The Christian and Juneteenth
Just a few days ago, our nation celebrated Juneteenth, also known as "Emancipation Day" and "Freedom Day." According to the website representing the celebration, "Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States" (1) and in recent years, has gained increasing recognition following its approval as a federal holiday. Based on this description, Christians ought to be at the forefront of the celebration, a position many evangelicals have adopted. After all, having been saved from our enslavement to the enslaver of sin by Jesus, we know firsthand the value of receiving freedom from dominating oppression. However, many others are asking whether it is a celebration that Christians should embrace and endorse. Believers are responsible for examining all of life, including our culture and new national holidays, with sound judgment and a biblical perspective. To that end, a valuation of Juneteenth is warranted. While much can be said about American history, slavery, Juneteenth, Christian ethics, and so on, this article aims to work through a few questions to help us think through this holiday so that we can make a well-informed decision on how to approach this issue and others like it.
Thinking About Humanity and Slavery
Why do we consider slavery to be such a big deal? Better yet, why do we care about people at all? These may seem like odd questions, but they sit at the heart of a believer's consideration of Juneteenth. As Christians, we care about people because of who we understand man to be: an image-bearer of God Himself (cf. Gen. 1:26–28; 5:1–3; 9:6; Ps. 8; and Jas. 3:9). But what does it mean that man is created in the "image" of God? Image refers to a "shaped and representative figure."(2) In addition to being made in the image of God, Genesis 1:26 states that man is also crafted in His "likeness," which carries the idea of similarity, albeit in an abstract sense.(3) Mankind serves as a living representation of the Living God.
“In the ancient world,’ John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue write, ‘a king or a ruler would place an image or idol of himself in his realm to symbolize his sovereignty there. When others saw the image, they knew who was in control. Likewise, God’s image-bearers represent God in the world. But unlike lifeless statues, God’s image-bearers are alive.”
As those who bear the image of God, mankind occupies a unique position as God’s masterpiece amongst all creation. Affirming this, Owen Strachan adds, “This is not true of the animals, marvelous as they are; it is not true of the oceans, much as they roar. Humanity is the pièce de résistance of the holy work of God.” (5)
It's being made in God's image that imparts true dignity and value to man. We're not merely the result of cosmic chance or random processes unfolding in a universe. Instead, man has been made with intention and care (cf. Ps. 139:13–16). People are not just the sum total of biological material. Instead, man, being more than just flesh and bone, also is an immortal soul that will carry on forever, either with the Lord in heaven or under His wrath in hell (cf. Dan. 12:2; Matt. 25:46; 1 Cor. 15:54). It's this biblical understanding of man that ought to undergird our approach to slavery.
Looking back to the age of chattel slavery in the United States, we are confronted with the fundamental abandonment of biblical anthropology and the embrace of a distorted counterfeit that designated certain people (blacks, in this instance) as something inferior – a commodity to be bought, used, sold, inherited, or disposed of. As one of the significant scars upon American history, chattel slavery provides damning evidence of the Bible's assessment of man's unredeemed heart. In slavery, we are brought face-to-face with the sinfulness of sin, and though we shouldn't be surprised that sinners sin, we ought never to become callous to sin's devastating effects and legacy. Considering Scripture's designation of man and slavery's diminishing of that designation, how does this relate to our analysis of Juneteenth?
Thinking About the Heart and History of Juneteenth
In January 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all enslaved people within the Confederate states who rebelled against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”(6) Despite issuing the Proclamation, the change process was so slow that it would take another two years for the news to reach Galveston, Texas. Finally, on June 19th, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger announced General Order No. 3, informing enslaved African Americans that the Civil War had ended and they were free. While this event technically only ended slavery in Texas, the 13th Amendment came along several months later (December 6th, 1865), officially ending legalized slavery. The following year, the first Juneteenth festivities occurred as freedmen in Texas gathered to celebrate their newfound freedom. As years passed, the celebrations spread, and more Americans began participating, establishing it as an annual hallmark.
