What race was Jesus?
Scripture presents two complementary truths about the lineage of Jesus: according to the flesh, He was Jewish — born of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of David, of the seed of Abraham — and yet, as conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, He was the Head of an entirely new race.
His Jewish lineage according to the flesh
The opening verse of Matthew's Gospel declares it: "Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham." J. McBroom traces the significance:
J. McBroom"Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham." Two of the greatest names in the nation's history are here brought together and linked with His, who is the first and the last. He is the true Solomon who will bring in righteousness and peace: but as all must be brought to pass on the ground of death, He is the true Isaac who in resurrection will bring in everlasting delight.
The apostle Paul numbered this among Israel's crowning privileges. Hamilton Smith expounds Romans 9:1-5:
Hamilton SmithHow could he think lightly of those to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the services, the promises, and above all, of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, Who is over all God blessed for ever.
F. B. Hole identifies this as one of Israel's great purposes in God's plan:
F. B. HoleThey were to preserve in the world the stock "of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came" (Rom. 9:5).
And from his treatment of Romans 1:1-4:
Deity_Humanity"The Gospel of God" is "concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh." It was the Son of God who became David's seed by incarnation.
J. N. Darby, writing on Hebrews 7, notes that the Messiah's tribal identity was publicly known:
J. N. DarbyThe Lord Jesus, the Messiah (a Priest after the order of Melchizedec), did not spring evidently from the sacerdotal tribe, but from another, namely, that of Judah. ... The Messiah was of the tribe of Judah, although a Priest.
He took hold of the seed of Abraham
The writer of Hebrews makes this explicit: He took on Him not the nature of angels but the seed of Abraham. A. J. Pollock quotes the passage:
seed of Abraham"For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham, wherefore IN ALL THINGS it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people" (Heb. 2:16-17).
F. B. Hole draws out the meaning:
F. B. HoleHebrews 2:16-17 plainly states that since He stooped not to take hold of angels but of the seed of Abraham, "in all things it behoved Him to be made like to His brethren." Note those three important words — IN ALL THINGS. If in all things then in spirit and in soul and in body.
Yet He was the "second Man" — Head of a new race
Here is the deeper dimension. While Jesus was ethnically Jewish, His birth by the virgin through the Holy Spirit set Him apart from every other human being. F. B. Hole explains:
F. B. Hole"The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second Man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:47). As a matter of mere enumeration Cain was the second man; from the point of view of this verse he was not: he was only Adam reproduced in the first generation. The people walking the earth to-day are but Adam reproduced in — let us suppose — the 150th generation. But — mark it well — the Lord Jesus was not Adam reproduced at all. He was the second Man. He was Man, indeed, for He was conceived by the Virgin Mary. He was an altogether unique Man of another order, for He was conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Every other man inherits the Adamic nature; Jesus did not. ... He was not of the Adamic race, but Himself, the last Adam, the Head of a new race in virtue of death and resurrection.
Hamilton Smith develops the same thought from Romans 5:
Hamilton SmithAs natural men we are connected with Adam and involved in the fall and its consequences. As believers we are connected with Christ, and share in the blessings that belong to His line. ... Christ is presented as the Head of a new race.
Synthesis
According to His flesh, Jesus was Jewish in the fullest sense — a son of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the royal line of David. He entered the world through that nation, taking hold of "the seed of Abraham" and being "in all things made like unto His brethren." His tribal identity was publicly known: He was of the tribe of Judah, the promised Messiah of Israel.
But His identity cannot be captured by ethnic category alone. By the virgin birth He entered humanity without inheriting the fallen Adamic nature, making Him — as Paul wrote — "the second Man," "the last Adam," the Head of an entirely new race. He was truly and fully Man, truly and fully Jewish according to the flesh, and yet at the same time "over all, God blessed for ever" (Romans 9:5).