On Miscegenation (is Race Mixing a Sin?)

When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

Deuteronomy 7:1-4, KJV

Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.

Leviticus 19:19, KJV

A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever: Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

Deuteronomy 23:2-4, KJV

Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.

Joshua 23:12-13, KJV

In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?

Nehemiah 13:23-27, KJV

Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

Ezra 9:1-2, KJV

They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

Hosea 5:6-7, KJV

And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

Numbers 25:6-8, KJV

Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Nehemiah 13:3, KJV

Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.

Deuteronomy 22:9-11, KJV

For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 7:6, KJV

Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

Ezra 10:11, KJV

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

Jeremiah 2:21, KJV

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 32:8, KJV

Recently, the subject of miscegenation has once again arisen to be a stumbling block for those Christian who engage in online discourse. The above passages are being used to show how miscegenation is not only imprudent but also sinful. Now post-Christ I do not think one is able to theologically oppose race mixing, however I do not believe it is encouraged either. The above passages relate to the people of the Old Testament, the Hebrews. God required the Hebrews to remain racially pure so that their faith could be preserved until the Incarnation of Christ. For Bronze and Iron Age peoples, religions and tribal deities were an ethnic affair, and thus racial and religious identity were synonymous. Although religious conversions did occur as a result of conquest, religion and ethnicity remained linked. God prohibited the Hebrews from mixed race marriages because in such a marriage the apostasy of the Hebrew spouse was possible, and thus it follows their children would also likely become pagan. Furthermore, because religion and ethnicity were so closely linked, the offspring of such a union would be visible outsiders. Considering how regulated the lives of the Hebrews were and how elusive they likewise were, it would be easier for such an individual, an innate and biological outsider, to identify with their pagan parent.

There is also something to be said about the biological conception of race as it was invoked in the Old Testament. The pagan gentiles were religiously unclean, but even though God cared for the salvation of non-Hebrews (the account of Jonah preaching to the Ninevites) He did not desire the Hebrews to intermarry with gentile converts. Thus evidently, there was a racial component to being a Hebrew and mixed marriage was seen as dirtying the Hebrew and in diluting the God-chosen quality of the children said union would produce. As I have argued before, I also believe it possible that God needed to preserve the genetic integrity of the Hebrews so as to preserve the Old Testament and the lineage required to birth Christ. I do maintain that different racial groups are biologically distinct and that they perceive/understand God differently from each other. This is why Christianity contains so many distinct rites and customs, as the needs of each racial (and more precisely ethnic) group differ and must be met indigenously. As the knowledge of God is so personal, occurring at an innate level, the child of a mixed-race couple could not reliably depend on his mother or father to fully model him in the faith, and likewise the parents would be unable to relate to the particular needs of the child.

But of course, miscegenation cannot be called a sin. It may be imprudent or unwise, but since genetic purity/integrity is no longer a requirement for salvation, we can no longer decry miscegenation as sinful. In Orthodoxy there exists the concept of an “ethnomartyr”. Predominately occurring under Ottoman rule, an ethnomartyr is usually seen as one who is martyred for reasons secular but is still an Orthodox Christian. Again, during the time of the Ottoman Empire, religious and ethnic identity were essentially synonymous, so the killing of a Greek by a Turk, even for a reason not related to Orthodoxy, was seen as a type of martyrdom. Therefore, if it can be said that one can be a martyr for their ethnos, it might be possible to argue that in Christianity (or at least Orthodoxy) one can likewise sin against one’s ethnos. However, just as the ethnomartyr is killed for race but saved through Christ, a sin against ethnos is not a sin against God and thus can yet be saved. However, this does not mean we do away with the passages prohibiting mixed marriages. The New Covenant supersedes the Old, but this does not mean that we reject its wisdom (i.e. the wisdom of God). Just as Christians are permitted to eat pork, we are permitted to find a spouse outside of our race. However, just as God’s wisdom permeates both the realms of the sacred and profane, there exists temporal justifications why such prohibition should be respected if not followed to the letter.

For the vast majority of people, marrying outside of one’s race is not wise. Of course, exceptions always exist and I do not seek to shame or discourage those who find themselves married to someone who is not a member of their racial group. Fundamentally, marriage is a difficult endeavour even for those of the same race, and thus having a mixed marriage further complicates the lives of its members. I believe God divided humanity into the distinct groups based on geography and genetic expression in part to better populate the varied regions of the earth, and to give glory to Himself. Within the races, we have ethnicities which share a common biological, cultural, and religious identity. Even amongst those of similar ethnicities we see conflicts of culture and religion, however their general closeness in relation permits a greater degree of mutual understanding. But for those groups separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years of environmental adaption, yes common ground may be found but it is difficult even if said peoples are made to live in near proximity to each other. One does not undo thousands of years of history in a 100 to 200 year period, if ever.

It is often dubious as to why one would seek out a spouse of another race. Unfortunately, in our culture that has seen pornography normalized and casual sex rendered common and accepted, the normative reasons for pursuing a romantic partner have shifted in accordance with the norms of modernity. Instead of searching out a spouse, we have men and women seeking out novelty, and that which (temporarily) satiates lust, and not fulfillment. Again, this is not to degenerate those couples who are in a mixed marriage, but from what I have seen online, much of the promotion of mixed-race relationships are the product of racial fetishization which is degenerate and explains in part why said relationships often end in divorce. How can one expect to have a fulfilled happy marriage when it is predicated on such things? It can also be said that when one exclusively seeks out a relationship with someone of another race, it represents their inability to find a part within their nation, and thus to compensate for their low status or failings they settle for an alien who by definition is of lower status than the majority population. Said relationships can also be detrimental to the children as I have said before; they are unable to identify fully with either parent and thus remain outsiders within their own families. We can look at examples like Elliot Rodger, the mass murderer who in-part blamed his mixed-raced identity as the cause of his inability to socialize with others, and thus his crimes.

Of course, through Christ all things are possible. I think it neither wise, prudent, nor good for one to pursue a serious relationship with a member of another race. But doing so is not a sin. Despite what advertisements would have us believe, mixed marriages are not common and most peoples of most racial groups prefer to marry and have children amongst their own people. Although I will not say mixed marriages are good, I do believe that if a couple is genuinely serious and have an authentic Christ-like love for each other, they can live a successful family life. But if a normal marriage has its ups and downs and times of difficulty, a mixed marriage will have all these as well and more. Thus, the couple of a mixed marriage need almost a greater depth of love and strength to persevere during life’s trials, especially for the sake of their children. This is something I do not believe most people, especially in this era, are capable of, and thus I cannot encourage one to pursue a mixed marriage. If one does not need to foist more difficulty upon themselves then they should not do it, but if it’s God’s will for them to suffer the joys of such a circumstance I will not prohibit it.

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