel L. Akin (Nashville: Holman Reference, 2014), 60.

[2] John F. MacArthur Jr., Ephesians MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 8th Printing edition (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1986), 76.