There is
neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,
slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. -Colossians
3:11 (NKJV)
Some have
recently brought up the fact that people of the past, and I suppose a few in
the present, have used the Curse of Ham in Genesis 9 to justify slavery and
racism. It does not. Some Southern Baptists used this argument
years ago, but none I know of today.
Instead, for years Southern Baptists have spoken against this false
idea.
In a
previous article it, was pointed out that Southern Baptist leader T. B. Maston
spoke against this viewpoint back in 1959.
His book was published then and today by Southern Baptists.
Southern
Baptists have produced a commentary through LifeWay and Broadman & Holman
(B&H); the New American Commentary. It is presented here as just one of many more
examples of Southern Baptists, and conservative Christians, repudiating racism
in all its forms, and repudiating the false view that the Curse of Ham
justifies racism.
The New American Commentary on Genesis 9;
the Curse of Ham.
“There are
no grounds in our passage for an ethnic reading of the ‘curse’ as some have
done, supposing that some peoples are inferior to others. Here Genesis looks only to the social and
religious life of Israel’s ancient rival Canaan, whose immorality defiled their
land and threatened Israel’s religious fidelity (cf. Leviticus 18:28; Joshua
23). It was not an issue of ethnicity
but of the wicked practices that characterized Canaanite culture.
The
biblical revelation made it clear that if Israel took up the customs of the
Canaanites, they too would suffer expulsion.
It is transparent from Genesis 1-11, especially the Table of Nations (Genesis
10:1-32), that all peoples are of the same parentage (i.e., Noah) and thus are
related by ancestry. This we find at the
outset by creation’s imago Dei [man is created in the Image of God], which is
reaffirmed in God’s covenant with Noah and his sons, including Ham (Genesis 9:1,5-6).
The
blessing that befalls all peoples is carried forward by the Abrahamic promises,
which counter the old curses by the blessing received by all peoples in any era
who acknowledge the Lord. ‘Any attempt
to grade the branches of mankind by an appeal to Genesis 9:22-27 is therefore a
re-erecting of what God has demolished’* (cf. Colossians 3:11; Galatians 2:18;
3:28).”
-Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:27, New American Commentary, B&H; 1996.
*D.
Kidner, Genesis, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove: IVP, 1967),
103.
-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor,
June 1, AD 2017.
More
articles in lower right margin.
