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Why the Jews first and then the Greek, especially in light of God not having partiality?
Who today are these Gentiles that do not have the law but do instinctively the things of the Law and show the work of the Law written in their hearts? Are they converted Christian Gentiles or are they as yet “unconverted” people externally but internally are responding and submitting to promptings of God's Spirit? We usually assume in our theology that the promises of a new heart and the law written into our hearts laid out in the Old Testament apply now to converted Christians who accept Jesus as their Saviour. But this text seems to go beyond that narrow view.
I believe the reason the Jews are first in line for both the benefits and the liabilities (1:16 and 2:9) is not because God arbitrarily determines it that way but because inherently due to their knowledge and spiritual context they are already closer to “the fire”. Since it is the same fire, always found in the presence of God, that will either cause them to glow and shine with glory or that will create heat, misery, pain and ultimately death from their resistance to it, then anyone who is already in closer proximity to it to start with will experience the natural consequences of exposure to it, either good or bad, before those who are farther away from it.
If this observation is true, then in today's environment this would more likely apply to anyone who has been exposed to more truth about God in contrast to those who have generally been at a much greater distance from a true knowledge of what He is really like. This could very generically apply to Christians verses non-Christians but that is far to broad to really apply in my opinion. There are millions of Christians who know very little about God and have no intimate relationship with Him. They are simply born and raised or possibly convinced and indoctrinated into a set of arbitrary doctrines, external beliefs and an earthly organization that claims the title of Christian. Many of these people are not much different than the Gentiles in Paul's day except that they might have a little more knowledge of the existence of Jesus and know some cursory facts about Him.
It almost seems that possibly today the line of delineation that was so usable in Paul's day between Jews and Gentiles (or Greeks) is far from being so useful in the present condition of the amalgamation of beliefs and the gradients of knowledge about God that can be found in today's world. In those days it was clear that one race of people had been favored and nurtured by God for centuries to have all the advantages possible to know Him and reveal Him to the world much more clearly than any other people on earth. But a transition came at that point that moved from God working almost exclusively with a clearly defined group of people all belonging to the same race, to creating a New Testament family-style church in which there were no racial divisions and the only real distinction left between them and the rest of the world was the internal fire of God burning with love in their hearts.
But as that fire began to cool and be diluted over the years and the centuries, it began to harden into gradients of beliefs mingled with more and more dogma and superstition and false ideas. This has left us today with myriads of ideas and notions and belief systems beyond comprehension without the clear delineation between real believers and unbelievers that was more evident in the Old Testament and in the early days of the Christian church.
That is not to say that the nation of Israel were always true believers. But throughout all those centuries God favored them in spite of that until the first coming of Christ brought about a dramatic transition to the New Covenant period and the superceding of the Old Covenant rules, symbolic restrictions and the concentration of God's focus on one race of people.
But while the clear external lines of delineation are not so evident today, it is still just as true that those who have enjoyed more light of truth, especially truth experienced at the heart level, are closer to experiencing both the positive or the negative results of fuller revelations of God's passionate fire in His presence than are those who are far more unaware of the real truth about Him. Those who enjoy great light have much greater responsibility to stay in sync with that light or risk being burned by the very light that desires to save them. Talk about playing with fire... This fire is the ultimate Fire and will soon become either our source of unimaginable pleasure and satisfaction or will become the power that will expose all of our resistance creating unimaginable pain, anguish and finally eternal death. The choice is ours to make now in how we decide to relate to the light we receive in this life.
