SALVATION IS FROM THE JEWS, FIRST TO THE JEWS THEMSELVES AND THEN TO THE GENTILES.

To set the scene, here are two verses you will never see any Muslim quote:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

1). INTRODUCTION

After His resurrection, Jesus gave the order of priority and sequence for preaching the Gospel – Jerusalem first, then all Judea and Samaria, from there to all the world. Paul elaborates on and follows this road map.

Paul has just used that wonderful inclusive word “everyone” in Romans 1:16, “The gospel is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes.” Oh what a reassuring word to anyone who feels that there is something about them that rules them out! Wrong family, wrong background, wrong education, wrong language, wrong race, wrong culture, wrong gender orientation, wrong moral track record. Then to hear the word, “Everyone who believes.” No distinction here just inclusivity.

There is only one thing that can rule you out: unbelief — ie not trusting in who Jesus is and what He did for us all. But nothing else has to. The good news that Christ died for our sins, and that He rose from the dead to open eternal life, and that salvation is by grace through faith — to all – that is for everyone who believes. Not just Jews and not just Gentiles and no one race or social class or culture, but everyone who believes.

So having established that fundamental truth, to understand the rest of verse 16 we need to understand what is the reason for the Jews having priority. That is the focus of this Post.

2). HOW DO JEWS HAVE PRIORITY?

Why does Paul follow this exhilarating word “everyone” with a word that seems to give priority to Jews? ” … it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”

This verse raises a number of questions. How do the Jews have priority? What does he mean, “to the Jew first”? What kind of priority, what kind of “firstness” do they have? And why does he say this? What effect does he want this to have on us?

The Bible shows us six ways by which the Jews are first in experiencing the salvation of God. And to complete the picture we can identify some ways in which they are not first.

3). THE JEWS HAVE PRIORITY AS GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE.

How do they have priority over Gentiles? In Genesis 12, God chooses Abraham and his descendants freely from all the peoples of the world to bless with his covenant and promise. Nehemiah 9:7 says, “God . . . chose Abram, and brought him out from Ur of the Chaldeans.” Then Deuteronomy 14:2 says about the whole Jewish people, “The Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” And Amos 3:2 says, “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth.” And here in Romans 11:28–32 Paul says:

“Regarding the gospel, they [the Jews] are enemies for your [the Gentiles] advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, [29] since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable. [30] As you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience, [31] so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also now may receive mercy. [32] For God has imprisoned all in disobedience, so that He may have mercy on all” (Romans 11:28-32).

Put simply, Salvation comes to Gentiles from the root of God’s covenant with the Jews. And this is no New Testament novelty. From His earliest Covenant promises to Abraham, God had a world view, as the following exemplary verses demonstrate:

“I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before You, [28] for kingship belongs to the Lord; He rules over the nations” (Psalms 22:27-28).

“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord minister to Him, love the name of Yahweh and become His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold firmly to My covenant — [7] I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:6-7).

“He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).

The Jews have a priority over Greeks (that is, all Gentiles, by implication) because of their special role as God’s elect or chosen people. He set His favor on them and set them apart from all the peoples. Freely! Not because of any virtue or special alue in them, but simply on the basis of His sovereign choice:

“The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. [8] But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).

4). THE JEWS HAVE PRIORITY AS CUSTODIANS OF GOD’S WORD

In Romans 3:1, Paul asks: “What advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?” And he answers his own question in verse 2: “Considerable in every way. First, they were entrusted with the spoken words [oracles – KJV] of God.” In other words, God gave His special revelation and promises to Israel by Moses and the prophets.

Romans 9:4 puts it like this: “[They] are Israelites to whom belong . . . the covenants and the giving of the Law . . . and the promises.” All the great expressions, the types and shadows of the gospel of salvation were given to the Jews in the word of God, the Old Testament. Thus the Jews had priority in having the Scriptures with all its prophetic content and meaning and not least because it sets out God’s laws and covenant promises.

