What Does the Bible Say About Interracial Marriage?

What does the Bible say about interracial marriage? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, you name it. You can also post your question on our Facebook or Instagram account. You can also email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. And we do have a YouTube channel, by the way.

You can watch Adriel live on YouTube and send him your question through the YouTube channel so you can check that out as well. First up today, let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners. This is Aaron. Stop looking at that because I'm addicted to it. Sometimes I feel he's mad at me because I look at things like this and I want help to stop looking at it, but I don't get an answer from him. How do I know if he's helping me to stop looking at this?

I would greatly appreciate if you could let me know what the answer to this question is. Thanks. Aaron, the first thing that I would say to you is that God has already given you a very clear word as to the fact that one, this is something that is against his revealed will, and so God is not for this, but he is for you as an individual, and he calls you to walk in his truth and in his light. Your sanctification, our sanctification, that is growth in holiness and in purity after the image of Christ, is the will of God, the revealed will of God, so that you can come to the Lord and say, Lord, help me in this area.

Sanctify me by your grace. And you can know because it's the will of the Lord that he hears your prayer when that prayer is offered up sincerely before the Lord, when you're truly coming before God, asking God for help. Now, in terms of, well, how do we know that this is the will of God?

How do I know that God is indeed on my side in this? Well, think about what the apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 3. This is the will of God, your sanctification.

And then he goes on to explain that some. He says that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter because the Lord is an avenger in all these things as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. Sin does bring God's judgment, God's curse.

And so in terms of, you know, you said sometimes I feel like the Lord is angry with me. We do grieve the Holy Spirit when we sin. We're sinning not only against God, but with something like pornography, the objectification of women, men made in the image of God. We're sinning against fellow image bearers, and that does bring the judgment of God.

And that's why this can't be something that you just sort of let by. You have to be serious about putting this sin to death in your life. And first and foremost, I think that there are some practical steps that you can take, Aaron, in your own life, like getting accountability, potentially. One, if you're not a part of a church where you have accountability, well, first you need to get into a good church where the Bible is clearly taught and you can be encouraged and built up in your faith. That's one of the reasons I think a lot of times so many people are sort of adrift in the ocean of sin, if you will, because they're not a part of a worshiping community. And so if you don't have that, you need to be in that.

And if you are in that, you need to get the help that you need. You know, the scripture calls us to confess our sins first and foremost to God, but I think you can also open up about this to a mature brother in Christ, one of the pastors in your church or one of the elders in your church, to get accountability, maybe getting accountability software on your computer or on your phone or whatever it is that you're using to access this. Just cutting it off and doing whatever you need to do to cut it off at this moment in time because it's this habit that you've created that you can't break.

I mean, you said that this is something that you're constantly doing, and so if that means throwing away your TV, your laptop, your phone, it's that serious. Jesus says if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter into life maimed than with your whole body to be cast into hell. And so Jesus doesn't mince words when he talks about the importance of the mortification of sin, but you need to know that this is something that God is for in your own life, that you can confess your sin and that when you do, he forgives you, receives you, but don't come to the Lord feigning that confession saying, God, help me, but in reality, I'm going to cling to this. I'm not going to be open. I'm not going to confess. I'm not going to get the accountability that I need. The reality is it's not this genuine repentance that leads to life.

It's a lot of times for, I think, many people just the grief that comes with addiction. And so I would say get the encouragement and the help that you need and know that when you come to the Lord, he doesn't reject you. He doesn't cast you out. He calls you to faith and repentance and the life and death of Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ is sufficient even to cleanse this sin.

So go to the Lord in faith and may the Lord help you. And also, Bill, I want to pitch this to you for a second. In terms of addiction, there really isn't a problem when it comes to pornography addiction and sexual addiction as well, wouldn't you say, Bill?

Without a doubt. In fact, some of the research is now showing that pornography addiction can be similar to cocaine addiction and the way it activates certain centers of the brain. So you bet it's a big concern.

And of course, the Bible says to flee from immorality. And, you know, just to never get started with that in the first place, you know, young people, unfortunately, are being exposed to pornography at younger and younger ages. And then it really does set up a pattern that can lead into adulthood and even worse forms of pornography. So I'm glad you said what you said accountability groups. We've talked about Celebrate Recovery. And there are other groups for people who have different types of sexual addictions.

That is definitely something that I think he may want to consider. So thank you for that. That great word, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, maybe something you're struggling with in your Christian walk. As our last caller was, feel free to give us a call. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Andre calling in from Longview, Texas. Andre, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Well, first of all, God bless you guys and thank you for taking my questions.

A pleasure to speak with you guys, as always. But my question specifically today is on two doctrines, the doctrine of free will and the doctrine of election. And I believe in the doctrine of election as the Bible teaches that I mainly go to Romans 9.

