.
What Jesus Looked Like
Most artistic portrayals of Jesus are of a Caucasian male with blue eyes and long, light-brown hair.
It is important to
understand that this common portrayal is likely not at all what Jesus
looked like.
Jesus was ethnically
Jewish, so He likely had light to dark brown skin, brown eyes, and dark brown
or black hair.
Jesus would have
looked like a typical Middle Easterner.
The Bible nowhere
gives a physical description of Jesus, so no one should be dogmatic about His
appearance.
And, ultimately, we
have to realize that what He looked like does not matter. If it mattered, the
Bible would contain a physical description.
If the colors of His
skin, eyes, and hair in artistic portrayals are likely inaccurate, what about
the length of His hair?
Is Jesus being
portrayed as having long hair also inaccurate?
Again, it is
impossible to be dogmatic, since the Bible says nothing about the length of His
hair.
But, if Jesus looked
like a typical Middle Eastern male in the 1st century A.D., the artistic
portrayals are likely incorrect on the length of His hair as well.
While there were no
specific Jewish laws, Jewish men traditionally kept much shorter hair than
Jewish women.
There is also Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 11:14, “Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long
hair it is a disgrace for him?”
The length of Jesus’ hair would have been whatever
was culturally appropriate for a man.
Jesus’ hair would have looked masculine.
Now, what that
precisely means is subject to debate.
Could His hair have
been shoulder length? Possibly.
Would Jesus have had
a buzz cut or otherwise very short hair? Probably not.
The key is that it
would have been masculine-looking.
And that seems to be
Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 11:3-15. A man’s hair should look masculine.
A woman’s hair should look feminine.
What this means can
differ from culture to culture, but the principle remains, regardless of
culture.
The answer depends on
what is meant by “long.”
Could it have been
longer than the typical hair length of men today? Yes.
Would it have been so
long that it appeared feminine? No.
But, just as with the
colors of His skin, eyes, and hair, the length of His hair ultimately does not
matter.
It is completely
irrelevant to Him being the Savior of the world (John 1:29) and the only way to heaven (John 14:6).
Behold, the Lamb of God
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward
him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world!” John 1:29 English Standard Version (ESV)
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the
way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.” John
14:6 English Standard Version (ESV)
No comments:
Post a Comment