Race, Sex and the Crisis of Identity in American Evangelicalism
If you’re a Christian, how do you see yourself? How do you “self-identify?” This is a trendy phrase lately, so … how about it? Do you see yourself as a businessman, a plumber, a banker, a teacher? What about as a black man? A white lady? An alcoholic? A pornography addict?
I ask these questions because you do have a self-identity, you know. You have a conceptual marker in your own heart and mind that sums up who you are. Other people have one for you, too. But, in the end there are only two identities a person can have; a slave of Satan or a slave of God. If you’re a Christian, you ought to see yourself as a slave for God. That’s it.
There’s a growing crisis in the American Christian subculture that says different. Some people believe a Christian’s identity should be found in race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. To some, this might seem like something from a galaxy far, far away. You can read statements like these from Union Theological Seminary and shake your head. What hath Union to do with Maranatha, you ask?
Everything. You, your congregation or your children may scoff at Union’s silly statements and dismiss it like the heresy it is. But, the root of the recent kerfluffles about sexual and racial identity comes from a flawed understanding of Christian self-identity. This misunderstanding is why the conservative Christian internet has been aflame with stories about the recent MLK50 and Revoice conferences.
So, who are you? Think about it.
Paul on Christian Self-identity
In his letter leading up to his soaring explanation of identity in Christ, Paul explains that Abraham was justified by God because of his faith, not works (Rom 4:1-3), because “to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,” (Rom 4:5). This blessing is for everyone; Abraham’s covenant sign of circumcision was nothing but “a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised,” (Rom 4:11). Justification comes by faith in Christ, not by law keeping (Rom 4:16-25).
This justification brings peace with God, mediated through the Son (Rom 5:1) who gives all believers access to grace, while the Spirit pours out God’s love into His people’s hearts (Rom 5:2). Jesus reconciled His people to God by His death and will deliver us in the end through His resurrection, which is the first-fruits of our own (Rom 5:10). So, just “as one trespass [by Adam] led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness [by Christ] leads to justification and life for all men,” (Rom 5:18). Wherever sin exists, God’s grace abounds much more (Rom 5:20)!
So, should Christians continue sinning, so God’s grace would be poured out more and more (Rom 6:1)? Of course not (Rom 6:2)! Paul goes on to make a very critical point; baptism is a picture of a spiritual reality. If we’ve died to sin, how can go on living in it, day by day (Rom 6:2)? After all, those who have been baptized into union with Christ and been made one with Him have also, by default, been baptized into union with His death, too (Rom 6:3). Christians have been made one with Christ and, just as He died to sins and then walked in newness of life, believers must imitate their Savior’s example (Rom 6:4). “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his,” (Rom 6:5).
If you’re a Christian, your old person was crucified and put to death in union with Christ, so that you’d be set free from the chains of sin (Rom 6:6). “For he who has died is freed from sin,” (Rom 6:7). But, just as Christ died then rose again, our old self has died and our new person in Christ has risen from its spiritual grave (Rom 6:8); we’ve been born again! Death has no hold on Jesus, and He proved that by His resurrection (Rom 6:9).
Jesus made a clean, decisive, “once for all” break with sin and destroyed it (Rom 6:10). The writer of Hebrews told us Jesus did this so that, “through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage,” (Heb 2:14-15). Jesus died to sin, but now “the life he lives he lives to God,” (Rom 6:10).
So, what’s Paul’s point? It’s simple; “so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus,” (Rom 6:11). He then went on and exhorted the Roman Christians to not let sin “reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey its passions,” (Rom 6:12). After all, God has set them free from all that (Rom 6:13). Now, they can be servants of righteousness, “for sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace,” (Rom 6:14). The law brought perpetual condemnation, and (in an inter-family sense) its sanctifying atonement and moral cleansing for believers were temporary. Now, through Christ, they have the antidote which brings final dominion and victory over their identity as sinners.
This shift in “masters,” from (1) sinners under the dominion of a code of laws (“under law”) which brought constant reminders of sin and moral filthiness to (2) saints under the realm of grace (“under grace”) in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, brings a corollary shift in allegiance (Rom 6:16). Paul explained:
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:17-18).
Your identity has changed. You used to present yourself as a slave to sin and lawlessness. But, now Paul commands you to present yourself as a slave for righteousness, which leads to holiness (Rom 6:19). After all, the Apostle continued, “now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life,” (Rom 6:22).
This passage tells us that, because Christ has set us free from sin and given us resurrection life, we can and must “walk in newness of life” and not be slaves to our sins anymore. The instrument which accomplished all this was the Holy Spirit, who baptized us into union with Christ’s death, and then raised us into union with Him in His resurrection.
