THE SIN WE EXCUSE IN THE SANCTUARY
There are sins the church condemns loudly. We preach against sexual immorality. We warn against drunkenness. And rightly so—the Word of God addresses them plainly.
But there is a sin that has too often been treated gently, rebranded politely, or dismissed entirely.
Racism.
Not always the crude, open hatred of a previous generation—though that has lived in church pews too. More often the quieter forms: favoritism, indifference to injustice, selective outrage, cultural superiority dressed up as “tradition,” or the assumption that one group’s comfort matters more than another’s suffering.
The Bible does not treat this lightly.
James writes that showing partiality makes us judges with evil thoughts and transgressors of the law (James 2:1-9). That is not mild language. Partiality violates the royal law to love your neighbor as yourself. Racism, at its root, is partiality hardened into preference and preference hardened into pride.
It is sin. The Bible calls it sin. And what happens to those who do not repent of their sins? You know and I know.
And yet, racism has often been excused in ways other sins are not.
A man living openly in adultery would be confronted. A member stealing from the church would be disciplined. But a person harboring ethnic contempt may still teach Sunday School, still lead worship, still speak of “biblical values”—so long as the prejudice is coded and respectable.
Why?
Because racism has historically aligned itself with power and comfort. And churches, like all human institutions, are tempted to protect stability over repentance. It is easier to condemn sins that cost us nothing than to confront sins that might disturb our social equilibrium.
But the gospel does not protect equilibrium. It crucifies pride.
When Peter withdrew from Gentile believers out of fear and cultural pressure, Paul confronted him publicly because his behavior was “not straightforward about the truth of the gospel” (Galatians 2:11-14). Ethnic separation was not treated as a political misstep. It was treated as gospel hypocrisy.
The church must recover that clarity.
Racism is not merely a cultural flaw; it is a theological contradiction. It denies that all are made in the image of God. It ignores that all stand equally condemned apart from grace. It forgets that the redeemed multitude in Revelation is from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Heaven will not be segregated. Why should the church tolerate division born of pride?
If we are serious about holiness, we must be consistent. We cannot rail against certain sins while whispering about others. The Spirit searches the heart, and racism lives in the heart.
Repentance must begin there.
The church will never lose credibility for confronting racism biblically. It loses credibility when it excuses it. The watching world knows hypocrisy when it sees it. But when believers humbly confess sin, tear down hostility, and live as one body in Christ, that unity becomes a testimony that cannot be manufactured.
Holiness must be whole.
And if we are to preach the Bible faithfully, we must allow it to confront every sin—including the one that has too often sat comfortably in the sanctuary.
BDD
