"The people of the book" | honour or disgrace?

Sheikh Ibn Uthaymín raḥimahullāh stated: «سمّاهم الله أهل كتاب لا إكراما لهم، ولكن إقامة للحجة عليهم؛ لأن أهل الكتاب هم الذين يجب عليهم أن يكونوا أول عاملٍ به...» “Allāh has called them "People of the Book" not to honor them, but to establish the Ḥujjah (proof and evidence) against them. That is because the People of the Book are those who should be the first to act according to it, just as Allāh said at the beginning of sūrah Al-Baqarah: ﴿وَلَا تَكُونُوۤا۟ أَوَّلَ كَافِرِۭ بِهِ﴾ “And do not be the first to disbelieve in it." [Sūrah Al-Baqarah: 41] So, those who are now talking nonsense and want to bring [different] religions closer together and say: Allah called them People of the Book, claiming or under the pretext that this is out of honoring them and being pleased with what they are upon...We say: Allah did not address them with that out of honor for them, and how can that be out of honor for them when Allāh says: ﴿قُلْ هَلْ أُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِشَرٍّ مِنْ ذَلِكَ مَثُوبَةً عِنْدَ اللهِ مَنْ لَعَنَهُ اللهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهُمُ الْقِرَدَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ وَعَبَدَ الطَّاغُوتَ أُولَئِكَ شَرٌّ مَكَانًا وَأَضَلُّ عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ﴾ “Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Shall I inform you of those who deserve a worse punishment from Allah ˹than the rebellious˺? It is those who earned Allah’s condemnation and displeasure—some being reduced to apes and pigs and worshippers of false gods. These are far worse in rank and farther astray from the Right Way.” [Al-Ma’idah 60]! But he called them this way, in order to establish the Ḥujjah against them and that their approach is far from reasonable; Because the People of the Book must be the first to do it. [Tafsīr Sūrah Al-Māʾidah: 15]