We appear to be caught between a rock and a hard place. It is increasingly difficult for people to distinguish between recognising genuine suffering and injustice and making identity or grievance the primary organising principle of society. The sacred writings that have been so influential in the development of the West, the TaNaK (Old Testament) and New Covenant (New Testament), consistently acknowledge oppression. Still, they do not define people primarily by victimhood. Instead, these narratives define people by their relationship to God. This relationship is the vehicle through which people meet their needs; it also provides the framework for meeting human needs within a covenant community. The covenant community is how they participate in meeting others’ needs alongside their own. Primary identity is affirmed to be ‘Made in the image of God’; secondary and tertiary identities are familiar in the narrative and are diverse, but they are always secondary to the primary identity. We should also remember that this is not a matter of personal belief in God. Within the ancient sacred writings of the Hebrew people, God's existence is assumed rather than argued.Scripture offers us a narrative understanding and explanation of what we experience in the events of our lives, both of which, in their interdependency, reveal the ‘reality’ of our lives together. The scriptures are not about proving God’s existence; they are about understanding how people can flourish together.
I want to be clear at the outset that any perceived criticism of "identity politics" does not mean I do not recognise the legitimate experiences, histories, cultures, or concerns of particular groups. Scripture repeatedly acknowledges oppression, injustice, and exclusion, and commands God's people to respond with justice, mercy, and compassion.
Rather, I am referring to the tendency to make a secondary identity the primary source of belonging, moral authority, or social organisation. From a biblical perspective, ethnicity, nationality, class, sex, culture, and personal experience all matter, but none is ultimate. Human beings are first image-bearers and therefore members of one human family before they become members of groups. The danger arises when a secondary identity becomes detached from covenant, common humanity, and mutual responsibility. At that point, identity can become a source of fragmentation rather than a basis for mutual flourishing.
Identity, Covenant, and the Common Good
Modern Western society increasingly encourages people to define themselves through secondary identity categories, personal experiences of oppression, or membership of particular groups. While these concerns often arise from genuine experiences of suffering and exclusion, the Christian narrative begins elsewhere. It begins with God.
According to Scripture, human identity is not self-created, negotiated, or endlessly reconstructed. Human identity is God-given. Humanity is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27). Before race, class, nationality, gender, politics, or personal preference, there is a deeper reality: every human being is a creature bearing divine dignity.
The biblical story presents humanity as one family descended from Adam and Eve; a fractured family, meeting our needs in our own individualistic way, and now called into a restorative covenant relationship with God and our neighbours. The Law was given not as an arbitrary restriction on freedom but as a revelation of human need and a guide to individual and community flourishing. The first command is ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’ Through covenant faithfulness, people discover who they are in a process of ‘becoming’ on a life journey toward home.
In this sense, the freedom and liberty to flourish is not the freedom to ignore reality or violate covenant obligations. Biblical liberty is empowerment to live according to the truth of our created nature. Jesus taught, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Freedom is not lawlessness or radical self-indulgence; it is the practice and restoration of right relationship with God, neighbour, self, and creation.
The contemporary preoccupation with identity in the West often reverses this order. Rather than beginning with a shared humanity, society is increasingly organised around ever-smaller categories of difference. Individuals are encouraged to locate meaning primarily in their distinctiveness, grievances, or experiences of exclusion. The result is fragmentation rather than solidarity.
Scripture repeatedly warns against such division. At Babel (Genesis 11:1–9), humanity fragmented through pride and self-definition apart from God and other surrounding communities. In Corinth, believers divided themselves into competing factions (“I follow Paul”, “I follow Apollos”) and Paul rebuked them for abandoning their common identity in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:10–13). The hostility between Jew and Gentile was overcome not by abolishing difference but by creating a deeper unity in the Messiah (Ephesians 2:11–22).
When identity becomes detached from covenant, people often retreat into tribes, factions, and competing interest groups. Communities become collections of isolated identities rather than mutually responsible neighbours. The danger is not diversity itself. Scripture celebrates diversity. The danger lies in elevating diversity above covenant and common purpose.
