14 Gentiles . . . Partakers of the Promise in Christ Jesus
August 14
Gentiles . . . Partakers of the Promise in Christ Jesus
“YOU CAN PERCEIVE my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3:4–6). When Paul wrote that he wrote a very radical thing, for the pious Jew thanked God every day that he was “not born a woman, a leper, or a Gentile.” Here Paul said that Gentiles were members “of the same body,” “fellow heirs,” “partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.” A new concept of society had emerged, and that new concept put its arms around everybody and made them one family of God in Christ.
Two thousand years have gone by since then, and we are still struggling with this conception. This conception is knocking at the gates of exclusion and so-called superiorities demanding entrance. Behind walled barricades the voice comes: “You’re inferior. Not allowed.” Upon those walls of exclusion, however, there is a hand writing, “There are no permanently inferior or permanently superior races—only developed and underdeveloped races. Given the same stimulus and the same incentive, the brain of humanity will come out about the same.” The facts are with that writing. Superiorities are crumbling—crumbling before the facts. I have asked principals of high schools in the northern section of America where there has been integration for many years whether there is any difference in the examination results between the races. They have one reply, “No difference. There are very bright white and very bright black, and very dull white and very dull black, and all shades between, modified slightly by the cultural background out of which they come.” The African, looked on as inferior, feels he must prove himself superior—and often does! In the new world everybody must be fellow heirs.
Dear Father, we thank Thee for this social revolution. Thy little children are on the march out of suppression and poverty into fuller life. Guide them to the feet of Thy Son. There everyone is a person for whom Christ died. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall look on people not as problems, but as possibilities.
