The Biblical Basis for Multi-ethnic Congregations
Brad Beier
May 2001
In the 1980s, more than 600,000 legal, and an estimated equal number of illegal, immigrants enter the United States per year. The numbers have increased yearly, and immigrants tend to have a
higher birthrate than native citizens.1 In North America in 1993, there were 500 ethnic groups which
spoke 636 languages (26 of those languages are considered major languages).2 In Philadelphia, residents say of the ethnic mosaic in their city, “Walk our streets and you tour the world.”3
In most urban centers in the United States a panoply of races, ethnic groups, and international
immigrants go to schools together, shop at the same malls and supermarkets, use the same medical
facilities, and even dine at the same restaurants. Is there any reason, then, for 11 A.M. every Sunday
to be segregated?4 Have we made an effort to evangelize and enfold “these unreached people who
were beyond our reach prior to their immigration from closed countries?”5 They are generally very
receptive to the gospel because of how the Holy Spirit uses the seismic changes in their lives upon
migrating to a strange land. I hope to present in this paper a biblical historical6 case for planting
multiethnic local congregations7 of Christian churches. We will consider this under three sections:
1) Adam to Babel: from unity to diversity; 2) The reconciliation work of Christ for the nations as
seen in Acts and selected epistles of Paul; and 3) The eschatological multiethnic assembly of the
redeemed. Please note that this Biblical survey is far from exhaustive!
1. Adam to Babel: from unity to diversity.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.”...So God created the man
in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.”
Genesis 1:26a, 27-28b
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth in brilliant colors and perfect
beauty, He crowned creation by forming man from the dust, breathing the breath of life into him,
and making woman from the man. The Creator designed the first humans in His own image, in
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Col 3:10; Eph 4:24). God blessed them and made them to
be rulers and progenitors of the whole earth. From the one man in the pristine garden, the Lord
brought forth every subsequent human being.
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In this genesis, God did not create different races or ethnic groups. Rather, God certainly
“must have put the kind of gene in man to produce diverse people as we have them today. The biblical assertion…shows the unity of man and woman.”8 This common ancestry of the kaleidoscope of
peoples from every nation is what Paul refers to in Acts 17:26: “And He made from one man every
ethnic group of mankind, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and
the exact places where they should live.” How in the world (literally) did the vast variety of humanity’s colors, cultures, and languages arise from Adam and spread across the globe? Before we consider how such diversity entered the world, we must recall that first sin entered the world.
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this
way death came to all men, because all sinned….[T]hrough the disobedience of the one man the many
were made sinners…” (Rom 5:12, 19a). The first man broke the covenant that God made with him,
and consequently, his sin was reckoned to every human’s account. This arrangement is not unfair9
because as the Westminster Shorter Catechism #16 sums up the Scriptural evidence, “The covenant
being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from
him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression.”
Thus, the diversity of mankind is united not only in original creation, but also in original sin.
Every person has in common not only the imago Dei, but that image marred by sin. “Jews and Gentiles alike are under sin….There is no one righteous not even one, there is no one who understands, no
one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who
does good, not even one….There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
(Rom 3:9b, 10-12, 22b-23). Ephesians 2:3-4 explains in more graphic detail how we all are slaves to
sin: “All of us also lived among [the spiritually dead, who follow the ways of this world and of Satan] at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.
Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”
Truly, God is not delighted to call his creatures objects of wrath, but Genesis 6 relates that
Yahweh was so grieved that He had made man that He purposed to annihilate mankind for all his
pervasive perversity. The flood of God’s wrath did not touch Noah, who found favor in Yahweh’s
eyes, or Noah’s family, and God told his servant after the deluge, “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it” (Gen 9:7). Notice that this command
is the same as the one given to Adam and Eve in the garden, before the Fall. There is continuity in
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God’s plan. The many descendants of the one original family were reduced to one family once
again in Noah; but God’s intent was for people to populate the planet.
Accordingly, Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, “from whom the whole earth
was populated” (Gen 9:19). Genesis 10 introduces the table of seventy clans that descended from
these three sons; each section concludes with a formula summarizing the preceding narrative in
terms of families (genealogy), languages (linguistics), lands (territories), and nations (politics).10
Thus the story of the radiation of every nation is first recorded in genealogies, but in chapter 11 the
explanation is given from a complementary vantage point11: the account of Babel.
Nimrod built the city of Babylon (i.e., Babel), one of the first centers of his kingdom (Gen
10:10). At this city the monolingual world of men came together to build a great tower to make a
name for themselves, no longer obediently scattering throughout the earth. God had given Adam
the gift of speech as a blessing, so as to name the animals and speak to his wife and to God; men,
however, were now perverting speech in order to usurp God’s rightful rule. Yahweh would not allow this kind of man-exalting effort to continue and He confused their speech and scattered them
from that place. God put “an end to their arrogant humanism and their one-world policy.”12 But
the judgment of God was sprinkled with grace. VanEngen remarks:
I see Babel as judgment, yes, but also as grace. The beauty of resplendent creativity shines
forth in the wonderful multiplication of families, tribes, tongues and peoples of humanity.
