Racism

Gentiles Who Obey the Law: Believers or Unbelievers? | Jarvis Williams on Romans 2:14–15

Kirk E. Miller

Romans has several debated passages:

  • Does the slavery to sin described in Romans 7 match the experience of the believer or the unbeliever?
  • Does Romans 9 describe God predestining some for salvation and the rest to damnation?
  • What does it means for “all Israel” to be saved in Romans 11?
  • Must we always submit to the government per Romans 13.

However, when I taught through Romans back in 2013, I personally found Romans 2 to be the most difficult to interpret in the entire book, despite often being overlooked compared to these others.

Today New Testament scholar Jarvis Williams joins me on Logos’s What in the Word? to discuss the identity of these law-abiding gentiles. Are they

  1. Non-Christian pagans who, at least to some degree, abide by their morally calibrated consciences (natural law)?
  2. Or regenerate gentile Christians who have God’s law written on their hearts as promised in the new covenant?
Check it out!

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Ham’s Sin Against Noah & the Curse of Canaan (Genesis 9:18–29) | Chad Bird

Kirk E. Miller

Immediately after the flood, Noah gets drunk, and Ham sins against him by “seeing” his “nakedness.” Noah responds by cursing Ham’s son, Canaan. But what exactly did Ham do against Noah, and why does Noah curse his son instead of Ham himself?

Additionally, this passage was infamously used to justify racism against and the enslavement of black Africans. Appeal was made to the so-called “curse of Ham.”

So how should we understand this passage? Dr. Chad Bird joins me on What in the Word? to discuss.

Check it out!

Follow the show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more.

How to Talk about Race (with Isaac Adams)

Kirk E. Miller

Bring up race and people tense up and dig their heals in. Why is this? Why is talking about race is so difficult, and no less in the church? In this episode, Isaac Adams sits down with Kirk to talk about talking: how can we have better conversations about race? Or even more fundamentally, why do we need to have better conversations about race? Based on Adam’s recent book, Talking about Race: Gospel Hope for Hard Conversations (Zondervan, January 2022).

Access the episode here. (Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.)

A Christian Vision for Racial Solidarity: An Alternative to Hostility, Hysteria, and Apathy

Kirk E. Miller

A Christian Vision for Racial Solidarity: An Alternative to Hostility, Hysteria, and Apathy
Christian Camp and Conference Association
Wisconsin Sectional Annual Conference
March 15th, 2022

Podcast link.

Lately, our society has witnessed increased attention and concern for matters of racial justice. Of course, as Christians, the equitable treatment of others aligns with our deepest moral convictions. However, many in society, including some Christians, have raised an alarm around this racial reckoning. Other Christians experience frustration or despair, interpreting this reaction as an attempt to hijack and derail progress on race. Where are Christians to begin when so many are given over to hysteria, hostility, and apathy? And how might the Bible and a Christian worldview lead us to a better alternative–namely, racial solidarity?