5). THE JEWS HAVE PRIORITY IN THAT THE MESSIAH HIMSELF CAME FIRST, AS A JEW TO THE JEWS.

In Romans 9:5, Paul brings his list of privileges to a climax with these words: “From [the Jews] is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” The Messiah, Jesus, was a Jew, a Son of David (Romans 1:3). And He focused His earthly ministry on the Jews. They had a priority in His work, and were the first witnesses of His teaching and His signs.

In Matthew 10:5–6, Jesus said to the twelve apostles as He sent them out during His ministry, “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And in Matthew 15:24, Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” So during his earthly life, Jesus was focused on the Jews. They had priority in his ministry. Even then it was not exclusive, and contained many suggestions it would have a universal application. And after His death and resurrection, Israel was to lose its exclusive claim to Jesus message. And they were given fair warning: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43)

6). THE JEWS HAVE PRIORITY IN THAT SALVATION IS FROM THE JEWS.

These are the very words of Jesus in John 4:22. Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well, “You worship what you do not know; we [Jews] worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” This simply sums up all that we have seen so far. They are the chosen nation; the nation with God’s special revelation; and the nation with the Messiah, the Savior. So, clearly, salvation is “from the Jews.”

Another way to see that salvation is from the Jews is found in Romans 11:17–24 where Paul compares the Jewish nation to an olive tree. He says that natural branches are broken off and unnatural branches were grafted in, meaning that Jews by birth were unbelieving and so cut off from the covenant of promise; and Gentiles who were believing were grafted in and saved by the covenant of promise. Verses 17–18 are crucial for us:

If some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, [then] do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

In other words, salvation comes to us Gentiles from the root of God’s covenant with the Jews. We are simply grafted in like wild olive branches that have no historical claim at all on being God’s people. And God saves us by reckoning us children of Abraham by faith, as Paul says in Galatians 3:7, “It is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.”

So Jews have priority because “salvation is from the Jews.” All salvation is salvation which is rooted in God’s covenant with Abraham.

7). THE JEWS HAVE PRIORITY IN THAT PAUL EVANGELIZED JEWS FIRST WHEN HE BROUGHT THE GOSPEL TO A NEW PLACE.

For example, in Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas are preaching in Antioch of Pisidia, and the Jews will not listen to the gospel, so they say, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”

In other words, just as God chose Israel and revealed himself to Israel and sent the Messiah and Savior to Israel so that salvation is from Israel, it is fitting that in the spread of the gospel to new places, the Jews hear first of their Messiah and the good news of his salvation.

So Jews have a priority in the order of frontier missions when the gospel comes to a new place.

8). THE JEWS HAVE PRIORITY IN FINAL JUDGMENT AND FINAL BLESSING.

In Romans 2:9-10, Paul says, amazingly, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

In other words, the priority that the Jews have, if it is rejected and squandered will result in a priority in judgment. And if they are grateful for their priority and trust in the mercy of their Messiah, then they will go first into the final blessing of God. There are definite dangers in having this priority. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required” (Luke 12:48).

□ SUMMARY

When Paul says in Romans 1:16, “.. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek,” we should call to mind these six ways that the Jews have a priority over the Gentiles.

▪︎ They are the historic chosen people of God.

▪︎ They are the guardians of God’s special revelation, the Old Testament Scriptures.

▪︎ The Messiah and Savior, Jesus, comes to the world as a Jew to His own people the Jews.

▪︎ Salvation is from the Jews, since everyone who is saved is saved by being connected to the covenant with Abraham by faith.

▪︎ The Jews are to be evangelized first when the gospel penetrates a new region.

▪︎ The Jews will enter first into final judgment and final blessing.

9). HOW DO JEWS NOT HAVE PRIORITY?
THEY DO NOT HAVE PRIORITY IN RIGHTEOUSNESS OR MERIT.

