Jesus - physical appearance ???

FIRST, if you will go into any Religious Book Store, you will see some likenesses of JESUS, [OR SO THEY SAY!]

IN the Movie, Cool Hand Luke, there was a song that went something like this, "I don't care if it rains or freezes, so long as I have my PLACTIC JESUS, sitten on the dashboard of my car.....!

THE SECIPRURES, does not give us a Physical appearance description of JESUS! As he was a JEW, and his mother and father were JEWS. Jesus looked just like another JEW of His time.

YOU CAN SEE JESUS, if you will look into HIS WORD!

(John 14:9-10) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
(John 14:10) Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Thanks, Roger459

As far as I know, I don't think the Bible says anything specific about Jesus' physical appearance, as if that really matters anyway.

But there are some things we can infer.
Considering Jesus was born of Jewish descent and the region in which he was in, we can safely presume that Jesus had a Middle Eastern appearance.

I don't know a whole lot about the culture at that time, but I assume that the time period would be mostly dirt roads and there weren't a whole lot of hygiene products. That's why there are references in the Bible about "washing each other's feet"--because they would get dirty from walking and it was customary to wash your feet before walking to someone's home. There were public baths in the cities, but imagine bathing in a public pool?! And one thing I've always wondered about was how did they cut their hair and beards. I suppose they would have invented knives at that point, but scissors? So I suppose everyone, or at least the common person, must have looked quite gruff.

Isaiah 53:2-3:

2 ...He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 ...We esteemed him not.

tqpix said:

Isaiah 53:2-3:

2 ...He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

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I think she is talking about his physical appearance when He was on earth. This passage speaks of God.

The Bible is not strictly biographical of Jesus as it never tells us a lot about Him that biographies do, but gives us what we need to emulate His actions and commands. The Bible never really even hints at His physical appearance. There is nothing to hint at his attractiveness or lack thereof.

He was likely in shape, as He walked everywhere. He was likely tan (same reason). He likely had Jewish physical characteristics (because He was Jewish, and no records indicate that He was questioned for His appearance). His teachings and His miracles attracted others.

He would most likely been a short, tan, dark haired, lean, and Palestinian in appearance.

daveleau said:

tqpix said:

Isaiah 53:2-3:

2 ...He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 ...We esteemed him not.

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I think she is talking about his physical appearance when He was on earth. This passage speaks of God.

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Read the entire context. The passage is a prophecy of the messiah; that's why in verse two, it says "when we shall see him..."--that part of the verse is talking about the day they will finally see the messiah in the flesh.

JTLauder said:

As far as I know, I don't think the Bible says anything specific about Jesus' physical appearance, as if that really matters anyway.

But there are some things we can infer.
Considering Jesus was born of Jewish descent and the region in which he was in, we can safely presume that Jesus had a Middle Eastern appearance.

I don't know a whole lot about the culture at that time, but I assume that the time period would be mostly dirt roads and there weren't a whole lot of hygiene products. That's why there are references in the Bible about "washing each other's feet"--because they would get dirty from walking and it was customary to wash your feet before walking to someone's home. There were public baths in the cities, but imagine bathing in a public pool?! And one thing I've always wondered about was how did they cut their hair and beards. I suppose they would have invented knives at that point, but scissors? So I suppose everyone, or at least the common person, must have looked quite gruff.

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They were well groomed, and used razors to trim hair and beards.

For your consideration:
(bold is my emphasis)

"Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:…" John 18:4-8

They, "... a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees…"(John 18:3), apparently did not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ. And, assuming none of them had ever seen Him, apparently He did not "stand out", i.e., He seemed to be, at least physically, just "another face in the crowd."

In Christ,
John M. Whalen

JMWHALEN said:

They, "... a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees…"(John 18:3), apparently did not recognize the Lord Jesus Christ. And, assuming none of them had ever seen Him, apparently He did not "stand out", i.e., He seemed to be, at least physically, just "another face in the crowd."

In Christ,
John M. Whalen

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(Emphasis Mine.)

I disagree with the "apparently He did not 'stand out'" part of your post, because it is not apparent.

