¹ Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ²Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Finally, the question: “If one can be a true Jew and have an inner attitude that allows him to be considered circumcised without being an ethnic Jew, then what is the advantage of being ethnically or outwardly Jewish?” Up to this point, Paul has been putting the descendants of Abraham on the same level as everyone else, and he is building to Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So the question arises naturally for the person steeped in Old Testament literature, as any Jew or Jewish Christian would be.

Paul champions a teaching method known today as the Socratic method (attributed to the ancient philosopher Socrates). Leading us through a tightly structured line of reasoning, he uses carefully worded questions to not only draw the present phase of his argument to a climax, but also set up for the next step of his argument. The reader finds himself responding to each rhetorical query, “That is exactly what I was wondering.” Paul usually punctuates his summary answer emphatically and follows up with an explanation.

In this instance, the question posed is this: “What is the advantage of being a Jew?” Is there any usefulness in a person’s Jewishness in relationship to God? To be sure, our world is rife with ethno-cultural biases, but none of these has any standing in God’s sight. What is so special about the Jews, if anything? This is a natural question in that the entire Bible focuses on the Jewish people—the Old Testament in particular, but also the New Testament, for Jesus and the apostles arose in the context of Judaism and a fulfillment of Jewish prophecies.

One can imagine Paul jabbing his quill on the parchment: “Much in every way!” His rhetoric of chapter two does not minimize the importance of the Jews. There is more than one benefit, but the first and most important one is that God entrusted them with His logia, that is, the Word (here translated as “oracles”). Their uniqueness in this was emphasized by God Himself: “What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I [Yahweh] am setting before you today?” (Deut 4:8). They had God’s mind and His will spelled out for them in detail. That is a huge advantage over the Gentile world, which was dependent upon the Jews for this message! And that raises another query: “What does that say about the Jews’ unbelief?”

Lord, thank You for the Word of God, the Bible, which is Your specific communication to me today. What a blessing and what a privilege I have!