Of the some eighty images of the church either directly mentioned or alluded to in Scripture, it is Paul’s image of the church as the “new man” (i.e. the New Humanity; Eph 2:15; 4:22–24; Col 3:9–11) that best synthesizes the overall biblical portrait of God’s intentions for the church. No other biblical image of the church so profoundly weaves together the various themes of creation, fall, re-creation, and heavenly destiny than that of the church as the New Humanity.

In my recent book God’s New Humanity: A Biblical Theology of Multiethnicity for the Church, I define the scriptural truth of the church as the New Humanity and its relevance to the contemporary challenges and opportunities of nurturing multiethnicity in and among local churches. While I focus primarily on issues of multiethnicity in the church, the principles drawn from the study also apply to other issues that divide local churches today—socioeconomic class, culture, generational preferences, and the pervasive attraction of affinity groups, not to mention the secondary doctrinal issues at the heart of so much denominational sectarianism in the church today. All of these are dividing walls that must be “deconstructed” if the church is to live out her identity as the New Humanity. They are strongholds in our thinking that must be demolished (2 Cor 10:3–4). The present day phenomenon of widespread segregation in the church along lines of color, culture, and class is at its very core a problem of identity.

We cannot effectively be the church if we fail to understand and experience the essential nature of the church. “Be who you are!” is the incessant call of the New Testament writers. If we don’t know who we are, however, it is impossible to be . . . and to do. Furthermore, our understanding and appreciation of who we are as a community of believers will inevitably determine how we live in community with other believers who are different from us. Where there is a crisis of identity, there is a dearth of authenticity, genuine community, and ethnic reconciliation.

On the other hand, when our identity is reframed, our relationships are reoriented. Distinctions are acknowledged and valued, but boundaries of color, culture, and class are obliterated. Our identity as the New Humanity—not ethnicity, culture, class, or generational preferences—is that which should have ultimate defining force in determining our group boundaries within the body of Christ. Far too often, however, this is not the case. As Figure 1 illustrates, when we attribute primary defining force to such distinctions as color, culture, and class—all of which make up the diversity of the body of Christ and can potentially enrich our experience of community—these distinctions subtly (and often unconsciously) become boundary markers determining group identity.

     Figure 1.1

            This movement toward fragmentation is often fueled by certain sociocultural factors—individualism, religious consumerism, marketplace mentality, and status quo bias. Simply put, color, culture, and class (as well as all the other distinctions that begin to have defining force in our lives) become the determinants of local church identity rather than Christ. The result is segregation in and among local churches—thus blacks tend to worship with blacks, whites with whites, Korean Americans with Korean Americans, baby boomers with baby boomers, millennials with millennials, ad infinitum. From a sociological perspective, we have become very predictable.

On the other hand, when believers experience a renewal of their New Humanity identity with its radical inclusivism, they begin to boldly move into environments marked by diversity in unity. Here such distinctions as color, culture, and class are appreciated, but no longer have primary defining force in determining group identity. Rather, such distinctions are made subservient to our collective core identity as the New Humanity where “Christ is all, and is in all” (Col 3:9–11). Our New Humanity identity is never “color blind”; it never merely overlooks distinctions of color, culture, or class within the church, but values such distinctions. It does, however, redefine our boundaries by doing away with preferential evaluations based upon those distinctions. Our boundaries become intentionally inclusive, rather than exclusive, pushing us toward the diversity in unity that reflects God’s intentions for his church.

Today, our privileged vocation as the New Humanity is to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer—“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Each time we recognize and repent of ways in which we contribute to the present day dividing walls in Christ’s church, each time we reaffirm our New Humanity identity, and each time we enlarge our boundaries to include the different “other,” we are bringing the realities of heaven down to earth and the Trinity rejoices.