Jesus (Yahshua) Christ is the most prominent, influencing, and familiar figure in world history. However, the great IRONY in all these is that no one really knows who Jesus is. They could not agree about what Jesus taught and preached.
One of the saddest states of Christianity today is that they really don’t know whom they call Master and Lord. In fact, most professing Christians would have a hard time answering basic questions about Jesus. How about you? Do you REALLY know who Jesus is?
In this blog post, I will show you some of the amazing facts about Jesus Christ that only a few really know. Most of the items I will mention are even against the modern teaching and concept of mainstream Christianity. Check them out, and you’ll be amazed!
Fact no. 1: Jesus has short hair
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible reveals that Jesus had short hair. Of course, we cannot really know how Jesus looks like, but we can derive some clues from the Bible.
Here are the pieces of evidence:
- In I Corinthians 11:14, “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?” Part of the Scripture that Jesus upholds tells us that people who have long hair should be ashamed of themselves.
- During the arrest of Jesus, the Roman authority had a hard time finding Him. If Jesus had long hair, it would be easy for the soldiers to spot Him since Jesus will stand out with long hair in a short-haired society. History tells us that the Jews in Jesus’ day have short hair.
Fact no. 2: Jesus is strong and muscular
Modern Christianity depicts Jesus as skinny, flimsy, and feminine. Even if you look at popular crucifixion pictures or statues, you will see Jesus as someone who is so thin. However, the Bible reveals otherwise.
Here are the pieces of evidence:
- Remember, He is a carpenter. He is a man who is acquainted with constructing buildings, furniture, and many hard-labored tasks.
- He was able to drive away merchants and throw to the air big and heavy tables when He became angry of the people who made the house of God a house of business. If He was a pushover, people could have easily restrained and knocked Him down.
- If He was a weakling, He could have not lasted long during His gruesome torture leading to His death.
Fact no. 3: Jesus did not intend to save the whole world during His earthly life
Most Christian churches today will do their best to “save the whole world” thinking that today is the only day of salvation. This is another topic to cover, but for this article’s purpose, let us focus on Jesus only.
Here are the pieces of evidence:
- When Jesus was here on earth, He said that he was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat. 15:24).
- Jesus gave parables so that His audience will not understand His message (Matthew 13:10-11; Mark 4:10-12).
- Jesus even told His audience to count the cost and told them how difficult it is to be a Christian – not begging them to be a follower and to convert themselves.
Fact no. 4: Jesus is the God of the Old Testament
This is one shocking revelation, but it is the truth that you should understand. Most people thought that the God of the Old Testament is harsh and violent, while the God of the New Testament is loving and merciful. However, you will be surprised to know that Jesus is actually the God whom the Israelites knew.
Here are the pieces of evidence.
- We know that Moses saw God (Exodus 33:23); however, John 1:18 said, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” If no one ever saw God the Father, then the God whom Moses saw is someone else, evidently, Jesus Christ.
- I Corinthians 10:1-4, “All our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual ROCK that followed them, and THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST.” We know from the Old Testament that one of the title of God “ROCK” (Deut. 32:4 and Psalms 18:2).
- Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered… Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by (John 8:52-58). These verses tell us that the one whom Abraham talked to was Jesus Christ and not God the Father.
Fact no. 5: Jesus Christ is the Creator
Jesus created all things while God the Father remains to be the administrator. Nothing was made without the permission of God the Father, but it is Jesus Christ who did the actual creating.
Here are the pieces of evidence:
- But in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one through whom God created the universe, the one whom God has chosen to possess all things at the end. He reflects the brightness of God’s glory and is the exact likeness of God’s own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word (Hebrews 1:2-3).
- And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ (Eph 3:9).
- For by him [Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).
- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:1-3).
Final Words:
![Amazing Facts about Jesus Christ](https://i0.wp.com/becomingchristians.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/amazingfactsaboutjesus1.jpg?resize=700%2C525&ssl=1)
Do you know the truth about Jesus?
