Three Types of Jews

Revelation 2:9

“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the
blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.”

Romans 9:6

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“…For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.”

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1. The Bible indicates there are three types of Israelites or Jews.

 There is the racial Israelite or Jew.

 There is the religious Israelite or Jew.

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 There is the regenerate Israelite or Jew.

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2. The racial Israelite or Jew refers to anyone who is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob.
Conservative Jews were proud of their ancestral linkage and rightly so though Jesus did warn
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His generation against undue pride in blood relations.

 Matthew 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for
I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
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Today, it would be difficult for anyone to prove they were a direct descendant of Abraham,
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Isaac or Jacob due to centuries of mixing of bloodlines through intermarriage.

3. The religious Israelite refers to anyone who embraces the Law of Moses as a standard of
living and honors the traditions and customs of Judaism. With this understanding a Gentile
can be a religious Jew reflected in the following.
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 Rahab. Joshua 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's
household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day; because
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she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Hebrews 11:31 By faith the
harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies
with peace.

 Ruth. Ruth 1:16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following
after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy
people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

 The Syrian military leader Naaman. 2 Kings 5:15 And he returned to the man of God, he
and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know
that there is no God in all earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing
of thy servant.
 4. The regenerate Israelite or Jew refers to any person, of Jewish descendent or Gentile lineage
that has the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children
of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

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5. The concept of a “spiritual Israel” being the true Israel of God and thus the church or called
out assembly of God is indicated in biblical language.

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 In a prophetic reference to Christ, the Old Testament saints are called the church in the
wilderness. Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet [Christ] shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me; him shall ye hear. 38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the

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angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively
oracles to give unto us:

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 A true spiritual Israel is indicated by the epistle of James being sent forth to the church as
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the “twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

 The covenantal language once referred for national Israel but then applied to the New
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Testament saints indicates there is a true “spiritual Israel” of God. 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should
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shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light:

6. The resurrected Christ was angry that certain individuals were boasting of their Jewishness
but were really of the synagogue of Satan. These individuals should have been followers of
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the Messiah as faithful Jews but they were more like the early Gentiles, persecuting the
saints. They were in reality members of the “synagogue [congregation] of Satan” instead of
members of the “synagogue [congregation] of the Lord”.
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 Numbers 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron,
and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves
above the congregation of the Lord?

 Numbers 20:4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this
wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?

 Numbers 31:16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of
Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a
plague among the congregation of the Lord.