Is Mixed-Race Marriage A Sin?

I came across another post, in one of the forums on MySpace, that was hard to leave alone. The initial post asked if it is a sin to be in a mixed-race marriage. All the responses were basically "No, it's not a sin. The Bible never said that it's a sin."

Is that good logic? If the Bible does not forbid it, is it ok to do it?

I am not questioning the conclusion. I agree with it. I am however questioning the logic used to reach the conclusion.

So, I was compelled to repond again to a forum post.


Here's my post:


We can ask, "What Would Jesus Do?"

Of course, Jesus didn't marry. However, we can look at His genealogy.

Jesus' genealogy includes at least two Gentiles: Rahab, a Canaanite, and Ruth, a Moabite.

Tamar the mother of Perez by Judah was also most likely not Jewish considering that Judah left his brothers to stay with a man of Adullan named Hira.

Bathsheba, mother of Solomon (former wife of Uriah the Hittite), was daughter of Eliam who was the son of Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite. Most likely she was a Gentile (considering that she married an Hittite).

So if Jesus' human genealogy is that of a mixed race, I think we can safely say that mixed race marriages are OK w/ God.

I must add one caveat. God does value the diversity of races. In God's Revelation to John (the book of Revelation), the picture, of the people of God on the other side of eternity, is that of a community of distinctly different races and languages joined together to form the universal chorus. In fact, Jesus stated that the end would come when the Gospel has been preached in all the nations (translated from the Greek word ethnos).

But, really! When considering marriage, should any of that be of any great consideration when making a Biblical choice. Of course not!

The most important is: (No, it's not if you love each other, that's a given.) It's: Did God call the two of you to be together to serve Him as a couple.

That may be hard to determine, so I'll frame it in a different way.

Were each of you, individually, seeking first the kingdom of God and its righteousness (and letting God add marriage to you) [Matthew 6:33], when God brought the two of you together?

Think of it as a triangle: God at the top of the triangle and the two of you at the other two corners. As each of you draws towards God (drawn by God), God moves the two of you together.

Too often I hear guys (believers) who are not serving God, pray for a wife (a helper) and I have to laugh. These guys are basically doing nothing and are praying for God to give them a helper to help them do... Nothing!

On paper, waiting for God to bring you and your future spouse together, may not sound romantic but it is very romantic. Imagine you doing your thing in serving God; your future spouse doing his/her own thing in serving God. Then God starts to move circumstances, people, events causing the two of you to bump into each other, to be yoked together in some challenging task, to experience triumph as you two work shoulder to shoulder, to share experiences in which you can later exchange as private jokes. Each time the two of you are brought together, the excitement in your hearts builds..... It's pretty cool!