These are five of the amazing facts about Jesus Christ. I know this is a huge topic that a single blog cannot cover sufficiently. That’s why I highly recommend that you request your free copy of Jesus Christ: The Real Story.
Thankfully, you do not have to wonder who God or Jesus is since the Bible reveals it to us. Knowledge of the true Creator God is significant. Freedom comes from knowing the truth, and these amazing facts will surely guide you to the truth.
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In regards to the hair thing (please I agree with most of what you written just sparking a little conversation). The Nazarites did not cut their hair since the time of the Judges as per Judges 13. Just as the levites did not cut the front/sides of their hair as per Leviticus 19:27.
But that was not my real question. In regards to Jesus being the God of the Old testament (which I agree with you on I think). Was Jesus the cloud or the rock? Or was there a difference between Jesus and the father (though they are one) even from the beginning?
Also check out Melchizedek.
Hi There!:)
Let me try to address each of your comment.
1. Jesus is not a nazarite to begin with. He lived in Narazeth, which is basically different thing about being a nazarite.
2. I believe Jesus was in the cloud, though just a speculation since I haven’t read a scripture saying that. But Scripture is clear that Jesus was the rock in which the Israelites drank.
3. The way I understand the Bible, God the Father and Jesus Christ is different being. Thus, we can see in Genesis account the expression “let US make man in our own image”. The word “God” used in the creation account is from the Hebrew word Elohim, a plural noun. We can also see in the NT that Jesus address to the Father, meaning they are separate beings.
4. Melchizedek is Jesus Christ as we can read in Hebrews.
I hope I addressed your comments.:)
So you believe in two gods? Interesting, Polytheism still exists in Christianity. I’d forgotten that during my tenure in the original group.
Yes, I believe in two Gods just like what the Bible tells us. The Bible reveals that there are two Being who coexisted before creation and time begun.
Here are the proofs:
1. Genesis 1:26 – Let us make man… the US here connotes plurality.
2. John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. ALL things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
3. God the father and Jesus Christ are separate entity. Hebrews 1:5, Matthew 22:44, Matthew 24:36, John 14:28, John 17:1. Matthew 27:26, John 20:17.
4. Please read my post again.
Palestine is not a place with many trees. Buildings of stone was long the order of the day NOT wood. Carpentry would have been more a small craft, tool handles , furniture, Trent poles some support beams, farming implements. Buildings? Hardly.
The hair thing is completely unprovable. Palestine was a multicultural region. Cutting hair was not the easy thing we take for granted today, and likely reserved for those who had the time and funds to get that time consuming service done… with iron age tools.
He looked like other men of his time. Well under sic feet bearded, dark skinned either from the sun or genetics, and average of stature and physique.
Being stromg is no guaremtee of possessing stamina. Most crucifixion victims experienced harsh treatment I clouding beatings and torture. Victims often suffered for days, during the crucifixion, Jesus a few hours.
1. Being a carpenter does not limit one to woods alone. Building houses and furniture does not mean that they will only work with woods. In addition to this, Working as a carpenter and builder is physically demanding. Thus, it will be difficult for Jesus to be a carpenter if He is flimsy, effeminate, and weakling.
As a carpenter, He would have cut down trees, make wooden beams, haul rocks to build walls, and construct buildings from stone and timber.
In addition to this, driving out the merchants from the temple of God requires Him to be strong and musculine, hence, He could have easily be restrained by the merchants.
Crucifixion is the extreme punishment invented by human being at that time. The Romans are expert and skilled in torturing people. In fact, history shows us that most people in torture well ahead before they are nailed in the cross. Now, it will be very difficult for Jesus to survive that torture of night and day bleeding to death if He was not physically strong.
