Identity, Ethnicity and the Gospel

What you'll learn

Read Deuteronomy 28 in its covenant context of curse, exile and promised return
Explain from Galatians, Ephesians, Acts and Revelation how the gospel creates one people from many nations
Articulate why salvation is never by lineage while honouring the dignity and history of Black Americans

Start with the wound, not the argument

Many people are drawn into Hebrew Israelite teaching not first by exegesis but by grief and anger. The transatlantic slave trade tore millions from their homes, stripped them of names, languages and family histories, and treated image-bearers as property. Generations later, segregation and racism compounded the damage. When a teacher says, 'You are not a nobody; you are royalty, the chosen people, and your suffering was foretold', it lands with enormous force.

Scripture speaks to that wound before it speaks to the argument. God 'heard their groaning' in Egypt (Exodus 2:24). He condemns man-stealing (Exodus 21:16) and calls those who trade in human beings lawless (1 Timothy 1:10). The prophets thunder against those who 'sold the righteous for silver' (Amos 2:6). As a Reformed Christian you can say without hesitation: the slave trade was a great evil, many professing Christians were complicit, and God will judge it. Saying this honestly earns you the right to be heard on the rest. (The Hard Questions module's lesson on slavery treats the Bible and slavery more fully.)

Why should you start with the wound rather than the argument, and what can a Reformed Christian honestly say about the slave trade?Show answer

Many people come into Hebrew Israelite teaching through grief and anger over slavery and racism, not through careful exegesis, so a message of restored dignity lands with great force. Scripture speaks to that wound: God heard Israel's groaning (Exodus 2:24), condemns man-stealing (Exodus 21:16; 1 Timothy 1:10) and those who sell the righteous (Amos 2:6). A Reformed Christian can say plainly that the slave trade was a great evil, many professing Christians were complicit, and God will judge it, and saying this honestly earns a hearing.

people drawn by grief and anger
Scripture condemns man-stealing
admit Christian complicity
honesty earns a hearing

Deuteronomy 28 in context

Deuteronomy is Moses' covenant sermon to Israel on the plains of Moab. Chapter 28 follows the pattern of ancient treaties: blessings for faithfulness (28:1-14), then curses for breaking the covenant (28:15-68). The curses escalate from drought and disease to siege, cannibalism in famine, deportation and scattering.

Israel's own Scriptures record these curses falling: the northern kingdom deported by Assyria (2 Kings 17), Judah exiled to Babylon (2 Kings 25), and Daniel confessing that 'the curse is poured upon us' as written in the law of Moses (Daniel 9:11). The Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 brought another wave; Josephus reports captives sent to labour in Egypt. Egypt in 28:68 is not a cipher for America; it is the land of the original bondage, and the curse is the undoing of the Exodus.

Crucially, the chapter does not end the story. Deuteronomy 30:1-10 promises that when Israel returns to the LORD, he will 'circumcise thine heart' and restore them. The prophets link this to a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27). So the question Deuteronomy itself drives us to is not 'Who fits the curses?' but 'Who lifts them?' Paul's answer: 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13).

Example: Reading Deuteronomy 28 to 30 with a friend

Darnell: Deuteronomy 28:68 says 'into Egypt again with ships'. That's the slave ships. That's us.

You: I can see why that hits hard. What was done to enslaved Africans was evil, and God saw it. Can we read the whole chapter, though? Who is Moses speaking to?

Darnell: Israel, before they go into the land.

You: Right. And the curses come if they break the covenant. Does the Bible ever say those curses actually fell on Israel?

Darnell: I don't know.

You: Daniel 9:11 does. Daniel says 'the curse is poured upon us' because Israel sinned, and 2 Kings 17 and 25 tell of the exiles to Assyria and Babylon. 'Egypt again' means going back to the place God rescued them from: the Exodus undone.

Darnell: So it's not about us at all?

You: It shows that suffering doesn't prove who someone is. Many peoples have suffered terribly. But look at chapter 30. What does God promise after the curses?

Darnell: 'The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart.' So he fixes them on the inside.

You: Yes. And Paul says Christ 'hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13). The real question isn't who fits the curses but who lifts them. Jesus does, for anyone who trusts him, including you.

Where does Israel's own Scripture record the Deuteronomy 28 curses falling, and what does 'Egypt' in 28:68 mean?Show answer

The northern kingdom was deported by Assyria (2 Kings 17), Judah was exiled to Babylon (2 Kings 25), and Daniel confessed that the curse written in Moses' law had been poured out (Daniel 9:11). The Roman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 brought another wave, with Josephus reporting captives sent to labour in Egypt. Egypt in 28:68 is not a code word for America; it is the land of the original bondage, so the curse is the undoing of the Exodus.

