Treatise on the Incarnation
Question. 42 - OF CHRIST'S DOCTRINE (FOUR ARTICLES)
We have now to consider Christ's doctrine, about which there are four
points of inquiry:
(1) Whether Christ should have preached to the Jews only, or to the
Gentiles also?
(2) Whether in preaching He should have avoided the opposition of the
Jews?
(3) Whether He should have preached in an open or in a hidden manner?
(4) Whether He should have preached by word only, or also by writing?
Concerning the time when He began to teach, we have spoken above when
treating of His baptism (Q[29], A[3]).
Art. 1 - Whether Christ should have preached not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles?
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 [Vulg.: 'Jacob'] and to convert the dregs of Jacob
[Vulg.: 'Israel']: 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 (Mat. 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 (Rom. 15:20): "I
have so preached the [Vulg.: 'this'] 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 (Mat. 15). Much more reason, therefore, was there for Christ to preach to the Gentiles in general.
On the contrary, our Lord said (Mat. 15:24): "I was not sent but to the
sheep that are lost of the house of Israel." And (Rom. 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 (Rom. 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 Rom. 13:1: "Those things which are of God are well ordered
[Vulg.: 'those that are, are ordained of God']" [*See Scriptural Index
on this passage]. 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 Mat. 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
Mat. 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."