Romans 3

Chapter three begins with a natural question coming from the end of chapter two. If the Jews are just as bad off as the Gentiles, “What advantage does the Jew have?” (Romans 3:1) The answer is actually, “Many!” although Paul would not mention them all until much later in this letter. At this point, one would suffice to help Paul make his upcoming point – “the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2).

There are some who would like to think that God was present, speaking to all nations throughout the history of the world and that the Scriptures contain only a small sample of the messages just to Israel. كيفية لعبة البوكر ¹ However, based on this verse and God’s pattern revealed in the Old Testament, it seems that Israel was designed to be God’s “showroom” for the world, a place where the nations could come and see the true God on display in the hearts and lives of his people. مراهنات اون لاين With the exception of Jonah’s singular trip to Assyria, even the prophets who spoke against foreign nations did so from Israelite soil. Additionally, the Scriptures inspired and preserved by God were written by Jews.

Notes:

1. Of course, he was known to some Gentile people (Abraham, Melchizedek, Job, Jethro), but speaking to them was not his primary method, especially after the founding of the Jewish nation. ↩
2. There is some debate over Luke’s ethnicity. Colossians 4:11 makes it sound as if the people listed later, including Luke, could not be Jewish, but the grammar does not necessarily demand that interpretation. On the other hand, when Paul was arrested for allegedly entering the Temple with a Gentile, it was “Trophimus the Ephesian” that the Jews arrested him for, even though Luke was with Paul in Jerusalem on that trip (see Acts 21:15-30). It seems no one thought it an issue for Luke to enter the Temple. ↩