Why Voddie Baucham Is Wrong About Race

Voddie Baucham is one of the best celebrity pastors alive. He was instrumental in Woke Wars I, fighting Critical Race Theory in the church and coined useful terms such as “ethnic gnosticism” to describe the woke church’s view that non-Whites have special knowledge by virtue of race. But for all of Voddie Baucham’s merit, at the time there was a debate amongst the good guys of Woke Wars I about whether race was real or not. Baucham believes race is a social construct. And a clip of him from 2020 surfaced, highlighting the ongoing debate over whether race is real or not.

In a sermon titled “Irreconcilable Views of Reconciliation” Baucham argues at length that race is not real.

Historic Use of Race

A quick fact check shows that the social construct view of race is entirely novel. While Charles Darwin has been falsely attributed to the concept, the English language has recorded the use of race since the mid-1500s. Ther definition largely unchanged by the time Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary came around:

1. The lineage of a family, or continued series of descendants from a parent who is called the stock. A race is the series of descendants indefinitely. Thus all mankind are called the race of Adam; the Israelites are of the race of Abraham and Jacob. Thus we speak of a race of kings, the race of Clovis or Charlemagne; a race of nobles, etc.

Hence the long race of Alban fathers come.

This definition was decades before Darwin, and this has been used by Bible translators, such as the NASB1995.

“It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive.” Acts 7:19

“Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.” Mark 7:26

“And a mongrel race will dwell in Ashdod, And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.” Zechariah 9:6

The notion of race being socially constructed has more to do with the rise of liberal ideologies than it does the origins of the term.

On The Term “African-American”

Part of Baucham’s rationale for calling race a social construct is his critique of the term “African-American.” He is correct that this term which arose due to political correctness, as the term Negro became antiquated, is artificial. But the remedy for this is not to dismiss the concept of race or pretend that skin color is nonexistent.

Baucham argues that humans are all different shades of the same color, citing melanin counts. His delivery of this argument was excellent and comedic, but it doesn’t completely hide how nonsensical it is. An LED light can render all sorts of colors, but we do not say that it is one color yet differing shades. Such is true about skin.

Jews and Gentiles

Baucham argues that the distinction that God created was between Jew and Gentile. Baucham argues that this was not genetic but covenantal. For starters, it was genetic, in part, as Abraham’s lineage is documented. Moreover, from Abraham to the Patriarchs, there is a concerted effort to only marry descendants of Shem, refusing the Canaanites. So God was developing a distinct race.

Baucham argues that circumcision defined what it meant to be a Jew; however, Hellenistic Jews were uncircumcised but are in Scripture distinct from the Gentiles.

Surrendering Language

Voddie Baucham is ultimately surrendering language, which contrasts with the current efforts to reclaim language and broader culture. Critical Race Theory posits that race was constructed to justify the Atlantic Slave Trade, but this history is objectively false. Therefore, to argue that race is a social construct has more basis in Critical Race Theory than any effort to oppose it.

Such woke ideologies cannot be defeated by ceding language, allowing liberals to redefine terms like race and gender.

Voddie Baucham, for all his positive contributions, is in error here. And while this error was more minute at the time, it is manifesting itself in current Christian discourse.