This identity change is critical; you were a slave to sin, but now you’re a slave for Christ. This is the Christian’s most fundamental marker of self-identity.
Peter on Christian self-identity
The Apostle Peter also has something important to say about this. He explained God saves Christians so that, together as a corporate group, they’d go forth to represent Him to the world. Christians are being built up (even now!) into a spiritual house or temple for God (1 Pet 2:4-5). Why is God doing this? So we’d be a group of holy priests, and offer up spiritual sacrifices for the Lord by the way we live our lives and serve Him (1 Pet 2:5). A Christian isn’t just a slave for Christ; He’s a holy priest who represents God to the unbelieving world. If you’re a Christian, you make God known through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the entire worldview it represents.
The prophet Isaiah warned the corrupt Israelite leaders of His day that the time would come when He would sweep their pitiful kingdom of lies away (1 Pet 2:6; cf. Isa 28:16-18). And, Isaiah promised, God would establish a lasting foundation in its place, anchored on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, His eternal Son. Every Christian who repents and believes in the Gospel has a share in this “spiritual house” that Christ anchors (1 Pet 2:7a).
But, unbelievers are destined to stumble and trip over the Gospel message (1 Pet 2:7b-8). That’s where Christians come on the scene, to fulfill our divine mandate to be God’s priests, to make the Gospel message known to the world. Peter explained:
But you believers are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation – God’s own people. The purpose of all this is so you’d announce the wonderful things God did, who called you out of the darkness [and] into His amazing light. You used to not be a people, but now you’re the people of God! You weren’t given any mercy, but now you’ve received mercy! (1 Pet 2:8-10).1
Christians are a chosen people, a group of royal priests who bear Yahweh’s insignia on our uniform jackets. We’re a holy nation of people, just as Israel was under the Old Covenant (cf. Ex 19:5-6) and will be again in the future. If you’re a Christian, God made you a priest so “you’d announce the wonderful things God did” in the Gospel.
This conceptual vision of solidarity in Christ is why Peter urged Christians to “love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God,” (1 Pet 1:22-23). It’s why he command them to “put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,” (1 Pet 2:1). They’re fellow brothers, sisters in Christ and priests for God. It’s what unites them.
So what, you ask?
Who are you?
This means a Christian’s self-identity doesn’t consist of anything but His status as a slave of righteousness and a priest whose job is to make God known to the world in and through the Gospel. If you’re an honest, repentant and professing Christian who locates his self-identity in a particular sinful inclination, or in his own race or ethnicity, then you’re making a terrible mistake. You’re functionally casting aside your status in Christ and placing yourself “under law;” that is, under the dominion of the perpetual condemnation Christ allegedly already freed you from. Let me be blunt:
There is no such thing as a “gay Christian” or a “transgender Christian.” These are illegitimate conceptual categories rooted in sinful self-identity, not in Christ. The only legitimate category is “Christian.” Period.
If you deliberately use your own sin as an identity marker in your own heart and mind, then either your salvation is suspect, or you’re terribly confused. Speak to your pastors. Search the Scriptures. Consider what Paul and Peter said about a Christian’s conceptual self-identity. Paul said we cannot continue in sin (Rom 6:2), and sin isn’t just an external action – it’s also a thought or a status.2
This shift in self-identity Paul called for isn’t just about action; it’s a conceptual shift in your mind because of an objective change in your status – from sinner to saint! Will you remain a slave to your own lusts and to the condemnation of God’s law? Or, will you obey Paul’s command to “present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification,” (Rom 6:19)?
The Christian must make a choice. For some today, this may seem to be an abstract problem. It isn’t. Disagreements over the issue of a Christian’s conceptual self-identity lie behind the recent controversies regarding race (e.g. the MLK50 conference) and sexuality (e.g. the now-annual Revoice conferences) in the evangelical-fundamentalist sub-culture.
If you’re a Christian, you’re a slave for righteousness and a priest for God. Do you think that way? You’d better start, because some of the nicest, most well-meaning and sweetest Christians around are peddling a vision of the faith that’s grounded in sin, not Christ. That’s a problem.
Tyler Robbins is a graduate of Maranatha Baptist Seminary and a pastor at Sleater-Kinney Road Baptist Church, in Olympia WA. He’s also an Investigations Program Manager with the State of Washington.
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- This quotation is my own translation. [↩]
- “Sin is any lack of conformity, active or passive, to the moral law of God. This may be a matter of act, of thought, or of inner disposition or state,” (Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998], 596). For sin as a thought, consider Mt 5:27-28 and Col 1:21 (“hostile in mind”). [↩]