We have an estimated world population of 7.8 billion as of May 2020. I have read, in the late 18th century, the Göttingen School of History divided mankind into five colored races:
- Aethiopian or Black
- Caucasian or White
- Mongolian or Yellow
- American or Red
- Malayan or Brown
This reminds me of the song we sang together as children:
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow
Black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children
Of the world
Many people use ancestry.com or similar sites and applications to trace the lineage of their family back as far as they can. To get a picture of their tree, their roots, and how families and people interconnect with one another. Perhaps you have done so yourself.
Every single person's tree branches back to Noah, his three sons (Shem, Ham and Japheth) and their wives. There were no survivors of the flood outside of the Ark and God created no additional people (or races) in addition to this family. Just as the animals aboard were to repopulate the earth with a variety of color and beauty, so were Noah and his family. Here, perhaps, we find a "set of races" as they separated and migrated to different parts of the world with different climates, etc.:
- Shem (+ his wife)—"dark but comely"
- Ham (+ his wife)—"dark like the raven"
- Japheth (+ his wife)—"entirely white"
Even though the people at the Tower of Babel were dispersed by the hand God, they still flowed from Noah, his sons and their wives. No new people groups were brought about at the time of their separation into different parts of the earth. However, again, shades of colors most likely spread about just as it did throughout all of creation.
Tracing Noah and his sons' wives brings one all the way back to the beginning. Here we see God created the human race with one man (Adam) and one woman (Eve). There was no additional race created outside of the Eden. Formed from the dust of the ground, within Adam was the basis for every human possibility. From Adam's rib God formed Eve, with the two becoming the foundation of humanity's various attributes of color, physique, etc. Do we imagine them as red, brown, yellow, black, or white? Perhaps we do that which seems most relevant or best associates them to us.
In the Old Testament we find a separation of the Jew (God's chosen people) and the Gentle (the heathen). However, in Christ, we find:
there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. [Romans 10:12-13]
Although we may vary in color, we can find commonality. We share in:
- God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. [Genesis 1:27]
- All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God—Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. [Romans 3:23; 5:12]
- For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Romans 6:23]
- For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. [Romans 10:13]
- For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. [1 Corinthians 15:22]
There is no difference in sin or salvation for the red, brown, yellow, black, or white. We must all come to a Jew, namely, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
We are called to:
- Love thy neighbour as thyself. [Matthew 19:19]
- Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. [Matthew 5:44]
- If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. [Romans 12:18]
- Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. [Romans 12:21]
Color should be seen as what makes us unique, not as something to warrant hate. We are made in the image and likeness of God. Our ratio of melanin does not make us more or less superior as a human being. Our words and deeds declare to the world—and to God—our moral and spiritual condition.
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