Quote:
Originally Posted by Some Guy
From what I’ve seen in the scriptures, the Jewish people appear to have status akin to that of the firstborn child. While all the children of God from ever nation shall receive an inheritance, there is still something unique and distinct about how the Jews have been treated by the Lord throughout history, and the scriptures show that this has not changed.
Romans 1:14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 2:9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
So the reward is given first to the Jews since they have come first, but in the same way a firstborn child is given the most responsibility and therefore more is expected, judgement will also come first upon the Jew and then the Gentile.
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If you want to understand Paul, it may help to see him describing himself, what he was, and what he was not. Paul was the self described apostle to the gentiles, alternately the apostle to the uncircumcised just as Peter to the circumcised. Paul didn't erase or supplant or supersede the Twelve, he augmented them.
The Jews were first chronologically but were the center geographically. The gentiles were on the periphery, the Jews in the center. Paul's mission was to go out, and to return, "with alms for my nation." Remember that Paul was in a hurry to make Jerusalem by Pentecost*, knowing what his return symbolized to the Twelve and the Jerusalem ekklesia. And Paul didn't cry out with alarm, as I saw with the local church elder, in recounting the story, when James said that they were all zealous for the law.
Another helpful image is Chist as the cornerstone. There's a cornerstone because there's a corner, and there's a corner because there are two walls. Christ joins them together in union, makes the resulting structure viable. Paul labored on the "gentile wall" just as Peter and the Twelve on the "Jewish wall."
(*and if this seems like a one-off, or anomaly, look at the conclusion of the NT. The gentiles [nations, or 'ethnoi'] walk in the light of the New Jerusalem and bring their glories & treasures to it, just as in Solomon's time. "Are you at this time restoring the kingdom to Israel" was the last query to the Lord, pre-ascension).