It's pretty clear there to me now how it's teached and what the Bible teaches is two completely different things. And I see in Romans 10, it says those who repent and confess and I'm paraphrasing with all their heart will not be put to shame. So I really struggle with the order of things because if irresistible grace existed, that means that, you know, the way I see it is that the Lord opens your eyes to understand that you're a sinner, OK, and you repent and confess. But do you do that because of irresistible grace or do you submit yourself to the Lord? Basically, can you neglect the gospel at that point?

I struggle with that. Andre, thank you for your encouragement and for getting us into some of these important doctrines, the doctrine of election that is God's choice of people, people groups. You think of the election of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, God choosing Israel, but also of individuals. And there in Romans chapter 9, it does seem like it's speaking about God choosing individuals for salvation. I mean, that's the big question that the apostle Paul raises there at the beginning of chapter 9. He's grieved because so many of his kinsmen, his brothers, according to the flesh, the Jews, had rejected Jesus when Jesus first came. And Paul's response is not that the word of God has failed.

God is at work here through his sovereign purposes. And then he begins to give the examples of Esau and the example of Pharaoh and God working in individuals to bring them to salvation. He talks about the true offspring of Abraham, if you will, by faith. And then in chapter 10, you get that call to repentance in faith. How are people going to believe unless a preacher is sent, someone to proclaim the gospel?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Now, you brought up the question of irresistible grace. But first, I think what we can say is, in our own nature as human beings, as sinful human beings, we're always resisting the grace of God. We're turning from the Lord, embracing our sin. You think about Stephen's speech in Acts chapter 7, verse 51. He says to the hard-hearted Jews on that day, You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did, so do you.

In other words, this is just kind of our default, right? Even people who externally seem really, really good, we still, when it comes to the grace of God, when it comes to the grace of salvation, it's not something that we just naturally want or embrace because it exposes our sinfulness and our need of the Lord. So the idea is that God goes beyond just giving us a little bit of spiritual insight and that He raises us from the dead spiritually. This is what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2.

You were dead in trespasses and sins, but God has made you alive together with Jesus Christ. And so that response that we have of faith, of turning to the Lord, that's rooted in the work of God and what He's done in us to reveal Himself to us. It's all of grace so that no one can boast saying, Oh, you know, the reason I came around was because maybe I was more insightful, maybe I had more theological learning, maybe I'm just more understanding than others.

No, but for the grace of God, we would have remained dead in trespasses and sins. And yet, at the same time, the Bible is very clear, brother, that mankind is responsible. That when people are condemned, it's not because of some want in God, something that was lacking in Him or in His grace. It's because of our own sinful actions, our own turning away from the Lord. And so you're holding together these two things, the sovereignty of God in salvation, in redemption, and the fact that we are responsible before the Lord. And so I think sometimes people get frustrated about that tension, but again, this is just what Scripture gives us, and it's not a contradiction. It's the reality that all of us, God is just in giving us essentially our wages, the wages that were due to us, the wages of sin is death. And it's God's mercy and kindness that He plucks us out from that condemnation through His Son, Jesus. And so affirming the sovereignty of God and also affirming the responsibility of mankind before a holy God I think are both very important, both what we see in the Scriptures.

Thank you for giving us a call, Andre. Thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity, and as you said, Adriel, it's a tough balance, it's a tension that we have to live in. And as finite human beings, we're never going to fully understand that, are we? Well, when it comes to so many things that we look at in Scripture, we're not talking about contradictions, but we're talking about the mystery of God's sovereignty, of His decree, of how He, you know, ordained all things from eternity past, and yet at the same time is not the author of evil. Because there is no sin in God, and God doesn't tempt anyone with sin, and so we're trying to make sense of the wonder of who God is and how He governs the world from our own finite human perspectives.

And it's okay for us to say, Lord, this is above my pay grade, frankly. And isn't that at the very end of, in that section in Romans 9-11, at the very end, as Paul has been meditating on this great doctrine and the response of the Jews and how God is working in and through that, he says in chapter 11, verse 33, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways, for who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor, or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid? In other words, God doesn't owe us anything. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. In other words, this greatness, these doctrines, which are truly magnificent and, you know, it's just not easy for us to wrap our minds around, and yet they should still lead us to worship and wonder that this God that we love, this God who's called us into His presence, is the one whose judgments are unsearchable and His ways are inscrutable. Really an amazing thing.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Hey, we want to let you know that we are a listener-supported ministry.

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Love to have you prayerfully consider joining that very special group of people. Well, we do receive emails here at the Core. In fact, you can email us anytime at questions at corechristianity.com.

Here's an email from one of our listeners. At the end of a recent episode, Pastor Adriel made mention of the current cultural moment with reference to spiritual leaders now accepting previously, quote, unaccepted things. To come straight to the point, I'm wondering if interracial marriages fall into that category as well. I was raised in a Protestant home to the values of, quote, keeping to our own for various reasons, but most of all because my parents still to this day believe that's how God intended it. No thought was ever given to the possibility of an interracial relationship, even with another Christian. Now I'm raising my own children and I'm wondering if this is something I should be teaching them as well. I'm aware of interracial marriages in the Bible, but I know God warned against it in the Old Testament. In today's world, it's much harder to teach and act this than 30 years ago. Please provide your guidance.

