St. Paul: in the next world there will be neither Gentile nor Jew

[tomarin]

I’m paraphrasing, but what consequences does this have for our identity as a permanent thing? That is to say, if there is no Jew or Gentile in heaven, then it follows that there will be no American/European, no Black/White, no Yankees fan/Red Sox fan? Am I really me if I have no opinion on the designated hitter rule?

Or to put it another way, will the Japanese people in heaven cease to be Japanese? Will they still be the same beings when you strip away their Japanese-ness?

I guess it’s an existential question.

 

[bcuster]

Our human nature will be transformed so that all these differences won’t matter to us any more. They won’t divide us. We will be one even in our diversity.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

I’m paraphrasing, but what consequences does this have for our identity as a permanent thing? That is to say, if there is no Jew or Gentile in heaven, then it follows that there will be no American/European, no Black/White, no Yankees fan/Red Sox fan? Am I really me if I have no opinion on the designated hitter rule?

Or to put it another way, will the Japanese people in heaven cease to be Japanese? Will they still be the same beings when you strip away their Japanese-ness?

I guess it’s an existential question.

The resurrection certainly won’t change the fact of what our ancestry was, where we grew up, etc. Those will always remain parts of our origins.

Will ethnic divisions really disappear, in both their cultural and genetic dimensions? I’m not sure this is what St. Paul is really saying. His whole point is that there is no Jewish elitism in heaven. It won’t change the fact of what culture a person comes from, and it does not necessarily mean that racial differences in appearance, for example, will be eliminated.

As for the designated hitter rule, I suppose that all such controversies, however trivial they may seem to some, will be settled. Whatever God’s position on the rule is, presumably you will be converted to it (or confirmed in it).

 

[inocente]

I’m paraphrasing, but what consequences does this have for our identity as a permanent thing? That is to say, if there is no Jew or Gentile in heaven, then it follows that there will be no American/European, no Black/White, no Yankees fan/Red Sox fan? Am I really me if I have no opinion on the designated hitter rule?

Or to put it another way, will the Japanese people in heaven cease to be Japanese? Will they still be the same beings when you strip away their Japanese-ness?

I guess it’s an existential question.

Paul talks of no Jew or Gentile many times (see here for handy look up), and every time he means NOW, not just in the next world:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. - Galatians 3