Are corporate apologies biblical?

Are corporate apologies biblical? Can one apologise on behalf of the whole? Can one also do so on behalf of their ancestors who may have wronged a community?

In the Old Testament, the priest would make a sacrifice on behalf of the people. This, in a sense, was a corporate event; however, the priest was supported by the people and sacrifices are a bit different than apologies. The sacrifice required covenant interaction.

In our world today, some people have made attempts to apologise for the whole of a group of people — but, often, those making such apologies do not have the authority to speak for the people. I think it is appropriate to recognise when our ancestors acted in ways that we do not approve of today, but we cannot really apologise for them. All we can do is acknowledge their errors and empathise with those who may still be dealing with the consequences of events that occurred in the past.

Some have made attempts to apologise for the whole of a group — but they often do not have the authority to speak for the people

The need for affirmation

When the priest would make sacrifices on account of the people, there was a cost associated with it. When someone makes an apology today, there is rarely an associated cost. The words might be nice, but without accompanying action, they don’t hold as much value. Additionally, no elected person or regular person really has the authority to speak for an entire group of people. A mayor can speak for a town, a governor for a state, and a president or king for a country. There are no globally recognised leaders. Furthermore, there will always be those who disagree with their representatives, and therefore personal apologies tend to be taken more seriously.

In recent years, the elected leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention in America apologised to the African American community for their denomination’s part in slavery before the Civil War and they apologised for their part in segregation through the middle of the 20th century. This was a good first step in healing some race relations in the convention, but it is still up to the people in all the churches to do their part to show that they all desire more peace and harmony between African American Southern Baptists and White, Hispanic, or other Southern Baptists.

To illustrate differently, Jesus’ death was a corporate death. It covered many people, but people have to believe in Christ for His blood to be applied to them and for them to be forgiven of their sins. Christ died for humanity, but only those who believe have received salvation. Those who do not believe still die in their sins.

If someone makes an apology for a group of people, the people have to affirm that apology for it to represent them. Anyone apologising for a group must be an acceptable representative of the group; otherwise, it is no different than an individual’s apology. If the represented people do not affirm the apology, they are still outside the corporate nature of the apology.