Rather than destroy humanity (which in the Noahic covenant God had promised not to do),
God chooses to confuse the languages. This confusion, although an act of judgment, mercifully preserves all humanity in its cultural and ethnic distinctives…13
The subsequent migration of divergent families and the development of different “dialects and languages reveal that in God’s divine design He planned diverse cultures from the beginning—not a
single centralized society of mankind.”14
The implications of God’s preservation of the various peoples spill over into Genesis 12,
which is the narrative of Yahweh’s call of Abram to leave his country, people, and father’s household and go to a distant land. The promise of God to Abram is this: “I will make you into a great
nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing…and all families
on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2, 3b). The blessing of a great nation through and
great name to Abram was for the purpose of him being a blessing to others. Not only will smaller
people groups (families) be blessed through this man, but larger entities like nations (Gen 18:18) as
well. God’s blessing would “be experienced by nations, clans, tribes, people groups, and individu-
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als.”15 Of course, this promise is passed on to Abraham’s grandson Jacob: “All peoples on earth will
be blessed through your seed” (Gen 28:14b).
Through the seed of Jacob, that is the people of Israel, the multitude of nations would be
blessed. Moreover, the individual Seed of the woman prophesied of in Genesis 3:15 would reverse
the curse put upon mankind, heal the Babel judgment, and perfectly and ultimately fulfill the Abrahamic covenant promise. All peoples are created equal in terms of the image of God and in their
sinful nature. The offer of the gospel promise of the Old Testament (OT) universally incorporates
every nation and people group who receives the promised Seed. When such innate solidarity humanity is seen clearly, a multiethnic church becomes a possibility.16
Even in the OT, a trickle of Gentiles from the nations came into the covenant community of
Israel and worshipped with the people of God. The biblical illustrations of this phenomenon
abound; one is when King Solomon dedicated the temple of God. Solomon prayed on behalf of the
non-Semitic foreigners who would hear of God’s great name and mighty hand, come from distant
lands to the temple, and pray. The King requested that these Gentiles’ prayers be answered so that
all the peoples of the earth might know and fear Yahweh, as His people Israel did (1 Kng 8:41-43).
Not only is a slow trickle of diverse peoples evident in the days of Israel’s kings, but numerous texts prophesy that a veritable flood from all the people groups will unite in worship one day17.
Isaiah is replete with such eschatological predictions of multiethnic worship as 56:6-8:
And sons of foreigners who bind themselves to Yahweh to serve Him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy
mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer….for my house will be called a house of
prayer for all the peoples. Adonai Yahweh declares, He who gathers the banished of Israel:
“Yet even more I will gather unto them who are gathered.”
2. The reconciling work of Christ for the nations as seen in Acts and selected epistles of Paul
As previously mentioned, the Seed of the woman through the godly line of Abraham and
Jacob would become the Savior of the world. Of course, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and Son of
God, fulfilled the promise of salvation which God displayed in the “sight of all people, a light for
revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to [God’s] people Israel” (Lk 2:31-32). Jesus was born a Jew
and was sent first to the lost sheep of Israel, but a study of His ministry will show that He ministered among and called to salvation the Gentiles.18 After His resurrection, Jesus sent His disciples
just as the Father sent Him, and He told them to “make disciples of all the nations” (Mat 28:19). The
Lord said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mk 16:15). Luke recounts
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that the Master taught that “repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in His name to all
the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47).
Acts
Accordingly, Luke opens the book of Acts with Jesus’ instructions to the disciples: “But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (Ac 1:8). Jesus makes clear
that the Gospel audience is to be world-wide, membership in the Kingdom of God is multiethnic,
and the power by which disciples will be made of all the nations is of the Holy Spirit. Acts records
the gospel’s spread throughout the Mediterranean world in just such a manner, radiating from the
Jerusalem outward to the farthest reaches of the known world.
Luke relates to us in Acts 2 that in A.D. 30 on the day of Pentecost, God-fearing Jews and
proselytes from every nation under heaven were in Jerusalem; each language heard the Spirit-filled
disciples of Christ declaring praises to God in his own tongue. Peter preached to the multiethnics
and 3000 responded to Peter’s call to repentance and baptism in Jesus Christ’s name, so that their
sins would be forgiven and they would receive the Holy Spirit who was promised “for you and
your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Ac 2:38-41). The
significance of this multilingual gathering and conversion is highlighted upon comparison of this
event to the Babel narrative.
At Pentecost the Lord of the nations beautifully healed the judgment which was given to the
nations at Babel. The confusion of languages that scattered the peoples in order to discourage selfexaltation is now dealt with in such a way that the multiplicity of languages remains, but the people
can now understand the one message of salvation in their own tongues. Hence, this is not a reversal, but a remedy of Babel, for the diverse languages remain. The gift of the Holy Spirit transcended
the language barrier, so that the people may be joined into the Body of Christ as one. Once again,
the peoples are scattered, but this dispersion is not to prevent them making a name for themselves;
rather, they are to scatter and proclaim the great name of the Lord Jesus. Fernando comments:
Pentecost also signals the breaking of barriers that have separated the human race since Babel, with the formation of a new humanity in Christ….[According to Gempf,] “Babel and
Eden are not ‘undone’ as much as they are redeemed and their negative effects nullified.”19
God does not imperialistically homogenize the church into one cultural expression. Rather, the Holy Spirit unifies the diversity of ethnic expressions among the nations, breaking down barriers, so
that the many may worship as the one. The Pentecost event inaugurated the international church.
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The same Peter who preached at Pentecost ministered mainly monoculturally to the Jerusalem Jews. However, he was the first to take the gospel to the Gentiles when he ministered to Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment (Ac 10:1). This was quite a radical event,
since Peter the Jew had entered the house of and eaten with an uncircumcised (in the flesh) Gentile
to whom God granted repentance unto life (Ac 11:1-3, 18). But soon, cross-cultural evangelism and
multiethnic church planting became the normal means for the good news to spread throughout the
nations.20 Almost everywhere in the early church, the gospel was first preached in synagogues to
Jews and Gentiles who met together.21 Would those who first worshipped together in the synagogues now break off into ethnically-segregated house churches?
