Is there any biblical reference against/pro interracial dating?

Question

Been wondering this question. I would like to bring up my daughter with values that I can give her biblical reference to, not personal opinion. Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

There is a lot against interracial dating in the old testament, but I believe the dispensation of grace (the way the rules changed when Jesus was ressurected) changes this.

The O.T. restrictions were similar in spirit to the N.T. "Thou shalt not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." (I think it is in Romans, I'm not looking it up.) Before Christ, only Jewish people were believers, therefore restrictions to only date other Jewish people were probably for spiritual purity, not racial purity.

I think that's what you should be teaching your daughter--seek a Christian man. It would not be against the Bible, especially if you have faith in Christ, to date a Christian of another race.

The arguments I have heard that say that interracial dating is wrong are, well, wrong. One guy quoted the same verse I gave above, but left out "with unbelievers". Another guy pointed to Sodom, and ignored the other sins and sinners there, and also ignored the fact that by the old rules only Jewish people could know God. Basically, every person who has said that interracial dating is wrong and the Bible says so couldn't show me where it says that.

Answer 2

If you really like a person, color or nationality shouldn't get in the way. But the again, interracial dating may be a problem due to the family members. Some family members may criticize on your choice of dating. My view: My view doesn't matter, interracial dating should be viewed by the people in the relationship, not the onseers.

Answer 3

There is nothing in the Bible that says it is wrong to date or marry a person of a different race.

Bible passages
There are a few incidental mentions of race in the Bible (e.g., that Ethiopian's skin was different, Jeremiah 13:23), but there is nothing saying one race is superior to another. Moses was married to a Cushite (Ethiopian) woman (Numbers 12:1-16), and God was angry with Aaron and Miriam for criticizing that marriage.

The Hebrews were forbidden to marry Canaanites (Exodus 34:10-17; Deuteronomy 7:3-4). The reason was because the Canaanites worshipped idols, not because of race; the Hebrews and Canaanites were racially similar.

The apostle Paul encouraged Christians not to marry unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14), but here again, the reason was religious, not racial.

Jesus and His apostles taught that we must respect and show compassion for all people of God's creation without regard to artificial distinctions like race and nationality. In His Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus told of a Samaritan man who was kind to a Jewish man even thought they were enemies of different religions, nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. At the end, Jesus tells us, "Go and do likewise."

The Apostle Paul banned all discrimination based on race, social status, etc. among Christians:

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (NIV, Galatians 3:26-28)

Answer 4

You can find support in the bible for any preconceived idea or prejudice you already have. That is one of the reasons it is so popular.

The bible has been used to support slavery, torture, subjugation of women, and racism....to name just a few things we now consider unjust or immoral.

You would do better to instill your own values to your daughter and not rely on what was considered moral by patriarchal bronze age goat herders.

Answer 5

Numbers 12:1-14 Moses married an Ethiopian woman(Cushite) his sister Miriam was stricken temporarily with leprosy for speaking against it.

Answer 6

No. I think that love is the key to that. God hasn't set a precident in christianity, though He may have in the Old Testament under the Law.

Since I am not a Jew, I lean towards the testimony of Jesus to approach understanding God.

Answer 7

There is no biblical prohibition against interracial dating/marriage.

Answer 8

The Bible only tells the Jewish people to marry within their race only because the other races were dealing in idolotry and God wanted them to be a "set apart" people. There is no forbidding or condoning either way except in the area of belief. ie not marrying outside of the faith.

Answer 9

It isn't that God forbids interracial marriage, it is that He forbids interreligious marriage.

God's message for his people is consistent from the beginning right to the end. God's way doesn't change back and forth. Let's notice now from the scripture that what God forbids in His Word is not the marrying of people of different racial lineage, but interreligious marriage.

Let's begin with Exodus 34:10-16:

"And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels ... behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God; Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods."
Here we see God forbidding the Israelites from marrying people of the nations around them. The question we need to examine closely is WHY? Was the prohibition based on race (especially as used in the sense of skin color) or on religion?

From these verses we can clearly see that God's concern was that marrying outside the "church" (Israel was the Church of the Old Testament) would cause Israel to turn away from God.
Notice Israel was plagued for committing whoredom with Midianites—descendants of Abraham (Gen. 25:14). Solomon was rebuked for marrying, among others, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites—all descendants of Shem (Genesis 19:36-38; Gen. 36). In both cases the problem was clearly that these strange wives led the Israelites away from the true worship of the true God. The problem was interreligious marriage, not interracial marriage.
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Moses married a Midianite woman in Exodus 2:15-21 with no condemnation from God. The condemnation came from Miriam and Aaron and God was angry with them (Numbers 12:1-9). Nowhere in the Bible do we read of God correcting Moses for the wife he chose—even though she was black.

Hope this helps.

Answer 10

No, in the scripture it's not about race, it's about tradition and customs. God does tell the Israelites not to take for themselves heathen wives. God is no respector of man and He loves us alll the same.... red, white, yellow, and brown.