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male; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:27-28). And
this new unity and oneness which men found in Christ was not only
a spiritual oneness; it was manifest in the common life of the local
congregations. To be sure, the general acceptance of this concept of
the Church was not won without much searching of heart on the part
of the early Christians, many of whom felt that the Gentiles ought
first to become incorporated into the Jewish community before being
accepted into the Christian fellowship. But the important fact is
that due to the experiences and labors of such men as Stephen, Peter,
and Paul the Church came, within the lifetime of the Apostles, to
acknowledge its supraracial and supranational character.24
The Christian thus sees that God is at work in the common life
to bring into being a new, inclusive community. This is His intent
as seen in Creation; it is His intent as seen in the judgments which
He metes out upon all of men’s denials of their oneness; and it is His
intent as seen in His revelation of His love in Christ and in the fellow
ship of the Church. As Redeemer, God is seen to be offering forgive
ness to men who are unworthy of His love; and He is seen to be
giving men freedom and power to practice love in the common life.
In response to the Redeemer’s action, the love which is revealed to
be God’s attribute and His gift is seen also to be a requirement upon
man in relation to his fellowmen; but the requirement does not repre
sent a new law as much as it does a new understanding of reality,
a new understanding of God. A new kind of love is seen to be required
of men, but it is given to man before it is required of him; for it is only
in the receiving of it that it is known to be required of him, just as
it is only in this receiving of it that it becomes a possibility for man
in his relationships with his neighbors.
The first response of the Christian to the love and forgiveness of
God is, therefore, the acceptance of this love and forgiveness in hu
mility. Because he knows that his salvation—his experience of God’s
love and companionship—is entirely unmerited, he is forbidden to
judge the neighbor and to assume that he is more righteous than
the neighbor. He is called, rather, in humility to confess his own sin—
his own individual acts of evil, his own indifference to the neighbor’s
need, and the poverty of his own love. He is summoned also to con
fess his own responsibility for the common guilt; for although he may
not personally engage in or endorse the grosser acts of injustice,
24 See W. A. Visser’t Hooft,
The Ecumenical Movement and the Racial Prob
lem,
Paris, UNESCO, 1954, pp. 53-55.
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Biblical Faith and Social Ethics