Last Saturday, we saw the rather long introduction to Peter Jensen's piece on what it means to be human. In it, he briefly examined a number of alternatives that have been canvassed by philosophers through the ages, and showed us that we desperately need another alternative. This week, we begin Peter's examination of what the Bible has to say about being human.

The Bible's view of humanity

One Race

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’ (Acts 17: 24-28).

As Paul spoke to the philosophers of Athens, he confirmed a very important thing: that all human beings are of the same stock. We are all the children of Adam, all distinct from the animals in our relationship to God.

We are living in a world created by the one true God, not by accident and not by many gods. There is one God who is the Lord of heaven and earth, to whom we owe all things. He gives us everything, and he needs nothing. We are utterly dependent upon the one who made the world and is still in the world, and is very much interested in what goes on in the world. We are intended to serve this God.

The oneness of God is matched by the oneness of his human creatures. We can see from the Acts passage quoted that we all owe life and breath to the one God (v.25); we come from one stock (v.26); we are ruled by the one providence (v.26); we are all intended to serve the one God (v.27); and all are the offspring of God (v.28). This corresponds with the teaching in Genesis that we are in the image of God, thus setting us apart from every other animal. Although God has allowed for the nations and for the diffusion of the race through the world, he expects all to seek him.

This tells against all racism. Whatever the differences in skin, age, sex, language, history, culture, geography, we belong to the same race and must not despise others or think of them as less than human. It is only a very short time ago in our own history that appalling prejudice on this basis was commonplace. Here are some nineteenth-century views of Aborigines, reported in John Harris's book One Blood:

“... the connecting link between man and the monkey tribe ...”

“... only a species of wild beasts (and) there could be no guilt attributed to those who shot them.”

“... in mixing with them we feel doubtful whether we have to do with intelligent monkeys or with very degraded man.” (President of the Ethnological Society of London 1863)

“... Australian black may have a soul but if so, so does a horse or dog.”

“... I look upon the blacks as a set of monkeys, and the earlier they are exterminated from the face of the earth the better. I would never consent to hang a white man for a black one.” (juror)

What was used to counteract that? The majority of Christians had read their Bibles, and were saying at the time that all of us come from one man. Eve is the mother of all living. Aboriginal people may be very different from Caucasians or anyone else, but they are human beings who are entitled to the same dignity and treatment as we all are as human beings.

The Christian and the non-Christian views of humanity which were so blatantly in contest with each other then are still in contest now, and the differences are bound to surface again sooner or later. There is latent tribalism inherent in much of the talk of multi-culturalism. The test for the Christian is whether we are confined to one culture in our evangelism—either by ourselves or by others—or whether we recognise that God wants all to find him, whatever tribe or race.

The intention of God for our race is one of fellowship and love between persons. We are meant to be neighbours, just as the Samaritan overcame racial prejudice to share what he had with the vulnerable Jew. This is what we ought to be. But sin and selfishness constantly threaten the unity of the race. We constantly struggle against the reality of evil in human nature. When we fail to realise this, we think (as society currently does) that educational programs may solve the problems. Such plans fail to see that when you educate devils, what you get is educated devils. The only solution is a return to God.

Thus as Christians we are committed to the doctrine of the one race; we are internationalists and humanists; and we will not allow the barriers put up by sin to stand in the way of compassion and care.

(Read the full article online.)

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