Transitions: Cultural Transitions: From Monoethnic to Multiethnic

People experience transitions in all areas of life. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve focused on the kinds of transitions that happen within relationships in families and leadership. This week, we’ll look at a much bigger relational transition and this is how a Christian community can transition from being a monoethnic culture to being a multiethnic one. In order to do this, we’ll look at an event that happened in the life of the apostle Peter that changed the trajectory of the early church. 

How to Use This Guide 

Thank you for taking the time to do this Bible study. When we dig deeper into God’s word, He promises to bless us. We follow in the footsteps of King David, who wrote in Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

This guide will provide a weekly framework for spiritual conversations with friends or family. We encourage you to reach out to a friend or two, pick a time to get together each week, and work through this guide together. This Bible study can also be a good tool for families, perhaps coordinated with mealtimes.

What does the Bible say?

Read Acts 10

You might remember that God promised Abram in Genesis 12 that he would make his descendants into a great people and that through this group, who would become Israelites or Jews, He planned to bless ALL people. In light of this promise, we would expect God to use His people to reach out to gentiles in the biblical story. When we come to the book of Acts, we can see how this expansion happens. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t an easy transition.

In Acts 10, we meet two men who both had an encounter with God. The first was a gentile (a non-Jew) named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea, a city on the coast of Israel. The other is an old friend of ours, the apostle Peter, who was staying in the nearby town of Joppa. Who was Cornelius (see Acts 10:1-2)? Describe how God spoke to him in Acts 10:3-6. How did Cornelius react to God’s visitation (Acts 10:7-8)? 

How did God begin to prepare Peter for what would happen in Acts 10:9-16? What do you make of the visions Peter received? What was Peter’s response in Acts 10:17? God then used some circumstances to persuade Peter to keep an open mind. 

The Jewish dietary laws were set in place after the nation of Israel left Egypt and were about to enter the Promised Land. These laws were important because they set the Jews apart from the surrounding peoples and helped them construct an identity as God’s chosen people. Through the centuries, and even for some today, the food restrictions that Jewish people accept mark them as different. You may see kosher sections in grocery stores today and notice special sales during Passover and Rosh Hashanah. Traditionally, foods and animals were categorized into clean and unclean. A righteous Jew would not eat anything declared unclean by God. This is why the vision and the words of God in it were confusing to Peter. To his credit, he kept an open mind and waited for God to speak further.

How did the Spirit make clear Peter’s next steps in Acts 10:18-20? Peter asked the messengers a question. What was it? What was their answer? What did Peter do next in Acts 10:22-24? How did Cornelius show his respect to Peter in Acts 10:24-27? 

Peter begins his talk by confessing a change of heart. What does he say in Acts 10:28-29? How does Cornelius respond when Peter asks why he sent for him (Acts 10:30-33)? 

Peter then makes a speech that shows his enlightenment in Acts 10:34-43. Here is a short synopsis of the gospel story. In these verses, what details can you detect about Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, exaltation, and the salvation He brings? 

What happened to the people who were listening to Peter in Acts 10:44-46? What was the reaction of the circumcised, that is, Jewish believers? What does Peter say in Verses 47-48?

Acts 10 marks an important step in expanding the kingdom of God. Jesus had already given His followers their mission in Acts 1:8. His orders would lead them to faraway places, with the apostle Paul leading the way. See Paul’s conversion story and call from God in Acts 9. All this was to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham that He intended to bless the world through His people Israel. But, perhaps the Jewish Christ-followers didn’t quite understand how God would expand His kingdom and include non-Jewish believers (see Acts 11:1-18). In the beginning, the leaders wrestled over which aspects of Judaism non-Jewish Christ-followers should take on in order to please God (see Acts 15:1-31).Throughout the rest of the book of Acts, this struggle continues. You can also read about it in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, in which Paul strives to convince the gentile Christ-followers there that they did not have to take on the Jewish laws.

Sadly, many misunderstood Paul’s writings about his Jewish faith in the early church and thought he rejected being a Jew. This wrong thinking eventually led people into anti-semitism. Christians during the Holocaust used the Bible to condemn people in the Jewish ethnic group to death. Slave owners also used the Bible to support their desire to own human beings from African countries and elsewhere. It is shameful to think that any person would use the Bible to reject, belittle, silence, condemn, or dominate any human being. We were all made in the image of God and deserve respect and understanding. 

A strong current will take us along and divide us unless we do something about it. This stream intends to separate people. Christians must not let this happen because we know the ending of God’s story. Revelation 7:9 sets the scene in heaven at the end of days where a great crowd of people, too many to count, worship God. John noticed the differences and diversity within this group of worshipers who were from “every nation, tribe, clan, and language.” Why should we struggle to accept one another here on earth when we will spend eternity together in heaven? 

What makes people prejudiced about other races and come to reject others who are different? As the song goes, 

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,

You’ve got to be taught from year to year,

It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear

You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’re got to be taught to be afraid

Or people whose eyes are oddly made,

And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,

You’ve got to be carefully taught. (from the Broadway musical, “South Pacific”)

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We cannot help the things we were taught when we were young. But, when we awaken to and accept a different truth that tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves and love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we must not reject or back away from what this new perspective requires. What can you do today to show you are on board with God’s multi-cultural plan? Who can you invite to come with you to church? Toward whom do you maintain racist thoughts? Which stereotypes do you believe? Do your responses on Facebook or other social media reflect God’s perspective about people of color? Now is the time to repent of any idealogy or way of thinking that separates and divides us from each other. When you arrive in heaven and find that you are not in a predominately white group of people, how will you feel? Why not start getting ready for that reality today?

If you would like to further your education about race relations, try consulting one or more of the following resources:

Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley

An Asian Introduction to the New Testament, edited by Johnson Thomaskutty

Global Voices: Reading the Bible in the Majority World, edited by Craig S. Keener and M. Daniel Carroll R.

The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race by Willie James Jennings

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