The Bible is and has been revered for centuries by many around the world.
A careful examination of the biblical record reveals that blacks in the Bible possess a rich and significant heritage.
Sadly missing from many people’s understanding of Christianity is that a significant number of the Church Fathers were African.
For nearly twenty years now I have had the privilege of teaching at St. Paul’s University in Limuru, Kenya. My context and my Kenyan colleagues here have made me more aware of the somewhat hidden story of Africa in the Bible and in the history of Christianity from the very first century up to the 21st century.
Geographical and Cultural Diversity: In their book, The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us, Douglas A. Knight and Amy-Jill Levine write, “The Hebrew Bible is a Near Eastern document.” In other words, the geographical roots of the Bible lie in Africa and Asia.
Read also: The Africa Bible Commentary
Cultural influences include Africa, Asia, and Europe, the three continents that surround the Mediterranean Sea.
The Bible's geographical roots lie in Africa and Asia, influenced by surrounding cultures.
The Origin of Humanity and Racial Identity
Because all humanity has its origin in Adam and the three sons of Noah (Gen. 9:18-19; Acts 17:26), this is an appropriate starting point for gaining a proper biblical basis for racial identity. And because we all stem from the same root, it is absurd for any group to claim superiority over another.
It was God’s intention to reestablish the human race through the three sons of Noah; therefore, God legitimized all races over which each son stands as head and over which Noah presides as father. This is especially true since the Scripture says that God blessed Noah and his sons, and the command to repopulate the earth was comprehensive and equally applied to each of them (Gen.
Ham's Descendants and Their Significance
Noah’s son Ham had four sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. Cush was the progenitor of the Ethiopian people. This is validated by the fact that the names Cush and Ethiopia are used interchangeably in the Scriptures (Gen. 2:13; 10:6). Mizraim was the progenitor of the Egyptian people, who are understood in Scripture to have been a Hamitic people, and thus African (Ps. 78:51; 105:23, 26-27; 106:21-22).
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Nimrod: A Powerful Figure
Of particular importance is the powerful Old Testament figure Nimrod, the descendant of Cush, who ruled in the land of Shinar (Gen. 10:8-10; 11:2). Nimrod eventually became the father of two of the greatest empires in the Bible and in world history, Assyria and Babylonia. He was the first great leader of a world civilization (Gen. 10:10-12). He led all the people on earth and served as earth’s protector.
Nimrod’s presence and accomplishments confirm the unique and early leadership role black people played in world history, albeit not always in a spiritually beneficial way (Gen.
Nimrod: Biblical Archaeology
Hamitic Influence in the Old Testament
Hamitic peoples were crucial to the program of God throughout Old Testament biblical history. Joseph’s wife, an Egyptian woman (Gen. 41:45, 50-52), was the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim, who later became leaders of Jewish tribes. In fact, the tribe of Ephraim produced one of the greatest leaders Israel ever had-Moses’s successor, Joshua (Num. 13:8; 1 Chron. 7:22-27). This Jewish-African link is very strong in Scripture.
Caleb was the son of Jephunneh the Kennizzite; the Kennizzites were a part of the Canaanite tribes (Gen. 15:19) and descendants of Ham. Caleb also came from the tribe of Judah (Josh. 14:6, 14). Judah, the progenitor of the tribe, fathered twin sons by Tamar, a Hamitic woman (Gen. 38). Caleb joined with Joshua as one of the two spies who went to explore Canaan and brought back a positive report to enter the land and take possession of it, as God had declared (Num.
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Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, from whom Moses received the greatest single piece of advice regarding national leadership, ministry organization, political strategy, and personal planning (Ex. 18:13-27) ever recorded, was a Kenite (Judg. 1:16), part of the Canaanite tribes (Gen. 15:19) who descended from Ham.
Another interesting observation regarding Jethro is that he is identified as “the priest of Midian” (Ex. 3:1). Since he was a priest, yet he was not a Levite and the Aaronic priesthood had not yet been established, the question is: What kind of priesthood could this have been? The only other priesthood within the framework of Scripture to which Jethro could have belonged was the priesthood of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18). This is significant because Christ was a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:17).
Zipporah was the daughter of Jethro, the African wife of Moses. She bore him two sons and rescued his life from divine judgment when she circumcised her son-a task that belonged to Moses (Ex. 2:21-22; 4:24-26; 18:2-3). If she is the same black wife of Moses spoken of in Numbers, then God intervened on her behalf against the racism regarding their interracial marriage by Moses’s brother and sister (Num.
Ebed-Melech was a godly royal black African official in the palace of King Zedekiah of Judah during the time of the siege of Jerusalem. His name means “servant of the King.” He was used by God to assist the prophet Jeremiah in his release from prison when Jeremiah had been sentenced to death.
