Romans 2:9 – The Jew first and also the Greek

Affliction and distress, on every human soul which is effecting evil, both of the Jew first and of the Greek…

GOD’S judgments are always focused on the salvation of his creatures. Even when He uses “affliction and distress”. It is like the painful procedures that a doctor sometimes has to perform: they always have the well-being of his patients in mind. Apparently the pain seems to conflict with that, but in the long run it is the best.

The judgments of GOD are “on every human soul that is effecting evil”. That is without distinction. And yet Paul adds, “both of the Jew first, and of the Greek.” The fact that a truth is universal and concerns all is not contrary to the given precedence. Earlier the apostle wrote (1:16) that the Gospel is a power of GOD to salvation, “to the Jew first and to the Greek as well”. This is also historically the order. First the Gospel reached the Jew and only after that it reached the Greek.

But the Jew’s precedence is not only a privilege but also a burden. Because like no other people, they experienced throughout history, as the first “affliction and distress”. GOD is righteous and has no class justice.

Delen: