Bible Questions and Answers
Browse all the questions that have been asked at thisisyourbible.com and see their answers, read the most recent questions and answers, or have a look at some prepared questions and answers on key Bible themes.
Jesus' color is not mentioned in the Bible. When you think about it, there is no talk of white people either or Asian people or the populations of North and South America for that matter nor of black people as a separate group. The Bible doesn't talk about races in the sense we are conditioned to thinking about the subject. As far as the Bible is concerned, we are all of one race - humanity. Here's what the Apostle Paul has to say in Acts 17:26, "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth...."
Jesus was not white, as most portraits of him would have us believe. He was Semitic and would probably have had black hair, brown eyes and olive-coloured skin. I say, "probably," because it is interesting that we are given no physical description of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible. Why not? Because, as Jesus said, "The flesh profits nothing." Race and skin color are irrelevant to discussions of salvation.
Having said that, black people are well-represented in the Bible. For example, there is the "Queen of Sheba" who visited Solomon. It is generally believed that the "Song of Solomon" was written with her in mind. In that book she says "I am black but beautiful..." (Song of Solomon 1:5 Septuagint version). She is portrayed as a type of the "Bride of Christ" (i.e. the church). It is interesting that God chose a black woman to symbolize the Gentile church. Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of Christ might well have been a North African black man. The Ethiopian Eunuch (high government official) who was baptized into Christ by Philip in Acts 8 was definitely a black man and he is portrayed as a very insightful student of the Bible and an enthusiastic convert to Christianity.
So, although, "race" is not relevant to Bible teaching, it is nevertheless incorrect to say that there is no mention of Black People in the Bible. They are indeed mentioned and in a very favorable light although the Lord himself was neither black nor white but an olive-skinned person of Jewish descent. Racially, he was Semitic, not Negro or Caucasian.
