Here is an overture written by Pr Warren Graff regarding the understanding and use of the word “race.” Here is a PDF of this document.
Whereas, The Apostle Peter speaks of the Church as “a chosen generation” (1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen generation [γένος], a royal priesthood, a holy nation …” [NKJV, 1979; cf. KJV 1611]); and
Whereas, several modern translations speak of the Church not as a “chosen generation” but as “a chosen race” (1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation …” [ESV, 2001; NASB, 1995]); and
Whereas, the Apostle Peter is using the language of the Prophet Isaiah, where Isaiah gives the promise of “my chosen people [LXX, τὸ γένος μου τὸ ἐκλεκτόν; MT, עַמִּי בְחִירִי]” (Is. 43:20), such that with this word Isaiah is referring not to racial categories as used in modernism (“modernism” in the sense of post-enlightenment ideology) to speak of several races divided from one another, but rather speaks of the chosen people of God;
Whereas, the Greek word γένος is used to translate the Hebrew word עַם (e.g., Is. 43:20, et al) which references not “races” (in the modernistic sense) but “people,” and the Hebrew word זֶרַע, meaning “seed” or “lineage” (e.g., Jer. 29:32, et al), and to translate the Hebrew word גּוֹי (e.g., Jer. 31:36, et al), which, again, cannot mean “races” in the modernistic sense, but “nations”; and
Whereas, the prophets use the language of “the people/my people” (or “lineage” or “generations”) to reference not “races” in the modernistic sense, so that the prophets are proclaiming that the chosen lineage includes all those brought into the Promise of the Christ—i.e., the lineage of Abraham (as also the lineage of the promise to Adam and Eve, Gen. 3:15 and of the promise to Noah, Gen. 9), with the people of promise including all those from many other families and tribes whom the Lord gathered into the lineage of Israel (e.g., the Ruth the Moabite, Rahab the Canaanite, et al); and
Whereas, the word “race” prior to modernism refers to the human race (singular), and not to “races” (plural)—where races are be set against each other, such that O.E.D. identifies the first usages of “races” in the modernistic sense (to denote not the human race descended from Adam and Eve, but several races divided from each other within the human race) to the mid-1700s and later; and
Whereas, as those of the Church, the chosen generation/ γένος (1 Peter 2:9), we are given to proclaim not the words of modernistic ideology (such as doctrine of “races” often taught in our public schools and in much political rhetoric), but rather the words of the Prophets and Apostles which proclaim Jesus Christ crucified for all nations/ἔθνη; therefore be it
Resolved, that we reject modernism’s doctrine of several “races” by which the human race is divided into different typological categories, categories wholly unknown to the Prophets and Apostles; and be it further
Resolved, that we reject any teaching resulting from or based upon this modernistic category of race, including any teaching of race-supremacy, antisemitism, race division or segregation, or any other form of racism, and be it further
Resolved, that we recognize and affirm our Lord’s promise to the Church that we are a “chosen lineage” or “chosen generation” (1 Pet. 2:9), which is the lineage of all those called into the Promise, and be it further
Resolved, that we rejoice that as the Church, the lineage of the promise, we are given to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9), a proclamation to be proclaimed to all nations (Matt. 28), and be it further
Resolved, that we affirm that any who teach or promote (whether in public or in private, including all forms of social media) any form of racism, antisemitism, or race-supremacy or division, are to be denounced by the Church for this divisive teaching and called to repentance with the hope and the prayer that the Lord restores them to the Church, the chosen lineage of the promise, and be it finally
Resolved, that the Rocky Mountain District in convention memorialize the Synod to affirm that any who teach or promote (whether in public or in private, including all forms of social media) any form of racism, antisemitism, or race-supremacy or division, are to be denounced by the Church for this divisive teaching and called to repentance with the hope and the prayer that the Lord restores them to the Church, the chosen lineage of the promise.