James White and Corey Mahler to Debate Race and Sanctification

On May 15, 2025, Christian apologist James White and excommunicated Lutheran Corey Mahler will debate the question “Can the Holy Spirit sanctify a black Christian as much as a white Christian?” on the Bibledingers YouTube channel. The debate follows Mahler’s earlier discussion on race with Samuel Sey on the same platform, where he defended views on racial hierarchy that sparked controversy.

Corey Mahler, with 18.2K followers on X, identifies as a “Confessional Lutheran. Christian Nationalist. Patriarchist. Categorically Unapologetic.” His X posts articulate a white nationalist ideology, asserting racial differences in Christian sanctification. Mahler denies that black Christians can achieve the same sanctification as whites, claiming, “Blacks will always be black first and Christian a distant second,” and “There are no black Christians absent supervision by White Christians.” He argues blacks are inherently limited in their spiritual capacity, stating, “Blacks are inferior with regard to the image of God insofar as we take the classical definition from many of the church fathers.” Mahler’s rhetoric extends to broader racial hierarchy, advocating deporting all blacks, claiming, “If you removed blacks, it would solve the problem,” and equating Nazism with Christianity, writing, “The Third Reich was Christianity translated into politics.”

Mahler’s view on black sanctification is further detailed in an X post addressing the “image of God,” where he wrote, “I think discussions of the ‘image of God’ in man…are more unhelpful than helpful…Yes, blacks are inferior with regard to the image of God insofar as we take the classical definition…which references the attributes of men that make them distinct from the animals. This conclusion flows necessarily from things I have already said with regard to racial differences. No, blacks are not inferior with regard to the image of God insofar as the image could be considered a binary matter — human beings are made in the image of God, animals are not.” This stance suggests Mahler sees blacks as human but spiritually and intellectually inferior, requiring oversight from whites for Christian growth. Other posts reinforce this, denying black Americans’ citizenship and calling for whites to avoid blacks as a “duty,” while proposing the continent of Africa as compensation for crimes against whites.

A lawyer educated at Chapman University law school, Mahler was an active member of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) until his 2023 excommunication from First Lutheran Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, for allegedly promoting white nationalism, antisemitism, and fascism, according to Rolling Stone. As webmaster for the LCMS’s “Book of Concord” doctrinal manual, Mahler recruited dozens of young men to shift the denomination toward far-right ideologies, opposing updates to church doctrine he deemed “woke.” His ties to Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler and comments supporting Hitler prompted LCMS president Matt Harrison to denounce such views as “evil” and mandate excommunication.

James White, director of Alpha and Omega Ministries in Phoenix, Arizona, brings decades of apologetic experience to the debate. A pastor at Apologia Church, professor at Grace Bible Theological Seminary, and author of over 20 books, White has 161.9K X followers. He defends the debate as a chance to address Mahler’s scriptural arguments, stating on his podcast, The Dividing Line, that Mahler’s views rely on misinterpretations of passages like Genesis 9 (Table of Nations) and Genesis 3 (protoevangelium) to argue racial distinctions. White links Mahler’s arguments to Patrick Mell, the Southern Baptist Convention’s fourth president, who in 1844 stated, “From Ham were descended the nations that occupied the land of Canaan and those that now constitute the African or Negro race. Their inheritance, according to prophecy, has been and will continue to be slavery . . . [and] so long as we have the Bible . . . we expect to maintain it.”

White argues Mahler recycles Mell’s exegesis to deny equal sanctification, a position he rejects as unbiblical. On X on April 27, 2025, White wrote, “This [debate will give] us the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the clear biblical teaching over against white supremacist twisting of Scripture.” In December 2024, he called Mahler a “cult leader,” comparing him to Joseph Smith and Valentinus for his “race-based hatred.”

The debate will be livestreamed on May 15 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on the Bibledingers YouTube channel.