Are All Humans Related To Each Other?

Are we all related to everyone on the planet? What are the origins of racism or racial divisions? According to certain scientific discoveries pertaining to human DNA there has been an increase in the scientific reality that all people on the planet are actually related. Recent DNA based discoveries confirm that all human beings have a common ancestor and that we all share the same ancient mother or “mitochondrial Eve”.
Furthermore, despite disagreeing with Christianity on many issues, even evolutionary theory and evolutionists agree that humans came from a common ancestor or a single set of parents.
So whether the color of our skin is black, brown or white – we are all related and come from the same ancestors.

These DNA discoveries are simply a case of science catching up with what the Bible already says about the origin of mankind.
According to the Bible, all human beings are descendants of the first human couple – Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:27-28; Genesis 2:7, Genesis 2:18-24).

Therefore if all humans originated from a common ancestor, then the concept of race such as one being a Caucasian, Asian, African and so forth are part of the root problems of why racism and division exists in our world. Rather than seeing ourselves as being part of the same family and originating from the same ancient parents, we judge each other by the color of our skin.

The Bible does not mention the skin color of Adam and Eve. The Bible does not mention that they were of any particular ethnicity or “race”.
Why? Because it didn’t matter – and it shouldn’t even matter today because all human beings were created in God’s image and all human beings were created equal before God.
According to Scripture, there is only one race – the human race.

Racism exists because we lack the basic understanding that all human beings are related. We have a common ancestor. The first parents being Adam and Eve were never classified or identified according to the color of their skin.
Racial divisions exist because we’ve allowed the philosophies of the world to frame our thinking about one another instead of allowing Scripture to dictate how we should perceive each other.

According to scripture we should love one another irrespective of one’s skin color or ethnic background (Matthew 22:39, Romans 13:8).
In the New Testament, the Jews hated the Samaritans. When Jesus spoke the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, He was partly teaching us the concept that everyone is our neighbor (including people we dislike) and that our love should extend beyond people who belong to the same tribe, ethnicity or race.

Why Are There Racial Divisions?
Whether you are black, brown, white or even if you classify yourself as Caucasian, African or Asian – the Bible tells us that all human beings not only have one common ancestor – but we also have one common problem.
This common problem is called sin. Every human being is a sinner or has sinned against God (Romans 3:23). No matter our ethnic background, we are all not perfect or good and therefore we are capable of doing many bad things before a holy and just God (Romans 3:10).
We have all told a lie; we have all had impure thoughts; we have all had feelings of hatred or dislike towards somebody else. Therefore we have “all sinned and fall short of the glory of God” according to Romans 3:23.
Why are all human beings born with sin? It is because we inherited sin from the first man – Adam. So because Adam sinned, anyone born after Adam inherited a sinful nature.

Romans 5:12 says that “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”

Therefore racial divisions exist because sin exists. It’s because of sin that we show favoritism, we lack love and compassion, we express hatred towards each other; we are violent towards one another; we slander and lie; we cause each other pain and misery. These are some of the effects of sin in our individual life and also in the entire world.

John 3:16 says that God loved the whole world and that Jesus Christ came so that He could die for the sins of the whole world. God only created one human race and offers salvation through Christ to the entire human race because all have sinned.

God’s remedy for racism is found in  accepting Jesus Christ in our individual lives and by obeying His commandment to love God and to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40). We must therefore obey and spread the message of love.
We must be motivated to do all things out of love. 1 Corinthians 16:14 says “Let all that you do be done in love.”
Without the love of Christ working in our lives, there will always be a battle with racism.