2. Haven’t you read? I Cor. 11:14? It is a dishonor for a man to have long hair.
A Feb. 24, 2004, Associated Press article reports: “Jesus didn’t have long hair,’ said physical anthropologist Joe Zias, who has studied hundreds of skeletons found in archaeological digs in Jerusalem. ‘Jewish men back in antiquity did not have long hair. the Jewish texts ridiculed long hair as something Roman or Greek,’ said New York University’s Lawrence Schiffman” (Jesus Scholars Find Fault in Gibson’s ‘Passion’).
However, it wasn’t at all typical among even the Greeks and Romans, as plenty of statues and coins from the time attest.
“Along with extensive writings from the period, experts also point to a frieze on Rome’s Arch of Titus, erected after Jerusalem was captured in AD 70 to celebrate the victory, which shows Jewish men with short hair taken into captivity” (ibid.).
3. Yes, I agree with you that He looks like any ordinary average Jew of His day. read Isaiah 53:2.
Thanks for taking time to comment.:)
1. You are making a common mistake by not understanding what the iron age would have been like. For a carpenter to have to go fell his own trees, hew them into manageable size, then transport them to a location for finishing work would have been a full time occupation. As all work was done with small hand tools, it would have been taxing. Carpenters could not have done their work, if they had also needed to get their own raw materials. The same would have been true for stone workers, People simply didn’t have the time to be multi-skilled in several disciplines, because each one took so long. A carpenter like Jesus would have had to limit his focus.
By the way, no one is suggesting he was weak, or the offensive choice of word, effeminate. But it is unlikely he was a muscle bound hulk either.
2. Paul was opinionated, that doesn’t mean that hair was short by modern standards. Again, consider the period, How was a man, who worked as a laborer have the time to get the short haircuts most men sport today, and what would they have used? Scissors were available, having been invented in Egypt centuries earlier, but they were crude, tending to be used mostly by cloth and leather workers.. One must wonder how many of those were available in Judea, as well as what constituted as short. Its quite likely that Jesus, a lower class tradesman, had his hair coarsely chopped to a few inches long every so often, and with great irregularity because of it being a time consuming endeavor. It quite likely would have been normal by their standards, and long by ours. Of course we have zero photographs from the period, just artistic renderings with obvious bias, as conquerors were sure to paint those they defeated in poor light
3. In the temple account, what Jesus likely did was incite a riot. There is no way he would have singlehandedly done what he did, because the temple guard would have skewered him in short order. His actions would have soon been joined by other temple worshippers also sick and tired of being ripped off by the money changers, and they would have assisted, hindered or joined in the fray by turning a table or two themselves. It doesn’t take a he-man to do that, just one ordinary looking guy of average physique. He just took advantage of a fused powder keg, and lit the match. To try to liken him to Rambo is really silly.
4. Crucifixion was a common form of execution. Victims sometimes perished during the scourging, others on the journey to place of execution from exhaustion while carrying the crossbeam of the cross, others within a few hours, others after about three or four days. We don’t know how long Jesus would have lasted, because he was speared after a few hours. He bled to death because of that spearing, an uncommon event, The executioners had planned to break his legs so he wouldn’t be able to support his own weight, but the spearing had hastened his demise. The usual cause was asphyxiation, shock and exhaustion.
Please be sure to request the free booklet offered in this blog.
Take some time to read some of my blog entries on religion, of which I’ve written a fair amount, and you can better understand why I will decline. The most recent of which covers my time in WCG as a child. Thanks anyway.
1. Let me make this clear. I’m not seeing that Jesus could have the body-builder’s body. All I am saying in my post is that He is not the same with the common depiction of Him as someone who is so thin, flimsy, and weakling. Now, about your reply; Let us set the record straight. Jesus is a carpenter. I know both of us agreed to that and being a carpenter demands that you should be physically fit to perform the laborous work. That’s my point. Let us not complicate the issue.
2. It is worth noting that in your reply, you used the words “one must wander”, “quite likely”. It seems to me that you are just offering your opinion. However, I got your point, but you need to realize that your reasoning isn’t plausible enough to conclude that people will let their hair grow just because they don’t have the right tools to do it. Do you have any proof that they don’t have the right razor at that time?
