“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. “ (Romans 8:12-14)
These days there is a lot of talk about the evils of racism. There is no doubt that racism is sin. It requires a spiritual solution. Nevertheless, governmental, social and educational systems of the world try to implement and enforce various nonspiritual ways to counteract this sin in an effort to stop it. Yet, the ideas and schemes of human beings or human institutions can ever eliminate it. The solution lies with the Church that Jesus established as His Kingdom on earth. For in the Church, true fellowship already exists among races, nationalities, and ethnic groups. Racism cannot be eradicated by human effort or ideals, no matter how noble or altruistic, but only by faith in Jesus alone.
The apostle Paul tells us how with the epithet “Sons of God”. This is quite a radical term. Paul uses it to indicate that the relationship that we have with the God the Father is the same relationship that He has with Christ, because He is the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. Because of what Jesus Christ has done, we too are Sons of God. We are equal in relationship and in inheritance. There is no place for the identity politics that marks earthly institutions. In the Church all are united as one in Christ. Sons of God applies to all who have faith in Jesus, men and women, black, white, yellow, and brown, rich and poor, noble and commoner, famous and unknown. In Paul’s day, this would have been much more radical than we perceive now for then, in general, only sons, that is males, had rights, privileges, property and inheritance. Women were an inferior class, while slaves had no rights at all. What Paul was saying was that there are no legal or social distinctions among Christians. All have equal rights before God in terms of relationship, of access to Him and, with it, the blessings of the regenerate life and the assurance of the eternal inheritance.