Let's say your boss told you to greet Mr. Smith, the new supervisor and one whom you've never met before, at the front entrance and bring him to his office. You go to the entrance and see a bunch of people standing around. One man really "stands out" from the crowd; would you make the conclusion that this gentleman is Mr. Smith?

Back to your post: Your statement implies that if our Lord Jesus Christ "stood out", the men and officers would've recognized him even if none of them had ever seen him before. Just because the men and officers didn't know they were speaking to our Lord doesn't mean Lord Jesus didn't have a unique physical appearance.

tqpix said:

(Emphasis Mine.)

I disagree with the "apparently He did not 'stand out'" part of your post, because it is not apparent.

Let's say your boss told you to greet Mr. Smith, the new supervisor and one whom you've never met before, at the front entrance and bring him to his office. You go to the entrance and see a bunch of people standing around. One man really "stands out" from the crowd; would you make the conclusion that this gentleman is Mr. Smith?

Back to your post: Your statement implies that if our Lord Jesus Christ "stood out", the men and officers would've recognized him even if none of them had ever seen him before. Just because the men and officers didn't know they were speaking to our Lord doesn't mean Lord Jesus didn't have a unique physical appearance.

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1.You provide a false analogy. You presume that the "job requirements" for "the new supervisor", the qualifications for this "secular" position, relate to the physical, i.e., you are equating that these qualifications are analagous to the same qualifications that were expected of Israel's long awaited Messiah. Scripture's testimony was that the Jews were expecting a Messiah along the lines of Solomon/Joseph, i. e., focusing on physical attributes(both men of God being physically attractive) And the weight of all the evidence in the Scripture, both implicity(very little description/mention of the Lord Jesus Christ's physical appearance), and explicitly(Isaiah 53:2), is that the Lord Jesus Christ had no distinguishing "beauty", in terms of mankind's conception of beauty.

2.Of course, I would expect Roman Catholics to cite tradition/"opinions", instead of the Scriptures, since the Scriptures are not their final authority,and thus continue to present depictions of "Jesus" based on such, supplementing these with the Shroud of Turrin, books by Catholic "mystics"......(picturing this alleged "picture of Jesus" with long hair, for eg.).

"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beautythat we should desire him."

The "context" is not, as you say, future. The context is what was expected of the Messiah upon his long awaited arrival on earth="when we(the Jews) shall see him"-"hath"=present tense.

In Christ,
John M. Whalen

JMWHALEN said:

______-

1.You provide a false analogy. You presume that the "job requirements" for "the new supervisor", the qualifications for this "secular" position, relate to the physical, i.e., you are equating that these qualifications are analagous to the same qualifications that were expected of Israel's long awaited Messiah.

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What "job requirements"? I made no mention of that in my post. The point I was trying to make is that your post implies that if Jesus "stood out", the men and officers would've recognized him even if they never saw him before; this reeks of prejudice and is ridiculous--just like it's ridiculous to think that you would've identified the new supervisor among the group of people if the new supervisor "stood out".

Scripture's testimony was that the Jews were expecting a Messiah along the lines of Solomon/Joseph, i. e., focusing on physical attributes (both men of God being physically attractive)...

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Biblical reference please.

...And the weight of all the evidence in the Scripture, both implicity(very little description/mention of the Lord Jesus Christ's physical appearance), and explicitly(Isaiah 53:2), is that the Lord Jesus Christ had no distinguishing "beauty", in terms of mankind's conception of beauty.

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I agree. That was the point I was trying to make: Jesus Christ, in the eyes of man, did not have any beauty that would've made the people living during that time to accept him as one of their own.

"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beautythat we should desire him."

The "context" is not, as you say, future. The context is what was expected of the Messiah upon his long awaited arrival on earth="when we(the Jews) shall see him"-"hath"=present tense.

(Emphasis Mine.)

In Christ,
John M. Whalen

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1. RE: "The 'context' is not, as you say, future."

Back during the time the book of Isaiah was written, the "context" WAS future; the passage was a prophecy of the coming Messiah.

2. RE: "The context is what was expected of the Messiah upon his long awaited arrival on earth='when we(the Jews) shall see him'-'hat'"=present tense."

That's what I said in my original post; when the people living back then will finally see the Messiah in the flesh, they'll find out that the Messiah has no beauty that they should desire him.