Acts 13 lists the diversity of leaders of the church Antioch: Barnabas, a Levite from Cyprus;
Symeon who was nicknamed Niger (Black); Lucius (a Gentile name) of Cyrene (a North African
city); Manaen, a foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul, an ex-Pharisee Hebrew and Roman
citizen. We will now turn to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, to see how he carried the message of
reconciliation to such a plurality of ethnic groups.22
Romans
Among the fifteen language groups named which were present at Pentecost, there were visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes.23 Surely some from the Roman party were among those
who repented and believed in the Christ. Presumably, Saul of Tarsus (later Paul), a devout Pharisee,
was in Jerusalem on that day to witness or at least hear about this divine demonstration of power.
This same Paul later wrote an epistle, “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be
saints,” saints both Jew and Gentile24 (Rom. 1:7a). Many scholars hypothesize that those who saw
the wonders and heard the wonderful preaching on Pentecost are likely those who began the church
in Rome.
First-century Rome “was the greatest city in the world with over one million inhabitants (one
inscription says over four million)”;25 perhaps fifty thousand of those were Jews (including proselytes).26 In A.D. 49 the Roman emperor Claudius proclaimed an edict that expelled Jews and Jewish
Christians from Rome (c.f. Ac 18:2). When Nero succeeded Claudius in A.D. 54, the edict was automatically annulled, which allowed Jewish believers to return.27 During the first two and a half decades of the gospel’s spread in Rome (c.f. 15:23 “many years”), and especially during the time of the
expulsion, Gentile believers grew in number and influence in Roman Christian assemblies. Their
faith was “reported all over the world” (Rom 1:8b) by the time Paul wrote the epistle in A.D. 57.
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Paul may have written this letter while in Corinth before he left for Jerusalem with an offering from Macedonia and Achaia for the poor saints in Jerusalem. As recorded in 15:23-28, Paul
plans to deliver this material blessing from the Gentiles to the Jews, then visit Rome for his first time
(c.f. 1:13) on his way to evangelize the mission frontier of Spain (c.f. Ac 19:21). Although Romans is
a timeless theological treatise sui generis about the righteousness of God, Paul wrote with several
specific intentions in mind. Carson, Moo, and Morris posit that Paul’s “missionary situation” is the
overarching purpose for setting forth his gospel. Among subordinate reasons for writing are: the
threat of Judaizers, “the need to secure a missionary base for the work in Spain,’’ and “to unify the
divided Jewish and Gentile Christian community in Rome.’’28
In short, Paul argues that justification/reconciliation (5:10) with a righteous God necessitates
reconciliation between Christians, no matter what their differences. Keener states:
Most Jews already believed that [they]…were saved by God’s grace, and Jewish Christians
recognized that this grace was available only through Christ; the issue was on what terms
Gentiles could become part of God’s people. In arguing for the ethnic unity of the body of
Christ, Paul argues that all people come to God on the same terms, no matter what their
ethnic [or] religious…background: Jesus alone….Paul stresses justification by faith, a truth
most of his readers would know, especially so he can emphasize reconciliation with one an
other, a reality they still need to learn.29
Romans 9-11 describes how God’s salvation of Jews and Gentiles leaves no room for ethnocentrism, because of grace and the interdependence of one group upon the other in redemption.
Paul’s exhortation in 14:1-15:13 is to the “weak in faith” (likely mostly Jews), namely believers
whose consciences would accuse them regarding certain dietary laws and holy days. The apostle
also wrote to the “strong in faith” (probably predominantly Gentiles and a few Jews like Paul), those
who possess a deeper understanding of Christ’s work and its ethical implications.30 In 15:7, Paul
replaces ambiguous labels (i.e., the “the strong” and “the weak”) with direct call to Jews and Gentiles to receive one another in ethnic reconciliation and cross-cultural edification as united members
of the Christ’s worshipping community.
Christ is not merely displayed here as an example for believers to receive one another;31 but
rather, the very ground of our unrestrained fellowship is that Christ has received all without distinction into His Body.32 Our receiving one another simply manifests the true state of the relationship.
And what is the purpose and result of this mutual support and edification (15:1)? Of course, it is for
the glory of God!
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This glory that God receives comes not only from patient interpersonal relationships within
the Body of Christ, but God is glorified directly as Jews and Gentiles alike praise Him with one
mind and one mouth (15:6, 9-11). God Himself is the source of perseverance and encouragement to
this end, mediating it through the Scriptures to us, in order that in our diversity, we would have the
same mind with one another, that is, the mind of Christ.33 Furthermore, God is the ultimate source
of unity, as implied in Paul’s prayerful tone (15:5).
The Son is the immediate subject in bringing glory to the Father in 15:7, and the unity among
believers will bring glory to God as well.34 This glory to God the Father and Son is evoked in Paul’s
four-fold litany of OT passages about unified multi-ethnic worship. The promise and command of
God’s Word is that pa,nta ta. e;qnh, “all the nations,” will worship with and as Israel; God, by His
Spirit, implements this same Word to encourage and empower this worship.
Although Christ came as the prophet from the seed of Israel, He was raised by God and sent
to the covenant children of Abraham to bless them so that they would be a blessing to all peoples on
the earth (Ac 2:22, 25-26). Christ came not for the circumcision (Rom 15:8) in the strictly fleshly
sense of the word, but he came as a minister of the covenant to which circumcision was a sign and
seal (Rom 4:9-12). Interestingly, the phrase “to confirm the promises,” employed in 15:8 and 4:16, 25
intimate that Christ confirmed the promises for all of Abraham’s spiritual seed who have faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.35 The OT passages that Paul quotes in 15:9-12 demonstrate that the
Gentiles were always intended to worship among and as the covenant people of God, to display
God’s mercy that knows no cultural bounds. This is a call to unity among diversity in the realm of
worship.
