How can fallen mankind in a state of rebellion against the Creator of the universe survive in a context created and sovereignly governed by a holy, all-powerful, and all-knowing God?
The answer is common grace. Common grace is divine empowerment granted to mankind to make some limited wise choices in the universe while still in the state of rebellion against God. This grace is called common because it is available to all. But common grace is limited in degree (can vary from person to person) and is not salvific (does not enable people to be justified before God).
Without common grace, mankind would not exist. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, judgment was expressed through spiritual death immediately, but physical death was deferred. This is an expression of the love of God extended to the human race through the exercise of his mercy and forbearance. God’s holiness demanded justice—complete, total, perfect compliance with God’s standards. But through his forbearance, the full expression of judgment for sin was deferred. God’s mercy was further extended in the restraint of sin. Though mankind was biased to sin, mankind was not utterly depraved (as bad as he could be).
The fall of man also marked the beginning of the metanarrative of redemption—the backdrop of history. This integrated, sovereignly managed story progressively reveals God’s plan of redemption for fallen mankind through the work of Christ. This story explains the survival of mankind in a fallen state and reveals God’s plan to glorify himself through the vicarious atoning work of Christ against a backdrop of sin and rebellion.
Part of mankind’s rebellion is to deny the biblical narrative and seek to deny or redefine the metanarrative. For example, those who are given to a postmodern worldview deny any metanarrative. They assert that all reality is random. This eliminates cause and effect. Historical events do not connect to each other. Physical laws are neither timeless nor universal. There is no reason or purpose for anything. One quickly sees the fallacy of such thinking. Without cause and effect, there are no explanations for anything. There is no knowledge or wisdom. The postmodern worldview only leads to nihilism.
Others posit alternative metanarratives such as critical race theory (CRT)—a theory that presupposes prejudicial ethnic discrimination as the backdrop of all history. This is a form of Marxism that presupposes class warfare. The current posited paradigm of class warfare has many variants, including ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and economics.
CRT is predicated on the assumption of multiple races. This is contrary to a Christian worldview. Scripture reveals that all mankind are descendants of Adam and Eve; therefore, there is one race—the human race.
The various ethnicities emerged after the fall of man as a result of mankind’s rebellion. Every human being is a descendant of Adam and Eve. The apostle Paul noted this truth in his apologetic to the Greeks in the following text:
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. (Acts 17:26 ESV)
Though there is one race, there are multiple ethnicities—groups of people each with common traits, such as cultural traditions, language, facial features, and skin pigment.
From a Christian worldview these ethnicities can be traced to Noah’s three sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Generally, the ancestor of Middle-Eastern and Eastern people is Shem. Ham is the forerunner of the African people and the European people come from Japheth.
The origin of the ethnicities is the judgment on the participants of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9). These people sought self-glory instead of God’s glory. The consequence of this rebellion against God was confused communication, that is, different languages. Interestingly, the judgment was not limited to the participants of the Tower of Babel project; rather they served as a proxy for humanity.
In time, prejudicial ethnic discrimination became a practice of humanity. This is a symptom of the sin of fallen mankind, which should remind us that the redemption of creation from the fall of mankind is not yet complete. God's redemptive plan is in process and is being revealed through the metanarrative.
Those who focus on the symptom of prejudicial ethnic discrimination, claiming to make it the root issue, don’t understand the truth of the Christian metanarrative. This is the error of CRT.
When one fails to properly diagnose a problem, one cannot properly determine the remedy. CRT proposes a remedy based on reparations. Reparations, however, do not address the root issue of sin in humanity. Because CRT denies or does not recognize the fallenness of mankind and the Christian metanarrative, it fails to see the correct solution to the problem.
The only real solution to prejudicial ethnic discrimination is through the redemptive work of Jesus as Lord and Christ. In him, there is no ethnic issue because all are ontologically equal in Christ as the apostle Paul stated:
There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28 CSB)
Ontology is the study of being. From a Christian worldview, the truth of ontological equality is a by-product of creation. God is the creator of all mankind; therefore, all humans are equal as created beings. Jesus’ redemptive work recovered the truth of ontological equality. Unification in Jesus is the only solution to the prejudicial divisions of mankind. Furthermore, the Scripture clarifies the truth of one human race. CRT frames the issue of prejudicial ethnical discrimination incorrectly. Though there are multiple ethnicities, there is only one race. All human beings are related; we are all created by God and birthed through Adam's lineage.
In Acts 10, the truth of ontological equality is displayed in the redemption of a Roman centurion named Cornelius, who through the gift of common grace was empowered to respond properly to general revelation—the revelation of God in creation. His faithfulness to general revelation opened the door for him to receive the truth about the vicarious atoning work of Jesus that is the basis for the redemption of mankind from his fallen state. Only Jesus could satisfy God’s righteous requirements. It was (and is) great mercy to mankind that the Father accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as the basis for reconciling mankind to himself. Only through the work of Jesus could mankind receive forgiveness of sins and attain justification before God.
CRT presumes that the root issue of mankind's sin is prejudicial ethnic discrimination. This is an erroneous understanding. It fails to understand the real root issue of the fallen condition of the human race and, therefore, the total depravity of every human regardless of ethnicity.
This fallen condition of mankind is the root of prejudicial ethnic discrimination. Because CRT does not understand the issue correctly, it cannot offer a credible solution. Christianity is the only worldview that addresses the root issue of sin in mankind and offers the only real solution to prejudicial ethnic discrimination. Until mankind sees this truth, there will be no lasting solution to the ethnic divisions of the world.
