Did Jesus have long hair?
Nobody in the New Testament tells us what Jesus looked like, yet almost every painting of Him shows a man with long, flowing hair — while Paul writes that long hair on a man is a disgrace. So the question is really two questions: what does Scripture actually say, and where did the familiar picture come from?
Scripture's silence about His appearance
The Bible gives detailed accounts of what Jesus said and did, but it never sketches His face or His hair. One writer draws attention to this gap and to the one physical statement Scripture does make about Him:
A J PollockWe have kept the greatest example to the last, that of our Lord Himself. No words can exaggerate the greatness of His undiminished Deity, nor the graciousness of His stoop to man's estate... And yet there is no account of His physical appearance given to us in the Scriptures. We do read that "His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance" (Isa. 52:14), a prophecy made centuries before our Lord was born at Bethlehem.
Where the long-haired image comes from
Since Scripture is silent, the familiar image is supplied by artists, not by revelation. Writers who deal with the Nazirite vow of Numbers 6 say so bluntly, because that vow is where people usually get the idea:
Leslie M. GrantThe Nazirite was a type of the Lord Jesus, whose perfections in these three points stand out beautifully. Not that He was a literal Nazirite, for He did drink wine and there is no indication in Scripture that He had long hair, though people imagine this and have painted pictures that cannot be trusted.
Two words that sound alike and mean different things
Much of the confusion is a matter of spelling. "Nazarene" comes from the town of Nazareth; "Nazirite" comes from the vow of separation. They are unrelated:
J. N. DarbyThere are two words, "Nazarene" and "Nazirite." Nazarene refers to where He was brought up; there is no connection between the two, only they are a little mixed up in the English.
Being called a Nazarene said nothing about His hair and everything about how He was regarded. Nazareth was the last place anyone expected the Messiah to come from:
William KellyNot only did the men of Judea proper look down on Nazareth, but the Galileans themselves despised it, though it was part of their own district. Later on we read of a guileless Israelite who, when he heard of Jesus being there, exclaimed, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
He kept no literal Nazirite vow
The vow had three marks: no wine, uncut hair, and no contact with the dead. Jesus visibly broke two of the three, which is the plainest evidence against a literal vow:
Paul DronsfieldWas the Lord Jesus a Nazirite? Did He take up this vow? Clearly He did not. "The Son of Man came eating and drinking" (Matt. 11:19). He touched the dead: "Taking her by the hand He said to her, 'Talitha cumi,' which means, 'Little girl, I say to you, arise'" (Mark 5:41). The Lord Jesus was not a Nazirite under the law, but He fulfilled in spiritual reality what the shadow of Numbers 6 gives us in outline.
What the uncut hair actually pictured
The long hair of the Nazirite was never meant to be a hairstyle to copy. It was a deliberate acceptance of a man's dishonour, and that is where the picture touches Christ:
C. H. MackintoshIn 1 Corinthians 11:14 we learn that it argues a lack of dignity for a man to have long hair... From this we learn that if we really want to live a life of separation to God, we must be prepared to surrender our dignity in nature. Our Lord Jesus Christ did this perfectly. He made Himself of no reputation. He surrendered His rights in everything.
Why Paul appeals to nature at all
Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 11 is not about fashion but about the difference God built into men and women:
William KellyHe appeals to the sense of propriety grounded on the constitution of both man and woman... If it is as natural for man to have short hair as for woman to have long, is it not a revolt against the nature of each to reverse this in practice?
A different reading
Commentators differ on one point. Expounding the description of the beloved in the Song of Solomon — "his locks are wavy, black as a raven" — one writer takes the flowing locks as a picture of Christ:
An Outline of Sound WordsChrist's manhood is seen in His flowing locks, and is emphasised by their being black. Long hair belonged normally to the woman, who had from God the place of subjection. The Nazirite, who separated himself "to the LORD" (Numbers 6:2), must "let the locks of the hair of his head grow." How wonderful that the Eternal Son of God should come into manhood, into the place of subjection.
That is a reading of a poetic portrait, not a report of what He looked like in Galilee.
Summary
- Silence. Scripture never describes His face or hair, so no honest answer can go further than that.
- Nature. Paul's rule stands on the created difference between man and woman, not on custom or taste.
- Name. "Nazarene" means a man from a despised town; it is not the word "Nazirite" and says nothing about hair.
- Vow. He ate and drank and touched the dead, so He kept no literal Nazirite vow — He was its reality, not its copy.
- Reverence. The paintings supply what God withheld; what He did reveal is a Man who gave up His dignity, not a hairstyle to imitate.