And by the way, there are many roman and jewish busts excavated from Jesus’ time and these busts suggest that people in Jesus time had short hair.
3. Matthew 21:12 – The Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out ALL those who bought and sold in the temple, and OVERTURNED the tables of he money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
Please read the gospel account. Your comment is a just an assumption.
4. Yes, I agree with you in this regard. So you know yourself how difficult it is to survive such torture.
5. I see, so you are from WCG. I was never part of the WCG, however, I am currently affiliated with United Church of God, one of the groups which came out of WCG after the apostasy and doctrinal changes.
Wgc was an apostasy from its very beginning. What you are espousing is right on script with the teachings of its cbarlatain founder. He was woefully clueless about history or theology, and the church disccoursged any honesty look at anything outside the approved doctrines. That you keep reverting back k to the same script is sad. I suggest you read books by Karen Armstrong, no relation to hwa or other historians about religious history. I also suggest you take a serious look from outside sources about the religion,’ founding. Its not pretty
They are of course suggestions. I left recg 26 years ago am now a very liberal well read Methodist. Nothing would convince me to return to a faith that was the source of souch pain
Wcg..I needed my reading glasses
As a person who never was part of WCG and a person who just recently affiliated with UCG, I might not be the right person to comment on that. However, I do hear stories about WCG and how it split. I read books written by Mr. Armstrong, but never heard of books from Karen Armstrong.
Thanks for your suggestion. I love reading books and many things, however, there are more important things that I should prioritize.
Well, the main reason why I write is to let people know about the truth. I read and study the Bible and so far, I haven’t find any fault in the teaching of the Church. That’s why I am happy to be part of UCG.
The story of WCG is a sad story. I can understand, at some degree, how you feel. I’m not here to convince or convert people, that’s God’s job and prerogative. I just want to share. Though you made up your mind, I still pray that both of us will act according to God’s will.
Thanks for our conversation! 🙂
Ucg and all the other variations are wcg. The only differences lie in who is the current leader. Every one holds Mr Armstrong in high esteem, insist on people reading his work, follow to the letter his teachings with various levels of severity.
It is his interpretation of scripture, his views on the world and society that are followed, and to vary from that is not allowed.
That may work for you as some people are comfortable with that strict a structure. However one should ask how come the “one true church” is a many splintered thing with factions in disharmony with one another.
I believe there is one true church which Jesus Christ Himself established. The churches, as long as they follow God’s command, are the same, but differ in the structure of administration. I firmly believe that shortly before Jesus will come, He will unite all these splintered groups as Jesus will only marry one bride.
Your comment on the length of Jesus’ hair may be misleading to your readers. His hair length is simply unknown. Jewish men at that time period wore their hair in a variety of lengths. Jospehus makes several references to the wearing of long hair among Jewish men, including those who have taken a vow, prophets, “wise men” and guards for the king. Josephus describes King Solomon as having long, flowing hair, which he had sprinkled with gold dust that would catch the sun’s reflection. In the case of the infant Samuel, Josephus records that his hair could not be cut because he had been promised by his mother to become a prophet of God. Jesus’ parents may have also followed the same tradition of their forefathers and not had his hair trimmed. Note that Lev. 6:10 speaks of men not allowing their hair to hang loose, suggesting that there was some length to it. A number of reliefs from the time period also depict Jewish men with long hair. You reference Greek and Roman statuary as examples of what Jesus’ hair may have looked like. Keep in mind that most of these examples are of wealthy citizens and civic and military leaders. Among the wealthy, household staff included barbers and hairdressers (especially for the women whose elaborate hair styles needed hours of dressing). Hair was cut with razors fashioned from copper or bronze and sharpened with stone. Those from a lower socioeconomic class, such as Jesus’ family would have less access to this level of luxury, as the previous commenter noted. (We know that Jesus was born into poverty because his parents were only able to afford the poor person’s temple offering of two turtledoves following his birth.) In conclusion, I am not saying that Jesus had long or short hair, but I hope to have shown your readers that there is ample evidence to support long hair. Certainly the message of Jesus to feed the hungry and care for the poor and the disenfranchised in society is far more important than hair length.
