What Race Was Jesus?
- Bethany Verrett Writer
- Published Aug 06, 2024
The Devil is a liar who wants people to remain in darkness and confusion. One of the ways he has been doing this since the ministry of Jesus Christ began is by lying about Jesus’ identity. Whether it is leading people to believe the Messiah would come as a conqueror who would overthrow Rome, inspiring people to lie about the resurrection, or some other misleading idea that has caused people to doubt Jesus’ claims about Himself.
One of the pervasive lies and confusions that has arisen since Jesus’ resurrection is that He is not Jewish. The Bible is clear the Messiah would be a descendent of David, from the tribe of Judah, as a part of the sign and assurance of God’s promise of redemption for mankind. If Jesus was not Jewish, then He would not fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah, and God’s promises have yet to be kept. People would use that as an excuse to reject the Bible, or to look elsewhere for salvation.
Jesus’ earthly heritage and identity was Jewish, but He came to save all people from eternal damnation.
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Is the Jewish Identity a Race, a Religion, or Both?
When considering the race of an individual, it is important to define our terms.
Race is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.”
Ethnicity is defined by the same dictionary as “a particular ethnic affiliation or group,” which can generally include language and culture.
Jewish people fall under a category known as the Semitic people, “of, relating to, or constituting a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Amharic.” The racial characteristics of the Semitic people varies depending on the region they are from, and their historical lineage. It is generally believed that Jews living in Israel during the Roman occupation would have looked like the Barber people of Egypt today, but there would have been a relative degree of diversity depending on which area of Israel the individual lived in. For example, in northern Israel, there were many Greek people living there, and there was a higher number of inter-faith and inter-racial marriages, leading to more diversity of physical characteristics. In southern Israel, people tended to live closer to the Law, avoiding marrying outside their faith and their people group.
Among the Semitic people, the Jews are an ethno-cultural identity that are identified with specific religious practices based on the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and the Tanakh (books of the law, the prophets, and other collected writings). Being Jewish is both an ethnic identity and a religion, though some people who are born with that ethnic identity do not practice the religion, and some people convert to the religion even though they are not born into the ethnicity.
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Was Jesus Jewish?
People who are Jewish trace their lineage back to the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The last of these three men had twelve sons, each of which gave their names to a tribe, except Joseph whose two sons constituted two half-tribes. These tribes were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim and Mannasseh, and Benjamin. Tribal identity became crucial to the nation of Israel, as each tribe received a heritage and blessings from Jacob as recorded in Genesis 49, land allotments from God in the promised land in Numbers 34, and even specific roles for certain tribes, such as the Levites becoming the priestly tribe. Tracking tribal affiliation was a crucial part of the culture of the Hebrew people, even through the exile up until the destruction of Jerusalem and the dissolution of the state of Israel by the Roman Empire around 70 AD.
In the Bible, the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Matthew and the Greek believer Luke to record the lineage of Jesus Christ. Both writers recorded two different lineages.
Matthew has the record of Jesus’ earthly step-father, Joseph. The focus of this genealogy is highlighting the line going back to the start of the nation at Abraham, emphasizing membership in the tribe of Judah, and tracing it through David’s son Solomon and beyond.
Key individuals in the lineage include:
“Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers” (Matthew 1:2)
“and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar” (Matthew 1:3a)
“and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king” (Matthew 1:5-6a)
“And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam…” (Matthew 1:6b-7a)
“...and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah” (Matthew 1:9b)
“and Eliud was the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ” (Matthew 1:15016).
Luke’s Gospel looks different, as it works backward from Mary and Joseph. It follows Mary’s lineage and goes all the way back to Adam, emphasizing that Jesus is for all people, though He is of the nation of Israel. It also does not feature any women.
Key individuals in the lineage include:
“The son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David” (Luke 3:31)
“the son of Amminadav, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah” (Luke 3:33)
“the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah” (Luke 3:34)
“the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:36b-38).
These two lineages demonstrate that in both his biological mother’s family and his adopted father’s family, Jesus’ lineage is Jewish, a Hebrew of the tribe of Judah from the line of David from both his earthly parents.
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Does Jesus’ Race Matter?
We can ask the question of whether or not Jesus’ racial identity matters. Isn’t He a savior for everyone? The Bible affirms that Jesus came to save everyone, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus’ identity as a Jew, specifically from the line of David and the tribe of Judah, is critical to verifying the identity of the Savior. God made several promises and prophecies about the person who would be able to redeem humanity from their sins.
Key verses about the identity of the Messiah are:
“The Lord God said to the serpent…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:14a-15).
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Genesis 49:10).
“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever’” (2 Samuel 7:12-16).
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1).
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’” (Jeremiah 23:5-6).
In order for Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah to be true and believable, He had to fulfill these requirements, among others. Jesus’ identity as a Jewish man, specifically from the line of David - through two different sons - and the tribe of Judah were signs to the people during His earthly ministry that this man was the one for whom they were searching. It is also a sign to those who study the Scriptures today that Jesus really is who He said He was before His resurrection and ascension.
The difference between true faith and blind faith is support and evidence. While people can be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ without understanding the lineage of Jesus Christ, their faith can be strengthened and fortified by understanding the identity of Jesus and how it fulfills prophecy given thousands of years before He was born. He existed before, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but came into the world so that everyone who followed Him could have eternal life. Jesus came into the world as a Jewish man, and He used this identity in part as proof that He was the one who would crush the head of the serpent, and bring hope to a lost world.
Sources
Bernstein, Aaron. Some Jewish Witnesses for Christ. eBook, 2022.
Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Vol.1. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1883.
Walvoord, John F. and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Old Testament and New Testament. United States of America: Victor Books, 1987.
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