“To the Jew first”: The first time this is used in Romans, it’s good news for Jews, because Paul says that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to the Jew first (1:18). The next time he uses the phrase, things are a bit different. He has been exploring and explaining the judgment of God against those who practice evil, and says there will be “tribulation and distress” for evil-doers, “to the Jew first.” With privilege comes heightened responsibility, and the Jews were the recipients of all the privileges that Paul enumerates in 3:1-2 and in 9:1ff. The two uses of the phrase are related in another way as well. Salvation is announced to the Jew first because the Jews are the ones who MOST NEED to hear the gospel, being as they are the ones under greatest threat of the divine judgment. Gentiles could wait a bit; but Jews needed to hear the gospel because the hosts of Yahweh were massed outside Jerusalem, ready to avenge the blood of every prophet spilled on the earth from Abel to Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