Also please note that the Greek word tekton, which many assume means “carpenter,” actually means “craftsperson” or “artisan.” No conclusions regarding skill level, physical ability or appearance can really be derived from the meaning of this word.
Jesus had short manly looking hair. Long hair was shameful for men in that time period.
It is unclear what Paul is referring to when he speaks of long hair as being shameful on a man. The Greek word for hair is thrix, but this word is not used in the passage. Instead, the word komao is used, which comes from the root word meaning “to dress” or “to take care of,” suggesting that something more elaborate is involved in the styling of the hair. Interestingly, komao is used only three times in the Bible, and all of those instances are in this chapter! Since we have seen, in my previous comment, that long hair among the Jews was often a sign of a prophet, a holy man, or a man who had taken the Nazarite vow, Paul cannot be referring to ordinary long hair on a man as shameful. It is likely that Paul is warning against a practice extant in the Corinthian culture at that time, perhaps a hair style associated with what was regarded as paganism, or perhaps a hair style that was associated with a fad of the larger culture, much as 1 Timothy 2:9 warns women against the elaborate “broided” hair favored by wealthy Roman matrons.
I asked my pastor to comment on your response. I know this is a bit lengthy, but I would assure that it is worth your time if you really want to know the truth.
One of the biggest errors Hollywood has made is in their depiction of Jesus while he was teaching here on earth. The error comes because the preachers, priests and theologians have themselves accepted a false type of Jesus that nowhere resembles the true Jesus who is described in the New Testament. The images of Jesus that Christians have in their churches, homes, Bibles, Sunday School or Sabbath School books are those which have the outward features of the chief pagan gods of the heathen world. If the apostles could come back to life and visit our churches, enter our homes, and see our movies about Jesus, they would be aghast at witnessing Jesus being portrayed like the chief gods of the heathen world.
In the fourth century it became common for many Gentile peoples throughout the Roman Empire (who had long worshiped pagan gods and goddesses) to begin identifying their deities of old with the newly honored Jesus, Mary, and the “twelve apostles” (plus other saints of the Old and New Testaments). One particular deity that seemed to blend together the attributes of several gods into a unified portrayal of deity was the Egyptian god “Sarapis.” This god had been famous for 600 years in Egypt and now his worship was found all over the Roman Empire. He was equated with the Greek Zeus (the chief god over all other gods) along with Asclepius (the god of healing). Professor Everett Ferguson in his excellent work titled Backgrounds of Early Christianity shows an example that the statues of Asclepius (the pagan god of healing) were images “that imitated Zeus and that his portraiture influenced artists in depicting both Sarapis [the Egyptian Zeus] and Christ” (p.114).
Remarkably, the pagan god Sarapis of the fourth century appeared very much like what Christians (from the time of Constantine onwards) began to depict as their “Jesus.” At that time the people began to abandon all of the early depictions of Christ made in the previous hundred years or so (which showed ‘Jesus normally as young, beardless and with hair like ordinary men—not with long flowing feminine type of hair). But now, with Constantine, the people began to want “Jesus” to appear like the pagan gods, so they selected the model of Zeus after the Egyptian rendition of Sarapis (the Egyptian Zeus) to be their new “Jesus.” What they actually did was to change the name of “Zeus” (Sarapis) into “Jesus.” The people kept on worshiping Zeus (Sarapis) but they now called him “Jesus.” Note the picture of Sarapis by clicking this link.
http://www.albatrus.org/english/living/modesty/serafis.gif
http://www.scienzz.de/magazin/upload/forschung8/mnchtum-Serapis_Vat.jpg
Compare it with this photo…
http://www.thestatuestore.com/photos/jesus/Jesus_45_C.jpg
Sarapis
With the time of Constantine a new type of JESUS began to be portrayed among the Christian population of the Roman Empire. They took the style of grooming which was typical of the pagan gods and adopted it as their “JESUS.” The above drawing is from a bust in the British Museum of Sarapis, the Egyptian version of Zeus (the chief of the Gentile gods). See reference Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities, article, “Coma.”
