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The Letter to the Churches |
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of the Georgia Convention |
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1. From Paul, a delegate, not from any human organization nor appointed by any human being, but by Jesus himself and by the Father-God who raised him from the dead, and from all the brothers here with me; To the churches of the Georgia Convention. 3. Warm greetings to you and peace from our Father-God and from the Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly got into our sinful mess with us so as to pull us out of this present-day wickedness. Such was the eternal intent of our Father-God, to whom the credit is due through all ages. 6. I am shocked that you are switching over so soon from the gospel of the one who converted you to Christ’s grace to some other "gospel," which really isn’t a gospel at all. It is the invention of some fellows who are getting you all confused by trying to rearrange the Christian message. Now get this straight: Even if we or an angel fresh out of heaven preaches to you any other message than the one we preached to you -- to hell with him! 1 It’s just as I told you before and am telling you again now, if anybody brings you a gospel different from the one you received, to hell with him. 1 10. All right now, is it God or man that I’m responsible to? Do you think I’m trying to be popular? Well, if I am, then I’m not a committed Christian. 1 want to make it perfectly clear, brothers, that the gospel message which I preached to you is not of human origin. Neither did I get it from a human being, nor was I taught it. It was opened up to me by Jesus Christ himself. For you are aware of my previous life as a white Southerner, how fanatically I harassed the movement and violently attacked it, and how I went far beyond most white Southerners of my age in zealously defending and promoting the traditions of our noble ancestors. But when He, who changed my course before I was ever born, and by His grace called me—when He spread his good news among Negroes, 1 did not at first breathe a word of this to any living soul, nor did I go up to Atlanta to talk with the denominational leaders. Instead I went up North, and later returned to Savannah. Then after about three years I did go to Atlanta to visit Rock, 2 and I stayed with him for fifteen days. But I didn’t see any of the other leaders except Jim, the Lord’s brother. (Honest to God, I m not lying about what I m writing you.) From there I went into the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. But I was not known personally to any of the Christian groups in Georgia, except that they were hearing that "he who once harassed us is now advocating the way of life he previously attacked." And they were praising God for what he had done in me.
1. Fourteen years later, because of an insight I had, I went again to Atlanta with Barney, taking Titus along with us. There I laid before them the message which I preach among Negroes. (I did this privately before the executive committee, so that what I was doing - or had done - might not be wasted.) But not even Titus, the Negro professor who was with me, was compelled to abide by Southern traditions. However, there were some sneaky phony Christians who slipped in to spy on the freedom which we enjoy in Christ Jesus, so as to make us slaves of their system. But we did not give in to them for one minute, so that the truth of the gospel might be firmly established for you today. But from those on the executive committee (actually I don t care who they are; God doesn’t recognize human distinctions) -- but as I say, those on the executive committee had no changes to suggest to me. Rather, they clearly grasped that I had been made responsible for getting the word to Negroes, just as Rock had been to whites. For obviously the same one who had empowered Rock to work among whites had also empowered me among Negroes. So when they understood the privilege with which God had favored me, Jim and Rock and Jack, the key leaders, warmly shook hands with Barney and me, so that we might work alongside the Negroes, and they with the whites. Their only suggestion was that we always bear in mind the poor, and this I have been most diligent to do. 11. But in spite of all this, when Rock came to Albany I had to rebuke him to his face, because he was clearly in error. For, before the committee appointed by Jim arrived, he was eating with Negroes. But when they came, he shrank back and segregated himself because he was afraid of the whites. He even got the rest of the white liberals to play the hypocrite with him, so that even Barney was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not planting their feet firmly in the truth of the gospel, I said to Rock right in front of everybody:
1. You slow-thinking Georgians, who hoodwinked you -- you before whose eyes Jesus was graphically portrayed as strung up? I want to learn this from you: Were you converted by keeping the customs or by obeying the faith? Are you all that dumb? Having started out on a spiritual level, are you now winding up on a physical one? Did you suffer so much for nothing -- as it may turn out? Does God nourish you on the Spirit and do great things among you when you are keeping the traditions or when you are obedient to the faith? 6. Just as Abraham 3 lived by the Unseen, which was the thing that put him right with God, so you should realize that only those who likewise put their complete trust in God are true "white" men. The Scripture foresaw that God would accept all races on the basis of their faithfulness to him and long ago told the good news to Abraham that "through you all races will be given dignity." So then, all of those who share Abraham s faithfulness are accorded his dignity. 