Assyrian and Babylonian exiles
Daniel 9:11 confesses the curse
AD 70 another wave
Egypt = undoing of the Exodus

Deuteronomy itself moves us from the question 'Who fits the curses?' to a better question. What is it, and how does Scripture answer it?Show answer

Deuteronomy 30:1-10 promises that when Israel returns to the LORD he will circumcise their heart and restore them, and the prophets connect this to the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:26-27). So the real question is 'Who lifts the curses?' Paul answers that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).

chapter 28 is not the end
Deuteronomy 30 promises restoration
new covenant in the prophets
Christ bore the curse (Galatians 3:13)

Who is Israel in the New Testament?

Romans 9-11 is essential and should be read carefully, because it guards against two errors. Paul grieves for 'my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites' (Romans 9:3-4): he plainly recognises the Jewish people of his day as Israel. Yet he also says 'they are not all Israel, which are of Israel' (9:6). Physical descent never guaranteed salvation; God's promise works through his gracious choice and through faith (9:8; 10:9-13). And God has not cast away his people (11:1); their calling is irrevocable (11:28-29).

Bible-believing Christians differ on how Israel and the church relate, and you met the main views in Know Your Faith, Lesson 10; the Judaism module returns to them. On Romans 11:26, Calvin read 'all Israel' as the whole people of God, Jew and Gentile; others, such as O. Palmer Robertson, read it as the elect of ethnic Israel through history; many, such as John Piper, expect a large future turning of Jewish people to Christ; and dispensationalists, such as John MacArthur, expect a future national salvation of Israel. These are in-house debates among brothers. But all agree on the central point: no one is saved by bloodline, and Gentiles who believe are grafted into the one olive tree (11:17-24).

How does Romans 9-11 both affirm the Jewish people as Israel and deny that bloodline saves?Show answer

Paul calls his Jewish kinsmen 'Israelites' (Romans 9:3-4), says God has not cast away his people (11:1), and says their calling is irrevocable (11:28-29). Yet he also says 'they are not all Israel, which are of Israel' (9:6), because God's promise works through his gracious choice and through faith. Christians (covenant theologians and dispensationalists alike) differ on the future role of ethnic Israel and on the meaning of 'all Israel' in 11:26, but all agree no one is saved by bloodline and believing Gentiles are grafted into the one olive tree.

Paul calls Jews of his day Israelites
not all Israel which are of Israel
salvation by grace through faith
Gentiles grafted into one tree

The nations were always in the plan

Hebrew Israelite teaching often presents the inclusion of Gentiles as a later Roman corruption. But the Old Testament itself announces it. God told Abraham, 'in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed' (Genesis 12:3). Gentiles such as Rahab the Canaanite and Ruth the Moabite were welcomed into Israel and became ancestors of David and of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). Isaiah promises that foreigners who join themselves to the LORD will be brought to his holy mountain, 'for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people' (Isaiah 56:6-7). Psalm 87 pictures Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Cush (Ethiopia) being registered as born in Zion.

So when the apostles welcomed Gentiles by faith, they were not inventing a new religion. They were seeing the promise to Abraham come true through Abraham's seed, the Messiah (Galatians 3:8, 16).

How would you answer someone who says the inclusion of the Gentiles was a later Roman corruption?Show answer

The Old Testament itself announces it: God promised Abraham that all families of the earth would be blessed in him (Genesis 12:3). Rahab and Ruth, both outsiders, were welcomed and became ancestors of David and Jesus (Matthew 1:5), Isaiah 56:6-7 calls God's house a house of prayer for all people, and Psalm 87 pictures even Egypt, Babylon and Cush registered in Zion. The apostles were seeing God's promise to Abraham fulfilled through the Messiah, not inventing a new religion (Galatians 3:8, 16).

promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3)
Rahab and Ruth in Jesus' line
Isaiah 56 and Psalm 87
apostles saw promise fulfilled

One new man

Galatians 3:28-29 says that in Christ there is 'neither Jew nor Greek', and 'if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise'. Paul is not erasing ethnicity (he still calls himself a Jew), but he is denying that ethnicity gives anyone a higher standing before God.

