Some did accept though and I venture to say they are completely impossible to identify with ancient Israel today, as Jesus broke the barrier between Israel/other nations, so those first century Hebrews who became christians would have freely intermarried over the following generations. The age when bloodlines mattered ceased completely.
For Jews, lineage remains central to identity, unlike in religions like Christianity where conversion is often as simple as baptism. Judaism is non-proselytizing, and conversion is a rigorous, years-long process, so Jewish identity is primarily inherited through the maternal line. If bloodlines didn’t matter, as you suggest, the Kohanim and Levites—patrilineal priestly and temple-assistant castes—would not still exist today, yet they do.
I'm an Iraqi Jew, my ancestry traces back to the Babylonian Exile under Nebuchadnezzar (6th century BCE). While Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return to Judea, many stayed in Babylon, building thriving communities over centuries. The idea that Jesus erased ethnic distinctions may hold in Christian theology, but it doesn’t reflect the lived reality of Jewish continuity, where lineage and tradition have endured despite diaspora and persecution.
Sure:
https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1006644
https://systemsbiology.columbia.edu/news/study-sheds-light-on-ashkenazi-jewish-genome-and-ancestry
https://rosenberglab.stanford.edu/papers/RosenbergWeitzman2013-HumBiol.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14223371_Y_chromosomes_of_Jewish_priests
For Jews, lineage remains central to identity, unlike in religions like Christianity where conversion is often as simple as baptism. Judaism is non-proselytizing, and conversion is a rigorous, years-long process, so Jewish identity is primarily inherited through the maternal line. If bloodlines didn’t matter, as you suggest, the Kohanim and Levites—patrilineal priestly and temple-assistant castes—would not still exist today, yet they do.
I'm an Iraqi Jew, my ancestry traces back to the Babylonian Exile under Nebuchadnezzar (6th century BCE). While Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return to Judea, many stayed in Babylon, building thriving communities over centuries. The idea that Jesus erased ethnic distinctions may hold in Christian theology, but it doesn’t reflect the lived reality of Jewish continuity, where lineage and tradition have endured despite diaspora and persecution.