Ligon Duncan, a prominent Presbyterian pastor, Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary, circuit speaker, and council member of the overtly “woke” Gospel Coalition, says that some of his “very best black friends” have trouble trusting him for “very good reasons.” And those reasons are, apparently, nothing more than his skin color.

In a recent interview, Duncan says that black people are exercising “reasonable discernment” — as opposed to prejudice and racism — when they project the horrors of the Jim Crow era treatment of black people onto him and other white people today.

“Can you imagine the gospel impact if Bible-believing Protestants (Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians) had said of their Bible-believing Christian brothers and sisters in Baptist churches and elsewhere: ‘you’re not gonna kill our brothers and sisters in Christ,” Duncan imagined out loud.

“You’re not gonna defraud our brothers and sisters in Christ. You’re not going to wrongfully imprison our brothers and sisters in Christ. You’re not going to mistreat our brothers and sisters.’ Can you imagine the gospel impact of that? And it’s gonna take us 100 years to overcome the trust issues that have come out of that. I tell people: my very best black friends have trouble trusting me, for really good reasons. Because people like me have been doing awful things to them and to their families for four centuries. It’s gonna take a while before the trust issues that exist between otherwise good friends in Christ are gonna be addressed. We’ve got generational issues here.”

Duncan, a pastor, should be standing against this kind of racial prejudice that divides the Church. Instead, he agitates it and affirms the racial bias projected onto innocent people by perpetuating the lie of systemic racism. Further, insisting that it is a “good reason” to mistrust someone because of their skin color is, actually, the sin of favoritism.

“But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” — James 2:9