1 Corinthians
In the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul issues another call for unity to a diverse church.
When Paul wrote this epistle from Ephesus in approximately A.D. 55, the burden of his letter was
this: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one
another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind
and thought” (1 Co 1:10).
Certain factions existed within the believers in Corinth. Some claimed to follow Paul, others
Apollos or Cephas, and still others Christ (1:11-12; 3:1-4). Paul wrote to convince the believers that
Christ is not divided and no matter which human leaders are in the church, God is the Sovereign
Lord who tends and grows the church like a gardener. Whatever differences exist in terms of spir-
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itual gifts or theological minutiae, Paul reminded the great diversity of believers that they are one
body in Christ by the one Spirit, serving the same Lord by the working of the same God (chpt. 12).36
The diversity was wider than just theological preference or spiritual gifting, though. Corinth
was one of the most culturally diverse cities in the Roman Empire and it was the capital of the province of Achaia. Latin and Greek culture coexisted here, in that the Roman legal and religious expressions dominated the city, while Hellenization was apparent, as indicated by the Greek-speaking
majority.37
Acts 18 is the record of how Paul planted the church in Corinth. Paul stayed and worked
with the Jewish couple Aquilla and Priscilla who had been expelled from Rome by Claudius’ edict
(see above explanation under Romans). Every Sabbath, Paul reasoned in the synagogue, trying to
persuade both Jews and Greeks who congregated there. When most of the Jews opposed and
abused Paul, he left the synagogue and lodged next door with a Roman citizen named Titius Justus.
Soon, Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and all his household believed and they were baptized, as did
many of the Corinthians.
The first Corinthian correspondence implicitly speaks of the diversity among the church.
Paul addresses the Christians as formerly being pagans who worshipped idols (12:2) and offered
sacrifices to demons and then ate the meat (10:14-33). But there were certainly Jews among the
churches as well; in 9:8-10 and 14:34 Paul refers to the Mosaic law, with which the Jews would be
familiar. Furthermore, Paul says that in all the churches he has established rules (based on his Godgiven apostolic authority) that a man should remain in the state which he was in when the Lord
called him, whether circumcised or not, slave or free (7:17-24). Also, the church is a distinct group,
along with Jews and Greeks (1 Cor 10:32), implying that the church contains not other ethnic groups,
but a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. The congregations met in houses38 (and came together occasionally as one assembly for the Lord’s Supper, 11:18; 14:23); up to fifty people could gather in the dwellings of a wealthy person.39
When Paul employs the term evkklhsi,a, “assembly/church,” he usually is referring to a particular local gathering of Christian people. And each local assembly is a full representation of the
universal church, and thus the whole body of Christ as in chapters 12-14. After all, some corporate
identity among the various house churches was necessary for Paul to able to address a single epistle
“to the church of God in Corinth” (1:2). Indeed, each true local congregation is a “visible manifesta-
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tion of an eternal and universal commonwealth,” that is, the invisible church of all time that exists as
the heavenly community.40
Surely all of this indicates that Jews and Gentiles of differing ethnic and social backgrounds
associated with each other in the churches (at least for the Lord’s Supper [11:18], and likely in smaller gatherings). Paul relinquishes his rights as he preaches the gospel to both Jews and Greeks, becoming like those to whom he evangelizes (1:22-24; 9:20-22). He sets the example for the church to
emulate: let no differences among you deter you from preaching and living out the gospel. The
principle is that of Galatians 3:26-29:
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized
into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor
free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you
are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Likewise, “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave
or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Col 3:11). The church is a community of great and small from
every color and caste.41 We live in a pluralistic fellowship and yet we are called to oneness in Christ.
Oh says, “As the Christian lives in the new self, distinctions are removed.” National distinctions (Greek or Jew), religious distinctions (circumcised or uncircumcised), cultural distinctions
(barbarian and Scythian), and social distinctions (slave or free) are removed.42 Perhaps it would be
more precise to say that these barriers remain yet are redeemed and renewed (Col 3:10) as God’s
chosen people clothe themselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience”
toward each other (3:12). Over all of these virtues, they slip on the overcoat of love, “which binds
them [virtues and believers] all together in perfect unity,” as believers let “the peace of Christ rule in
[their] hearts, since as members of one body [they]were called to peace” (3:14-15).
Ephesians
Paul also wrote to the church in Ephesus about this unity and peace amidst ethnic multiplicity. Both Jews and Greeks lived in this city in tension, but many feared the Lord (Ac 19:17). This letter testifies that salvation is not limited to our individual reconciliation with God, but as we are corporately restored to the divine fellowship, we are reconciled to other believers. “The vertical and
horizontal dimensions of peace are interwoven in such a way that it is impossible to speak of one without referring to the other.”43 John Stott remarks that Ephesians 2 displays “the portrait of an alienated
humanity,” then “the portrait of the peace-making Christ,” and consequently “the portrait of God’s
new society.”44
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For He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the
dividing wall of hostility….His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the
two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the
cross, by which He put to death their hostility….Consequently, you [who are Gentiles by
birth] are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household….In Him the whole building is joined together and [is]….built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.
