Thank you for the question on the humans being in the image of God and skin pigmentation of humans, “The Bible says that we are made in the image of likeness of God. Why are some humans black and other white?”
Here are some thoughts for one’s consideration on the image of God in humans and skin pigmentation of humans:
A. Differing skin pigmentation color is due to the amount of melanin in a person’s body. The more melanin that a person produces will have a darker skin color and the lesser melanin will have lighter skin color.
“Melanin is a natural skin pigment. Hair, skin, and eye color in people and animals mostly depends on the type and amount of melanin they have. Special skin cells called melanocytes make melanin. Everyone has the same number of melanocytes, but some people make more melanin than others.”
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-is-melanin
B. The Scripture is silent as to the skin pigmentation of Adam and Eve.
As one reads Genesis 1–2, there is no mention of the skin tone of Adam and Eve. Thus there is no superiority of one skin tone over another person’s skin tone. The amount of sunlight may/will affect one’s skin tone as one tans in the sun.
The text does not state the height, weight, amount of hair on Adam and Eve’s body, etc. except that they were naked and not ashamed. Thus in God’s view the physical appearance of a person is not as important as the heart attitude of that person toward God and other humans.
C. The image and likeness of God in human refers to the ability of humans to reason, feel, communicate, and to exercise volition. Most importantly humans have a spirit that is housed in a physical body. It is the spirit of the person that allows him to connect to God for God is spirit.
As human beings, we have a tendency to look at the outward appearance of a person and make an assessment/judgment on the that person. God looks at the heart.
I Samuel 16:7 says this, “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart (NIV).
SUMMARY: The image and likeness of God in human reflects his ability to fellowship with God. A person skin tone is affected by his environment as to the amount of sunlight receives during the day hours.
For more perspectives: