A Question of Race, Part II

In my previous post, A Question of Race, Part I, I concluded that there is but one race; the human race. Now we must ask, "Why, if there is only one race, then what is all the fuss in Scripture between the Jews and the Gentiles?" If we look closely at the Scriptures, we can see that God created four classes of intelligent beings in His universe which include angels, Gentiles, Jews and Christians. I want to be careful to make the distinction between class and race. Obviously angels are a different species than mankind, but they are here classified along with the "intelligent beings." In the history of mankind, from Adam to Abraham there was only one class of people. However, with the call of Abraham, there became a second class of people, the Jews. Then, following the first advent of Christ, a third class, that of Christian came into being. Interestingly, each of the first three classes of beings continue to be both the class and species as they were created, excepting that by the grace of God, individual Jews and Gentiles both may become Christians by faith in Christ. One may argue here that Paul objects to the idea that one remains a Jew or Gentile when he receives Christ by faith on the basis of Galatians 3:28 which reads, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

But if one doesn't remain a Jew or Gentile (Greek) when he becomes a Christian, then in this sentence of Paul's, one would also lose his or her gender ("neither male nor female"), or his condition as a freedman or slave (but see Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, Colossians 4:1, 1 Timothy 6:1, and Titus 2:9). But Paul doesn't proclaim freedom to the captives, that is the purview of Christ. Paul exhorts slaves to obey "with a sincere heart" and masters to treat their slaves with justice and fairness. Therefore, I conclude that just because one becomes a Christian, he does not leave the class he was in before his conversion. Thus there may be Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles, although the latter is implied by the term Christian.

Jews

Jews are all the people who are descendants of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Noting that he was the father of Ishmael and six other sons in addition to Isaac (Genesis 25:1-2), it is not sufficient simply to be a descendant of Abraham to be counted a Jew. Neither is being a descendant of Isaac what defines one as a Jew because his son Esau became the patriarch of the Edomites. One must be a descendant of Jacob, the third man after Abraham and Isaac, who received the confirmation of the Abrahamic Covenant.

The Jews are a people set aside by God as a special people. According to Paul, it is to the Jews that:

. . . belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 9:4-5)

The Jews were chosen by God to be a people set apart and to them was given the covenant of circumcision, the Law, and the priesthood. It is these distinctions that must be made in order to fully appreciate the seed, land and blessing aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant, and that these promises are made to a specific people; a specific family. (The word translated as race in the ESV is actually the Greek word os, which is a relative pronoun meaning "which" or "who.")

According to the Scriptures, the Jewishness of an individual is based on his ancestry through his father. Thus, we see that all the genealogies in the Old Testament, and those of Jesus in the New Testament, are given through the men rather than the women. Otherwise, David would not have been a Jew because of both Rahab and Ruth in his ancestral line.

The word Jew is a derivative of the Hebrew word yehudi which may be translated as "belonging to Judah," "Judahite," or "Jewish."

Gentiles

Gentiles had their origin with Adam and participated with him in the fall. Paul tells us that before Christ, Gentiles were:

. . . separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12)

Throughout Scripture, God has revealed that this class of men is separate from other classes, not participating with the covenants and promises to Israel, nor participating in the heavenly blessing promised to believers in Christ. The door, however, has been opened to Gentiles (designated as "the nations" throughout much of Scripture) as well as Jews who believe so that they may become partakers in Christ and out of "the nations" God is calling His elect, the church. Yet these people are still Gentiles. There is nothing a Gentile can do to change that. He may convert to the religion of the Jews but he can never become a Jew since he is not descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Christians

As a title for those who are saved. the word "Christian" appears only three times in the Bible; in Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28 and in 1 Peter 4:16. This term was apparently coined by Gentiles since "Christ" suggests the recognition that Jesus was the anointed Messiah of God (Both the Hebrew word mashiach and the Greek word christos mean "anointed"). In fact, the terms brethren, saints, disciples and believers hold precedence among the writers of the New Testament for the same class of people. Similarly, the Jews referred to Christians in derogatory terms as Nazarines, in reference to Jesus of Nazareth (cf. John 1:46, Acts 24:5).

Yet it is not the title which makes one a Christian. Often the fact that one is a citizen of a so-called Christian country is sufficient to give him the title of Christian in today's world. This may be seen in the Holy Land itself, where people seem to be classified as Jews, Arabs and Christians. In this context, one that is neither Jew or Arab (Arabs, by the way are Gentiles) is considered to be a Christian. However, the reality is that only a saving faith in Jesus Christ can transform a Gentile or Jew into a Christian.

Paul tells us in Ephesians that:

. . . by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

In the New Testament, the words "believe" and "faith" are used synonymously. The writer of Hebrews tells us that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). By this he means that faith includes the conviction that God is trustworthy and that He will complete that work that He has started, and that faith is the blessed hope of all who believe the promises of God. Religious faith may be defined as "belief of the truth on the testimony of God. It includes, (1) knowledge; (2) assent; (3) trust." This three-part definition captures the essence of belief. We must not only know, but must assent to the truth and trust the One who is ever faithful.

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19)

To be a saving faith all three elements must be present; knowledge, assent, and trust. Look to the words of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans:

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)

and

. . . if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

In these two passages we see all three elements of faith: knowledge, or the consciousness of sin; assent that Jesus died and was raised from the dead; and trust in the confession or acknowledgement that Jesus is the Savior.

Conclusion

There are very specific elements to Christian faith as just discussed. However, not one of these elements implies that one gives up the particular traits that make him a Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free. These remain as before, but there is within a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Thus, although there is only the human race, there remain three classes of people in the world: Jew, Gentile and Christian.