The New Covenant / Testament vision is neither uniformity nor tribalism. It is unity in diversity. Paul describes the Church as one body with many members (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). Each member is distinct, but all belong to one another. Difference serves the community rather than replacing it. Differences mean that there is open space to become the people we are created to be.
The challenge facing contemporary Britain is not simply diversity. It is the loss of a shared moral and civic narrative capable of sustaining common life. A society cannot flourish if every group speaks only for itself. Communities require shared responsibilities as well as rights, shared stories as well as personal experiences, and shared obligations as well as individual freedoms.
I am suggesting the Christian vision offers such a framework. Human dignity is grounded in the image of God. Primary identity is received rather than invented. Freedom is found in covenant faithfulness rather than self-definition. Diversity is welcomed but ordered toward the common good as well as individual flourishing. Justice and mercy belong together, and responsibilities balance Rights. Ultimately, extended diverse communities like our own are built not upon grievance but upon mutual service.
The goal is not the erasure of difference but the recovery of belonging. Scripture calls humanity away from Babel’s fragmentation and toward a reconciled community under God’s covenant of interdependence. In that vision, people discover both who they are and what they are for.
As the Apostle Paul reminds us: “There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:4–6).
At Creation, humanity was made in the Image of God; at Babel, humanity fragmented; at Sinai, God formed a covenant with the people, with the Law revealing human need; and at Pentecost, diversity was reconciled without being erased. In Revelation, all nations stand together before the throne.
This narrative arc can provide a strong biblical backbone against the argument that ‘difference is bad’: difference without covenant leads to fragmentation, whereas covenant creates a shared identity capable of sustaining diversity and mutual flourishing.
I’m trying to emphasise something deeply biblical and often overlooked. In Scripture, there is a crucial distinction between recognising oppression and building an identity around oppression.Grievance is understandable, but grievance cannot become the foundation of identity or community.
The prophets constantly denounce oppression. Moses confronts Pharaoh. Amos condemns exploitation. Isaiah speaks against injustice. Jesus identifies with the poor, the sick, the excluded, and the sinner. So, Christianity cannot simply ignore oppression or pretend it does not exist. However, neither the prophets nor Jesus defines people solely by their wounds.
Israel was oppressed in Egypt, but God did not intend Israel to remain an “oppressed people” forever. He brought them out to become a covenant people (Exodus 19:4–6). Their identity was not ultimately “slaves.” Their identity was “My people.”
Likewise, the New Testament never defines believers primarily by what has happened to them. Paul could have described himself as a victim of Roman injustice, Jewish opposition, imprisonment, beatings, and false accusations. All these things are ‘true’. Yet the ‘Truth’ is that his primary identity remains: “a servant of Christ Jesus” (Romans 1:1).
If a Christian experiences discrimination, it does not follow that every non-Christian becomes an oppressor. Systems of injustice can exist without every individual within those systems being personally guilty. Scripture consistently judges individuals according to their actions and responsibilities, not merely according to their membership in a category. This is one reason why Jesus’ command to love enemies is so radical.
In Luke 6:27–36 and Matthew 5:43–48, Jesus breaks the cycle of grievance and retaliation. If I define myself solely by my injury, I will eventually seek repayment. If my enemy does the same, they will seek repayment from me. The result is an endless cycle of accusation, resentment, and revenge. Let’s face it, our current political and social interactions do not exactly induce community coherence.
The principle appears throughout Scripture:
Cain feels wronged and murders Abel.
Lamech escalates vengeance (Genesis 4:23–24).
Tribal vengeance dominates the Book of Judges.
The kingdoms divide and weaken one another.
By the time of Jesus, Jews, Samaritans, Romans, Zealots, and others were trapped in a vicious, endless cycle of competing narratives of grievance.
Jesus interrupts the vicious cycle and creates a valuing cycle.
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).
Why?
Not because evil does not matter.
