The short answer? The gospel was enough for racial reconciliation in the Early Church. Lest we assume that it’s just “so different” now than it was then or that the Early Church needed racial reconciliation any less than we do now, God gave us a beautiful story in Acts 10. Racial division in the Church is an issue that goes all the way back there and God pointedly addressed it.
In order to understand how this story relates to “racial reconciliation”, we must first understand what we mean by “reconciliation.” According to Oxford Dictionary, reconciliation is “the restoration of friendly relations.”[1] In the Bible, the word is often used to demonstrate man’s great need to be restored to a relationship with God. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel had to offer specific sacrifices for specific sins in order to restore their friendship with God (Leviticus 6:30). The New Testament uses the word reconciled to demonstrate that Christ’s death on the cross finished the work of restoring any believer’s relationship with God. No more sacrifices needed! Romans 5:10 says, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” In Colossians 1:21, the apostle Paul writes, “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.” Clearly, the Bible teaches that, although sin has made God and man enemies, the gospel restores friendly relations between God and man.
The Bible also teaches that the gospel is the means by which man can be reconciled to man. When the disciples asked Jesus how often they ought to forgive a brother who wronged them, Jesus answered, “Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). In other words, every time! Why should we forgive a brother every time he wrongs us, no strings attached? Because Jesus has already forgiven the ultimate in us (remember how Romans and Colossians calls us “enemies” who have been “reconciled” to God?). Jesus then gave a parable to illustrate this doctrine of unconditional forgiveness, finishing with this statement, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:35). The power to forgive unconditionally and be reconciled with our fellow man comes from Christ’s example in the gospel.
So, now that we understand reconciliation to involve unconditional forgiveness and restoration, how can the gospel bring this about in our churches today? By looking at how the gospel worked in Acts 10, we can learn why the gospel is still enough for racial reconciliation in our churches today. The gospel was and is enough because it emphasizes three commonalities among all Christians of all colors, cultures, classes and countries.
First, the gospel emphasizes our common Creator.
In Acts 10, God sent Peter a strange vision of a sheet coming down from heaven filled with animals that were traditionally unclean to the Jews. To Peter’s surprise, God commanded him to eat of those unclean animals. Peter, being . . . well . . . Peter, dared to tell the Lord, “Not so, Lord: for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). And the Lord, being the patient Shepherd that He is, replied, “What God hath cleansed, that call thou not unclean” (Acts 10:15). In case Peter didn’t understand that God was talking primarily about people, not animals, this vision was repeated three times. Just as Peter was wondering why God had sent him this vision, a centurion of the Italian band, named Cornelius, came knocking at Peter’s front gate. According to one Bible commentator, this Italian band was “made up of Italian volunteers and were considered the most loyal Roman troops. Because he [Cornelius] was such a loyal servant to the oppressors of Israel, most every patriotic person of that day would naturally be prejudiced against Cornelius.”[2] Fraternizing with loyal Roman citizens was not something that a good Jew would do. Yet Cornelius was not just a Roman soldier, he was also a God-seeker. He wanted to know the Jews’ God. For this reason, God had sent Cornelius a vision also, instructing him to meet a man named Simon Peter. It was a divine appointment!
Peter didn’t let prejudice hinder him from relating to and extending hospitality to this Gentile seeker. Peter invited Cornelius along with his two servants (also Gentiles) into his home, just as he would have a Jewish brother. When Cornelius prostrated himself before Peter, Peter put into practice what he had learned from the vision, saying, “Stand up; I myself am a man” (Acts 10:26). Peter did not say, “Since I am an oppressed and morally virtuous Jew and you are an unclean oppressor, you should kneel before me and humbly seek forgiveness for what your people have done to my people.” To the contrary, Peter related himself to this Gentile. He said, “I’m just human too.” Peter recognized that though they came from different nations, they shared the same Creator. Cornelius may not have come from Abraham’s seed, but he had come from Adam’s seed just as certainly as Peter had come from Adam’s seed. As Peter says in verse 28, “God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
The gospel does not view some people as oppressed and others as oppressors, some as clean and others as defiled, some as worthy and others as irredeemable. The gospel simply sees all as precious image-bearers of God who are also marred by sin. We are all sons of Adam who bear the same mark of sin from Adam. As Paul noted in I Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” The gospel doesn’t see skin color, culture, class, or country. The gospel simply sees sinners and invites every sinner to be saved by grace. Likewise, when we view others, not as oppressed or oppressors, but as fellow image-bearers and sinners, we can more easily relate to and show hospitality to others.
