A Jew, in 2025, may be a race, ethnicity, and religion. Certain verses in the New Testament, they confuse some people, people who had a Post-Modern understanding. What is the misunderstanding? What is Jew in the New Testament? We will work to shed some light here.
In the Bible, a race or nation may have been the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Spartans, the Athenians, the Kushites, and so on. In a modern understandings, someone's race may have been white, black, red, or yellow. Could a Jew be white? In 1900, the Irish and Polish may have been thought of as worse than black. We have two definitions that people have used interchangeably. The modern definition of race has been a social construct.
In 2025, if we are using "Race" and "Nation" well, the English and Scottish are two different races. The Welsh, the Cornish, and the people of Brittany, along with the Jews, are some of the only tribes/races that maintained an identity through the Roman period to today. Given we are talking the Jews in the New Testament, and being correct, race=ethnicity. A Jew may be a race/ethnicity, and a religion.
Lets take a look at some Bible verses:
- 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
- A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. (Romans 2:28,29)
There is a difference between physical and spiritual. The birth rate in Israel today is around 3.0, that is, three children per woman. The birth rate around Western developed countries is around 1.7. Replacement birth rate for a society is 2.1 births per woman. The Hebrews are children of God's promises, and Sons of Abraham will number as stars in the sky. It doesn't matter if the Jewish people are doing wrong or right. The Jews are tied to God's promises by blood.....and also curses given they did wrong over some period of time.
The Church is Spiritually Israel. A Christian is Spiritually a Jew by a circumcision of the Heart. This is spiritual. Given a Church fell away, and there is no spiritual understanding, there may have been a lot of evil going on.
In Galatians 3:28, there were gentile converts to Christianity. Did a Jewish man have more authority than a Christian convert? Galatians 3:28 is referencing a spiritual understanding. We are not Jew or gentile, slave nor free, we are all one in Christ. Heaven is oneness with God.
Purim is a particular Jewish holiday that commemorates the Jewish people being saved from destruction in Achaemenid Empire, and this story is found in The Book of Ester. Gentile Christians may not feel a need to celebrate this holiday. A Jewish Christian may have celebrated Purim due to it being significant to the Jewish race or nation. A gentile Christian would not need to be circumcised. A Jewish Christian still would be circumcised, circumcision being a sign of God's promise. Jesus Christ is our High Priest. He was God's sacrificial lamb for our sins. We no longer sacrifice animals for sins. Jesus, as High Priest, takes care of being clean. What is Holy? In Torah, we may find God's character and definitions of Holiness. Christians are to be a Holy Priesthood.
There may be a lot to reflect and pray on for someone here. God bless.
Addendum -
Question: How does Modern understanding of Nation differ from Biblical understanding?
The Song of Songs is in the Bible as a representation of God's lover for Israel.....or The Church.
In Ezekiel 23, Samaria and Jerusalem were like two sisters God married. The Northern Kingdom of Israel being references as Samaria, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah being referenced as Jerusalem, that would be like Rome or Athens or Sparta or Babylon, city states. There may have been a Nationalism in an understanding of Athenians, and their love of country.
During the Middle Ages, in a European Christian-centric view, there was Christendom, and everything that was not Christendom. Christendom was faltering in sin, and the Reformation. The French rediscovered a Nationalism in sin. The League of Nations, and United Nations, they would be an examples of Luciferian, anti-God, anti-Christian ideals, where someone was working to build a Tower of Babel, and world leaders were viewing themselves as gods, trying to take God's place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
There had to a falling away towards certain prophecy being fulfilled. In building the Kingdom of God, a better Christendom may be the result after a period of great turmoil.
Should Christians support Israel even though the Jews there have mostly been deniers of Christ? The State of Israel needed to exist again for certain prophecy to be fulfilled. The Church is a Spiritual Israel. The existence of a physical State of Israel was needed towards fulfilling prophecy. Those who bless Israel are blessed. (Genesis 12:3)
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