Romans 3.1-2-The Chief Advantage of Being a Jew-Custodians of the Old Testament Canon
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 27, 2007
Romans: Romans 3:1-2-The Chief Advantage of Being a Jew: Custodians of the Old Testament Canon
Lesson # 73
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:1.
This evening we will begin a study of Romans chapter three.
As we have noted in the past, Romans 1:18-3:20 constitutes the second major section of the book of Romans and deals with the universal need of the righteousness of God.
This passage is divided into three major sections: (1) The unrighteousness of the Gentiles (1:18-32). (2) The unrighteousness of the Jews (2:1-3:8). (3) The universal unrighteousness of men (3:9-20).
So this evening we will be continuing our study of this second section, which deals with the unrighteousness of the Jews.
In Romans 2:1-3:8, the apostle Paul addresses the sin of the Jews and does so in three stages: (1) Without naming his opponent, he establishes the principles of divine judgment by which the Jew is clearly condemned, just as the pagan Gentiles (Romans 2:1-16). (2) Paul explains how the Law condemns (2:17-29). (3) He adds a parenthetical response to possible misconceptions of what he has said (3:1-8).
In Romans 3:9-10, Paul summarizes his statements made in Romans 2:1-3:8 that he has made clear that God has declared not only the Gentile guilty but also He has declared the Jew guilty before Him and thus is in need of salvation like the Gentile.
Therefore, this evening we will begin a study of Romans 3:1-8, in which Paul adds a parenthetical response that would destroy any idea that he was against the nation of Israel, which would anticipate any possible misconceptions in response to his teaching in Romans 2:17-29 by his opponents, the Judaizers.
The Judaizers originated with the Pharisees and those who adhered to their teaching and were composed of both believing and unbelieving Jews who taught strict adherence to the 613 mandates found in the Mosaic Law as well as the oral traditions of the Rabbis, which are now, documented in the Mishna and the Talmud.
Many of the Judaizers were believers since Acts 6:7, 15:5 and 21:20 state that many of the priests and Pharisees who were teachers of the Mosaic Law believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation but after salvation they still adhered to the Mosaic Law rather than the mystery doctrine for the church age that Paul was teaching.
The Judaizers taught that one had to observe and practice the Mosaic Law in order to get saved whereas Paul taught salvation by grace through faith in Christ and not through the works of the Mosaic Law (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 2:16).
The Judaizers followed Paul throughout his missionary journey’s seeking to discredit and destroy his ministry (Acts 13:45; 17:5).
Paul denounces their teaching in the book of Galatians since they taught a “different gospel” according to Gal. 1:6 and “distorted the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7).
Remember, in Romans 2:17-24, Paul addresses his unsaved Jewish audience’s false security with regards to their racial heritage and their being the recipients of the Law, both of which they presumptuously believed would guarantee them entrance into the kingdom of God and protect them from eternal condemnation.
In Romans 2:25-29, Paul addresses the issue of circumcision with his unsaved Jewish audience and teaches them that circumcision did not automatically guarantee them entrance into the kingdom of heaven and prevent them from receiving eternal condemnation either.
There actually was an advantage to being a Jew and possessing the Law and being circumcised if you exercised faith in Jesus Christ as one’s Savior.
The Jews’ rejection of Jesus Christ as their Messiah negated the value of these advantages or privileges given to them by God.
Therefore, Paul’s teaching in Romans 2 might imply to some that there was absolutely no advantage to being a Jew over the Gentile and no benefit to circumcision.
But if this was what Paul was implying then this would have called into question the veracity of the Old Testament Scriptures and the faithfulness of God since the Old Testament Scriptures testify that God chose the nation of Israel out of all the nations to be His covenant people and circumcision was the sign of that covenant.
So then if there was no advantage to being a Jew, then either the Old Testament Scriptures are not telling the truth or God has been unfaithful to His promises to Abraham and his descendants.
Therefore, in Romans 3:1-8, Paul clarifies his statements in Romans 2 by anticipating three objections from his opponents, the Judaizers: (1) Paul anticipates the objection that he attacked the nation of Israel (Romans 3:1-2). (2) Paul anticipates the objection that he called into question the faithfulness of God (Romans 3:3-4). (3) Paul anticipates the objection that he attacked the righteousness of God (Romans 3:5-8).
In Romans 3:1, the apostle Paul asks two direct questions with the first pertaining to his teaching in Romans 2:17-24 regarding the Jew’s racial heritage and the second is related to his teaching in Romans 2:25-29 regarding circumcision.
Romans 3:1, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?”
“Then” is the “inferential” use of the post-positive conjunction oun (ou@n) (oon), which introduces an inference from Paul’s teaching in the preceding paragraph in Romans 2:17-24.
The conjunction oun introduces a direct question that addresses the objection that if the Jews are just as worthy of eternal condemnation as the Gentiles since the Jews’ racial heritage and circumcision cannot save them, then what advantage is there to being a Jew?
The first direct question pertains to Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:17-24 regarding the Jew’s false security in his racial heritage and anticipates the objection of the Judaizers.
It asks the question: “If the Jews are just as worthy of eternal condemnation as the Gentiles since their racial heritage cannot save them, then what advantage is there to being a Jew?”
The second direct question pertains to Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:25-29 regarding the Jew’s false security in circumcision and anticipates another objection of the Judaizers who were champions of circumcision (Acts 15; Philippians 3:2).
It asks the question: “If the Jews are just as worthy of eternal condemnation as the Gentiles since circumcision cannot save them, then what advantage is there to being circumcised?”
Romans 3:2, “Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.”
In Romans 3:2, Paul answers his own question in order to anticipate the objections of the Judaizers.