Note the long hair! Such long feminine type of hair on a man is how evil spirits are portrayed in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 9:7,8). And Sarapis is always portrayed with a beard and long hair. It is astonishing that since the time of Constantine in the fourth century, almost all the visionary experiences of people who believed they saw a personage they thought to be “Jesus,” have seen a long haired “Jesus.” This is not the Jesus of the Bible (either in his fleshly state on earth or his divine state in heaven). The truth is, the real “Jesus” of the New Testament (who taught in the flesh among the Jews almost 2000 years ago) groomed himself by clipping his hair to keep it relatively short.
Hollywood not only shows Jesus in an erroneous fashion with a beard and long hair, but to add local color to many of their biblically oriented films, they will also show other common people with long hair—especially older men to give them an appearance of being august long haired patriarchs. Again, Hollywood is wrong. Almost all Jewish men, especially in the time of Jesus, wore their hair short.
The apostle Paul said it was a shame for a man to have long hair because the male is made in the image of God who is groomed with short hair (I Corinthians 11:3-16). It was a common characteristic of Jewish men to wear their hair in a close-cropped fashion. Eusebius copied the text of the Jewish historian Josephus in Against Apion I.22, para.173-4. In this section, Josephus was quoting an early Gentile author who gave some unique grooming styles of Jewish men. Josephus shows that the Jews were known, as Eusebius renders it, for “their close-cropped hair” (Preparation for the Gospel, IX.9, sect 412b).
There was a definite reason why Jewish men (especially in the time of Jesus) wore their hair short as a common custom. The people knew that the Aaronic priests had the role of being mediators between themselves and God. Sometimes the priests took the place of the people in petitioning God, while at other times the priests became a substitute for God in instructing the people. In the time of Jesus most of the Sadducees were priests while the majority of the remainder of the Jews were Pharisees. The Pharisees applied the Scripture that the whole nation of Israel were to be reckoned as priests (Exodus 19:6) and they invented some strict customs even for themselves and the common people that were actually designed only for priests. And what was a principal custom (indeed, it was a command from God) that characterized the priests because of their roles in being like God to the people and the rest of the world? God commanded all priests to have SHORT HAIR! That’s right, the priests who administered in the first Tabernacle and later in the Temple at Jerusalem were required to have short hair, not long hair which women were accustomed to wear.
Such a command had been in effect since the time of Moses. Whereas the King James Version translates Leviticus 10:6 as “uncover not your heads,” the Jewish authorities always knew that this should be rendered “Let the hair of your heads not grow long” (see Rashi on Leviticus 10:6; and it is so translated in The Jerusalem Bible, Koren ed.).
This command of God was given again in the time of Ezekiel. “They shall not shave their heads [that is, to be bald], or let their locks grow LONG they shall only trim the hair of their heads” (Ezekiel 44:20 RSV).
This shows that the priests of God (who represented God before the people) were utterly forbidden to have long hair. They had their hair trimmed short in order to do the divine administrations in the Temple because they were looked on by the common people among the Jews as substitutes for “God.” This was unlike some heathen priests, however, who wore long hair to mimic the gods they worshiped. But Jewish men followed the example of their priests and wore their hair short. After all, the ordinary men wanted to be groomed like God was groomed and not like pagan gods, philosophers or alien priests.
While it can easily be shown that ordinary Jewish men wore their hair short, did not a special group among them known as Nazarites let their hair grow without cutting it?
Only when Jewish men were under a Nazarite vow (which normally lasted for 30 days, and rarely beyond 100 days—see M’Clintock and Strong, Cyclopaedia, vol.VI, pp.881,882) or when in short periods of mourning (see early Jewish commentaries on Leviticus 10:6) did Jewish men refrain from going to a barber.