10. People who try to observe the taboos and customs are really in a bad way, for society says, "Woe to that man who doesn’t abide by everything prescribed by our Southern heritage and way of life." Yet it is as clear as day that nobody ever got right with God by the traditions, because "God’s man shall stand on his faithfulness." But customs are not based on faithfulness to God but on a strict adherence to the customs themselves. Christ liberated us from the damning effects of the customs by letting them fall on him instead of on us, just as they say, "Whoever gets strung up on a tree is a damned fool." The inner purpose of his doing this was that Negroes might be accorded the dignity of white men in the Christian fellowship, and that we all, by our faithfulness, might receive the assured support of the Spirit. 15. Brothers, let me give you a human example. Nobody is free to disregard or change a man’s contract once it has been signed and recorded. Now God’s contract stated that it was with "Abraham and his child." It does not say, "and with his children," plural, but "child," singular. Now this "child" is Christ. So this is what I’m saying: Our customs, which arose several hundred years later, do not supersede the contract previously entered into by God nor nullify its agreements. For if our heritage springs from our social customs, then it is no longer bestowed by God. Yet in the case of Abraham (our illustrious forefather), the privileges were freely bestowed by God, not tradition. 19. Well then, what about our Southern way of life? It was intended to keep down friction until "the child" mentioned in the contract should come and, like a mediator, set things right with the help of his assistants. However, a mediator never represents just one party, even though God himself is one of the parties. Is the Southern way, then, contrary to God’s principles? Not necessarily. For if the South’s traditions can lift a man to a more noble life, then surely something good and right has come from it. But, the trouble is that the Scripture has labeled it all under the heading of sin, so that the assurance of the Christian faith might be given to those who live by it. Before the coming of the faith, we were walled in by tradition, hemmed in, awaiting the approaching faith that was to be unveiled. So in a way, the Southern customs disciplined us for the Christian life, that we might be put right by faithfulness. But now that the faith has come, we no longer need the disciplinarian. For all of you are Sons of God by virtue of the Christian faith. You who were initiated into the Christian fellowship are Christian allies. No more is one a white man and another a Negro; no more is one a slave and the other a free man; no longer is one a male and the other a female. For you all are as one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s men, then you are true "white men," noble heirs of a spiritual heritage.
1. Now let me say this: All the while an heir is a minor, even though he is the legal owner of the whole estate, he is really no different from an employee because he is under guardians and administrators until the appointed time set by his father. So it is with us Christians. When we were minors we were ruled by the deeply entrenched patterns of the culture. But when the time for our manhood came, God sent forth his Son -- through a woman and into the Southern system -- in order that he might rescue those caught by the system and that we might receive our full sonship. Because you are now sons, God has implanted the spirit of his Son in our hearts, and we murmur, "Father, Father." So, you aren’t a slave anymore. You are a son. And if you are a son, you are, through God, a noble heir of the heritage. 8. Earlier, when you had no understanding of God, your lives were dominated by the things which, by their very nature, were not "gods" at all. Now, however, since you know God, or rather, since he knows you, how is it that you are turning again to the sick and impoverished patterns which you are bent on kowtowing to? You’re going right along with the same old "for whites only" stuff. I’m really concerned about you. I might have wasted my time on you. 12. Be like me, because I’m the same as you. Brothers, I’m pleading with you. You’ve never been mean to me. You remember that it was because of an illness that I first shared the good news with you and even though physically I was a trial to you, you didn’t let me down or run me off. Instead, you treated me like an angel from God, like Christ Jesus. So where’s that graciousness of yours? For I’m telling you a fact, if need be you’d have picked out your eyes and given them to me. Surely you don’t think I’ve become your enemy now just because I’m speaking frankly to you, do you? 17. Now listen, those fellows who are giving you the rush are not on the level. They are trying to capture you so you can rush around for them. Now it’s all right to make over somebody once in a while, provided it is done sincerely. I do it occasionally when I am not in the presence of you, my children, over whom I agonize again and again until Christ takes shape in you. I surely do wish I could be with you right now and change my tone of voice, because you’ve got me all befuddled. 21. Tell me something, you who want to be bound by the traditions: Why aren’t you obeying the traditions? For history tells us that the founder of the white race, Abraham, had two sons -- one from a slave woman of his and another from his legal wife. Now the son from the slave women was sired out of plain sexual desire, but the one from the free woman (his wife) was sired through God’s intervention. All of which is sort of an allegory, or story. The two women represent two different sources of tradition. One is rooted in slavery, as represented by the slave woman, Hagar. Now Hagar is the slave South, and corresponds to the present-day segregated structure, for her descendants are still pretty much in slavery. But the Godfearing South is free, and she is our mother. For history sings:
Paint the town, you childless lady: 28. So we, brothers, like Isaac (the son of the free woman), are the children of God’s intervention. But even today it is still very much like it was back there when the boy who was sired in lust persecuted the one who was the product of God’s spirit. So what did God say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her boy. The son of slavery shall not be an heir along with the son of freedom." And that’s why, my brothers, we are not children of a slave system, but of a free society.