It's very much appreciated. So when I was talking about the current cultural moment and Christian leaders accepting things that, you know, just historically the Church has rejected, it was not talking about interracial marriage. Not at all, in fact. I was thinking more specifically in the context of the question that we received, we were talking about sexual ethics and the churches that are beginning to affirm things like the LGBTQ movement, saying that's not sinful, gay and lesbian relationships are not sinful. Well, no, it's clear according to scripture what the Bible has to say about that. So my concern there was pastors that were going in these directions sort of capitulating to culture. But there are other cultural things that we do and even the Church has done that are also not biblical or scriptural.

I mean, there's a history of racism, of racist ideology that we have to be honest about, and we also have to call out, frankly. And so some of those sentiments, you know, with regard to, boy, you know, should we keep to our own? You know, is there something about that there with regard to God's word? Well, what we do find in scripture, and you mentioned it, is we do find actually examples of interracial marriages.

Certainly Moses is probably the most well-known example, and it's sort of interesting there, because Moses is rebuked by his family members for entering into this interracial marriage, and God judges those who were speaking against him. Let me just read the passage. This is Numbers chapter 12, beginning in verse 1. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman, Cush is a region of Ethiopia, the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. So you have Miriam, the prophetess, and Aaron was also used mightily by the Lord, speaking against Moses for this. And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?

Has he not spoken through us also? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting. God says, I want to meet with you guys about this.

There's a problem here. And the three of them came out, and the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting, called Aaron and Miriam. And they both came forward, and he said, Hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision. I speak with him in a dream, not so with my servant Moses.

He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. And as a result of this, Miriam is in a contract leprosy. Actually, the judgment of God is going to fall upon her for speaking against Moses. Why is she speaking against him? Because he married a Cushite woman, and God judges her, and eventually Moses prays for her, and she's restored after a period of seven days.

There's one example. Sometimes people will say, well, in the Old Testament, the Israelites weren't allowed to marry outside of Israel, the nations of the world. And in part, that wasn't about interracial marriage. That was about marrying outside of the covenant. This is why under the New Covenant, it's not that you can only marry within your quote-unquote kind. It's no, the way that's sort of fulfilled, if you will, under the New Covenant is marrying within the faith.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 that a person is free to marry so long as the individual is in the Lord. So the biggest question we have to ask ourselves when we're thinking about relationships is not, you know, is this going to be an interracial marriage or relationship, but is this going to be a relationship where the two of us are in the faith, believing in Jesus Christ, one in the body of Christ. And sadly, that hasn't always been the priority.

It needs to be the priority. And so it concerns me, you know, when I see, I've had, you know, seen this even in the church as well. I was talking to a brother some time ago who was telling me of a church that he knew of not too long ago where there was actually a church split because of an interracial marriage within the body. And I remember thinking, are you kidding me? What year are we talking about?

It actually wasn't that long ago. But it goes to show still some of those prejudices, sinful prejudices that remain that need to go back to the scriptures and look at what the text of scripture says and submit to that because oftentimes we can impose our own sinful ideologies onto the teaching of the Bible and that's something that needs to be rejected. And so, yeah, I appreciate the email and that should provide some clarification. Thanks for that, Adriel.

Great clarification. Thanks for going to that passage of scripture, which is really helpful. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go to John in St. Louis, Missouri. John, what's your question for Adriel? I'll make this shorter. Thanks a lot for allowing me to come on.

I want to ask a question. When Paul was referring to the last days when he was on the earth, was that when he knew, is he speaking of the current times that we're living or was that during his times that he was living in? And when it says the last times, is that related to where God sends a delusion to people that they just turn away from God and then the devil blinds them from the truth? So I was just trying to figure out what does the last day refer to? Does it mean that they just totally reject Christ or is that when Jesus is close to coming? All right, thank you. Hey, John.

So I would say both. I mean, I think when the apostle Paul or John, when they speak of the last days, so John in 1 John, for example, he says, you know, the antichrist is coming. He's already here. The spirit of the antichrist is already here, John says, in his day. So ever since the death and resurrection of Jesus' ascension into heaven, we're in this moment, if you will. The time between his first and second advent, we are living in this age of tension.

The last days, I would say. Now, you might think, well, boy, it's been going on for quite a while, but the fact of the matter is that's what the Bible says. And so when Paul in places like 1 Timothy 4 says the spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons. I think in part he's referring to things that were happening in his own context, some of the false teachers that were around there, but it certainly also speaks to our present situation. And so that's why we have to be vigilant. And how is it that we're vigilant? Well, first and foremost, it's by fixing our eyes on Christ, on his word, on the gospel, growing in the grace and the knowledge of Christ, which is what we want to help you to do every single day through this broadcast. I appreciate your question. May the Lord bless you. And we'll see you next time on Truth of God's Word together.