Nor do Gentiles. Now we are on equal footing. That is one of the main points of the first two chapters of Romans. Paul concludes in Romans 3:9–10, “What then? Are we [Jews] better than they [Gentiles]? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one.’” He makes the same point in Romans 3:22–23, “There is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Paul gives a further reason to explain why the Gentiles had also to receive the message after the Jews had refused it;

“I ask, then, have they stumbled in order to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. [12] Now if their stumbling brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full number bring! [13] Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. In view of the fact that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, [14] if I can somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them.”
(Romans 11:11-14)

10). THE JEWS DO NOT HAVE PRIORITY IN HOW THEY ARE SAVED.

They are saved exactly the way Gentiles are. This is clear from Romans 3:29–30: “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also . . . God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.”

And from Romans 10:12: “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on him; for ‘whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” So neither Jews nor Gentiles have priority in how they are saved: both are saved by faith in Christ, not in any ethnic or religious distinctives.

11). THE JEWS DO NOT HAVE PRIORITY IN PARTICIPATION IN GOD’S COVENANT BLESSINGS.

The mystery of the gospel that Paul preaches, he says, is that Gentiles now are full partners in the blessings of Jewish salvation. Listen to Ephesians 2:12–13 and 18–19:

“At that time you [Gentiles] were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah … For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,” (Ephesians 2:12-13 & 18-19).

Again in Ephesians 3:4–6: “By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah. This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

So Jews do not have priority in participation in God’s covenant blessings. Gentiles are full fellow heirs of all the promises of God.

12). WHY DID PAUL MENTION THE PRIORITY OF THE JEWS?

With the above in mind we can ponder the question: Why did Paul mention this priority of the Jews in Romans 1:16? “… it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” What effect should it have?

Being influenced by Romans 11:17–32, I think the answer is that Paul wants to humble both Jew and Greek and make them deeply aware that they depend entirely on mercy, not on themselves or privilege, or their tradition or ethnic connections. To borrow an expression of Paul, its “So that none shall boast”. To the Gentiles he says, in essence, salvation is of the Jews. You are not being saved by your Greek culture — or any other culture. You are being saved by a salvation that comes through the despised Semitic people called the Jews. “You do not support the root [of the Abrahamic covenant], the root supports you.” So do not boast over the branches (Romans 11:18).

In short, ethnicity is not decisive for salvation. There is no merit or relative advantage. We are all sinners.

We Gentiles are saved by becoming, as it were, spiritual Jews (Romans 2:28–29). This should humble us and strip us of any arrogance and boasting in any presumed ethnic superiority. It also should vanquish anti-Semitism and fill us with zeal for evangelism to Jews.

Similarly, Paul says to the Jews, your salvation is not your own. It is God’s and He gives it to whom He pleases. He can raise up from stones — even Gentile stones(!) — children to Abraham (Matthew 3:9). The words “also to the Greek” in Romans 1:16 would have been as offensive to the Jews as the words “to the Jew first” were to the Gentiles. What they thought were Jewish prerogatives are, in fact, shared by the lowliest Gentiles who believe. Both groups are being humbled. We Gentiles must humble ourselves to be saved through a Jewish Messiah and a Jewish covenant. Jews must humble themselves to receive unclean Gentiles into full covenant membership and share all the blessings of the promise of Abraham.

This is yet another reason why the wannabe Islamic god who is so full of emnity and hatred for both Christians and Jews, is no God at all. For the whole point of this teaching is that while God chose the Jews, who are the apple of His eye, when it comes to salvation He makes no distinction. As we shall see next, Jesus said:

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16)

13). PAUL FOLLOWED JESUS’S LEAD AND DIRECTIONS

Before anything else, Jesus’ mission was first to the people of the covenant, i.e., the Jews, who were awaiting the Messiah. Technically, the mission to the Gentiles was not granted until the Ascension, when Our Lord said, “Go out and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:18-20).