Ebed-Melech was rewarded for his heroism with the divine message that he would not fall by the sword during the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians because of his trust in God (Jer.
Key Figures in the New Testament
Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, was of African descent. This we know because Cyrene is a country in North Africa (Matt. 27:32). He was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Christ to His crucifixion site. This means that the first person to follow behind Jesus, bear His cross, and have Christ’s blood run of on him was a black man. This is the spiritual posture of discipleship God calls all believers to have as we identify with Christ and His suffering (Matt.
King David is known not only as a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14) but as one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history. David’s great-grandmother was a Canaanite woman, Rahab, who is also listed in the Hall of Faith (Heb. 11:31). David’s grandmother was Ruth, a Moabite, from a people who were Canaanites as well.
Solomon was David’s son with Bathsheba, a Hamitic woman. Bathsheba literally means the daughter of Sheba. The Table of Nations identifies Sheba in the line of Ham, making Sheba a descendant from an African nation (Gen. 10:7). The Song of Solomon describes Solomon’s features as “tanned and handsome, better than ten thousand others! His head is purest gold, and he has wavy, raven hair” (Song 5:10-11 TLB).
Solomon was not only the wisest man to rule a nation, but he also brought about the greatest extension of Israel’s reach as a kingdom (1 Kings 3:3-14).
Underscoring the fact that black people are an integral part of God’s revelatory process in both the proclamation and recording of divine revelation is the prophet Zephaniah. The Old Testament states that Zephaniah was of Hamitic origin. He was from the lineage of Cush (Zeph.
God’s judgment on Judah and her enemies for their rebellion against God and their gross idolatry; yet, he proclaimed, the grace of God would save a remnant and restore blessing to the people.
Early Christian Leaders and the Ethiopian Eunuch
The church at Antioch had two black men as leaders. Their names were Simeon, who was called Niger or black (as I mentioned earlier), and Lucius, who was from Cyrene. These two black men assisted in the ordination and commissioning of the apostle Paul (Acts 13:1-3).
The Ethiopian eunuch, whose impact we’ll look at in more detail, is most likely responsible for the establishment or expansion of the Coptic church in a large part of Africa. This talented man revealed the high degree of organizational and administrative responsibility that existed within the upper echelons of Ethiopian culture.
The Bible describes him as a eunuch of great authority under “Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure” (Acts 8:27). According to the standard Greek lexical studies, the word Ethiopian is of Greek origin.
The scriptural account of the Ethiopian official is significant for two reasons. First, it acknowledges the existence of a kingdom of dark-skinned peoples at the time of first-century Christianity. Second, it records the continuation of Christianity in Africa after having been initiated through the first African Jewish proselytes who were converts at Pentecost (Acts 2:10).
This account of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian official verifies God’s promise in Zephaniah 3:9-10: “For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
As we see in history, the Ethiopian eunuch’s influence has reached generations and transformed an entire culture for Christ.
The Ethiopian Eunuch's baptism, a pivotal moment in spreading Christianity in Africa.
According to tradition, current Ethiopia was once the powerful kingdom of Axum. Its king, Ezaha, became one of the first world rulers to make Christianity the official religion of his kingdom, which became a major center for the faith. When Marco Polo visited Ethiopia, he referred to it as a magnificent Christian land. In 1173, Ethiopians were hosted by a gathering of church leaders in Constantinople. Between 1200-1500 the Zagwe dynasty ruled the land and led an expansion of the church. One of them, Zara Yaqob, worked to purge Ethiopia of traditional African religion. By the 1480s the Church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini was built in Rome specifically for the use of Ethiopian visitors and settlers.
Since the Ethiopian church wasn’t the product of European influences, it developed its own distinct religious customs and a slightly different canon of Scripture.
The Lineage of Christ
Deserving of our greatest attention is the lineage of Christ, who is the heart and soul of the Christian faith. Over and over again, the prophets prophesied that the Messiah would come from the seed of David. As we have already seen, the Davidic line finds a number of black people within it. Of the five women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy (Matt.
The point here is not that Jesus was black. To assert such, as some black theologians and religious leaders do, is to fall into the exclusionist perspective of many whites who would make Jesus an Anglo-European, blue-eyed blond who had very little relevance to people of color. It would also fail to respect the distinct Jewish heritage of Christ.
It blesses me to know that Jesus had black in His blood, because this destroys any perception of black inferiority once and for all. In Christ we find perfect man and sinless Savior. This knowledge frees blacks from an inferiority complex, and at the same time it frees whites from the superiority myth. Black people, as all other people, can find a place of historical, cultural, and racial identity in Him. As Savior of all mankind, He can relate to all people, in every situation.
