Matthew 10:5 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Go not into the way, &c.— It may seem strange that our Lord neither preached himself to the Gentiles in general, nor allowed his disciples to preach among them, during his own lifetime; especially when it is evident that he came into the world on purpose to destroy the polytheism of the heathens, their idol mediators, and their idolatrous worship, and to establish the knowledge of the true and triune God, and of the only Mediator between God and man, and of the right method of attaining his favour: but our wonder will cease, when the reason of his conduct is understood. As the Jews were the only people in the world who believed in the one true God, before his messengers attempted to preach him to the heathens, it was fit that they should prove their mission, to the conviction of the Jews; instruct them more fully in the fundamental doctrines of religion, and correct what errors had crept into their faith. Besides, Christianity was to be propagated through the world, not only by the force of its own intrinsic excellence, and by the miracles wherewith it was accomplished, but it was to make its way also by the evidence which it derived from the Jewish prophecies, and by the light thrown upon it, considered as the perfection of that grand scheme which was begun in the first ages, and carried on under various dispensations from time to time, till it obtained a more complete and lasting form under the Jewish economy. It was highly expedient, therefore, that a competent numberof Jews should be converted to Christianity, who might publish it to the rest of the world, with all the evidence which was proper to be offered: but if, on account of the former revelation made to the Jews, it was absolutely fit that the new revelation should be preached by them to the rest of the world, it was necessary that the Gospel, at the first, should be confined to them; because, had it been preached to the Gentiles, that circumstance alone would have made the Jews reject it universally. It is well known how high the prejudices of the Apostles themselves ran on this head, even after they had received the gifts of the Spirit; being excessively offended with Peter, one of their number, who, by a vision from heaven, had with difficulty been prevailed upon to preach to Cornelius the centurion. Nay, they were hardly brought to believe that God intended to bestow the Gospel on the Gentiles, when they saw them receive the greatest of its privileges themselves, even the gifts of the Spirit; and though after this they preached to the Gentiles, yet, wherever they came, their custom was to begin at the Jews, if there were any in the place, that all offence might be prevented; and, on the Jews rejecting the Gospel, they turned to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46. Thus, as the Apostle tells us, Romans 15:8. Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promise made unto the fathers, namely, concerning the conversion of the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles might glorify God on account of his mercy; the mercy of the Gospel Dispensation, which they enjoyed by their conversion to Christianity. Had Jesus Christ been a minister of the uncircumcision, that is to say, had he preached the Gospel to all the Gentiles, the Jews would have rejected it; so that the proselytes, and such as held the faith of the proselytes, which many of the best sort of Gentiles seem to have done, would not have become Christ's disciples with such ease and readiness. The reason was, the evidence of the Gospel being greatly weakened by the universal unbelief of the Jews, the converts among the Gentiles would have been few in comparison, and, by that means, the promises made to the fathers, that in Christ all nations should be blessed, would not have been confirmed, or at least not so fully accomplished as it is by the scheme which Providence has actually chosen. See Macknight. When our Saviour says, Enter not into any city of the Samaritans, he means, "Enter not with a design to preach." It is true, in the beginning of his ministry, our Lord himself preached to the Samaritans with great success, John 4:41-42 and therefore, had he sent his apostles among them, numbers in all probability would have become members of the Christian dispensation; but the inveterate enmity which the Jews bore to the Samaritans, made the conversion of the latter to Christianity improper at this time, for the reasons mentioned above.