Let’s drop anchor in the text, not in modern politics, hashtags, or rebranded identities. The question of whether Jesus was “Palestinian” or “Israeli” is more than a label war; it’s a matter of historical, biblical, and theological precision. And when the Son of God asks, “Who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20), He’s not inviting national speculation but divine revelation.
GREEK NOUNS AND VERBS: IDENTITY IN THE TEXT
In Luke 1:33, the angel Gabriel declares: “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever.” The Greek is οἶκος Ἰακώβ — “house of Jacob,” not the land of Philistia. Jesus was born to rule over the Jewish people, not a Roman province called “Palestine.”
In Romans 1:3, Paul calls Jesus “γενόμενον ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυὶδ κατὰ σάρκα” “having come from the seed of David according to the flesh.” The verb γίνομαι (ginomai) means “to become, to be born, to come into being.” His earthly genealogy is Jewish, rooted in the tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:14), not Canaanite, not Philistine, and certainly not Arab.
And in John 4:22, Jesus Himself says to the Samaritan woman: “Salvation is of the Jews” - Greek: ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν ἡ σωτηρία. He doesn’t detach Himself from that lineage. He declares it. He owns it. The noun Ἰουδαῖος (Ioudaios) - “Jew” - is used repeatedly to describe His ethnic identity (John 2:13, 5:1, 7:1). Scripture never once calls Him “Palestinian.”
“PALESTINIAN”? NOT IN SCRIPTURE, NOT IN HISTORY
The name “Palestine” is not a biblical term used for the land during Jesus’ time. It was renamed “Syria Palaestina” by Emperor Hadrian in 135 A.D., nearly a century after the crucifixion, as an act of Roman erasure of Jewish identity after the Bar Kokhba revolt. So to call Jesus “Palestinian” is not only anachronistic, it’s historically inverted, a term created to strip away the very Jewishness of the people and land Jesus belonged to.
The biblical writers were not confused about this. In Matthew 2:1, Jesus is born in Bethlehem of Judea — Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ἰουδαίας. In Matthew 2:6, Micah’s prophecy is cited: “And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah…” Jesus is not described in relation to any region called Palestine. He is rooted in Judah, from the line of David, fulfilling covenantal promises made to Abraham and the patriarchs.
JESUS’ EARTHLY IDENTITY AND ETERNAL NATURE
When Peter answers Jesus in Luke 9:20 with “You are the Christ of God”, he uses the title ὁ χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, not a national descriptor, but a divine commission. Jesus was fully man, Jewish by blood, Judean by geography, but also fully God, the λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο — “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). His ethnicity mattered in fulfilling prophecy. But His mission transcended every boundary line drawn by men.
He was born under the Law (Galatians 4:4), ministered among Israel (Matthew 15:24), and fulfilled every Messianic promise as the King of the Jews (Matthew 27:37), not as a pan-Arab political figure. Redefining Jesus through modern political lenses, whether as “Palestinian” or “Israeli” is a failure to reckon with the far weightier question: Do you confess Him as the Son of God, crucified, risen, and reigning?
SO, DOES IT MATTER?
Yes, not because Jesus needs our national labels, but because truth matters, and history matters, and the Incarnation happened in time, in place, in covenantal continuity with Israel, not political constructs. To call Jesus “Palestinian” is to erase His lineage, misrepresent His mission, and hijack the gospel for modern ideologies.
So let’s not trade the glory of the Son of God for a political pawn. Let’s not revise what Scripture reveals in order to appease modern narratives. Jesus is the Lion of Judah, not a child of imperial Rome, not a symbol of modern struggle, but the crucified and risen Lord, Jewish in body, divine in essence, Savior of all who believe.
J.
