More than racial barriers, there are cultural, political, and religious barriers that stand between neighbors of different denominations, religions, and colors. Christians will be ill-equipped to deal with these barriers and exhibit the righteousness of Christ on an individual and corporate level if they think that confessing the historical racial sins of their church or the potential racial sins of their hearts to themselves and their black neighbors is the prescription for bringing unity to the church and the culture.

Read Part 3 here.

Slavery and racism are significant stains on the fabric of American history. The sins of the American Church are also woven into this.

To acknowledge their sometimes-sinful roles in slavery and racism and to help heal any divisions from them, many denominations have adopted statements of confession and repentance. One of those is the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), even though it did not exist during the period of slavery or the 1950s and 1960s when white racism exposed in the public square.

In its response to Overture 43 from the Potomac Presbytery in 2016, the 44th General Assembly of the PCA corporately recognized, confessed, condemned, and repented of various historical and continuing racial sins in the PCA and its predecessor denominations:

• the segregation of worshipers by race;
• the exclusion of persons from Church membership on the basis of race;
• the exclusion of churches, or elders, from membership in the Presbyteries on the basis of race;
• the teaching that the Bible sanctions racial segregation and discourages inter-racial marriage;
• the participation in and defense of white supremacist organizations; and the failure to live out the gospel imperative that “love does no wrong to a neighbor” (Romans 13:10);
• failures to love brothers and sisters from minority cultures in accordance with what the Gospel requires;
• failures to lovingly confront our brothers and sisters concerning racial sins and personal bigotry; and
• failing to “learn to do good, seek justice and correct oppression” (Isaiah 1:17).

After confessing and repenting of these sins, the General Assembly “praises and recommits itself to the gospel task of racial reconciliation” and then urges

the congregations and presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in America to make this resolution known to their members in order that they may prayerfully confess their own racial sins as led by the Spirit and strive towards racial reconciliation for the advancement of the gospel, the love of Christ, and the glory of God.

This type of repentance has been called “corporate-historic repentance,” the “means God gives us in Jesus to remove the effect of the guilt of corporate-historic sins.” However, its generic, rather than specific, nature seems to miss the mark on confession of sins and repentance.

For instance, Chapter XV of the Westminster Confession of Faith states “Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man’s duty to endeavor to repent of his particular sins, particularly.”

Likewise, general confessions like these do not always fit well within the biblical pattern of dealing with corporate sins. When God said Israel had “sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them” because of Achan’s sin, they were not restored by confessing and repenting of his sin, but by faithfully carrying out God’s judgment on Achan (Joshua 7:25-26).

The Church of England recognized this principle. When the Archbishops of Canterbury and York exhorted their parishioners to “repent of our part in perpetuating divisions” during the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, they did not call on them to repent of the past sins of William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley.

As J.C. Ryle puts it, “There are certain things absolutely needful to the soul’s health and well-being. Each must attend to these things for himself. Each must repent for himself. Each must apply to Christ for himself” (Do You Pray?).

This does not mean corporate resolutions of repentance like are unbiblical. But they must be approached carefully, lest they confuse members and be misused by people inside and outside the church.

In the case of the church catholic, there seem to be those who are using its generic confessions to push their belief that intrinsic white racism is at the heart of the conflicts between white and blacks today.

This appears to be present in the PCA’s commendation of a pastoral letter contained in Overture 55 as a source of guidance for how members “may prayerfully confess their own racial sins as led by the Spirit:”

During our long discussions [at General Assembly], there were moving testimonies of hearts changed, confessions of and repentances for racist language, attitudes and actions, expressions of brotherly forgiveness, and admissions by some that they are reticent to even talk about the issue of racism in the church for fear of the controversy that might ensue. In short, it became ever more clear to us that racism remains a current and ongoing pastoral issue, and that truly pursuing biblical racial reconciliation is not merely a matter of acknowledging the wrongs of the past but of endeavoring to “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly” with our God (Micah 6:8) in the here and now.

Despite the sincere repentance in the hearts of these delegates, this introspective approach couched in the context of white guilt suggests to individual churches that the main problem they must address with racial reconciliation is hidden white racism within their congregations and the world around them. The result is likely to be a lecturing of congregations from pulpits about sins committed long ago by people (often, though not always) far away and about the bitter fruit of that sin that is still being experienced today as a motivation for the local congregation to search their own hearts for racial sins.

Yet this nonspecific, introspective approach grounded in white guilt does little to help the church identify real world problems that provide barriers to their efforts “to live out the gospel imperative that ‘love does no wrong to a neighbor’ (Romans 13:10),” “‘to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly” with our God’ (Micah 6:8),” and “to ‘learn to do good, seek justice and correct oppression’ (Isaiah 1:17).”

More than racial barriers, there are cultural, political, and religious barriers that stand between neighbors of different denominations, religions, and colors. Christians will be ill-equipped to deal with these barriers and exhibit the righteousness of Christ on an individual and corporate level if they think that confessing the historical racial sins of their church or the potential racial sins of their hearts to themselves and their black neighbors is the prescription for bringing unity to the church and the culture.

Bill Peacock is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Austin, Texas. His writings on religion, culture, and politics can be found at www.excellentthought.net.