Ephesians 2:14-22
The Prince of Peace made peace between Jews and the numerous nations as He destroyed
their hostility at the cross and created one new humanity out of two. The wall of hostility may refer
to the stone wall of division in Herod’s temple that kept the Gentiles in the outer court from entering
the Jewish-only temple proper.45 This wall embodied the spiritual and spatial separation that was
erected by the Mosaic law with its commandments and regulations.46 The old covenant has been
eradicated in the flesh of God’s Son and He has “replaced [it] by a new covenant for Jews and Gentiles.”47 Christ Jesus killed their enmity in order to bring peace to life.
The Gentiles, formerly foreigners, are now friends and even family members with Israel in
the true Church of God. The language of the covenant community and joint members of God’s
household imply that there will be intimate fellowship among spiritual siblings. Their hostility has
been divinely turned into hospitality. Though this union in Christ and of Jewish and Gentile believers is a mystery, it is the mystery which God purposed in Christ, put it into effect at the fullness of
time, and revealed to the believer. This mystery is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ,”48 and “is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together
with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Eph
1:9-10; 3:6).
Because God eternally purposed and enacted this mysterious union, Christians are able, despite diversity, to pursue vigorously the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (4:1-3). VanEngen says of this Ephesian church: “They are socio-culturally many, yet theologically one.” Paul
defines an authentic congregation as one that embodies “the most essential nature of the Church”
and “demonstrate[s] this dialectical reality as well-- they are simultaneously universal and particular.”49 This paradox of unity and plurality is grounded in the trinitarian God: “Christ’s peacemaking
work has provided access to the Father for both Jews and Gentiles through the one Spirit.”50 What
kind of God has such manifold wisdom, incomparable riches of grace, and mighty strength to create
all of us in Christ to be His workmanship who worship Him together? Let alienation end and reconciliation begin, to the praise of His glory!
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3.
The eschatological multiethnic assembly of the redeemed
The church simultaneously exists in this present evil world of sin and death while it lives
seated in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:1-6). The battle against hostility and division in
the church is not ultimately about different color melanin, language barriers, dress code, or what
instruments one plays in worship. No, the battle is fought in the heavenly realms with satanic forces
that want to rend the Body of Christ into many pieces (Eph 6:12). If the greater reality of the
Church’s existence lies in the unseen heavenly places, we would do well to examine the composition
of the heavenly assembly in determining the legitimacy of multiethnic congregations on this earth.
According to Hebrews 12:22-24, when a believer enters into a relationship with God, he
comes “to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the city of the living God…to thousands upon
thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn,” to God the judge and to Jesus
the mediator of this new covenant. Thus, whether the local church meets in a small house or gigantic sanctuary, a neighborhood gym or state of the art facility, when the saints worship in Spirit and
in truth, they are crowding around the throng of angels around the throne of God.51 What is the
scene in the throne-room of heaven?
Consider the eschatological revelation of Jesus Christ given to John of things which soon
must take place. John tells us in Revelation 5 that he saw upon the throne of God “a Lamb, looking
as if it had been slain,”52 encircled by four living creatures and twenty-four elders53 who fell down
before the Lamb and sang a new song:
You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood
you purchased for God from every tribe, and language and people and nation. You have made
them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.
Revelation 5:9-10
The Lamb opens the sealed scroll, thus enacting history’s destiny; who is the kingdom and
priests who serve God and reign on earth in the new temple, which is the presence of the Lord God
Almighty and of the Lamb (21:22)? Is it the chosen class of Aaron’s descendants? The Levitical order? The ethnic Jews of the nation Israel? Perhaps white upper class North Americans?54 No, this
ruling priesthood is comprised of redeemed representatives from every distinct people group on the
face of the earth. And they do not serve in separate homogeneous shifts in the heavenly temple.
Rather, the witness declares:
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front
of the Lamb. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God,
13
who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Revelation 7:9-10
Note that there is an eternal unity in the diversity. Distinctions within the multitude are
maintained. In this consummation of Pentecost, the elect are not just hearing the good news in their
own tongues, but they are heralding the good news with their own tongues: “Salvation belongs to
our God!”… ~H swthri,a tw/| qew/| h`mw/n… “La salvación pertenece a nuestro Dios.” Diversity is a
blessing and gift of God, which magnifies the riches of His grace which reach the most assorted of
people. The “beauty and power of praise that will come to the Lord from the diversity of the nations are greater than the beauty and power that would come to him if the chorus of the redeemed
were culturally uniform.”55 Such diversity is so valued by God that He paid the infinite price of His
own Son’s blood to purchase people from every ethnicity. The atonement is particular in nature to
purchase some from every ethnic group and it is a universal offer, for all who believe.
There will be no more curse in the new heavens and new earth (22:3) because the Son of God
became a curse for us who were under the curse of Adam. Since color and language and nationality
are not part of the curse, they will remain forever as a blessing from and to God.
[T]he Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple…the glory of God gives [the city]
light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light….The glory and honor of
the nations will be brought into it….And the leaves of the tree [of life] are for the healing of
the nations. No longer will there be any curse.
Revelation 21:22b, 23b, 24a, 26; 22:2c, 3a
Conclusion
I have attempted to examine Biblical history at several major epochs to demonstrate the basis
for planting multiethnic churches. All people share a common ancestor in Adam and then Noah.
We have all been created in the image of God and have all fallen in Adam’s first sin. Though we
may come from far different cultures, colors, or classes, we have all sinned and are in need of a
common Redeemer, the seed of Abraham. Christ Himself commanded His church to reach all the
nations with the Kingdom message of repentance and salvation. And at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit
enabled the church to witness and plant churches cross-culturally. The apostle Paul wrote to cities
and churches of great ethnic diversity, yet he consistently pressed them towards actual unity that
was manifested in the local congregation. Finally, we considered the present and eschatological
heavenly reality of the diverse redeemed community which worships together at God’s throne.
