Pride Fuels Religious Prejudice Devoid of Bridge-Building Christian Love
- Jack Selcher
- Sep 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 16
Prejudice is pride putting others in their imagined inferior place. An event in Acts 11 ran counter to centuries of Jewish prejudice against the Gentiles.
Peter’s ministry to Cornelius and his family did not please those who looked down on the Gentiles as unclean. Peter defended himself by explaining his experience, beginning with his vision in Joppa (Acts 11:4-17).
He emphasized God’s initiative and his inability to withstand Him. He did not want to oppose what God was doing (Acts 11:17).
God showed him the Gentiles were part of His family, too. That was a huge step. Putting the Gentiles on an equal footing with the Jews cut through centuries of prejudice.
Religious prejudice continues. Many denominations believe their teachings alone are completely correct. Other brands are inferior. Does that square with your experience? How so?
John Wesley once dreamed he was at the gates of hell. He discovered that many Roman Catholics, Church of England, Presbyterians, and Wesleyans were there.
He then found himself at the gates of heaven. He encountered no denominational labels there—only Christians who love the Lord.
No denomination has a corner on the truth market. We know some things out of many. What we know, we know partially.
The mark of the Christian is love (John 13:34-35). That is concrete evidence that a new birth has occurred, no matter the denominational label.
Pride underlies prejudice. We are wrong if we insist that we are better than other races, nationalities, classes, or denominations.
We have all done and said things we regret. We do not want God or others to hold these things against us.
Christian love builds bridges to others, no matter their past. Jesus humbly washed His disciples’ feet, knowing they would abandon Him during His darkest hours.
Acts 11:19-30 describes the ministry at Antioch, a city of approximately 500,000 people. Numerous Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ there.
That scared Jewish believers in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to investigate. He did not criticize these new believers. He encouraged them. They had begun well. Now they needed to persevere in their belief (Acts 11:23).
Barnabas recruited Saul from Tarsus to join him in Antioch to teach these new believers. People first called the disciples of Jesus Christians there. The word means “Christ followers.”
The end of Acts 11 records that Christians at Antioch, whose salvation Jewish Christians had questioned in Jerusalem, were the source of supply when those Jewish believers were in need (Acts 11:29-30). It does not pay to look down on others. You might need them to pick you up when you are down! What is your takeaway? See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.
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