To understand who the “other sheep” from John 10:16 are, we must begin with the context of the verse and examine the whole passage. We know from many Bible passages that sheep are a symbol of true believers who follow Christ, their true Shepherd. And that shepherding role is rooted in Old Testament prophecy such as:

“See, the Lord God comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him. [11] He protects His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in the fold of His garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.” (Isaiah 40:10-11)

His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. If He says that there are “other” sheep, then we must identify the original sheep that the “others” are different from.

Beginning in chapter 9 of John, we find Jesus discoursing at great length with the Pharisees after He healed a man who was born blind. He compares the man’s simple faith with the unbelief of the Pharisees and condemns them for their wilful spiritual blindness. He begins by denouncing the false shepherds of Israel—the blind, self-appointed leaders who drew the people away from the true knowledge and kingdom of their Messiah (John 9:39-41). Then in chapter 10, He explains at great length the nature of true sheep, those who follow the Good Shepherd, sent and appointed by God. True sheep are those who listen to the voice of the Shepherd (v. 3) and follow Him (v. 4) and know Him (v. 14). He can only be speaking here of the true sheep of Israel because, up to that point, His ministry was confined to the sheep of Israel.

In verse 16, Jesus refers to the “other sheep,” and those can only be sheep that are outside of Israel, in other words, Gentiles. But the Gentiles who would follow Him are no less sheep than the true sheep of Israel. In fact, Jesus makes it clear that the Gentile sheep would also hear His voice and follow Him, and, eventually, there would be only one flock and one Shepherd. This is the mystery of the universal body of Christ, the church, which Paul refers to in Ephesians 3:6 quoted above. A mystery in Scripture is usually something not revealed previously, and this mystery—one universal church with both Jews and Gentiles brought together in one body in the Messiah—was so shocking to the Pharisees that they accused Jesus of being a demon-possessed lunatic (John 10:20-21).

Paul’s commission from Christ was to “preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 6:8) because the Gentiles, the “other sheep,” needed to be brought into the fold of the true Shepherd.

And we know that Paul was personally commissioned by Jesus Himself as the doyen of apostles to the Gentiles because we have Jesus exact words, firstly as spoken to Ananias “But the Lord said to him, “Go! For this man is My chosen instrument to take My name to Gentiles, kings, and the Israelites.” (Acts 9:15). This command was repeated by Jesus to Paul, “After I came back to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple complex, I went into a visionary state [18] and saw Him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me!’ [21] “Then He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” (Acts 22:17-18, 21), a command repeated again in the next chapter: “The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11).

14). THE GENTILES ARE GRAFTED IN TO ISRAEL

Paul explains in Romans 11:16-36 the mystery of the church by using the imagery of a branch (the Gentiles) being grafted into the tree (Israel). Israel has been temporarily set aside until the “full number of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25). This is occurring now in the Church Age, but eventually both Jews and Gentiles will live in glorious harmony in the Millennial Kingdom and then in eternity when all true sheep will follow their Shepherd forever as one body.

□ CONCLUSIONS

“So that you will not be conceited, brothers, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery: A partial hardening has come to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. [26] And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Liberator will come from Zion; He will turn away godlessness from Jacob. [27] And this will be My covenant with them when I take away their sins” (Romans 11:25-27).

Verse 25 refers to bringing the Gentiles to Salvation. Jesus mission while he was on earth was the Jews. They had first refusal and were privileged to be witnessing the great signs, the parables and prophetic fulfilment, and yet still they mostly rejected Him. After his resurrection His focus was bringing the Gentiles to Salvation. This work was carried out by the disciples and the apostle Paul.

The whole point is that God is the One who has mercy. Ethnicity is not decisive here. And it is surely no grounds for conceitedness. There is none who deserves merit with Him. We are all sinners.

The real emphasis returns full circle to that wonderful word “everyone” that we began with:

“The gospel is the power of God to everyone who believes”.

So, whether Jew or Gentile, Muslim, Buddhist or atheist believe! And receive the power of God to save you from your sins and guilt and death and judgment and hell, and bring you home to ever-increasing joy in his presence forever and ever. Amen.

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