These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth. (Genesis 9:19)
At some point in human history, wickedness became so overwhelming that Scripture tells us God regretted creating mankind (Genesis 6:5-6).
If God were capable of surprise, I imagine He would have been astonished at how far mankind had fallen. But He is not just any god. He is the All-Knowing One, never taken off guard.
Yet, the depth of human depravity at that time was shocking. It shows how lost we can become when we stray from our true habitat, which is God Himself. Scripture says, “For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Anything outside of Him leads to death and all kinds of evil.
Eventually, God decided He had seen enough. He chose to restart the human race through the one man who found favour in His sight; Noah (Genesis 6:8). Noah and his family were spared, and through them, the earth was repopulated (Genesis 9:1).
The Science Behind Skin Colour
I believe when Noah’s descendants spread across the earth, the climates of their new environments affected their genetics over generations. This explains why people from colder regions tend to be fair-skinned, while those from hotter regions developed darker pigmentation.
There are black people who, having been born in colder regions, did not develop as much melanin. Interestingly, some are so fair-skinned that, if not for their hair texture, they could almost pass for white.
Think about it. When a white-skinned person and a dark-skinned person have children, their offspring often have a blend of both skin tones, neither entirely white nor entirely black. If genetics can create such variations, how much more can environmental and geographic factors affect skin colour over generations?
The Bible’s Silence on Skin Colour
Have you ever noticed how the Bible is generally silent on the skin color of the people it describes? When it does describe individuals, it focuses on their beauty, strength, or physical attributes, never their race.
- Job’s daughters were called beautiful (Job 42:15).
- Leah was described as having weak eyes (Genesis 29:17).
- Saul was noted for his height (1 Samuel 9:2).
- David is one of the few people whose complexion may be said to have been hinted, and even then, it is vague. Scripture says he was “ruddy” (1 Samuel 16:12). The Hebrew word for “ruddy” can mean reddish or bronzed, but it does not tell us if he was black, white, or somewhere in between.
The only other reference that could hint at skin tone is Solomon’s Song of Songs:
His lover says: “Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon” (Song of Solomon 1:5). But even this could simply mean his lover had been darkened by the sun, not that she belonged to a particular racial or ethnic group. Even a naturally light-skinned person could say the same thing after prolonged sun exposure.
God Does Not See Color, So Why Do We?
How did we, as humans, become so obsessed with skin color that we now destroy one another over it? God does not see white or black, if anything, He looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7).
Skin tone is very likely simply a product of location and genetic adaptation. We are all descendants of the same man; Noah. Every human being, whether white, black, brown, or a shade in between, is just a variation of one race: the human race.
It is through this one family of Noah that the entire earth was repopulated (Genesis 9:19). That means every single one of us, regardless of skin color, hair texture, or accent, is a descendant of Noah. In fact, we are all brothers and sisters. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Scripture often refers to our neighbors as ‘brothers and sisters’, because that is exactly what we are. Whether Jew, Greek, or Gentile, we are all one in God.
If we ALL come from one man Noah, why do we let something as surface-level as skin color divide us? The enemy has used skin color to create pride, hatred, and division. How did we get to the point where people kill, oppress, and degrade one another over something as superficial as melanin? If anything, is it not a privilege to live in a world where people look different yet are all beautifully made? The truth is, our real identity isn’t found in the colour of our skin, it’s found in Christ.
There are things we will come to understand in heaven were never meant to hold any real significance. If even marriage, the one thing people desperately desire, is not relevant in eternity (Matthew 22:30), then how much less should skin colour matter?
Scripture says: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
When we stand before God, He won’t ask about our ancestry, nationality, or appearance. It really doesn’t matter much to God. Revelation 7:9 says “one day, every nation, tribe, and language will stand together before God’s throne”.
At the end of the day, the only thing that truly matters is this: Are you in Christ or not?
