A friend of mine and I were talking about how we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. Were they Jews? If so why aren’t we all ? If not when did the separation between Jews and Gentiles begin and why?
Adam and Eve began the human race, the family of man so to speak, and for about 2000 years that’s the way it was. Then God called Abraham to begin a new race of human, first called Hebrews and later Jews. He chose them to show the world what it was like to be in a covenant relationship with Him, to preserve His Word, and to provide a channel for the Messiah. This is recorded in Genesis 12, but the word Hebrew was first used in Genesis 14:13. Abraham was a descendant of Adam and Eve, just like everyone else in the world, but his descendants became known as the Jews, while all of Adam and Eve’s other descendants were called Gentiles (nations).
After the cross, God set apart a third component of humanity (Ephes. 2:14-17). This new group is called the Church. It’s made up of people who were formerly Jews and Gentiles who have come to a saving faith in the Lord. In Galatians 3:28 Paul wrote that God no longer sees those who are in Christ as either Jews or Gentiles. So now there are three; Jews, Gentiles and the Church.