Theology and the Church Fathers
While the overall message of the Bible is God’s love for humanity, depending on the times and circumstances for which they wrote, the writers/editors of the Bible did not share the same viewpoint on every matter. For example, Paul writes that since there is only One God, one did not have to avoid eating meat sacrificed to idols.
Today many of the basics of the Christian faith are considered “givens” (Trinity, humanity and divinity of Christ, and so on). The theology that forms the Christian faith was developed in the period of the Church Fathers, 100-451 C.E. This was a period of tremendous cultural and theological diversity.
Augustine of Hippo, one of the most influential Church Fathers from Africa.
- Lactantius of North Africa, who was deeply concerned with justice. A man ahead of his time, Lactantius believed that being created in the image of God creates a common identity and dignity. This common bond manifests itself in both human rights and responsibilities for all. He was convinced that knowledge of self is intricately connected and rooted in God.
- Tertullian of Carthage, who argued for the unity of the Old and New Testaments. He maintained that scripture alone is sufficient for the formation of faith.
- Origen of Alexandria, who recognized the divinity of the Son (though he thought of the Son as being second to the Father).
- Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who was committed to the unity of the church.
- Augustine of Hippo, who gave us an understanding of grace and the Holy Trinity. Augustine believed that grace, and grace alone, is humanity’s connection to God, not philosophy.
- Clement of Alexandria, who recognized that one can be Christian and intellectual. He deemed creation as the foundation for redemption. He understood that marriage and celibacy are simply life choices and that marriage is not inferior to celibacy. He considered life as a teetotaler or vegetarian to be matters of conscience, not faith. He thought that material gifts and possessions are not evil, but are given by the Creator and should be used with moderation for the good of all.
- Athanasius of Alexandria, who thought of Jesus Christ, the Son, as eternal, human and divine. Athanasius provided the first listing of the 27 books of the New Testament.
Christianity in Africa Today
Over 685 million people in Africa are associated with Christianity in some way. Pastoring a church in Johannesburg, South Africa, I hear this complaint periodically. Crudely put, Christianity is the white man’s religion and has no place amongst true Africans. Except that it’s not true.
For Christianity was present in Africa 1000 years before the first European Colonialists arrived on African shores.
You may be familiar with the strong base for Christianity established in Alexandria, Egypt, in the 1st century. Eusebius even wrote that the Gospel writer, Mark, came to Alexandria as early as 43 AD.
To become the nation’s official religion, it’s likely that Christianity was already established in the country a long time before. For comparison, it took two and a half centuries for Christianity to become the official religion of the Roman Empire.
We have some clues to how Ethiopia was reached. Going further back, we have Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in 180 AD. He wrote that a ‘Simon Backos’ preached ‘the coming in the flesh of God’ in his homeland of Ethiopia (Adversus Haereses, 3.12.8). And going back further still, Luke writes of the 1st century conversion of an Ethiopian high official (Acts 8:26-40). Could this official have started the first church in Ethiopia?
Many of the Colonists were not aware of this heritage. While some Ethiopian monks did make it to the Council of Florence in the 15th century, when the Portuguese landed in Ethiopia in 1493, they found-to their shock-that it was already full of churches!
I used to assume that these Church Fathers were Roman or Greek Christians living in Africa as part of the Roman Empire. Only they weren’t. Origen was Coptic. Augustine and Cyprian were Berbers. Both Coptics and Berbers are indigenous people groups native to Northern Africa. Tertullian was slightly different. He was Punic. Punics were a Semitic people who had come from Canaan and settled in Northern Africa in the Early Iron Age.
Along with other theologians who lived in Africa-such as Athanasius, Clement, Ambrose, Pachomius, Cyprian, etc.-these giants of Church history fought off heresies such as Gnosticism, Arianism, Montanism, Marcionism, Pelagianism, and Manichaeism. They also helped elucidate our view of the Trinity and taught us how to exegete correctly.
Amongst these mighty men, Augustine stands head and shoulders above the rest. He was a prolific writer, leaving behind 113 books, 218 letters, and over 500 sermons. Two of his books, Confessions and City of God are considered classics and shaped theological thinking for many centuries to come.
Christianity has been active in Africa since the 1st century. Therefore, it’s inaccurate to call it a white man’s religion. Christianity is a religion that started in the Near East and travelled to both Africa and Europe at the same time.
I am not denying that Colonialism spread Christianity in Africa. It often brought with it the baggage of European culture, giving the impression that Christianity is European. Take Western European art as an example. Jesus is often painted as a blue-eyed, pale-skinned, European. In contrast, Jesus and his original disciples were 1st century, Levantine Jews, most likely brown-eyed, black-haired, and olive-skinned.