1. It was for this freedom that Christ emancipated us. So stand your ground, and don’t let anybody saddle you with that slave system again. Look here, I, Paul himself, am telling you that if you accept segregation, 4 Christ isn’t worth a cent to you. Again I solemnly warn every man who accepts segregation that he is duty-bound to abide by the whole code. You who look to the Southern way to save you have severed relations with Christ; you have stumbled away from the idea of unmerited favor. For we are staking our hope of being right with God on a spirit of faithfulness. Because in Christ Jesus neither segregation nor integration 5 is a determining factor; rather, it. is faithfulness activated by love. 7. You were doing nicely; who drove a wedge between you and the truth? Such doing was certainly not with the consent of him who converted you. Remember: "One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel." I surely hope to the Lord that you won’t listen to anybody else. That guy who is stirring you up will have a lot to answer for in the judgment, no matter who he is! But in my case, brothers, if I’m still preaching segregation, then why am I still persecuted? Christ’s lynching would then offend no one. I wish to goodness that those who are unsettling you were themselves tarred and feathered. 13. So you my brothers, were invited to sit at the freedom table. But even so, don’t use your freedom for any physical advantage. Instead, serve one another in a spirit of love. For the whole social code can be summed up in one sentence: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you snap and bite one another, be careful that you don’t eat each other up. 16. My advice is: Walk in the Spirit, and don’t let human desire go to seed. For the body has it in for the conscience, and the conscience has it in for the body, for the two are directly opposed to each other. That is why you cannot run wild, doing as you please. Now if you are guided by the conscience, you are not under the sway of social custom. 19. It is clear that the results of being guided by the body are loose sex relations, filthiness, unbridled lust, worshiping gadgets, trickery, hostile feeling, division, jealousy, temper tantrums, boot-licking, snobbery, arguments, envy, tippling, horsing around and things like these. I am calling to your attention now, just as I did previously, that all who practice such things as these will hot be counted in on the God movement. 22. On the other hand, the results of the Spirit-led life are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, loyalty, humility and self. control. There is no law against things of this nature. And true Christians have subdued the body with its unruly passions and cravings. If we are people of conscience, then let’s stick by our conscience. Just don’t be arrogant, nor ridicule one another, nor be envious of each other.
1. Brothers, even if a man gets caught at some misdeed, you who are spiritual-minded should straighten him out. But do so with a gentle spirit, always wondering if someday you might not be tempted to do the same thing. For the essence of the Christian life is to shoulder the loads of one another. 3. Now if somebody thinks he is a big shot when he is nothing but a nubbin, he is kidding himself. Each man should size up himself by his own accomplishments, and then he will have pride in himself and not just in what someone else has done. For every man has to stand on his own two feet. Let the student share his material goods with his teacher. 7. Don’t let anybody pull the wool over your eyes -- you can’t turn up your nose at God! For a man harvests exactly what he plants. If he plants the seed of materialism, he will reap the rottenness of materialism. And if he plants the seed of spirituality, he will harvest the superb life which the Spirit produces. So let’s not give up the good fight, for our harvest will come in its own good time if we keep on keeping on. Every chance we have, let’s work for the good of all, and especially for the members of the church. 11. Look at the size of the following letters which I have written to you in my own hand: THEY WHO FORCE SEGREGATION ON YOU ARE SEEKING THE APPROVAL OF SOCIETY SO THEY WON’T GET PERSECUTED FOR ACCEPTING CHRIST’S LYNCHING. For even the segregationists themselves do not keep the code, but they try to force it on you so they can brag about it. But as for me, God forbid that I should ever take pride in anything, except in the lynching of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through it I have hanged the world and the world has hanged me. So now neither segregation nor integration makes the difference -- it s the new man. Let peace and mercy abide on all who hold to this position, on God’s true "white people." 17. Finally, let no one have it in for me personally, for on my body I bear the brand marks of Jesus. 18. May the unmerited favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit of each of you, my brothers. Yours, The Greek word, Petros, "Peter," means "rock," and is here so translated. His last name was Bar-jonah, which means "son of John" or "John’s son" or "Johnson." Thus Peter’s full name may be accurately translated, "Rock Johnson." Since Abraham was the father of the Hebrew nation, or the first Jew, we would need to think of him, in the Southern context, as "the first white man." The Greek word actually means "circumcision," which was the initiatory rite into Judaism. Since it was the symbol of being a Jew, or in our context, a white man, it would mean to the ancient Jew about the same thing as our word, "white Southerner." Thus "a circumcised Jew" would be the near equivalent of "a white Southerner," or perhaps more accurately, "a white church member." The word here is "uncircumcision," used to refer to those who had abandoned the Jewish traditions, or who had never observed them in the first place. They were the nonconformers. ©1968 by Clarence
Jordan. Used by permission of Koinonia
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