One human family at the start
Genesis begins with one human family, descended from Adam and Eve, and then from Noah after the flood. As Noah's descendants spread, Scripture describes nations and lands developing, each with its own peoples and languages (Genesis 10:32; Genesis 11:8-9). These were the nations later commonly called Gentiles, meaning the peoples outside Israel.
So the Bible's Jew-Gentile distinction was not a claim that some people were more human than others. It arose within the one human race as God set apart one family for a particular covenant purpose.
These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
Abraham's calling marks the beginning
The key turning point comes when God called Abram, later called Abraham, out from his country. God promised to make a great nation from him and, strikingly, to bring blessing to all families of the earth through him (Genesis 12:1-3). This was election for service and blessing, not a rejection of everyone else.
God then established his covenant with Abraham and promised that kings and many nations would come from him (Genesis 17:4-8). Circumcision became the covenant sign for Abraham's male descendants (Genesis 17:10-11). From this point, Abraham's family had a distinct covenant identity among the nations.
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Israel came before the name “Jew”
Abraham's grandson Jacob received the name Israel after his encounter with God (Genesis 32:28). His twelve sons became the fathers of the tribes of Israel. At Mount Sinai, God called this people his peculiar treasure and a kingdom of priests, with a calling that set them apart among the nations (Exodus 19:5-6).
The word “Jew” is later than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. It is connected with Judah, one of Jacob's sons and later the southern kingdom of Judah. Scripture uses the term in the history of that kingdom, such as in 2 Kings 16:6. In everyday New Testament language, “Jews” refers broadly to the people of Israel and their covenant heritage.
Jesus brings people near
This distinction mattered deeply in biblical history, but it was never meant to make Israel proud or Gentiles hopeless. God told Abraham from the beginning that all families of the earth would be blessed through his offspring (Genesis 12:3). The prophets also looked forward to God's salvation reaching beyond Israel (Isaiah 49:6).
Through Jesus, Gentiles are welcomed into God's people by faith rather than by becoming ethnic Israelites. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that Christ broke down the hostility separating Jew and Gentile and made peace through his cross (Ephesians 2:11-14). Peter saw the same truth when God led him to Cornelius, a Gentile, and showed him that God accepts people from every nation who fear him and do what is right (Acts 10:34-35).
That does not erase Israel's real place in the Bible's story. It does mean that no one has a lesser invitation to come to God. In Christ, those who belong to him share in Abraham's promised blessing (Galatians 3:28-29).
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;