The Biblical evidence is sufficient to show that local multiethnic congregations are legitimate
and necessary expressions of the Church universal. Several qualifications, though, should be made
14
at this point. First, the homogeneous church, that is so common in our time and so vaunted among
the proponents of church growth,56 is a legitimate church model. However, the emphasis on homogeneous units tends to stress cultural differences to such a degree that the Body of Christ’s unity and
the universality of the Gospel are in danger of being misplaced. The strengths of such a uniform
community quickly become weaknesses. Such churches may tend to ignore the ways in which “all
persons share common human traits within a social structure which calls for common sharing of resources and experiences.”57 Scripture commands both “aggressive evangelism of people groups
[and] the reconciliation of alienated diverse people groups…”58
Christians are actually a homogeneous people, in that the congregation has a common affinity in Christ, desire to walk by the Spirit, care for one another in love, and evangelize the lost. Padilla
affirms, “The breaking down of the barriers that separate people in the world was regarded as an
essential aspect of the gospel, not merely as a result of it. Evangelism, would therefore involve a call
to be incorporated into a new humanity that included all kinds of people.” Edmund P. Clowney
asserts, “The point at which human barriers are surmounted is the point at which a believer is joined
to Christ and his people.”59 Ortiz suggests “that the intentional attempts by local ministries to create
multiethnic and multicongregational churches that have been most productive are the ones that
move toward reconciliation.”60 The ultimate end is not diversity but reconciliation to God’s glory as
Christ reigns among all nations!
Second, in relation to the previous, the observation and probability of a homogeneous congregation growing quantitatively faster than a heterogeneous should not be the major impetus in
planting a church. Rather, in a particular community, a more biblical model may be the multiethnic
congregation model. Such a church is born “in a time of need, situation, and environment in a multiethnic neighborhood…”61 Plurality need not be forced in a homogeneous milieu, but there is likewise no need to neglect biblical unity in diversity when the context is an ethnic mosaic.
Third, unity is not to be confused with uniformity, whether among local congregations or
among individual believers. Each local congregation should display both the unity and the diversity of the body of Christ. We need mutuality in which all groups are open to expose others to and be
exposed to cultural diversity. We need international intentionality. Arturo Madrid laments, “Diversity is desirable only in principle, not in practice. Long live diversity—as long as it conforms to
my standards, my mindset, my view of life, to my sense of order.”62 The Spirit does not blind Christians to obvious differences, but He enables His people to appreciate the rich diversity of the re-
15
deemed to the glory of the creative God. Fourth, there is a bigger issue than a once-a-week multiethnic worship service: that of “where we live and how we live the other six days of the week.” Authentic reconciliation comes when Christians daily live in interdependence upon and investing in
each other.63
In addition to the Biblical historical basis, there are several advantages for striving for multiethnic churches. Christ’s cosmic rule and headship of His church is seen more visibly. This is an
opportunity to appreciate and benefit from other cultures.64 Christians will learn better to respect
differences and love all types of people. Visitors may feel more at home in a church community that
is combating prejudice and ethnocentrism. Such a place is a testimony to the watching world of the
power of the gospel to reconcile mankind to God and people to each other.
Certain difficulties may face the church that strives to be multiethnic. Language may be a
barrier for first generation immigrants. Moreover, people tend to hold on to personal preferences
and traditions tighter than unity in worship. Also, different cultural patterns and ways of thinking
will cause conflict and need to be accommodated or changed, insofar as they accord or conflict with
Scripture.65 Training leadership among groups from different cultures will be more time consuming
and challenging.66 Leadership must be shared and representative when biblically possible. Many
ethnic groups prefer aged leaders who have gained years of wisdom, while that is not always a high
priority for Americans. Many case studies have addressed these challenges in helpful ways, and
additional thought and work should be devoted to tackling them.
To summarize,
Churches should seek to “preserve a contextually-appropriate balance between the
UNIVERSALITY and the PARTICULARITY of the Church. We should seek to avoid both
cultural blindness nor cultural imposition…. we should seek to balance the “multi” aspects
with the “ethnicity” factors. In today’s multi-ethnic North America, we need to find ways of
planting “multi-ethnic” churches where cultural and ethnic differences are affirmed, appreciated and celebrated. Yet…ethnicity (particularity) as such must not be the basis of unity for
these congregations…Their basis for unity needs to relate to the universality of the Gospel—
but that universality must complement rather than eclipse the marvelous richness of ethnic
diversity which can be fostered in multi-ethnic congregations.67
C. Peter Wagner, “A Vision for Evangelizing the Real America,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research
10 (Apr 1986) : 61.
1
16
Oscar Romo, quoted in Charles VanEngen, “The Complementarity of Universality and Particularity in God’s
Mission: Reflections on Planting Multi-ethnic Congregations in North America,” presented at the Ted W.
Ward Consultation, “The Development and Nurture of Multiethnic Congregations,” (at Trinity Evangelical
Divinity School, Chicago, IL, Nov. 3-4, 1997), 6.
3 Roger S. Greenway and Timothy M. Monsma, Cities: Missions’ New Frontier, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books,
2000), 83.
4 “It seems that Americans in general alternate between attitudes of hospitality and paranoia in regard to new
immigrants, particularly immigrants of different racial and ethnic groups.” Greenway and Monsma, 93.
