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Objection 1: It would seem that Christ should have preached not
only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. For it is written
(Is. 49:6): "It is a small thing that thou shouldst be My
servant to raise up the tribes of Israel and to convert the dregs of
Jacob: behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles,
that thou mayest be my salvation even to the farthest part of the
earth." But Christ gave light and salvation through His doctrine.
Therefore it seems that it was "a small thing" that He preached to
Jews alone, and not to the Gentiles.
Objection 2: Further, as it is written (Mt. 7:29): "He
was teaching them as one having power." Now the power of doctrine is
made more manifest in the instruction of those who, like the
Gentiles, have received no tidings whatever; hence the Apostle says
(Rm. 15:20): "I have so preached the gospel, not where
Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's
foundation." Therefore much rather should Christ have preached to
the Gentiles than to the Jews.
Objection 3: Further, it is more useful to instruct many than one.
But Christ instructed some individual Gentiles, such as the
Samaritan woman (Jn. 4) and the Chananaean woman (Mt. 15).
Much more reason, therefore, was there for Christ to preach to the
Gentiles in general.
On the contrary, our Lord said (Mt. 15:24): "I was not
sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel." And
(Rm. 10:15) it is written: "How shall they preach unless
they be sent?" Therefore Christ should not have preached to the
Gentiles.
I answer that, It was fitting that Christ's preaching, whether
through Himself or through His apostles, should be directed at first
to the Jews alone. First, in order to show that by His coming the
promises were fulfilled which had been made to the Jews of old, and
not to the Gentiles. Thus the Apostle says (Rm. 15:8): "I
say that Christ . . . was minister of the circumcision," i.e.
the apostle and preacher of the Jews, "for the truth of God, to
confirm the promises made unto the fathers."
Secondly, in order to show that His coming was of God; because, as
is written Rm. 13:1: "Those things which are of God are well
ordered ". Now the right order demanded that the doctrine of Christ
should be made known first to the Jews, who, by believing in and
worshiping one God, were nearer to God, and that it should be
transmitted through them to the Gentiles: just as in the heavenly
hierarchy the Divine enlightenment comes to the lower angels through
the higher. Hence on Mt. 15:24, "I was not sent but to the
sheep that are lost in the house of Israel," Jerome says: "He
does not mean by this that He was not sent to the Gentiles, but that
He was sent to the Jews first." And so we read (Is.
66:19): "I will send of them that shall be saved," i.e. of
the Jews, "to the Gentiles . . . and they shall declare My glory
unto the Gentiles."
Thirdly, in order to deprive the Jews of ground for quibbling.
Hence on Mt. 10:5, "Go ye not into the way of the
Gentiles." Jerome says: "It behooved Christ's coming to be
announced to the Jews first, lest they should have a valid excuse,
and say that they had rejected our Lord because He had sent His
apostles to the Gentiles and Samaritans."
Fourthly, because it was through the triumph of the cross that Christ
merited power and lordship over the Gentiles. Hence it is written
(Apoc. 2:26,28): "He that shall overcome . . . I will
give him power over the nations . . . as I also have received of My
Father"; and that because He became "obedient unto the death of the
cross, God hath exalted Him . . . that in the name of Jesus every
knee should bow . . ." and that "every tongue should confess Him"
(Phil. 2:8-11). Consequently He did not wish His doctrine
to be preached to the Gentiles before His Passion: it was after His
Passion that He said to His disciples (Mt. 28:19):
"Going, teach ye all nations." For this reason it was that when,
shortly before His Passion, certain Gentiles wished to see Jesus,
He said: "Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground dieth,
itself remaineth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit"
(Jn. 12:20-25); and as Augustine says, commenting on this
passage: "He called Himself the grain of wheat that must be
mortified by the unbelief of the Jews, multiplied by the faith of the
nations."
Reply to Objection 1: Christ was given to be the light and
salvation of the Gentiles through His disciples, whom He sent to
preach to them.
Reply to Objection 2: It is a sign, not of lesser, but of greater
power to do something by means of others rather than by oneself. And
thus the Divine power of Christ was specially shown in this, that He
bestowed on the teaching of His disciples such a power that they
converted the Gentiles to Christ, although these had heard nothing of
Him.
Now the power of Christ's teaching is to be considered in the
miracles by which He confirmed His doctrine, in the efficacy of His
persuasion, and in the authority of His words, for He spoke as being
Himself above the Law when He said: "But I say to you" (Mt.
5:22,28,32,34,39,44); and, again, in the force of
His righteousness shown in His sinless manner of life.
Reply to Objection 3: Just as it was unfitting that Christ should
at the outset make His doctrine known to the Gentiles equally with the
Jews, in order that He might appear as being sent to the Jews, as
to the first-born people; so neither was it fitting for Him to
neglect the Gentiles altogether, lest they should be deprived of the
hope of salvation. For this reason certain individual Gentiles were
admitted, on account of the excellence of their faith and devotedness.
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