Asking All the Wrong Questions about Discrimination

A well-developed theology of the Image of God has ramifications for how we treat one another. It transcends skin color. It goes deeper than political affiliation.

No matter what things might seek to divide one from another, exalt one over another, or try to subjugate one beneath another in terms of worth, the Image of God shines from within proclaiming its supremacy.

The very same Image of God in every human being proves that we are all of equal value to Him. Whether the person is a baby or an adult, with special needs or above average IQ, male or female, from poverty or riches, our worth is not based on a value that’s skin deep and manmade. It’s the Image of God in my soul and your soul. We are part of the brotherhood of man.

For the Christian, compassion ought to go a step deeper because we are coming from a place of redemption. We were created in the Image of God, and moreover have been remade in the Image of Christ. The Image of God and the Image of Christ ought to:

(1) Cause us to remember that we did not create ourselves, recreate ourselves, nor did any of us arrive by chance. It’s all by God’s grace.

(2) Remind us that we leave the judgment to God because He is the One True Creator and the One True Judge. “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.'” (Hebrews 10:30)

(3) Teach us that while God alone can judge those made in His image, human beings need to respond to Him by obedience…including loving one another.

(4) Prompt our sure knowledge that this place of redemption came at the immeasurably high cost of God’s only Son, Jesus. As new creations with the life-giving Spirit of God dwelling within us, we have access to both His Truth and His Power to discriminate in the only legitimate way: between good and evil. We judge actions in light of the truth we know (Martin Luther King Jr.’s “content of their character”).

(5) Help us to pay careful attention, “Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).

As Christians, we ought to be free at last to look at good and evil and judge only in favor of what is right. We ought to look at our own character and measure its content with respect to the Truth of Scripture. This Bible—reviled by some, rejected by others, and revered by those who love God—is the only reliable standard of judgment. It is no wonder that as American culture has degraded the Word of God to mere myth, moral teachings of yesteryear, or imaginings of ignorant ancients or disciples, we would shun the only standard which is true and end up resorting to lesser standards of skin color.

So is Racial Discrimination gone in America? Nope. We’re still judging by faulty standards of utility. And fear. We fear because we have bought the lie that race has anything to do with evil…when it’s a sin issue that is indeed colorblind. No race is immune from sin. Sadly we’re still looking at whether utility for us—our personal, political, or economic purposes—will be served better by one skin color or another.

Christians ought to have a different response as people of redemption.

Can we celebrate milestones of race, color, or ethnicity? Can we celebrate milestones for Jewish, Mormon, Sikh, and Catholic individuals? Sure! These are all events representing achievement, but ultimately these milestones must be rooted in something far deeper than the color of one’s skin or the religion one practices. It goes…soul deep…to ‘the content of our character.'”

It must be rooted in seeing the Image of God in our fellow man or woman…and let our celebration be of the excellence of character as a color-full society, not merely a judgment basis the color of one’s skin. Every person of color with whom I am acquainted is a glorious example of the Image of God–smart, talented, gifted, capable, honorable, and moral–and would rightly be offended by application of a skin deep standard of their personal worth.

To be sure, we are not all the same. So a Hispanic is not a Caucasian. A Mormon is not a Jew. A liberal is not a conservative. But our diversity need not equal division. Within diversity, there is something that unites us all and it’s not skin deep or found at a convention. Therefore, the Right Question is: