Long Haired Jesus

"Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a disgrace to him?" (1 Corinthians 11:14, HCSB)

Do a Google Image search for "Jesus". Nearly every image depicts Jesus as having long hair.

But did Jesus really have long hair? Probably not. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians that it is a disgrace for men to have long hair. So Paul, Jesus, the disciples, etc. probably did not have long hair.

So why is Jesus usually portrayed with long hair? It is probably because of the incorrect belief that Jesus was a Nazarite.

Nazarites (like Samson) were required to have long hair to show that they were set apart to God. But Jesus was not a Nazarite, he was a Nazerene. A Nazerene was someone who lived in the city of Nazereth, just like a Houstonian is someone who lives in Houston. There were specific laws for Nazarites that Jesus did not follow. Jesus drank wine and vinegar made from wine. Jesus raised the dead. And Jesus probably did not have long hair.

John the Baptist possibly was a Nazarite, though the only evidence for this was that he was not allowed to drink wine. There is no mention of him having to keep the other rules of the Nazarites.

(Note: The New King James Version spells 'Nazirite'; The King James Version spells 'Nazarite'.)