{"id":28262,"date":"2011-08-01T20:55:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-02T01:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=28262"},"modified":"2020-12-04T20:59:57","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T02:59:57","slug":"are-jews-a-race-or-a-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-jews-a-race-or-a-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Jews a race or a religion?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Are Jews a race or a religion?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>In the Bible, the concept of &#8220;race&#8221; does not exist. The Bible talks about nationalities, but not &#8220;race.&#8221; See\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-the-different-races-come-about\/\">How did the different races come about?<\/a>\u00a0for more details.<\/p>\n<p>The word &#8220;Jew&#8221; is a derivation of &#8220;Judah.&#8221; When the kingdom of Israel divided, the ten northern tribes continued to use the name &#8220;Israel.&#8221; The southern split was basically made up of Judah, and so was called the kingdom of Judah. The Assyrians wiped out the northern kingdom. The Babylonians captured the southern kingdom about 200 years later, but after a 70-year-captivity, they were allowed to return home. Thus, the name &#8220;Judah&#8221; remained and by Jesus&#8217; time, the people were called &#8220;Judeans&#8221; or &#8220;Jews&#8221; for short.<\/p>\n<p>Being Jewish was both a nationality and a religious description because a person became an Israelite (Jew) by birth. At eight-days old, children became a part of the Old Testament covenant through the circumcision of boys. One could also convert to Judaism, which would make a person both a Jew in religion and a part of the nation.<\/p>\n<p>During the Roman Empire, the Jews were dispersed and so while they still practiced their religion and considered themselves of the nation of Israel, they were also citizens of the countries where they resided. Thus Paul was a Jew by birth and nationality, but he was also a Roman citizen &#8212; he held dual citizenship.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Response:<\/h2>\n<p>Thank you. This will help with the conversation of the person which I was having yesterday. I had a problem trying to get them to understand the differences, but this will be a big help. I am also a preacher in the Lord&#8217;s Church; yes, the Church of Christ.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Are Jews a race or a religion? Answer: In the Bible, the concept of &#8220;race&#8221; does not exist. The Bible talks about nationalities, but not &#8220;race.&#8221; See\u00a0How did the different races come about?\u00a0for more details. The word &#8220;Jew&#8221; is a derivation of &#8220;Judah.&#8221; When the kingdom of Israel divided, the ten northern tribes continued&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[275,274,216],"class_list":["post-28262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-israelites","tag-jews","tag-race"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28643,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-hebrew-israel-jew-canaan-etc\/","url_meta":{"origin":28262,"position":0},"title":"What is the difference between Hebrew, Israel, Jew, Canaan, etc.?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God promised to bring the people of Israel to the promised land, and the Jews went to the promised land, but wasn't there more people in Israel than just the Jews? Answer: I'm having trouble with your question because I think there are some problems with definitions. Hebrew This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32955,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-abraham-a-gentile-or-a-jew\/","url_meta":{"origin":28262,"position":1},"title":"Was Abraham a Gentile or a Jew?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Abraham a Gentile or a Jew? I heard that he was first a Jew, but I also heard that He was a Gentile before and then a Jew. Answer: \"Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32758,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-esau-and-ishmaels-descendants-considered-gentiles\/","url_meta":{"origin":28262,"position":2},"title":"Were Esau and Ishmael&#8217;s descendants considered Gentiles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We are studying Genesis 36 and the generations of Esau.\u00a0 Several questions arose that have generated some good discussion, but we are needing some help. The questions asked \"Were Esau and Ishmael's families considered Gentiles? Or were they Jews?\u00a0 We are a little confused about when the Jewish nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-you-list-the-ten-tribes\/","url_meta":{"origin":28262,"position":3},"title":"Why didn&#8217;t you list the ten tribes?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Questions: You fail to answer your own question, \"Who are the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom?\" I was looking to see if Levi was among them but no list is given. If Judah and Benjamin remained in the south then that would mean Levi was in the north. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-found-tribes-of-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":28262,"position":4},"title":"The Found Tribes of Israel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin L. Crozier, via Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 4, Jan. 27, 2008. One of the most common mistakes made about Biblical history is the supposedly lost tribes of Israel. We know God divided the descendants of Jacob into 13 different tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16153,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-10-tribes-of-the-northern-kingdom-and-the-2-tribes-of-the-southern-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":28262,"position":5},"title":"Who are the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom and the 2 tribes of the Southern Kingdom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I Kings 11:35-36 - 10 tribes would be given to Jeroboam and one tribe (Judah) to Rehoboam. But doesn't that include Benjamin as well (I Kings 12:21)? Who are the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom and the 2 tribes of the Southern Kingdom? Answer: \"Now it happened at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}