5 Enoch Wan, ed, Missions Within Reach: Intercultural Ministries in Canada, (Edmonton, Alberta: China Alliance
Press, 1993), xi.
6 Biblical history and theology should guide our goals in the church. The “unifying element of biblical theology is always the end point of the process, not the process [of God’s progressive revelation in a particular historical context] itself.” The end point is Ps 22:27; Is 2:2; 66:12; 60:5-6; Rev 7:9-10. Harvie Conn in Eternal Word
and Changing Worlds, quoted in Craig W. Garriot, “Leadership Development in the Multiethnic Church.” Urban Mission 13 (Je 1996) : 30.
2
A multiethnic church is “more than just a variety of cultures meeting together under one roof. The
qualitative dimension is essential, having to do with the life of the church,” the organization of the
ministry, and the representation of each group. Maneul Oritiz, One New People: Models for Developing a
7
Multiethnic Church, (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 88.
8 Mark Edward Oh, “Cultural Pluralism and Multiethnic Congregation as a Ministry Model in an Urban Society” (D.Min. diss., Fuller Theological Seminary, 1988), 23.
9 Does each person deserve a clean start with God upon birth, or are we resigned to bear Adam’s guilt? Consider that God is sovereign and has a right to make a covenant relationship with Adam and the rest of mankind as He pleases. Also, Adam was created perfectly in a perfect environment, with every resource and reason to not sin. Dare we think that we would withstand temptation any better in our morally decadent atmosphere? To even think in such a manner is to question God’s wisdom, which is itself sin, deserving death!
10 Barry J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 76.
11 This literary tactic of presenting a positive account followed by a different perspective of human sin and divine judgment is repeated throughout Gen 1-11. Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, vol. 1, The New
Interpreter’s Bible, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), 410-411.
12 Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia of Biblical Difficulties, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), 88.
13 VanEngen, 4.
14 Oh, 9.
15 Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Mission in the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 19.
16 The influence of the Hebrew concept of corporate solidarity upon the early church is key to the discussion of
unity among the people of God.
17 A small sampling of such grand visions and calls to worship include: Pss 64:9; 65:5, 8; 66:1-9; 67; 96; 97:1, 6;
98; 99:1-3; 100:1; Isa 2:1-5; 11:10-16; 19:16-25; 24:14-16; 25:6-8; 42:6; 49:6; 52:10, 15; 55:1-5; 59:18-21; 60:1-11; 62:10;
66:18-19; Joel 2:28, 32; Am 9:11-12; Jonah; Mic 4:1-5; Hab 2:14; Zeph 3:9-10; Zech 8:20-23
18 Cf. Matthews emphasis in 4:12-16 on Jesus’ residence and mission in Galilee of the Gentiles. Luke highlights
Jesus’ rejection by the Jews after His first recorded synagogue sermon, followed in 4:23-27 by His citation of
several OT stories which imply that the Gentiles will receive Him.
19 Ajith Fernando, Acts, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 90-91.
20 Cf. Acts 11:19-30. The scattered lay people planted a church at Antioch, at first homogeneously and then heterogeneously. Jewish Christians taught and worshipped among the Gentiles here in Antioch, where disciples
were first called Christians.
21 “The synagogue of the Freedmen in Ac 6:9 contained all those who had been freed from slavery regardless
of whether they were Jews, proselytes, or devout Gentiles. Likewise with the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians,
and the Cilicians and Asians.” Cf. Ac 13:5; 14:1; 17:1, 10, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8. Roger S. Greenway, ed, Discipling the
City: Theological Reflections on Urban Ministry, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1979), 154.
17
NB: In Acts 15 the Jerusalem Council decreed that Jews and Gentiles should live in unity, as equals in the
Body, accepted by faith alone. The provisions of the decision were given to prevent any conflict that may arise
in the continued interethnic relations, even table fellowship. “The apostles rejected imperialistic uniformity
but they also rejected segregated uniformity.” The assumption of this decree is that unity would be “visible in
the common life of the local congregations.” C. René Padilla, “The Unity of the Church and the Homogeneous
Unit Principle,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 6 (Jan 1982) : 26, 27.
23 The apostle Peter explained this phenomenon according to the prophet Joel: “’In the last days, God says, ‘I
will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Ac 2:17,
21).
24 In Rom 1:5-6 Paul says that those in Rome are among those who have been called from among all the nations (evn pa/sin toi/j e;qnesin); in 1:13 he compares his ministry among them to that among the other Gentiles
(evn toi/j loipoi/j e;qnesin). He directly instructs Gentiles in 11:13. In 2:17-29, Paul addresses Jews; c.f. 7:1
where he speaks to those brothers who “know the law.” In 1:15-16 he is eager to preach in Rome, for the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe: first for the Jew and also for the Greek.
25 Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa, Talk Through the Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983), 373.
26 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
Press, 1993), 412.
27 F. F. Bruce, New Testament History, (New York: Doubleday, 1969), 393. N.B. Priscilla and Aquilla (who were
Jews according to Ac 18:2), were in Rome at the time of Paul’s writing (16:3).
28 D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1992), 251. Also see Jeremy Moiser, “Rethinking Romans 12-15,” New Testament Studies 36 (Oct
1990) : 571-582. Moiser postulates that the plea for mutual acceptance in 15:1-13 is for the sake of the Gentile
mission, as if Paul were saying in 15:14-33, “Provide me with a harmonious base for my divinely ordained
mission to the nations, which is in part is to Spain—your harmony will help me.” (c.f. 574ff).
