Salute The Marines said:
That is incorrect. Ethnically I'm a Jew. If my father or moms grandfather were Jewish I wouldn't be from how it was explained to me by the rabbi.
Actually, that does not make you near enough of a Jew to be allowed the Law of Return (Aliyah) to Israel. But that's a pretty high standard, and I'm certain many other Jews and rabbis will indeed consider you a Jew. I'm aware of many Hispanics who find traces of Jewish ancestry in their DNA (not surprising given Sephardic Jews) and feel a strong connection with Jewish people. A separation of Gentiles from Jewish Synagogues started by Gentiles, themselves, around the time of the first Jewish war with Rome in 67AD. Gentiles could avoid getting swept up in Jewish persecution by staying away from their synagogues. This waxed and waned well past 70AD, however. It wasn't until the failed Jewish Bar Kokhba in 135AD that Jews kicked all believers in Yeshua (both Jews and Gentiles) out of their synagogues. You could be a follower of Hillel and stay in the Synagogue. You could disagree with Hillel and be a follower of Shammai and remain. But you couldn't be a follower of Yeshua and remain after that. And all this points to the difficulty of answering the question of "Who is a Jew"
For me, the most definitive answer on that is what God says through His scripture. Galatians 3:28 indeed says there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Yeshua HaMashiach. But by saying there is neither male of female, certainly Paul does not mean the gender fluid, wokeness definition of today. He actually gives different instructions for women than men. And he gives different instructions to slaves. How can that be if they are all the same? He certainly doesn't mean there is no genetic difference between Jews and Greeks, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to references Jews as being Jews or Greeks and being Greeks. No. It's clear from the context that the "sameness" we are is in regards to salvation. And that we all have the same inheritance to the same promises. How do we share in that inheritance? Paul tells us in the very next verse, which quoters of Galatians 3:28 diligently avoid.
Galatians 3:29 "And
if you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham's descendants…"
By saying this, Paul is certainly not calling us Edomites, but Jews, or better, Hebrews. In the 1st century, these were basically synonymous. That is, IF you are SAVED, they you ARE a JEW. Paul tells us this same thing several times in scripture just to make sure the point is not missed. Gentiles, who were once strangers and aliens, are now "
fellow citizens" (Eph 2:19),
adopted a Yeshua's sons (Rom 8:15) (Eph 1:5). Gentiles have been
grafted into the olive tree of Israel (Rom 11:17), who's root is Yeshua; a Jew born to a Jewish mother and a Jewish father, circumcised on the 8th days according to God's instructions. Yeshua's gospel was not one of abolishing God's instructions (Mat 5:17), but he kept them perfectly; abolishing the bad doctrine of 1st century Judaism. He taught us to keep all the Torah properly (Mat 23:23) and not to teach abolishing even the least of the commandments (Mat 5:19). Anyone how lives this this way will LOOK Jewish, hearing the Torah of Moses in the synagogues on the Sabbath (Acts 15:21) and desiring to keep His commandments out of love for Yeshua (John 14:15). But we don't just LOOK Jewish,
if we are SAVED, then we ARE Jewish. Hallelu'YAH!.
Shalom
These Things You Should Have Done