Not because justice is unimportant.
But someone must stop the escalation.
From the perspective of a Recovery Theology, hatred and grievance are forms of disordered consciousness; they fuel vicious cycles of life-controlling issues, of addiction. They are understandable responses to injury, but they cannot heal the injury. They reproduce it.
Paul reaches a similar conclusion:
“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
Notice that Paul does not say evil is good. He says evil is defeated by a different kind of power.
Covenant faithfulness refuses to become what it opposes.
A community built on mutual grievance eventually fragments into tribes. A community built on covenant creates the possibility of reconciliation. That is why the New Testament continually moves from identity politics toward covenant identity:
· Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2)
· Slave and free (Galatians 3:28)
· Rich and poor (James 2)
· Male and female (Galatians 3:28)
The differences remain real, but they are no longer the highest reality. The highest reality is belonging to the New Covenant, to Christ and, through Him, belonging to one another.
Please do not misread me; I want to be clear that any perceived criticism of ‘identity politics’ does not mean I do not recognise the legitimate experiences, histories, cultures, or concerns of particular groups.
Scripture repeatedly shows that unchecked resentment produces a kind of social hell long before final judgment arrives. Families fracture. Communities divide. Nations disintegrate. Trust evaporates. Every group becomes both victim and oppressor in turn and often at the same time.
The Gospel’s answer is neither denial of injustice nor perpetual grievance. It is repentance; changing our minds, giving and receiving forgiveness, giving and receiving justice, giving and receiving mercy, and participating in reconciliation. This is the New Covenant we need today.
In the language of our Covenant Democracy project:
A society survives not when nobody is offended, but when people possess the moral and spiritual resources to absorb offence without returning it, seek justice without vengeance, and pursue truth without dehumanising those who disagree.
I’m suggesting that it is remarkably close to what Jesus means by loving one’s enemies. It is not a weakness. It is the only known path out of the cycle of paranoia, fear and violence.
This is one of the central themes of Ephesians.
Ephesians and the New Humanity
Paul is not merely explaining how individuals get ‘saved’; he is explaining how God is creating a new humanity in Christ.
The flow of the letter is important:
Ephesians 1 – God’s Cosmic Purpose
Paul begins with God’s eternal plan:
“…to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).
The Gospel is therefore bigger than personal forgiveness. It is God’s project of restoration, reconciliation, and reunification under Christ.
The gospel is a recovery project on a cosmic scale.
Ephesians 2:1–10 – Recovery of Individuals
Paul first addresses the individual problem.
Humanity is dead in meeting its needs in its own way, enslaved to the world, individualism, and the forces that divide and accuse. We become alienated from the source of life itself.
But the source of life, God, acts in grace.
The narrative movement is:
We are dead, but we are made alive
We are alienated but become reconciled
We are lost but become restored
This is the personal dimension of recovery.
Ephesians 2:11–22 – Recovery of Relationships
Paul immediately moves beyond the individual.
The great historical division between Jew and Gentile is addressed.
Christ:
“has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14).
The keyword here is hostility.
The wall was not merely theological.
It involved:
suspicion
prejudice
fear
historical grievances
cultural superiority
exclusion
Paul says Christ has dealt with all of these through the cross.
The result:
“that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two” (Ephesians 2:15).
Notice closely what Paul says.
Jews do not cease being Jews.
Gentiles do not cease being Gentiles.
Nor does he say one side conquers the other. Instead, both find their identity under the lordship of Christ. In unity without erasure. In difference without hostility. This is a key element of Covenant Democracy:
‘Voice for all. Veto for none.’
Ephesians 3 – The Mystery Revealed
The mystery is not that Gentiles can be ‘saved’.
The prophets already recorded that.
The mystery is that Jew and Gentile become:
“Fellow heirs, members of the same body” (Ephesians 3:6).
A shared covenant community. This is radical. Ancient identities remain, but they are no longer the primary basis of belonging. Christ becomes the centre.
