Race and Appearance of Jesus - Biblical References

Biblical References

The New Testament includes no description of the physical appearance of Jesus before his death. Its narrative is generally indifferent to people's racial appearance or features.

The Synoptic Gospels include the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus, during which he was glorified with "his face shining as the sun." However, the Gospels do not provide details of Jesus' everyday appearance.

The Book of Revelation describes the features of a glorified Jesus (e.g. hair white as wool, etc.) in a vision (1:13-16), but the vision refers to Jesus in heavenly form, after his death, not his appearance during his earthly life.

Old Testament references about a coming Messiah, or Messiahs, (whom Christians believe to be Jesus) have been projected forward to form conjectures about the appearance of Jesus on theological, rather than historical, grounds; e.g. Isaiah 53:2 which refers to the coming Messiah as "no beauty that we should desire him" and Psalm 45:2-3 which describes him as "fairer than the children of men", often interpreted as his physical description.

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