A Biblical View of Juneteenth

But what seemed like bipartisan legislation sparked heated discussions of race and woke agendas in America. Some argued whether this now federally recognized holiday should replace the celebration of Independence Day. Others considered celebrating both. Some argued to ignore Juneteenth altogether in defiance of woke societal pressures.

In light of these discussions, it’s been important to me as a born-again believer, a black American, and a constitutional and civil rights attorney, to develop a biblical worldview regarding Juneteenth. Along the way, I’ve gained a greater understanding of how this holiday can help us think about God’s love for all image bearers and the work still set before us in opposing modern forms of slavery.

History of Juneteenth

Far from being a new holiday, Juneteenth has a long history in the United States—a country built, in some ways, on the backs of slaves. Though many American forefathers claimed Christianity, some disregarded Scripture’s teaching that all humans are one race created in the image of God (Acts 17:26).

While I use the designation “black” to describe my ethnicity, all people are descended from the same ancestral parents, Adam and Eve. Our varied expressions of melanin do not create different races of human. These are categories that humans created.

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, was the first step in ending slavery within our nation. The efforts of white and black abolitionists and freedmen had finally come to some fruition with an edict to end the plantation system and domestic slave trade.

But there were several problems: The Emancipation Proclamation was not codified into federal law and freed only the slaves in seceding (Confederate) states. Confederate states were not going to obey a proclamation from a president they did not follow, and they certainly wouldn’t tell their slaves about it.

Not until two years later, on February 1, 1865, did Lincoln approve Congress to amend the Constitution. The American Civil War ended on April 9 of that year. By December 6, 1865, enough states (three-fourths) had ratified the 13th Amendment, officially declaring slavery to be illegal in the US.

For two and a half years, slaves in seceding states knew nothing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was delayed by distance, lack of communication, and inadequate enforcement.

Even after the Civil War ended in April 1865, many slave owners knowingly delayed and obfuscated the knowledge of liberation from their slaves to protect their way of life.

But freedom-loving men took to the streets. Union soldiers marched through Confederate states, reading the Emancipation Proclamation aloud. Slowly, the good news spread. Two-and-a-half years after Lincoln’s proclamation, Union soldiers reached the last slaveholding city—Galveston Bay, Texas.

On June 19, 1865, Union army troops rode into Texas to deliver the news to the states’ 250,000 slaves and provide the enforcement necessary to usher our nation into a new era.

“Juneteenth,” as the freed men and women called it, commemorates this major advancement toward the federal abolishment of slavery and involuntary servitude under the 13th Amendment.

Jubilee

While many refer to June 19th as Juneteenth, it is also widely known as Jubilee Day in Southern states. Jubilee refers to an Old Testament celebration instituted in Leviticus 25 to occur every 50 years. The year began on the Day of Atonement when the priests blew the shofar (a ram’s horn).

In the Year of Jubilee, God required the Israelites to forgive each other’s debts, return land to its original owners or families, and let the land rest. Israelite bond servants could buy their freedom from foreign masters in the land.

The year was a reminder that God brought his people out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land as his own people—a foreshadowing of God’s purchasing his people from slavery to sin with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

However, there are few similarities between the biblically historical Jubilee and America’s slave trade. Israelites became bond servants due to debt or war captivity. God instructed their masters to treat them with kindness, as members of their household. Submitting to bondservice was a way to obtain provision and shelter until the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:39–43). The Year of Jubilee served as a reminder that no man owns another man’s life but God himself and that God is the one who sustains his people.

The transatlantic slave trade drastically differed from the bondservice of ancient Israel. Like other Western countries, America’s system of chattel slavery was driven largely by racism—the belief that some so-called races were of lesser value than others. As part of the corrupt and vile practices within the slave trade, millions of image bearers were kidnapped, trafficked, and abused.

Though Jubilee is not an equal comparison to the Emancipation Proclamation or the 13th Amendment, it reminds us of the good news.

Though Jubilee is not an equal comparison to the Emancipation Proclamation or the 13th Amendment, it reminds us of the good news: God sent his Son to set sinners free and enter into his rest.

Slavery Today

While Juneteenth celebrates the end of the slave trade, our fallen human nature perpetuates slavery and prejudice in other ways even today. Our nation’s past trade of 10–12 million slaves was and is undeniably reprehensible, but so is the murder of millions of unborn lives since 1973.

The industry of abortion and the commoditization of sex trafficking across our highways both disproportionately affect the black population. While black Americans make up a mere 14% of our population, they are vastly overrepresented at a rate of over 42% of abortions1 and 40% of human trafficking victims.2

Today, Ohio is one of the top 10 states3 in the nation for human trafficking. Just as slavery negotiated the systems of kidnapping, trade, rape, and labor, we also see today that the abortion industry and sex trafficking continue to harm image bearers.

Slavery, abortion, and sex and labor trafficking are far from the impartiality and justice of our Creator reflected in Colossians 3:11: “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised . . . slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

Spiritual Freedom

Beyond any bondage imposed by humans, a far more ubiquitous slavery exists, affecting every nation, culture, and individual: spiritual captivity to sin and separation from God.

But God sent his Son to “proclaim liberty to the captives . . . to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18). Through his life, death, and resurrection, he has paved a way for people enslaved by sin to be set free (Romans 6:6).

Those who have received the salvation he offers can celebrate the truth that we are now equal in God’s sight, translated into the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). According to Galatians 3:28–29,

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

Even with this great freedom, Christians are often tempted to prove our belonging and worth rather than resting in grace, our identity in Christ, and freedom from sin. We put ourselves in bondage to productivity and works.

But when God looks at us, instead of our skin, our sin, or our flaws, he sees Jesus: fully God and fully man. Jesus: Jewish in lineage, a descendant of Abraham in the line of King David, yet welcoming to all. Jesus: tempted and tried while living under oppressive Greco-Roman rule yet found without sin. Jesus: his beloved Son in whom he is well-pleased.

Through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by the spirit of adoption, we are “grafted in” to the body of Christ and the kingdom of heaven as sons and daughters of the living God (Romans 11:17). Those who have placed their faith in Christ’s saving work on the cross and his resurrection enjoy a corporate identity with the Savior’s “chosen race” (1 Peter 2:9).

To Celebrate or Not to Celebrate

There is no doubt that the historic origin of this holiday rightly celebrates freedom. However, Juneteenth has at times been hijacked to promote many unbiblical philosophies. What should our posture be toward Juneteenth? As we struggle to acknowledge, address, and overcome our nation’s deeply troubling past, we can too easily make decisions on the wrong foundation.

Are you celebrating because you feel guilty not celebrating? Are you afraid of being labeled “racist”? Are you rejecting the celebration for fear of seeming “woke”? If our decisions aren’t based on biblical wisdom, we can become slaves to fear and social pressure.

As believers, we should live graciously both with people who celebrate and with people who abstain according to their conscience. We can also use the day to lament past and present slavery that dishonors image bearers, praying for their physical and spiritual deliverance.

Whether we celebrate the day or not, we can remember that our God, whose year of Jubilee set people free to rest in him alone, calls us to be missional in leading others to freedom from the bondage of sin—on Juneteenth and every other day of the year.