Ephesians 4 – Learning a New Way to Be Human
Paul then moves to practical implications.
“Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).
Notice: We do not create unity. God creates unity. We maintain it. A bit like the Genesis instructions to care for creation?
Paul’s virtues of ‘New Covenant Care’ are striking: humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another in love. These are New Covenant virtues.
The opposite virtues destroy community: bitterness, rage, slander and malice. In modern language, grievance can become an identity. Paul understands that unresolved hostility eventually becomes a culture. The Gospel according to Jesus, as taught by Paul, interrupts that vicious cycle.
Ephesians 5–6 – Reconciliation Worked Out in Daily Life
Paul then applies the Gospel to ordinary relationships: husband and wife, parent and child and master and servant.
His point is that reconciliation is not merely a doctrine. Paul is giving voice to the traditionally silenced people: women, children and servants. This is radical stuff for the first century. The New Covenant becomes visible in daily life. The New Covenant creates a new social ethic. This ethic will eventually form the basis of the evolving ‘West’.
Through A Covenant-Recovery Lens
The movement of Ephesians can be expressed simply:
Human Condition | New Covenant Action | Recovery Outcome |
Alienated from God | Reconciled through Christ | Peace with God |
Alienated from self | Made alive in Christ | Renewed identity |
Alienated from others | Dividing walls removed | New humanity |
Alienated from creation | All things gathered in Christ | Cosmic restoration |
Paul’s vision is therefore neither individualism nor tribalism. It is covenant participation. A person’s deepest identity is no longer found in:
· ethnicity
· class
· grievance
· status
· achievement
but in Christ.
That does not make individual human differences disappear. Rather, it places them within a larger story.
One reason Paul would be suspicious of an obsessive focus on identity categories is that they can become the very walls Christ came to dismantle. Yet Paul would be equally suspicious of ignoring genuine injustice, because the same Christ who tears down walls also commands His people to practice justice, mercy, truthfulness, and mutual care.
For Paul, the answer to hostility is neither denial nor retaliation. It is reconciliation. The cross exposes evil, forgives sinners, destroys hostility, and creates the possibility of a new humanity.
That is why Ephesians is perhaps the clearest New Testament letter showing that the Gospel is not simply about getting people ‘into heaven’; it is about God creating a reconciled people who learn to live together under the reign of Christ until all things are finally united in Him. (Ephesians 1:10; 2:14–22; 4:1–6).
A Scan of Some Biblical Stories Supporting the Case
1. Creation and the Image of God — Genesis 1:26–28
Identity is received from God, not self-created.
2. The Fall — Genesis 3
Humanity seeks autonomy and self-definition apart from God’s order.
3. Cain and Abel — Genesis 4:1–16
Grievance becomes resentment, resentment becomes violence, community fractures.
4. The Tower of Babel — Genesis 11:1–9
The problem at Babel was not diversity but the attempt to create unity apart from God.
5. Israel at Sinai — Exodus 19–24
Freedom from Egypt is not freedom from obligation but freedom for covenant.
6. The Period of the Judges — Judges 21:25
“Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” Loss of shared covenant leads to social chaos.
7. The Divided Kingdom — 1 Kings 12
Political and tribal fragmentation weakens the nation.
8. The Return from Exile — Ezra and Nehemiah
Restoration occurs through renewed covenant and common purpose.
9. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman — John 4:1–42
Jesus acknowledges differences in identity but transcends them through a deeper identity within God's kingdom.
10.Pentecost — Acts 2:1–13
Diversity of language is retained, but unity is restored through the Spirit.
11.Jew and Gentile in Christ — Ephesians 2:11–22
Distinct identities remain, but hostility is overcome through a shared covenantal identity.
12.The Body of Christ — 1 Corinthians 12:12–27
Diversity serves unity rather than division.
A summary narrative arc would be:
Creation (Genesis 1), Babel (Genesis 11), Sinai (Exodus 19), Pentecost (Acts 2), New Creation (Revelation 7:9–10).
Grace and Peace to you
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