On November 5, 1998 the scientific journal Nature published what appears to be the definitive answer to a nagging historical question: DNA evidence seems to confirm that Thomas Jefferson fathered all of the children of his slave Sally Hemings. The living descendants of her four surviving children are also descendants of the author of the Declaration of Independence. Those descendants now argue that they should be eligible for membership in the all-white Monticello Association and burial in the Monticello Graveyard.
Paul argues that membership in the Kingdom of Heaven and burial in the hope of resurrection depend on something other than DNA. The interpretation of this passage turns on the translation of verse 1 which many scholars argue is actually two questions that set up a rhetorical position Paul will then refute: “What shall we say? Is Abraham found to be our ancestor according to the flesh?” In the case of Gentile believers that answer is clearly “no.” Most of us, in answer to that question, would have to reply as did the great writer J. R. R. Tolkien, “I can only reply that I regret I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.”
But that does not exclude us from the inheritance. Paul insists that Abraham is more than the founder of a gene pool; he is the father of those who follow God in faith. Because all have opportunity to trust Christ’s sacrifice, “Abraham,” Paul concludes, “is the father of us all.”
Jefferson heir Theresa Shackleford explains her support of fencing out the Hemings clan: “We are not racist, we are snobs.” She claims not to care about skin-tone, just bloodlines. But of course Jefferson left another legacy entirely apart from a hilltop mansion and a Virginia boneyard: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” By that standard what matters is membership in the human family, not the Jefferson family.
The gospel has no place for either racists or snobs. “The promise is guaranteed to all the descendants.”
It’s Self-Evident,
Doug
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