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We have all seen them. In homes, businesses and churches around the world, millions have pictures of a long–haired, effeminate–looking man they believe represents Jesus Christ. Do these pictures properly portray the Jesus of the Bible? And should we have pictures supposedly portraying Jesus? The place to go to properly answer these questions is God’s word, the Holy Bible.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 19:17 that if we want to enter into life, we are to keep the commandments. Those commandments are recorded for us in Exodus 20, and the second one says, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them…” (vv 4–5). Clearly, the use of anything which represents God or could become an object of worship is prohibited. Since Jesus Christ is God, any picture or likeness of his person is forbidden. God is not against art and having beautiful pictures in our home, but not pictures of anything that would represent Him or Christ or any object of worship. But these pictures do not describe the Jesus of the Bible anyway!
Mainstream error
While Christ has not left us any pictures of Himself, He has given us a written record of what He looked like when He was on this earth and what He looks like today. In most pictures meant to represent Christ, we see someone who would definitely stand out in a crowd. But Jesus had “no form nor comeliness…no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa. 53:2). He was neither handsome nor ugly, just a normal–looking Jew of His day. When Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, he had to kiss him in order to point out who He was so they would arrest the right man (Matt. 26:48). He would have been Caucasian, but His skin could have been anything from olive to fair, while His facial features would have been those characteristic of Jews.
Although most pictures depict Christ with long hair, Jesus would not have had long hair. Galatians 1:11–12 tell us that the Apostle Paul was taught directly by Jesus Christ, and he condemned long hair on men: “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?” (I Cor. 11:14). Strong’s Concordance shows that the Greek meaning of long hair here is ornamental tresses of hair, and Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines the word tress as “a lock of human hair, a woman’s or girls hair when long and falling loosely.” So Jesus Christ would not have had the long, flowing hair depicted in most religious pictures. He most likely wore a short style common among Jewish men of His day.
These false representations of Christ show an effeminate, frail, weakly man. But Jesus’ father Joseph was a carpenter (Matt. 13:55). No doubt Jesus and his brothers helped Joseph and learned the trade as they were growing up. In fact, when He returned to the area where He grew up, the people there referred to him as “the carpenter” (Mark 6:3). Being a carpenter in those days without all the modern tools they have today required a lot of physical strength and hard work. Surely then, Jesus was a strong, muscular young man. The Jesus Christ who drove out all those who were making the temple a house of merchandise was not a weak man (John 2:14–16). When we consider the beatings and the abuse that Jesus suffered from the time of His arrest until the time of His death, it is clear that He must have been physically strong and vigorous. A frail man could not have endured what He went through.
Christ did not leave us a detailed description of His physical appearance. This no doubt was done intentionally to prevent people from breaking the second commandment by making and worshiping pictures of Him. What we do know is enough to rule out the mainstream Christian ideas about the way He looked.
A true picture
What Christ really wants us to focus on is the character He had and the example He left for us to follow. As a young boy he wanted to learn and increase in knowledge—especially spiritual knowledge—not only by listening, but also by asking questions. This attitude toward learning not only helped Him in His relationship with God the Father, but also with His fellow man (Luke 2:46, 52). He fulfilled the law of God, and taught that the commandments must be obeyed (Matt 5:17; 19:17). He observed the Sabbath and assembled with others on that Holy Day (Luke 4:16). He made it a practice to keep close to God through daily prayer, knowing that of Himself He could do nothing (Mark 1:35, John 5:30). He was compassionate on others, and passionate about fulfilling the job His father gave Him to do, going “about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases among the people” (Matt 9:36, John 9:4, Matt. 4:23). As a result of living God’s way of life and obeying God’s law, He was a happy person—not the dejected individual we see portrayed in pictures today.
The Bible also tells us what Jesus looks like today as a glorified, mighty, all–powerful resurrected spirit being: “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two–edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength” (Rev. 1:14–16).
We are not to have pictures representing Christ, but clearly the Jesus Christ of the Bible is not the same as the person portrayed in various mainstream Christian illustrations. Jesus was not some long–haired, effeminate–looking, sad man. He was a strong, courageous, compassionate man, who obeyed God perfectly and was happy. This is the real Jesus that we are to follow, and who will soon come back to rule and to teach God’s way of life—the way that He lived while in human form—to all of mankind (Rev. 19:11–16).