Ephesians 2:11-22 explains how. Gentiles were once 'aliens from the commonwealth of Israel', but Christ 'hath broken down the middle wall of partition' and made 'of twain one new man'. In Acts 10 Peter learns that 'God is no respecter of persons' (10:34) when the Spirit falls on Cornelius's Gentile household. In Acts 15 the apostles conclude that Gentiles are saved 'even as they' by grace, without becoming Jews (15:9-11). Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 show the goal: a people bought by the Lamb's blood 'out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation'.

This is good news for the young man on the corner. His worth does not depend on winning a genealogy argument. It rests on being created in God's image and, through faith, adopted into God's family.

Put the message of Galatians 3:28-29 and Ephesians 2 into a sentence or two you could say to a young man on the street corner.Show answer

In Christ, your ethnicity is not erased, but it does not give you, or anyone else, a higher standing before God. Christ has broken down the wall between Jew and Gentile and made one new people, so if you belong to Christ you are Abraham's seed and an heir of the promise. Your worth does not depend on winning a genealogy argument; it rests on being made in God's image and adopted into his family through faith.

ethnicity not erased but not ranked
wall broken down, one new man
Abraham's seed through Christ
worth from God's image and adoption

Dignity without a borrowed identity

There is a further pastoral point. The ancestors of most African Americans came from West and West-Central African peoples with their own languages, kingdoms, crafts and histories. Hebrew Israelite teaching can unintentionally erase that real heritage by replacing it with another one. The gospel honours it: God 'made of one blood all nations' and 'determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation' (Acts 17:26). Africa is in the Bible from Genesis onward, and Africans were among the earliest Christians (Acts 2:10; 8:26-39; 13:1).

So you can say: 'You do not need to be Israel to be loved, chosen and honoured. In Christ you are a son of Abraham by faith, and your African ancestry is part of the tapestry God planned.'

Why might Hebrew Israelite teaching unintentionally erase real heritage, and how does the gospel honour it instead?Show answer

Most African Americans' ancestors came from West and West-Central African peoples with their own languages, kingdoms, crafts and histories, and replacing that with a borrowed Israelite identity can erase it. The gospel honours it: God made all nations of one blood and set their times and places (Acts 17:26), and Africa and Africans appear throughout the Bible, including among the earliest Christians (Acts 2:10; 8:26-39; 13:1). You do not need to be Israel to be loved and chosen; in Christ you are Abraham's son by faith, and your African ancestry is part of God's plan.

real West African heritage
borrowed identity can erase it
Acts 17:26 and Africans in the Bible
loved in Christ without being Israel

In their own words

“Salvation is for Israel only; the Most High chose one nation, and the other nations will serve Israel in the kingdom.” (Common camp reading of Isaiah 14:1-2; Isaiah 60:12; Amos 3:2)

“Galatians 3:28 means unity among the twelve tribes, not that other nations become Israel.” (IUIC and ISUPK street classes on Galatians 3)

“'Ye only have I known of all the families of the earth' proves God has one people by blood.” (Amos 3:2 (KJV))

“Jesus said he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, so his salvation is not for the Gentiles.” (Matthew 15:24)

“The curses of Deuteronomy 28 are the sign by which the true Israel is identified today.” (Deuteronomy 28:46 ('a sign and for a wonder... upon thy seed for ever'))

Key texts

Deuteronomy 30:1-10: The covenant chapter's own answer to the curses: return to the LORD and a circumcised heart. Point to Christ as the fulfilment.
Galatians 3:13, 28-29: Christ bore the curse; those in Christ are Abraham's seed. Identity is by union with Christ, not lineage.
Ephesians 2:11-22: Gentiles once far off are brought near and made one new man with believing Israel. Use it against both racial superiority and Gentile arrogance.
Acts 10:34-35; 15:7-11: God shows no partiality, and Gentiles are saved by grace without becoming Israelites. The apostles settled this question.
Romans 9:3-8; 11:1, 17-29: Paul recognises his Jewish kinsmen as Israel, denies salvation by descent, and describes the grafted-in olive tree.
Revelation 5:9; 7:9: Heaven's worship comes from every nation and tongue. The multi-ethnic church is God's design, not a Gentile invention.

Objections and answers

Try answering each one yourself before you open the response.

“Jesus said 'I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 15:24). Gentiles are dogs.”Show a response

Read the whole scene. Jesus says that, and then he heals the Canaanite woman's daughter and praises her 'great faith' (15:28). Earlier he marvelled at a Roman centurion's faith and said many will come from east and west to sit with Abraham (8:10-11). His earthly ministry focused on Israel first, but after the resurrection he sent the apostles to 'teach all nations' (28:19). Isaiah had already said the Servant would be 'a light to the Gentiles' (Isaiah 49:6). So 'Israel first' is true; 'Israel only' is not what Matthew teaches. And in Acts 10 the apostle Peter learned this lesson directly from God.

