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that Paul was an ISRAELITE born of the tribe of Benjamin; therefore Paul can correctly be called
a "Jew" of the Israelite seed of Abraham. However, he could NOT be called a geographical "Jew"
of Tarsus because the city of Tarsus was nowhere near the land of Judea. As a result, Paul could
not be called a "Jew" in the same sense as the Judeans could.

Christ was born of the tribe of Judah and can therefore be correctly called a "Jew" -- both
geographically or racially. There is also another Biblical application for the word "Jews," and this
meaning is used several times in the New Testament by Christ himself. We will discuss this later.

Notice now another interesting passage in the New Testament: "And they said,
CORNELIUS the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of GOOD REPORT
AMONG ALL THE NATION OF THE JEWS, was warned by God by an holy angel to send for
thee into his home, and to hear words of thee" -- Acts 10:22 (KJV). This is noteworthy because
Cornelius was obviously INCLUDED with the nation (Gentiles) of the "Jews." Why would the
"Jews" want a good report of this man if he were not included with them? According to this pas-
sage Cornelius could be called a "Jew" since he was no doubt a citizen of the "nation of the Jews."
It is almost blasphemous according to the mind-set of modern-day "Christianity" to even consider
that Cornelius was a "Jew." We will develop this thought later.

We have seen -- according to Strong's Concordance -- and also from the Scriptures -- that
the Gentiles could also include the Hebrew seed of Abraham (Israel). Therefore keep in mind, as
we progress through this article, that the Gentiles could also Biblically be called "Jews."

The Captivity of Israel

In order to unravel the mystery of who the Gentiles really are, we must first review some
of the history of Israel. Keep in mind that we have already clearly seen that the term "Gentiles"
could be applied to the ISRAELITES. The KEY that will unlock the mystery of who the Gentiles
are is simply to believe what the BIBLE says about YEHOVAH's chosen people called Israel. Any
Bible student -- or anyone who is at all familiar with the Bible -- knows full well that it was writ-
ten to, for and about a people called Israel. In fact, the Bible is ISRAEL'S BOOK and is the re-
corded history of these people. The Bible (as Israel's book) also explains in detail what the
inheritance and destiny will be for those believing Israelites who are reunited with YEHOVAH
God through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

The first time the word "Israelite" is found in the Bible is in Genesis 32:28 -- where YE-
HOVAH changed the name of Jacob to Israel: "And he said, 'Thy name shall be called no more Ja-
cob, BUT ISRAEL: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed
(KJV).'" As we see from this scripture the word "Israel" literally means a "prince" having power
with YEHOVAH and to prevail (rule) with YEHOVAH. Strong's Concordance also shows this
meaning under Nos. 03478 and 08280:

03478 Yisra'el {yis-raw-ale} from 08280 and 0410; n pr m AV -- Israel 2489, Israelites
16; 2505
Israel = "God prevails" 08280 sarah {saw-raw'} a primitive root; TWOT -- 2287; v
AV -- power 2; 2

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