PREACH THE BIBLE? THEN LET THE BIBLE SPEAK
I have been told—with a tone that sounds spiritual on the surface—that I need to “just preach the Bible” and stop talking about racism. But that charge collapses the moment we allow the New Testament to speak for itself. Because if preaching the Bible means proclaiming the whole counsel of God, then confronting racism is not a distraction from Scripture—it is submission to it.
The New Testament does not treat partiality as a minor flaw. James writes plainly that showing favoritism makes one a transgressor of the law, because it violates the command to love your neighbor as yourself (James 2:1-9). That is not sociology; that is sin language. When prejudice or ethnic superiority takes root in the heart, it stands condemned by the royal law of love. To name that sin is not activism—it is obedience.
The cross itself speaks to this. Paul teaches that Christ is our peace, who has broken down the wall of separation and created one new humanity through His death (Ephesians 2:14-16). The hostility between Jew and Gentile—centuries deep, culturally reinforced, religiously guarded—was dismantled at Calvary. If the cross tears down dividing walls, then rebuilding them in our hearts is rebellion against the work of Christ. To preach Christ crucified while ignoring racial hostility is to preach a half-cross.
Some would prefer silence because they confuse comfort with unity. But the early church did not ignore ethnic tension. When Greek-speaking widows were neglected in Acts 6:1-7, the apostles did not say, “Stop bringing that up and focus on doctrine.” They addressed the inequity so that the Word of God would not be discredited. Justice guarded the witness of the church. Truth was not weakened by confronting unfairness; it was strengthened.
Even Peter was publicly corrected by Paul when his behavior separated Jewish and Gentile believers (Galatians 2:11-14). Paul said Peter was not walking straightforwardly according to the truth of the gospel. Ethnic division (racism) was treated as a gospel issue. If the gospel creates one body, then actions that fracture that body contradict the gospel itself.
So let us be clear: preaching against racism is not replacing the Bible with culture; it is applying the Bible to culture. It is naming pride, hatred, partiality, and injustice as sins of the heart. It is calling men and women to repentance and to the humility of Christ. It is insisting that the ground at the foot of the cross is level—no race elevated, no ethnicity diminished, all equally in need of mercy.
I will not preach partisan slogans. I will not trade the authority of Scripture for the applause of any movement. But I will not be silenced when the sin being confronted is directly addressed in the New Testament. If racism is pride, the Bible condemns pride. If it is hatred, the Bible condemns hatred. If it divides those Christ died to unite, the Bible condemns that division.
To those who say, “Preach the Bible,” I answer: I am.
And I intend to keep doing so—without trimming the truth to protect comfort, and without softening sin to preserve approval. The Word of God is not narrow where Christ is clear. It speaks to the heart—and the heart is exactly where racism lives.
BDD