As for lifetime Nazarites, it was common for them to braid the hair (like the seven braids on Samson—Judges 16:13) and to wind the braids around the head under a turban or other headgear. Samson was a warrior and he would never have allowed his braids to reach below his neck lest they be grasped by his enemies and cut off. Samson knew that cutting off his braided hair meant his strength was gone. This was the very part of his body that Samson would have wanted to secure as close to his head as possible. One thing for certain, lifetime Nazarites among the Israelites (and they were rare) did not let their hair hang down like the hair of women with which the “Jesus” we know since the fourth century has been depicted.
Jesus, however, was not under a Nazarite vow during his ministry because he also consumed wine and the fruit of the vine (Matthew 11:19) and this was prohibited to all Nazarites (Numbers 6:3). Though Jesus lived in the town of Nazareth, he was not a Nazarite. This shows that Jesus had short hair like all normal Jewish men at the time. Indeed, when Judas pointed out who Jesus was at the time of his betrayal to the priests, he kissed him on the cheek (Luke 22:48) rather than pointing out the man with the long hair. The simple truth is, Jesus while teaching on earth had short hair and all the early portraits of him made in the hundred or so years before the time of Constantine show him also as beardless.
It was common custom throughout the Roman Empire in the first century for men to have their hair short. They followed the examples of the Caesars of Rome who always wore short hair. As far as males were concerned, Paul demanded that they keep their hair short. Indeed, even with the Greeks it was customary for men to wear their hair short except, as the Jews, for short periods of mourning. Charles Goodwin of Pusan, Korea supplied me with this quotation from the Loeb edition of Plutarch’s Moralia on The Roman Questions 267B. “In Greece, whenever any misfortune comes, the women cut off their hair and the men let it grow, for it is usual for men to have their hair cut and for women to let it grow” (emphasis mine). Paul reminded his Greek readers in Corinth of this custom which he called the way of nature [instinct] among the Greeks. So, both Jewish and Greek men normally wore their hair short. It was even a religious duty for Jewish men.
This is because males were to be groomed in the way that God and Christ were groomed (and as the priests of Israel were groomed). Jewish Christians did not need to be told this. They already kept their hair short. Indeed, for a Jewish male to have long hair signified his attitude of mourning and that he was in shame and humiliation. “Does not nature [instinct] itself teach you, that if a man have long hair it is a shame to him?” (I Corinthians 11:14).
Most philosophers and most of the pagan gods were depicted with long hair. Dio Chrysostom, the practical philosopher who lived in the first century, told his readers that he and other philosophers wore their hair long (Oration Thirty-Five, vol.III. pp.391, 401 Loeb ed.). Epictetus in his Discourses (Chapter 8) urged people not to adopt quickly the grooming habits of the professionals such as wearing the cloak, wearing long hair and beard of the philosophers. In Epictetus’ opinion only those who were true philosophers should adopt such grooming habits. Since Epictetus lived about 50 years after the apostle Paul, this is again proof that ordinary Greek men wore their hair short. But by the fourth century, some Christians began to teach that Jesus should be depicted like the heathen gods—with a beard and long hair!
Hollywood has never wanted to show the origin of the long haired Jesus. If they did, they would be directed to the middle of the fourth century as the source of the error. In the previous hundred years, what few pictures there were of Jesus being displayed, he is shown almost always beardless, young and with short hair (and certainly not with flowing long hair like that of women in the same manner in which he is commonly portrayed today). The false long haired Jesus finally won the contest, but not without opposition from some top Christian theologians.
The following excerpts from early historical documents can show the opposition by several Christian theologians during and soon after the time of Constantine to the pagan portrayals of Jesus.
