Marrying Outside Your Race

“Did you know that most science books say there are at least four races of humans — and that these books are all wrong? A scientist, speaking at a recent American Association for The Advancement of Science Convention, gives the correct answer about ‘Race’: ‘Race is a social construct derived mainly from perceptions conditioned by events of recorded history, and it has no basic biological reality.’ What this person is saying is that, biologically, there is only one race of human beings. After all, all humans are classified as ‘Homo Sapiens.’” 2

For “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth… He gives to all life, breath, and all things. AND HE MADE FROM ONE BLOOD [FROM ONE PERSON, ADAM] EVERY NATION [EVERY ETHNIC GROUP] OF MEN TO DWELL ON ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH…” (Acts17: 24-26).

THEREFORE, A “RACE” IS CORRECTLY DEFINED AS AN “ETHNIC GROUP ? A PEOPLE WHO HOLD TO A PARTICULAR CULTURE”, NOT A CLASS OF PEOPLE, OR A PEOPLE WITH A PECULIAR LOOK, OR A DIFFERENT SKIN COLOR. The Lord made from one person, every nation. Actually, the word “nation” in the Greek text means “ethnic group.” A race is not the people themselves, but their ethnic group — their culture. You can have two of any color of the same people, and have different races (ethnic groups). That is the way it is at this moment around this world, and it has been like this from the beginning of time. Our own prejudices have twisted it.

No bloodline is pure. Not even the Lord Jesus, who was from the tribe of Judah, a Jew, had a pure bloodline. GOD’S DESIRE IS TO HAVE DIFFERENT CULTURES, NOT PURE BLOODLINES.

Now that “race” has been correctly defined, let’s look further into marrying outside of one’s race. Some say that the race of a person is done away with regarding marriage to those who are born again in Christ — it doesn’t matter who one marries. The race of a person is done away with concerning being born again into the family of God, but not concerning marriage. Let me explain:

The Scripture says that in Christ “There is neither Jew nor Greek ...there is neither male nor female...” (Galatians 3:28). There are no ethnic or gender barriers. ALL who have become children of God through the shed blood of Christ have the same covenantal rights in the family of God, according to the portion that Christ gives to each one. This is God’s plan: to have a many-membered, many-cultured body, not only in the Body of Christ, but also in all of society. God’s call has gone out, that “...WHOEVER calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

If this Scripture, Galatians 3:28, which says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek...THERE IS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE...” were true regarding marriage and marrying outside one’s race, then the part that says, “there is neither male nor female” must apply to the marriage partners also, meaning, male can marry male and female can marry female. In seeing this, we know that this Scripture cannot and does not pertain to marriage, because God hates the practice of homosexuality. He says that those men who are “...leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, AND RECEIVING IN THEMSELVES THE PENALTY OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS DUE...who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS ARE DESERVING OF DEATH...” (Romans 1:27,32). But as far as the race of a person is in the Church, it has been done away with in Christ. There are no barriers to who our brother and sister are in the Lord. For “...[we] are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28b).

God loves diversity. He created diversity. This diversity is not only in the plant, animal, and fish world, but also of the people of the earth who are the crown of His creation and the affection of His heart!

Let's sum it up:

1. Color has absolutely no bearing on the matter of marriage. (It is that people see the "outward" appearance of people and judge them that way. All racism comes from pride or fear. Pride because they believe they are better, fear because they are afraid of the unknown.")

2. God wants a many-membered many-cultured body. That is what makes the beauty of this world in spite of what some people may think.

3. God has always brought people from one culture into another. That is what a missionary is. He has always said to accept strangers (other cultures) as your own family when they "adopt" (my word) Him and His culture as their own. The general rule is that the culture should always grow within itself. However, He has always brought people from one culture to be apart of another. Whether it is through marriage or not. And that happens every day. It is just not the "general" rule.

Also, see our teaching on how culture impacts the decision of an interacial marriage at The Three Levels of Truth.


There are many critical keys in this book regarding divorce, remarriage, submission, interracial marriage and relationships. Click on Divorce: God's Will? to order.