He only lists one advantage here in Romans 3:2 but lists others in Romans 9:4-5 since his objective here was to list the primary or chief advantage as indicated by his use of the adjective proton.
“Great” is the adjective polus (poluv$) (pol-oos), which denotes the extreme degree of value of being a circumcised Jew and is correctly translated.
This word answers both direct questions that appear in Romans 3:1 and not just one since the concept of being a Jew and circumcised are inextricably tied to one another because circumcision was the sign of not only God’s covenant with the descendants of Abraham but also the mark of his being a new racial species.
“In every respect” refers to each individual advantage in a list of advantages to being a Jew.
“First of all” is the adverb of degree proton (prwton) (pro-ton) and the particle of affirmation men (me\n) (men).
The adverb of degree proton is the neuter form of the adjective protos (prwto$) (pro-tos), the superlative of pro (prov) and denotes the advantage that is of “chief importance” or the “primary” one.
It does not refer to the first in a list of advantages but rather denotes the one that is of “chief importance” or the “primary one.”
In Romans 3:2, the particle men is employed as an emphatic affirmative particle and stands related to the adverb of degree proton and “emphasizes” that being the custodians of the Old Testament Scriptures is the “primary” advantage or advantage that is of “chief importance” of being a Jew.
“They were entrusted with” refers to the fact that the primary advantage of being a Jew was that God had “entrusted” the Old Testament Scriptures “to the care” of the Jews.
“The oracles” is the noun logion (lovgion) (log-ee-on), which refers to the entire Old Testament canon.
“Of God” is the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the Holy Spirit who inspired the human authors of Scripture.
The noun theos is a “genitive of agency,” which along with a comparison of 2 Peter 1:20-21 indicates that God the Holy Spirit is the personal agency who entrusted the Old Testament to the Jews since He inspired the human authors to record with perfect accuracy God’s complete and connected thought towards man.
The doctrine of inspiration contends that, God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture that without destroying their individuality, their literary style, their personal interests, or their vocabulary, God’s complete and connected thought towards man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture.
Therefore, the Bible in its original languages is the exact record, the mind and will of God and contain the very words of God, and therefore, bear the “authority” of divine authorship.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed (theopneustos) and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:20-21, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made an act of human will, but men moved (phero) by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
The accuracy of the present-day Hebrew version of the Old Testament is a result of the meticulous care with which the Sopherim and the Masoretes transmitted it.
The Sopherim copied manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures from about 300 B.C. until A.D. 500.
According to the Talmud, they came to be called “Sopherim” because, in their quest to preserve the original Hebrew text from alteration or addition, they counted the number of words in each section of Scripture, as well as the number of verses and paragraphs.
During the period A.D. 500-900, the text of the Hebrew Bible was standardized by the Masoretes, who were also very careful in the transmission of the text.
They counted every letter and marked the middle letter and middle word of each book, of the Pentateuch and of the whole Hebrew Bible, and counted all parashas (sections), verses, and words for every book.
These procedures were a manifestation of the great respect they had for the Scriptures, and their strict attention to the precise transmission of the text.
The Hebrew Scriptures were recognized as authoritative at their inception, and were immediately accepted as such by the Jewish people.
In fact, Jesus Christ, in Luke 24:44, refers to the Law, the prophets, and the psalms (or the writings) as divinely authoritative and canonical.
By the year 425 B.C. all the Old Testament books had been written, and the Old Testament Canon was collected and closed.
The Old Testament was divided into three sections: (1) The Torah (2) The Prophets (3) The Writings.
The first section is called the “Torah” meaning “the Law” and contained: (1) Genesis (2) Exodus (3) Leviticus (4) Numbers (5) Deuteronomy.
The second section was the Prophets which were divided into two sections: (1) The “Former” Prophets (2) The “Latter” Prophets.
The “Former” prophets: (1) Joshua (2) Judges (3) Samuel (4) Kings.
The “Latter” Prophets were divided into two categories: (1) Major (2) Minor.
The “Major” Prophets: (1) Isaiah (2) Jeremiah (3) Ezekiel.
The “Minor” Prophets were also called the Twelve because they were all contained in one book: (1) Hosea (2) Joel (3) Amos (4) Obadiah (5) Jonah (6) Micah (7) Nahum (8) Habakkuk (9) Zephaniah (10) Haggai (11) Zechariah (12) Malachi.
The third and final section was called the “Writings”: (1) The Poetical Books: Psalms, Proverbs and Job (2) The Five Rolls (Megilloth): Song of Solomon, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Esther and Lamentations (3) The Historical Books: Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (1 book) and Chronicles.
Throughout Israel’s history, she failed in her responsibility as a nation in its custodianship of the Old Testament canon since 2 Chronicles 34:1-30 records that during the reign prior to King Josiah Israel misplaced and lost the written record of God’s law.
A copy of the Law was found by Hilkiah the high priest during the restoration of the Temple during the reign of Josiah.
From the time of the Babylonian captivity up to the first century A.D., the Jews placed more value on their rabbinical traditions than the Old Testament canon, which Jesus condemned in Mark 7.
The Old Testament contains not only the Mosaic Law and Messianic prophecies but also it records the promises and covenants that God has made with the Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from which, originated the nation of Israel.
In the book of Genesis alone, God reveals to the nation of Israel through Moses the origins of the universe, the solar system, the atmosphere, life, man, sin, the total depravity of man, marriage, evil, language, government, culture, the nations, religion, the chosen people (Israel).
In the Old Testament, the prophets predict the First and Second Advents of Christ, His crucifixion, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father as well as His Messianic Reign in Jerusalem with Israel as head of the nations.