Jesus was a Jewish man born in Galilee during the first century. His ethnicity was Jewish, and he would have likely had the appearance of a Middle Eastern person from that region and time period. [1, 2, 3]
Further Details:
- Jewish by Birth and Culture: Jesus’s mother, Mary, was Jewish, as was his stepfather, Joseph. His upbringing and cultural context were Jewish. [1, 2, 4]
- Appearance: The Bible provides limited details about Jesus’s physical appearance. Most depictions of Jesus as a white man are culturally influenced, not historically accurate, according to history.com. [2, 5]
- Middle Eastern Appearance: First-century Jews in the Levant (modern-day Israel/Palestine) would have likely had skin tones ranging from light to darker olive or tan, reflecting their Middle Eastern origins. [2, 3, 6]
[1] https://www.quora.com/What-race-was-Jesus-Christ-the-son-of-god
[2] https://www.history.com/articles/what-did-jesus-look-like
[3] https://www.quora.com/Was-Jesus-a-black-man-white-mixed-race-or-just-had-a-nice-tan
[4] https://providencemag.com/2020/01/day-12-how-real-meaning-bible-jesus-christmas-2/
[5] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAChristian/comments/17o6ogj/why_is_jesus_depicted_as_white/