John Calvin Commentary Romans 2:9

"tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek;" — Romans 2:9 (ASV)

To the Jew first, etc. He simply places, I have no doubt, the Jew in opposition to the Gentile; for those whom he calls Greeks he will soon call Gentiles. But the Jews take precedence in this case, for they had, in preference to others, both the promises and the threatenings of the law, as though he had said, “This is the universal rule of the divine judgment; it shall begin with the Jews, and it shall include the whole world.”