This quote (abridged) is from Eusebius’ Letter to Constantia (the sister of Constantine the Great). It shows the utter disdain of Eusebius for what was then happening. All words in brackets are my explanations:
“You also wrote me about some supposed image of Christ, which image you wished me to send to you. Now what kind of thing is that you refer to as the image of Christ? I do not know what compelled you to request that an image of Our Savior should be shown. What kind of image of Christ are you seeking? Is it the true and unadulterated one which bears His essential characteristics [His divine image], or the one which He assumed for our sake when He took up the form of a servant [His human form]?… Granted, He has two forms, and even I do not think that your petition has to do with His divine form….
“Surely then, you are seeking His image as a servant, that of the flesh which He assumed for our sake…. How can one paint an image so unattainable. .unless, as so the unbelieving pagans, one is to represent things that have no possible resemblance to anything…? For they [the pagans] make such idols when they wish to form the likeness of what they think to be a god or, as they might say, one of the heroes or anything else of like nature, yet they are unable even to approach a likeness, and accurately represent some strange human forms. Surely, even you will agree with me that such practices are illegal for us. [Eusebius believed, accurately so, that even a true likeness of Jesus—if one were available—was still not allowed to be displayed by biblical teaching.] Have you ever heard of such a resemblance yourself in church or from another person? Are not such things excluded and banished from churches all over the world, and does not everyone know that such practices are not permitted to us alone?
“Once there was a woman, I do not know how, brought me in her hands a picture of two men in the demeanor of philosophers [Dio Chrysostom, Oration Thirty-Five, vol.III,pp.391,401, Loeb ed., stated that Gentile philosophers generally wore long hair] and the woman mentioned that they were Paul and the Savior. I have no way of knowing where she got this information or where she learned it. But in order that neither she nor others might receive offense, I took the picture away from her and kept it in my house, as I thought it was improper for such things to be displayed to others, lest we appear, like idol worshipers, to carry our God around in an image. I note that Paul informs all of us not to hold any more to things of the flesh; because he tells us that though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet from now on we know Him no more.”
Also, the following quotation is from Epiphanius of Salamis in his Letter to the Emperor Theodosius (written somewhere between A.D.379-395).
“Which of the earlier Fathers ever painted an image of Christ and put it in a church or a private home? [None of them ever did such a thing.] Which early bishop ever dishonored Christ by portraying Him on door curtains?…
“Moreover, they are deceiving who represent the likeness of [biblical] saints in various forms according to their fancy, sometimes showing the same persons as old men, sometimes as youths, intruding into things which they have not seen. For they paint the Savior with long hair, and this by guessing because He is called a Nazarene, and Nazarenes wear long hair. They are in error if they try to attach stereotypes to Him, because the Savior drank wine, whereas the Nazarenes [the Nazarites] did not.
“They also show forth deception by inventing things according to their fancies. These impostors represent the holy apostle Peter as an elderly man with hair and beard cut short; some represent holy Paul as a man with receding hair, others as being bald and bearded, and the other apostles are shown having their hair closely cropped. If then the Savior had long hair while his apostles were cropped, and since by not being cropped, He was unlike them in appearance, for what reason did the Pharisees and scribes give a fee of thirty silver pieces to Judas that he might kiss Him and show them that He was the one they looked for, when they might themselves or by means of others have determined by reason of His [long] hair Him whom they were seeking to find, and thereby without paying a fee?…
“Can you not see, O most God-loving emperor, that this state of things is not agreeable to God? [Which trend was then sweeping the Christian world.] Wherefore I beg of you… that the curtains which may be found that have such false depictions of the apostles or prophets or of the Lord Christ Himself should be collected from churches, baptisteries, houses and martyria [sites where martyrs were buried or honored] and that you should give them over for the burial of the poor, and as [concerning the depictions] on walls, that they should be whitewashed. As for those that have already been represented in mosaics, realizing that their removal is difficult you know what to command in the wisdom that God has given you. If it be possible to remove them [the mosaics], well and good; but if it proves impossible, let that which has already been accomplished be sufficient, and let no one paint in this fashion from now on.”
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