Second, the gospel emphasizes our common Savior.
Just as we should view other Christians are fellow image-bearers of God, we should view them as fellow followers of Christ. The grace that we wish to be extended to us should likewise be extended to them on their Christian journey. Remember what God told Peter during the vision? “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:15). The word common there carries the connotation of unclean or defiled. We have no right to consider a brother unclean or defiled simply because of his ethnicity. The blood of Jesus cleanses just the same for everyone.
The gospel is the single greatest unifier of men among nations. As Peter observed in Acts 10:34-37, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all): That word, I say, ye know, which was preached throughout all Judaea . . .” The idea that God is not partial to certain people was a radical one for traditional Jews at this time. Many construed the Old Testament laws forbidding Jews to intermarry and intermingle with Gentiles to mean that God loved the Jews and hated the Gentiles. However, Peter recognized here that God had given the gospel to Israel in order to share it with the rest of the world! In verse 43, Peter finished his gospel presentation with these words, “that through his [Christ’s] name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” The purpose of the Old Testament laws was not to keep the Jews and Gentiles separate forever. The purpose of the Old Testament laws was to make Israel God’s representative to the entire world. The point was actually to eventually bring the Gentiles into the fold through the Savior that would come out of the Jewish nation. Isaiah 60:1-3 prophesied this moment in history, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” The purpose of Israel’s separation was always for integration—the welcoming of the entire world to the light of Jesus Christ!
As Peter did in Acts 10, we should recognize that the acceptance our Savior has shown to us should also be extended to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Regardless of our various colors, cultures, classes, or countries, those who have accepted Jesus Christ are accepted with Christ by God the Father. And those who are accepted by God should also be accepted by other Christians. If you don’t think this is a radical idea, look at the world today. It seeks to pit us against each other based on our color, culture, class, or country of origin. The Christian church stands in stark contrast to this when it disregards these differences and accepts others based on our common Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Judging others based on skin color, culture, class, or country is what the world does. Such behavior ought not be emulated in the Church. In contrast, love should motivate members of the Church to extend acceptance to their fellow Christians.
Third, the gospel emphasizes our common Power.
One more astonishing thing happened during Cornelius’ visit to Peter in Acts 10. When Peter shared the gospel with Cornelius and Cornelius accepted, the Holy Ghost came to indwell Cornelius, just as He had Peter and the other apostles. After Peter’s gospel presentation, “the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word . . . on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 10:44-45). Surprised that the filling of the Holy Ghost had “worked” just as well for the Gentiles as it had for the apostles, Peter exclaimed in verse 47, “Can any man forbid water that those should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” Peter recognized that, as fellow image-bearers and fellow Christ-followers, these Gentiles were also filled with the same power to do right—the Holy Spirit’s power.
Peter recognized that the prerequisite for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit is not nationality—it’s spirituality. When relaying this experience to other Jewish Christians in Acts 11, Peter said, “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?” In other words, who was Peter—who are any of us—to reject or ostracize someone who shares the same Creator, same Savior, and same Holy Spirit as we do! The Jewish Christians responded in Acts 11:18, “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” As Peter and the early Church did, we should understand that the gift of the Holy Spirit—the power to do right—is not given in different measures to different Christians based on color, culture, class, or country. The gift of the Holy Spirit’s power to do right is given in equal measure to every believer.
As Peter’s experience in Acts 10 demonstrates, if the gospel was enough to bring the Jews and the Gentiles together, then the gospel is enough for racial reconciliation in the Church today. Since we have been reconciled to God, we can also be reconciled to each other. Ephesians 2:13-16 says, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby . . . For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Because of the gospel, every Christian—Jew or Gentile, black or white—has the ability to do right through the Holy Spirit’s power. Our color, culture, class, or country is irrelevant when it comes to our place in the body of Christ. The gospel eradicates those differences; it has no use for them. Colossians 3:10-11 says that as Christians, we have “put on a new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him [that’s Jesus!] Where there is neither Greek, nor Jew; circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” As Christians, we should not emphasize what the gospel does not emphasize. We should exalt what the gospel does—our common Creator, our common Savior, and our common Power.
[1] “Reconciliation, n1.”Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2021, https://www.lexico.com/definition/reconciliation. Accessed January 27, 2021.
[2] Guzik, David. “Study Guide for Acts 10.” Blue Letter Bible. 21 Feb, 2017. Web. 28 Jan, 2021. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Act/Act-10.cfm>.