Name: Anthony
Question: Does the Bible speak about relationships between different races?
Answer: Anthony, thank you for the question.
The Bible does not speak of interracial marriage one way or the other. The fact that God’s Word is silent on the issue leads me to believe, if God was against it, He would have declared it.
However, we still have much to discuss from a Biblical and common-sense perspective.
The Bible On Interracial Marriage
God did tell Solomon and the Israelites not to take husbands and wives from the other nations.
The big question is why?
Turn your Bible with me to,
1 Kings 11:2
Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
God’s reasoning had nothing to do with race. God said the Israelites cannot marry the other people as they would “turn away your heart after their gods”.
We have to remember, the people surrounding the Israelites were heathen people. They did not know, much less acknowledge our God, instead, they had their own gods and culture built around them.
God knew, if the Israelites married into the other people, the Israelites would also become worshippers of false gods and reject Him. So that is the reason God did not want the Israelites to marry these people. Not due to their skin color. It is very important to make that distinction here.
Multi-Racial People
I want to give you something else to consider…
Many people tend to get caught up in this subject and quickly forget mankind’s progression. Thousands of years have passed since the sixth day of Genesis. That means to a large extent, the races have mixed with each other over time.
While someone may think they are pure in their race, a DNA test may quickly change that perspective. I know people who thought they were full blood of a specific race, only to find out they had Caucasian in their blood. You would have never known by looking at them though.
So what should that individual do then, never become married due to their mixed blood?
That is ridiculous and it is one reason why we should always remember,
…The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7
Most of the time, man can only look skin deep, while our Father always looks at, and judges, our heart and soul.
While God created the races distinct and said they were “very good”, (Genesis 1:31). God knew His children would certainly intermingle over time, and He never said a word against it in Scripture. That speaks volumes.
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In fact, God even told the Israelites, they could take women from the nations they conquered that were far away, (Deuteronomy 20:10-15, 21:10-13).
Kind After Kind
It has been said, each race should stick to their own kind. Yet, that is something man came up with. God’s Word makes it clear,
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
1 Corinthians 15:39
This means all races belong to one and the same kind, humankind. Each race is not a different kind.
God Blessed Ishmael
Then we have the story of Abraham, the father of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Abraham’s wife Sarai was unable to have children at the time, so Sarai gave her maid Hagar, an Egyptian, to be Abraham’s wife in order to conceive and have a son, which they did named Ishmael.
Sarai became jealous and demanded Abraham banish Hagar and the child. Though “grieved” by the thought, Abraham at God’s request followed through, and sent Hagar away into the wilderness with his son Ishmael, (Genesis 16:2-4, 17:9-14).
Now wandering in the wilderness, Hagar and Ishmael were out of water and death seemed certain. Hagar then cried out to God, He not only heard her, but “the angel of God” spoke to Hagar from Heaven.
Comforting Hagar God said, “I will make him (Ishmael) a great nation”. God then opened the eyes of Hagar and she saw a well which provided life saving water for her and Ishmael, (Genesis 21:15-19).
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
Genesis 21:20
God was with Ishmael, and God promised Abraham,
And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Genesis 17:20
You must now ask yourself, if God was so against interracial marriage, and the resulting children.
- Why did God never condemn it?
- Why was God with Ishmael, half Israelite, half Egyptian?
- Why did God bless Ishmael?
- Why did God make Ishmael, the father of 12 princes who became a great nation?
I want you to think about that.
Does God Bless Interracial Marriage?
We have now covered all Scripture that is available to us on this subject, so let me ask you two questions.
- Can you really control who you fall in love with?
- Which marriage do you believe our Father would bless the most?
- Marriage between a blue couple, where one or neither of them love God.
OR
- Marriage between a blue and purple couple, where both love God greatly and live by His Law.
Everyone already knows the answer to that question.
If the blue and purple couple are both Christian, honor God, and love each other, where is the sin?
God judges the deeds, the soul of the individual, not the individual based on their skin color. God will and does bless interracial marriages when the family stands with God, just as with any other skin-colored family. That is just common sense.
Additional Reading:
4 Responses
It is clear that YHWH God created all people on the earth. He created the rainbow of people. Why should we alter what he created. There are also distinct anatomical and serum (blood) differences as well. You think that there is no prohibition in the Word for race-mixing, but neither is there promotion of it. Why have most people of different races stayed within their own racial group for thousands of years? Just “who” is promoting race mixing in our cosmos today and might that not be sufficient reason to avoid it?
Hey David, for the record, we are not promoting anything here, and the “who” you referred to probably mixed in with everyone’s blood at this point. To be clear, we are talking about God’s Word and what YHVH did and did not say on this subject. This is a Bible Q&A to help a reader.
This is what I said,
If you can prove me wrong, then please do. Otherwise, your comment comes off wrong and brings forward church tradition which is just not helpful. We want to know what the Bible says, not what man thinks. Remember, God looks on our heart, on our soul, not on our skin color.
You have to remember, there are many, many Christians who themselves are multi-racial. Is their soul any less than yours due to their mixed skin color? Are their parent’s souls any less than yours because they decided to marry someone of another race? I provided everyone with numerous real life examples, real life David, from real life people, real life souls. Do not short change a soul due to their race or because they married someone of another race. You just may be surprised at your own genealogy which you had no control over.
Moses married a Ethiopian woman.
Hey Alice. Moses wife was Zipporah who is called an Ethiopian in Numbers 12:1. However, the word “Ethiopian” here is Strong’s word H3571 which means, “a Cushite woman”. If you keep following the Strong’s for the root of this word you come up with “the name of a son of Ham, and of his territory; also of an Israelite”, (How To Use Bible Study Tools). Further, we know Jethro, Zipporah’s father was a decedent of Abraham, an Israelite, (see: Who Was Moses’ Father In Law?).
Here is a general thought for everyone…
For thousands of years, people mostly married within their own race. Why do you think that is? That is who they were surrounded by, back then, it was like a massive family where everyone in that race shared the same culture, customs, and values.
However, it also must have been a custom to marry into other tribes and families in those days. Otherwise, God would not have been so adamant against it with His concern being, “for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods”.
God’s concern was not skin color, God’s concern was the new faith His People would obtain which would result in them rejecting Him. That is the purpose of this life, to love and accept God, period.
Now think about man’s progression, long before God’s statement above, He said concerning the Tower of Babel… “The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech… the people is one”, (Genesis 11:1,6). All the people were together, does anyone really think there were no interracial marriages taking place then? God never said anything against it here either, that was not His concern. God is not stupid, He knows, naturally (by His design), people are attracted to people.
God then scattered the people according to their own families, customs, etc. Since that time, Chinese lived in China, Africans in Africa, and so on. It was not until more modern times when transportation made it possible for people to work together, and come together.
So again, there is no precedent in the Bible to Biblically condemn someone who marries someone of another race. I think it is something we should be aware of and move on. I certainly don’t dwell on it. The decisions someone makes in life, and who they choose to marry is none of my business, that is between them and God. My purpose on this site is to simply explain what the Bible says.