Should We Repent of Privilege?
We hear constantly about ‘privilege,’ and the need to ‘repent’ of that privilege. So just what exactly is ‘privilege’? Does it even exist? And how should we respond to our privilege?
What is Privilege?
First, let me say clearly: yes, privilege exists (if you want to call it such). But what is it? It is nothing more or less than the advantages that a person has in life. In this sense, it is simply those gifts that God has given you.
The person who is born into a rich family naturally has more privilege than the one who is born into a poor family. The person who is born into a stable family with a father and mother naturally has more privilege than one who is grows up in a single parent household. And even that person has more privilege than the one who grows up as an orphan. If we want to use this word ‘privilege,’ then everyone has some.
You have more privilege if you went to a good school than the person who went to a bad school. You have more privilege if you had mentors in your life, than the person who had no mentors. Privilege is nothing more or less than the benefits and advantages that God has given you in life – the advantages that some people don’t have.
Should we Repent of Privilege?
Of course not – because they are blessings from God! There is nothing wrong with this ‘privilege.’ It is simply the result of human flourishing – it is what God intends for all humanity. If I grew up in a stable family with both father and mother, I shouldn’t ‘repent’ of that. Rather, I should be grateful for it, and I should regret that not everyone had that experience. In a perfect world, everyone would have that ‘privilege.’
Rather, the author of Psalm 103 tells us how we should respond to the ‘privileges’ that God gives to us – “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…”
What about White Privilege?
But what about ‘white privilege’ – the fact that white people are treated better than others, are given the benefit of the doubt, and seem to be more successful than others?
I won’t deny that it is a privilege to be a white person – but it is also a privilege to be any kind of person! As Doug Wilson eloquently says, “To be a black man or a black woman, created in the image of God, is a high privilege indeed. That is a true privilege. This privilege is tempered, as it also is with white men, with the shame and guilt that attend being a sinful member of a fallen race. The image of God is marred in every ethnicity, but it is still there, and it must be honored and respected there. Anyone who begrudges that privilege has a problem with God.”[1]
But what about the fact that white people have unique advantages over other people? Insofar as this occurs, it is not an issue of privilege, but of partiality. To treat one group of people better because of their melanin count is wrong, just as it is wrong to treat people worse because they have a different melanin count. James counsels us well (especially if we replace ‘rich man’ with ‘white man’):
“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:1-4)
The sin, of course, is not that a rich man has come into the assembly; it is that individuals are showing partiality.
In other words, the fact that other people treat me better, because God made me a certain way, does not mean that I need to repent. It rather means that those who show partiality need to repent. Such partiality is a sin, and we should speak against it. But we do not need to feel remorse or sorrow that God has made us the way that He has.
Countercultural
This is incredibly countercultural stuff, but it is biblical. Beware of being swept away by those who say you need to renounce your privilege. Rather, give thanks that God has privileged you in unique ways – and then work to be a blessing to others.
[1] https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/s7-engaging-the-culture/minneapolis-burning-and-black-privilege.html
Can you point me to a single source that indicates that Christians ought to “repent” of privilege? That is not remotely close to the posture that most Christians who acknowledge white privilege advocate. It really feels like you copied people who set up a straw man in order to more easily tear down the argumentation of the opposing viewpoint.
“But unless I, and all who have experienced this same quiet privilege, recognise it, own up to it, repent of it, and commit ourselves to change, then this current fresh awakening of the reality of racism and the need for change that is both structural and personal will pass as those that have come before have passed. It is time for justice. It is still, for me, found in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.”
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/12-june/comment/opinion/the-quietly-privileged-need-to-repent-and-commit-to-change
Thank you for this (as always) thoughtful and courageous response! I see your point that on an individual level we are not responsible or ourselves sinful when treated with partiality. I think there is an important distinction between being thankful for God’s blessings vs benefits bestowed by humans motivated by partiality. As you wrote, we should speak out against the latter; this is not something to thank God for, but rather sin to be grieved by. Ezra and others confessed sins of their nation or forefathers which they did not themselves commit. In that respect, I do think that we should repent for the state of our society, especially as we ourselves are unlikely to be totally impervious to the sin of partiality. For full disclosure, I am a Christian K-12 homeschooled Chinese American now in graduate school, and at times I have conscious derogatory thoughts about people and their worth or character based on their appearance/race. I do not blame this on American society because every culture, including my immigrant parents’ original culture, tends to have self-glorifying pride, self-superiority, and xenophobia to varying degrees. Even if I have not committed any apparent sin of partiality, I think this issue is still a sin I should repent of in prayer, on my own behalf and also that of my country. It’s interesting to ponder how God justly gives people blessings, and He is also sovereign over the actions of unjust people which can result in benefit to me. Do you think it is valid to draw a parallel between benefiting from racial partiality and benefiting from someone who robs another and gives you the proceeds?
Or what if a person held me in high regard because someone else had lied and told him/her that I had certain credentials? This may be too far of a stretch to be relevant, but it’s an interesting thought experiment.
Hi Sarah, Thank you for your thoughtful and thought-provoking comments! I enjoyed your thinking on this subject. I agree with you that we should recognize the sins of the past, and by no means should we sweep these things under the rug or act as if they were not wrong. They certainly were! Sadly, many evil things have happened in the past. To the extent that we, as a nation, are guilty of these things, they certainly ought to be repented of. One example that comes to mind is Jackson’s ‘Trail of Tears’ for the Cherokee Indians – a truly evil action, officially sanctioned by the government. That is different, however, from the individual actions that individuals take.
You ask a very good question: “Do you think it is valid to draw a parallel between benefiting from racial partiality and benefiting from someone who robs another and gives you the proceeds?” In order to answer this question, let me ask another question: how much knowledge do you have of the actual crime? If I knowingly benefit from a bank robber who stole 1 million dollars, obviously I am complicit in his crime. But if someone walks into my store, buys a $100,000 item from me, and then I later learn that it was with stolen money, am I guilty? No, obviously not.
This becomes more complicated when we remember that God’s judgment is on the individual (Ezekiel 18:20). We live in a fallen world, and the effects of that fallen world are impossible to sort out fully. People did unjust things in the past, but it is neither necessary nor possible to sort all of those things out. To take the most obvious example: living in an affluent suburb, one may have benefitted indirectly from ‘redlining districts.’ (Redlining, by the way, is not wrong unless it is racially motivated – but it does appear that there was a fair amount of racial redlining in the past). Racial redlining is wrong, undoubtedly; but me living in a suburb does not make me guilty of racism; I am in the same position as that of a store owner who unknowingly sells a TV to a bank robber. I did not do evil in this situation, and even if previous generations did evil to ‘set me up’ for success, then they are accountable to God for this.
I know this is a lengthy reply – I hope it is helpful. I welcome any more thoughts and discussion on this!
Blessings,
Daniel
We just went through Answers in Genesis 2019 conference on Race with Voddie Bauchum, – which AIG had no idea everything would “blow up” in 2020. Your post is right in line with AIG’s teaching. This is the Biblical message! This is the Message we need to preach, one physical race, two spiritual races. Melanin count. None of us are either white,black or yellow. Great post.