“Deuteronomy 28:46 says the curses are a sign 'upon thy seed for ever'. So whoever has the curses is Israel.”Show a response

The word translated 'for ever' (Hebrew 'olam') often means 'for a very long time' or 'for the age', and the same chapter's context, Deuteronomy 30, promises the curses will be lifted when Israel returns to the LORD. More importantly, the sign points to covenant-breaking, not to ethnicity. Many peoples have suffered slavery, disease and scattering. If curses identify Israel, then Jewish communities expelled, enslaved and massacred across Europe and the Middle East also fit. The chapter is a warning to repent, and Galatians 3:13 says Christ became a curse for us so the blessing of Abraham could come to the nations.

“Galatians 3:28 is about the twelve tribes. 'Greek' means Israelites scattered among the Greeks.”Show a response

Paul uses 'Greek' throughout his letters for non-Jews. In Romans 1:16 the gospel is for 'the Jew first, and also to the Greek', and Romans 2:9-10 pairs them as the two categories of humanity. Galatians itself is about whether Gentile converts must be circumcised (Galatians 2:3; 5:2), which only makes sense if they were not Israelites. Paul says in 3:8 that Scripture foresaw God would 'justify the heathen' (Gentiles) through faith. So 3:28-29 means that Gentiles who believe are Abraham's seed by faith, which is exactly what Ephesians 2 says too.

“If identity doesn't matter, why should I care about Black history at all?”Show a response

Identity matters, and so does history. The gospel does not make you colourless; Revelation 7:9 pictures people still recognisable by nation and tongue before the throne. God cares about justice for the oppressed (Psalm 146:7-9), and he records names and lineages throughout Scripture. What the gospel denies is that ancestry decides your standing with God or makes anyone superior. Learn your history, grieve its wrongs, honour your ancestors' faith and courage. But build your foundation on what cannot be shaken: you are made in God's image and, through faith in Christ, adopted as his child.

“If the curses were all used up in Babylon and AD 70, why are we the ones still suffering? Explain that.”Show a response

Your suffering is real, and I won't wave it away. The slave trade and the racism that followed were great evils, and Scripture calls man-stealing a crime God judges (Exodus 21:16; 1 Timothy 1:10). But suffering by itself does not tell us who is Israel. Many peoples in history have been conquered and enslaved. Deuteronomy 28 describes Israel's own exiles, which the Bible records happening (2 Kings 17; 2 Kings 25; Daniel 9:11), and 'Egypt' there means undoing the Exodus. The better news is that God 'heard their groaning' then (Exodus 2:24) and he sees yours now. And Deuteronomy points beyond the curse to a God who restores the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6). Christ 'hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us' (Galatians 3:13). That rescue is open to you today.

“Romans 11:26 says 'all Israel shall be saved.' So being Israel by blood is what saves you. That's why it matters so much who we are.”Show a response

That verse is worth reading slowly, in its context. Evangelicals understand 'all Israel' in different ways: some expect a large future turning of Jewish people to Christ, while others read it as the whole elect people of God. But no reading makes bloodline the thing that saves. In the very same section Paul says 'they are not all Israel, which are of Israel' (9:6), and 'whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved' (10:13). In chapter 11 natural branches were broken off 'because of unbelief' and Gentiles stand 'by faith', and the broken branches will be grafted in again 'if they abide not still in unbelief' (11:20, 23). Every branch in that tree is there by faith in Christ. That's the question that matters for you and for me.

Written task

Write a 300-400 word short Bible study (as if for a friend in a Hebrew Israelite camp) walking through Deuteronomy 28-30 and Galatians 3. Show what the curses meant in Israel's history, what Deuteronomy itself says the remedy is, and how Christ fulfils it. Include one paragraph acknowledging the evil of the slave trade.

Hand this in to Mr Scott. He will look for:

Places Deuteronomy 28 accurately in its covenant and historical context, citing at least one Old Testament fulfilment
Uses Deuteronomy 30 and Galatians 3:13-14, 28-29 to point to Christ
Explains why lineage does not save (e.g. Romans 9:6-8; Acts 15:11)
Acknowledges slavery's evil sincerely and without deflection
Maintains a warm, respectful tone free of stereotypes or racial generalisation