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Study guide · Race, Faith & Identity

Who Are the Black People in the New Testament?

Reviewed by Jude 3 Project·2 min read

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A standalone study on the Africans at the cross, in leadership, and at Pentecost.

The big question

If you were taught that Black people only enter the Christian story as enslaved people who were handed a slaveholder’s religion, the New Testament tells a different tale. Watson Jones III walks through Africans at the cross, on the Emmaus of Acts, in church leadership, and at Pentecost. This study asks what changes when you see that Black people were present at the very birth of the church.

Key takeaways

  • Simon of Cyrene, a North African, carried the cross of Christ.
  • The Ethiopian eunuch was among the early converts in Acts 8.
  • Simeon called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene were leaders in the church at Antioch.
  • Africans from Egypt and Libya were in the Pentecost crowd.
  • The gospel’s kingdom has no racial supremacy; all stand on equal footing.

Scripture to sit with

Mark 15:21. Simon of Cyrene is compelled to carry the cross. An African at the center of the passion.

Acts 8:26-40. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. The gospel reaches Africa early and directly.

Acts 13:1-3. Simeon called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene among the prophets and teachers at Antioch.

Acts 2:5-11. The Pentecost list, including Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene.

Quotes worth discussing

Watson Jones says, “These two were leaders in the church, not servants and slaves.”

On the gospel’s reach, Watson Jones says it points “into the kingdom where there is no supremacy, but all stand on equal footing.”

Discussion questions

  • Which of these New Testament figures had you never thought of as African?
  • Why does it matter that Simeon and Lucius were leaders, not servants?
  • How does Pentecost picture the kingdom of God?
  • How does this reshape the claim that Christianity is the white man’s religion?
  • Where do you need to see the church as a place where all stand on equal footing?

Go deeper

This study comes from the Jude 3 Project’s The Black Presence in the Bible course with Watson Jones III. For a related conversation, see the Jude 3 work on where Black people are in the Bible.

A closing reflection

Read Acts 2 this week and picture the room: Egyptians, Libyans, and people from across the known world, each hearing the gospel in their own language. Let it settle in that you were always meant to be in that room, on equal footing, in the name of Jesus.

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