Ethnicity and the Resurrection

[Neto]

I am not one who thinks that all of the promises God made to the Jewish people are null and void. However, it brought me up short when I heard a radio preacher say that "... they forgot that Jesus is Jewish." Forget the part about someone forgetting Jesus' earth-side ethnicity. This is also not about whether Jesus is still Jewish. That was just what got me to think about this question: In the resurrection, will we still belong to separate ethnic groups? Will I still be Plautdietsch? Will you still be 'Swiss German', or whatever you call yourself here in this life?

I don't know (obviously), but I don't think we will belong to different ethnicities. (Yes, the Scripture DOES say "neither Jew nor Greek", but I don't think the meaning there is primarily focused on ethnicity, because it goes on to say "slave nor free". The focus, then, is on the cultural (and ethnic) ideologies that separated believers then (and sadly, also now).

Thoughts? (Even if you want to weigh in on whether Jesus is a sort of exception - that he is still Jewish as to ethnicity.)

[steve-in-kville]

My personal opinion is that when we get to Heaven, nothing with matter beyond the fact we are believers. Race, ethnicity... will not matter. In fact, I'm not sure even gender will matter at that point.

[Josh]

Revelation does refer to different “nations” existing in the restored heaven and earth.

[NedFlanders]

There is only one race;

Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

And if anyone is concerned about ethnicity, then it falls under the category of genealogies;

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

[barnhart]

Revelation says the kings of the earth will bring their glory into the new Jerusalem. Along with the emphasis on all tribes and people groups, I have always assumed this diversity honors God and is preserved. Also I expect the new heavens and new earth, including culture, to similar enough to be recognizable and familiar. I see it more as a return to Eden, the earth and human culture as God intended than a clean slate reset.

[Sudsy]

In the resurrection, will we still belong to separate ethnic groups?

My guess is 'no' and I think separate ethnic and also earthly Christian labelling (i.e. denomination, cons/lib, Anabaptist/Catholic, etc) will be gone. I might also guess we will all be one colour in our new bodies. These are only guesses but I lean toward the thought that whatever separates us now in these human forms will be replaced by a new heavenly body even though we will still know each other in some way. We sometime may joke about how we will get along if we get new bodies but our current differences are carried over. I can't conceive that we will continue to not get along, as we do here, once in heaven.

I suppose some Christians study NDEs trying to get more information on this. I'm not one. Whatever form we are in as long as we will be forever with the Lord, is really all that matters to me.

[barnhart]

Jesus will always be the lion of the tribe of Judah and the son of David. I think he is Jewish eternally. The question of ethnicity in the resurrection is about the type of new life that will be. If you imagine a disembodied, spirit existence then ethnic consideration is reduced. More continuity with the world as we know it increases the role ethnicity, and other things that make us human might play.

[temporal1]

(i believe) it will be as God wills. And it will be Good.

[Bootstrap]

I am not one who thinks that all of the promises God made to the Jewish people are null and void. However, it brought me up short when I heard a radio preacher say that "... they forgot that Jesus is Jewish."

Who was the preacher and what was the context?

Recently, some anti-Semites have been using the slogan "Christ the King" to troll Jews online. In that context, some commentators have pointed to the Jewishness of Jesus, saying you can't be anti-Semitic and a follower of Jesus.

I recently read this:

If you’re one of the very-online white nationalists who decided during Holy Week to claim the hashtag “Christ is king” as an antisemitic troll, I’ve got what might seem to you to be both good news and bad news.

The good news: Christ is king. The bad news: He’s a Jew. The even worse news: He’s not the kind of king you think he is.

This week commentator Candace Owens, recently fired by The Daily Wire for anti-Jewish comments, made news as she used the slogan online, allegedly as a response to Daily Wire cofounder, Ben Shapiro, who is Jewish. The phrase was then amplified by so-called “Groypers,” the social media mob assembled around the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, whose singular mission seems to be to put the Mein back in Mein Kampf.

And yes, Fuentes is now saying things like "I love Hitler". Saying Jews do not belong in America. And associating that with Christianity.

https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/fuen ... premacists

In that context, I think it's appropriate to point this out:

The cross, after all, came with a label affixed to it. Above Jesus’ head were the words Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews, written not just in Aramaic but in Greek and Latin too (John 19:19–22). Many have speculated as to why the prosecuting governor, Pontius Pilate, who personally wrote this inscription, did so—and why he wouldn’t change it, when asked, to “This man said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’” What we do know is that the Roman system, of which Pilate was an official, used humiliation and intimidation as governing tools. After all, that’s what crucifixion is—a ghastly and shameful act of torture meant to provoke fear in anyone who might challenge the Caesarean order and to dehumanize anyone killed that way.

The Gospel of Mark indicates that the sign’s inscription, “the king of the Jews,” was actually the charge against him (15:26). The “Jesus is king” language would have been self-evidently a kind of joke, making fun of both Jesus and his fellow Jews under Roman occupation.

[Neto]

There is only one race;

Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

And if anyone is concerned about ethnicity, then it falls under the category of genealogies;

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

I agree that there is only one human race. That is why I do not use that term in the context of different ethnicities within the human race.

I might have done a better job of asking the question. I didn't mean to ask if people would be aware of their ethnicity, but whether there will be any element of that earthly ethnicity remaining after the resurrection. I cannot say that the question had ever occurred to me before, and I do not expect to be preoccupied with it in any way shape of form, even IF there is some awareness of it remaining in my conscious self. It just struck me odd to hear someone say that "Jesus IS Jewish." Certainly, he WAS Jewish, but even if he still is in some way, how is that important?