Stanford
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute

"The Distinctions in God's Creation"

Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Date: January 1, 1948 to December 31, 1954?

Genre: Sermon

Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Career in Ministry
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Education

Details

God said: Let there be light…And he divided the light from the darkness1
{See Introduction to Thomas Aquinas, p. 259F2}

  1. Here it is made clear that the multitudes of things in the universe stem from God. God created many things
    (1) Views that distinction does not come from God.
    If God makes these distinction they must be good, for God did not create evil.
  2. Why there is distinction: Because God brought things into being in order that his goodness might be represented by his creatures. And because his goodness could not be represented by one creature alone, He produced many and diverse creatues.3
    1. The various mountains
    2. Oceans
    3. Solar system. (Some are warning about the result if ther is life on Mars. But I dont. It just give additional proof…)
    4. Flowers
    5. Humains Beings Black, red, yellow, white
  3. These distinction were not made to be in conflict. They were made to exist together. God says after his creation “and it was good.” meaning all of it is good. (The view of Ralph Lintons.)4 (It is a shame that we cant appreciate the richness of God)
    There can be unity without uniformity
    Black and white can live together. Our biological differences are but varing expressions of the richness and complexity of the divine nature.

1. Cf. Genesis 1:3-4.

2. Anton C. Pegis, ed., Introduction to Saint Thomas Aquinas (New York: Modern Library, 1948). The section on Aquinas's work Summa Theologica includes a chapter entitled “On The Distinction of Things in General” (pp. 259-266).

3. Pegis, Introduction to Saint Thomas Aquinas, p. 261: “And because His goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, He produced many and diverse creatures, so that what was wanting to one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another.”

4. Anthropologist Ralph Linton wrote that “most anthropologists agree there will be no Negro problem in another two hundred years; by then there will not be enough recognizable Negroes left in this country to constitute a problem” (Linton, “The Vanishing American Negro,” American Mercury 64 [February 1947]: 133-139).

Source: CSKC-INP, Coretta Scott King Collection, In Private Hands, Sermon file, folder 50, Sermons Not Preached.

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