I want to just bring up one issue here having to do with sanctification, with the realization that what I am saying seems quite odd in the cultural context of modern liberal multiculturalism. Do different ethnic and racial groups struggle with different types of sins? If so, are more or less homogenous churches an aid in sanctification? Here is Acts 17:26-27: From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” This is mysterious to me, but Luke seems to say that nationality and ethnicity play a role in helping us to seek God. It is similar to the role that a godly wife plays when her good deeds are the instruments to bring an unbelieving husband to faith. There seems something immutable about race and ethnicity not merely in the Old Covenant, but also the New as well as the New Heavens and New Earth (Rev. 7:9, etc.) Clearly all human beings inherit a sinful nature from Adam. But depravity impacts individuals in different ways—we are not all equally depraved or depraved in the same precise ways. Likewise depravity is not equally shoveled out to various groups but affects them in different ways. For example, the fall had a differing impact on men and women (Gen. 3:16-19). The particular depravity of the man is responsible for working hard and caring for the woman, while the woman must be submissive and bear children. So total depravity works out in different ways among individuals and within male/female distinctions. Just as obviously, though harder to admit, is that it also works itself out differently among people groups. Are not nations—ethnic and racial extensions of families—similarly distinctly prone to particular sins? Paul alludes to this in Titus 1:12-13, where he concurs with the assessment of the prophet Epimenides that “the Cretans are always liars.” We know that we are all liars by nature, but Paul seems to indicate that there is a particular degree of depravity in this way that manifests itself in Cretans. Regenerate Christians are not free from the battle against their sinful nature. The church is therefore called to preach repentance and sanctification to its members. Even after conversion, different ethnic and racial groups will still struggle to a greater degree with specific types of sins. Anyone who has ever nodded while listening to a Chris Rock comedy routine (or Harlem preacher Manning) knows this to be true. Therefore, is it not the case that the minister and government of particular churches are better able to aid their members in the process of sanctification if they are largely homogenous? Sanctification does not primarily proceed individualistically. We have been given brothers and sisters to encourage and edify us (Rom 14:19). Of course sanctification can occur across ethnic groups, but in the same way that men are often more encouraged by men and women by women it makes sense that brothers who are ethnically and racially similar will be of greater aid in sanctification. I think a case can be made that the pedagogical and teaching function of the church, as well as the fellowship of its members, is strengthened by a greater degree of unity above merely giving assent to the gospel. As for your question, no scripture does not command a church to be as ethnically diverse as its neighborhood. In my view that is an extra-biblical notion.....D. Dow
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 11:27:04 +0000
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