DIVERSITY IN THE BIBLE

DIVERSITY IN THE BIBLE

(CULTURAL)

Gal. 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

When Jesus Christ came to be born into the flesh and to live a life of sinless perfection, He died for those who would trust in Him. It mattered little who it was that trusted in Him because for all who would believe in Him and be brought to repentance would be saved. There is unity of the human race according to Jesus. God is never concerned about a person’s skin color or their national origin, because those who are the children of God are citizens of the kingdom, not a kingdom of mankind.

Acts 17:26-27 “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”

The Apostle Peter reminds us “that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34) and “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Gal 3:26), “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27), because “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:29). The Apostle Pauls’ main point in Acts 17 is that God doesn’t regard a person’s nationality but He desires that they seek Him and Christ so that they might be saved. We are all “made from one man” (Adam) so we all have the same human father. There are no races to God, only the human race.

Ezekiel 47:22 “You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.”

In ancient Israel, they were commanded to allow non-Israelites to become part of the nation and with no discrimination or prejudice. The sojourners who were obviously not descendants from Abraham but it didn’t matter to God. He was seeking a people for Himself and this includes us who are non-Jews. As Peter wrote, at one time, “you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1st Pet 2:10).

Colossians 3:11 “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

Col. 3:11 is similar to other verses in the New Testament but also to Old Testament commands to not regard a person’s national origin. It didn’t matter to God where they came from or what their background was as long as they obeyed God because obedience to God is more important than whom or where a person is from. Paul quotes the Prophet Hosea in Romans 9:26 by writing, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved” so God declares, “I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God’” (Hosea 2:23).

Deut. 10:17 “I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Before we who are saved were brought to repentance and faith in Christ, we were children of the Devil and were separated from God by our sins (Isa. 59:2) and it was as the Apostle Paul said, “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:1-2), “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5). If we are God’s own people, it doesn’t matter what we look like, and neither should it matter to us.

Rom. 2:11 “For God does not show favoritism."

Paul’s statement that God does not show favoritism is placed against the tendencies of the human heart that we do show favoritism. All you need to do is look at how people seem to gather around those who are most like them and avoid anyone that’s different, but that’s showing favoritism in a sense. God does not approve of such things and is not pleased when we have regard for one group of people over another and especially if we regard them because of their language, their skin color, or national origin.

Rev. 7:9-10 “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

If you want to see how history unfolds at the end of this present age, you need only look at the Book of Revelation. After Christ’s return and the establishment of His kingdom, there will be a great multitude of people who come from every nation and every tribe; and people from every language will all come together to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords. God loves variety and has called people from every tongue and every nation and this group of God’s own people will be like a patchwork quilt of different peoples from around the globe that will be beautifully displayed before our great God.

When the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven (Rev 21:1-2) and the kingdom of God is established here on earth, it will be said that “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:3), but “the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality” (Col 3:25).

Cultural diversity was brought about by the judgment in the beginning at Babel. The unity in these verses above was brought about by the threefold ministry of Christ. The division of Satan and his workers is done away by the washing and cleansing of Christ.

To be a child of Abraham means nothing if you do not trust in Christ, so that would be the very worst thing you can do, because to reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is to reject the only way you can be saved (Acts 4:12), and without Him, your future is more horrible than can even be described (Rev 20:12-15; 21:8).