As we consider Juneteenth's history and gauge its significance, Christians have valid reasons to count what happened in Galveston in 1865 as a massive win as those who love the Lord, cherish those made in His likeness, and value peace. We are to celebrate when God graciously reverses the downward trajectory of sin and grants mercy to the afflicted. In this sense, we can "rejoice with those who rejoice" (Rom 12:15), as God brought about a change in circumstances that would impact and preserve countless lives. Though tensions between blacks and whites (former slaves and slave masters) would not heal overnight, a big step had been made in the right direction, which ought to be recognized. What took place just over 155 years ago in Texas matters greatly. Still, as believers in the 21st century, our assessment is only complete once we understand Juneteenth in light of our modern context.
Thinking About the Cultural Prominence of Juneteenth
Since its inception in 1866, Juneteenth has increased in recognition and support as the years passed. The Civil Rights Movement in the '50s and '60s sparked a renewed focus on the celebrations. In 1980, Texas became the first state to recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday. Fast forward four decades when, on June 17th, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the "Juneteenth National Independence Day Act," solidifying Juneteenth as a federal holiday. As we continue to watch this newly established holiday pick up momentum, we're pressed to think about how such a holiday fits into our current cultural climate.
We can all likely agree that the United States is in a time of significant ethnic tension. The ripple effects of the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the summer of protests of that same year, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, and the cultural invasion of Critical Race Theory (CRT) are still felt intensely. We find ourselves in a culture of ideological schism and ethnic hostility.
These feelings of tension have driven many well-meaning Christians, intending to love their neighbors, to naively (and rather foolishly) embrace cultural movements along with every errant ideology attached to them. Others, amidst the skepticism surrounding politics and mainstream media, are still determining how to deal with subjects like Juneteenth. So how can a Christian discern if and how to engage rightly with such a holiday?
What Do We Do with Juneteenth?
Having completed our very brief Juneteenth examination, we must decide what to do with it moving forward. Although topics touching such emotionally charged conversations and some of today's most hot-button issues such as "race" (ethnic enmity) and "oppression" may seem intimidating, I hope we can consider a couple of possible responses, from which you will be able to discern your current stance, as well as evaluate yours and other potential responses from a biblical perspective:
Option 1: Ignore/Avoid. This is the most convenient option, were it available to us. However, we live within a cultural context that reaches every aspect of our lives. Friends, there is no escaping these situations because there is no escaping sin until Jesus returns or calls us to be with Him. So, whether it's Juneteenth or any other subject that comes our way, we must be ready to meet it with renewed minds (Rom 12:2) and sober in spirits (1 Pet 1:13), prepared to bring the gospel to bear upon.
Option 2: Fully Embrace/Promote. Much like option 1, this path would lead to ruin. To embrace in totality whatever the culture produces would be foolish. Instead, we ought to follow the instructions given to the Colossians: "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ" (Col 2:8). May it never be that we are trafficked by such concepts, worldviews, and teachings. Instead, we must cling to God and seek wisdom. What a wonderful grace it is to know that if we ask for it, He will provide (cf. Jas 1:5).
Option 3: Identify the Good and Point to the Gospel. Option 3 provides the answer regarding how we should view Juneteenth. While a holiday like this could efficiently serve as a trojan horse for varying ideologies and agendas, we can come back to the fundamental fact that the day is anchored on the recognition of the humanity of African Americans made in the image of God and the celebration of the freedom that they received. In that, we can rejoice, having been liberated by the Lord Jesus Christ, who sets captives free (Luke 4:18; Isa 61:1).
When all is said and done, running is not an option, and conforming is off the table, which leaves us with the responsibility to sift through the good and bad that comes before us, then make Christian choices considering the information we have. To sum up my central encouragement regarding how to approach Juneteenth in a concise sentence, I leave you with this, "Think biblically, thoroughly, and critically regarding all that you endorse. Then rejoice in all that is right and good." Do this, and I believe the Lord will be pleased.
References:
“History of Juneteenth,” History.Com, accessed June 6, 2023, https://www.juneteenth.com/history/.
Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systemic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), 217.
Ibid.
John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 410.
Owen Strachan, Reenchanting Humanity: A Theology of Mankind (Fearn, Ross-shire: Mentor, 2019), 14.
Elizabeth Nix, “What Is Juneteenth?,” History.Com, accessed June 6, 2023, https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth.
