Interracial Marriage

The following email arrived this morning: “A couple asked me if there was any biblical teaching on interracial marriages (whether or not they were right or wrong). I recall verses about being unequally yoked but believe that applies to believers and unbelievers. Any thoughts you could offer would be appreciated.”

That doesn’t mean that every marriage makes sense. If a person from Thailand marries a person from Finland, there were will huge cultural barriers to overcome. If a person from Bolivia marries a person from Japan, there will be differences that cannot be overlooked. And so it goes. Marriage is hard enough even when there is very little cultural difference to overcome. On the other hand, we probably all know people from very different backgrounds who ended up with very happy marriages. Bottom line: Each case should be judged on its own merits–and believers in Christ should not knowingly marry unbelievers. That’s the only “unequal yoke” in the Bible (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). To be specific, I do not think that Christians should marry Muslims or Hindus or Buddhists or atheists or secularists. If a Christian and a Muslim marry, one or the other (or both probably) will have to compromise something important along the way.

Here are two sermons where I deal with this question in some detail:

The Right Stuff
Allied Force Questions

This message explores the importance of Paul’s proclamation in Acts 17:26, “From one man he made every nation of men”:

Empty on the Inside

These two sermons discuss the race question from a biblical perspective:

Breaking Down Walls
The Curse on Canaan and the Problem of Racism

Ken Ham, Don Batten and Carl Weiland discuss the question in light of the book of Genesis.