To Uphold Scriptural Teaching of Generations/Lineages and Reject Modernistic Teaching of Races

WHEREAS, The apostle Peter speaks of the Church as “a chosen generation” (“But you are a chosen generation [γένος], a royal priesthood, a holy nation” [1 Peter 2:9 NKJV, 1979; cf. KJV, 1611]); and

WHEREAS, Several modern translations speak of the Church not as a “chosen generation” but as “a chosen race” (“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” [1 Peter 2:9 ESV, 2001; NASB, 1995]); and

WHEREAS, The apostle Peter is using the language of the prophet Isaiah, where Isaiah gives the promise of “my chosen people [LXX: τὸ γένος μου τὸ ἐκλεκτόν; MT: ִ ‫ַמּ‬‫ﬠ‬ ‫י‬ ִ ‫יר‬ִ‫ח‬ְ‫ב‬ ‫י‬ ]” (Isaiah 43:20), such that with this word Isaiah is referring not to racial categories as used in modernism (“modernism” in the sense of post-enlightenment ideology, the mid-1700s and later) to speak of several races divided from one another, but rather speaks of the chosen people of God; and

WHEREAS, The Greek word γένος is used to translate the Hebrew word ‫ַם‬‫ﬠ‬ (e.g., Isaiah 43:20, et al.), which references not race (in the modernistic sense) but people; to translate the Hebrew word ‫ע‬ ַ ‫ֶר‬‫ז‬, meaning seed or lineage (e.g., Jer. 29:32, et al.); and in parallel with the Hebrew word ‫גּוֹי‬ (e.g., Jer. 31:36), which, again, cannot mean race in the modernistic sense, but nation; and

WHEREAS, The prophets use the language of “the people/my people” (or “lineage” or “generations”) to reference not races in the modernistic sense, so that the prophets are proclaiming that the chosen lineage includes all those brought into the promise of the Christ—i.e., the lineage of Abraham (as also the lineage of the promise to Adam and Eve in Gen. 3:15 and of the promise to Noah in Genesis 9), with the people of promise including all those from many other families and tribes whom the Lord gathered into the lineage of Israel (e.g., Ruth the Moabite, Rahab the Canaanite, et al.); and

WHEREAS, The word race prior to modernism refers to the human race (singular), and not to races (plural)—where races are be set against each other, such that the Oxford English Dictionary identifies the first usages of races in the modernistic sense (to denote not the human race descended from Adam and Eve, but several races divided from each other within the human race) to the mid-1700s and later; and

WHEREAS, As those of the Church, the chosen generation (γένος, 1 Peter 2:9), we are given to proclaim not the words of modernistic ideology but rather the words of the prophets and apostles that proclaim Jesus Christ crucified for all nations (ἔθνη); therefore be it

Resolved, That we reject modernism’s doctrine of several “races” by which the human race is divided into different typo logical categories, categories wholly unknown to the prophets and apostles; and be it further

Resolved, That we reject any teaching resulting from or based upon this modernistic category of race, including any teaching of race-supremacy, antisemitism, race division or segregation, or any other form of racism; and be it further

Resolved, That we recognize and affirm our Lord’s promise to the Church that we are a “chosen lineage” or “chosen generation” (1 Peter 2:9), which is the lineage of all those called into the promise; and be it further

Resolved, That we rejoice that as the Church, the lineage of the promise, we are given to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9), a proclamation to be proclaimed to all nations (Matthew 28); and be it further

Resolved, That we affirm that any who teach or promote (whether in public or in private, including all forms of social media) any form of racism, antisemitism, or race-supremacy or division, are to be denounced by the Church for this divisive teaching and called to repentance with the hope and the prayer that the Lord restores them to the Church, the chosen lineage of the promise; and be it finally

Resolved, That the Rocky Mountain District memorialize the Synod to affirm that any who teach or promote (whether in public or in private, including all forms of social media) any form of racism, antisemitism, or race-supremacy or division, are to be denounced by the Church for this divisive teaching and called to repentance with the hope and the prayer that the Lord restores them to the Church, the chosen lineage of the promise.