29 Keener, 413.
30 Knox Chamblin, Paul and the Self: Apostolic Teaching for Personal Wholeness, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books,
1993), 144. Cf. Rom 14:17 – “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
31 I agree with Moo and others, taking the kaqw.j to be causal, not simply comparative. Moo, 875.
32 Cf. John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, The New International Commentary on the New Testament,
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968), 202.
33 R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing
House, 1961), 862. Believers must not simply hold the same convictions (because all may be wrong!), but they
must have oneness in apprehending the instruction of the Word, holding to the very convictions of Christ.
The mind of Christ is not simply their example, but their norm.
34 God’s grace will be glorified by “the holy victory of love over prejudice among the Roman saints.” Handley
C. G. Moule, The Epistle to the Romans, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 400.
35 Of course, the promise made to Abraham included a pledge of blessing for all from the nations who may
become the seed of Abraham by faith (Gen 12:3; Rom 4:11-12, 16-17).
36 Cf. 1 Cor 1:18-31. Any grounds for boasting is destroyed at the Cross, because most of the Corinthians were
not wise and influential by the world’s standards, and those who were are weak and foolish in God’s sight.
Christians are able to boast only in Christ, who has become for all of us “wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.”
37 Carson, Moo, and Morris, 263.
38 Rom 16:3-5 describes how a church met at Aquilla and Priscilla’s house, and the Gentiles were grateful for
their sacrificial service to the Lord.
39 Ben Witherington, Conflict & Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians,
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 30.
40 Witherington, 92.
22
18
“Chromosomes, color, and class did not bring those communities together. Nor were they allowed to keep
the believers of those communities apart.” David J. Hesselgrave, Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North
America and Beyond, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 194.
42 Oh, 45.
43 Vinoth Ramachandra, The Recovery of Mission: Beyond the Pluralist Paradigm, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996),
266.
44 Francis Foulkes, The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament
Commentaries, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 86.
45 Josephus tells us that the inscription on the wall read: “No one of another nation to enter within the fence
and enclosure round the temple. And whoever is caught will have himself to blame that his death ensues.”
Foulkes, 90.
46 NB the violence and anger that erupted when certain Jews thought that Paul had brought Greeks into the
temple area, which would have defiled the holy place according to ceremonial law (Ac 21:27-28).
47 Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 199.
48 Col 1:16a, 17-18a, 19 portrays this unity of the church by Christ’s work of cosmic reconciliation as expressive
of Christ as the head: “For by Him all things were created…He is before all things, and in Him all things hold
together. And He is the head of the body, the church….so that in everything He might have the supremecy.
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.”
49 VanEngen, 35.
50 O’Brien, 210.
51 Mat 6:10 obliges us to pursue the heavenly calling and portrait of unity on earth as much as possible. The
church is somewhat of a colony of heaven—shouldn’t she reflect like a mirror her heavenly home?
52 The slaughtered Lamb is also the triumphant Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David (Rev 5:5). See
Rev 22:16 where Jesus claims to be the Root and Offspring of David. This recalls Isaiah 11:1, 10, where the
Messiah is described as the Root of Jesse, a banner which all the nations will seek and in which they all will
hope. He will rule the Gentiles just as He does the Jews.
53 Each of the creatures and elders held a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which is the prayer of the
saints (Rev 5:8). The worship and prayer of the saints find immediate audience with God among the heavenly
worship and prayer.
54 Heaven has no superior ethnicity or culture or language that squeezes others into its mold. “The Angloconformity theory requires the total abandonment of the immigrant’s ancestral culture in conformity with the
behavior and values of the White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant (WASP) core group. The backbone of the theory is
that all other “ethnics” must assimilate at least in language, dress, food, manners, hygiene, concepts of space,
and the use of time.” Oh, 75.
55 John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), 216.
56 Many at Fuller Theological Seminary have written immensely on the subject within their School of Church
Growth. Donald McGavran and C. Peter Wagner are among the foremost. The Homogeneous Unit Principle
(HUP) is their foundational modus operandi, which says that evangelism and church planting (especially in
North America) is most successful for numeric growth within sections of society that share significant commonality (language, tribe, caste, etc). In short, church membership should be composed of one sort of people.
The motto is: “Men like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic, or cultural barriers.”
57 VanEngen, 22.
58 Garriot, 32.
59 Padilla, 29.
60 Ortiz, 43.
61 Oh, 114.
62 Charles H. Kraft and Marguerite G. Kraft, “Understanding and Valuing Multiethnic Diversity,” Theology,
News, and Notes 40 (Dec 1993) : 7.
41
19
Robert Lupton, “The Multiethnic Church: Unity Inside vs. Community Outside?” Urban Mission 13
(Je 1996) : 13.
64 Listening to diverse cultures with a desire “to understand and obey what God has disclosed of himself in
Scripture and supremely in Jesus Christ” gives us a sort of “instant history” in our globalized community. An
“informed grasp of the diversities of culture will sharpen our [gospel] proclamation” and could “foster synergy in mission.” D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pularlism, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1996), 552.
65 See Ortiz, 138-143 for a very good discussion of small groups within multiethnic churches in relation to
harmony amidst cultural conflict.
66 “A common struggle in multiracial urban churches [in the U.S.]…is the tendency for the white missionminded and able leaders to assume strategic leadership positions.” Whatever economic and educational disparities exist only compound the white-dominant leadership dilemma. There must be “means to equip all
members to develop their spiritual and leadership potential regardless of race and social class, while at the
same time preserving the unity of the body through the way it elects officers and promotes” them. Strict racial
quotas at the expense of qualifications are not the answer. Garriot, 36.
67 Van Engen, 41.
63
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