Paul starts us off with a question that begins with the the line of thought at the end of our last study, 
"Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?"  I believe this question can be asked of anyone who is called by the name God's people.  Jew or Christian, Paul is right there is no difference.  If one is truly a Jew, Paul says only God knows because his or her "Jewishness" is not measured by how he or she appears outwardly.  Our attitude toward God's law is measured by the depth our our heart.  Our thought-life is equally a measure of our circumcision, as Jesus reveals in the Sermon on the Mount, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment;..." (Matthew 5: 21-22).  Being a Jew, being circumcised, Paul explains has always been a description for a people who are unique and called out of the world and dedicated to love and obedience to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Moses. 

The value Paul continues here, ".... the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God." (v2) Paul reminds Jews and Gentile believers alike; those who are called by His name, the "Ekklesia" (the called out) are entrusted by God to proclaim and practice his ordinances and those things that Jesus taught to those among us and in the midst of a non-believing world.  The Great Commission, often quoted incompletely by neglecting to finish its requirement to: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,.....teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you...." (Matthew 28: 19-20)  If we are to be disciples, be Jews, be Christians then we are to obey and teach each other to obey everything the Father has commanded through the Son and to do it when the world is watching and resisting (for their benefit) and as a testimony to the Lordship of Jesus Christ the true and living God in your life. 

Being a Jew is being under the Lordship of Yahweh (Jesus Christ in the flesh) by the power of the Holy Spirit.  "Under Lordship," being completely under the authority of God as Paul declares (of Jesus), "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2: 9-11)  Being a Jew, being circumcised of the heart is being completely given to Jesus Christ, when no one else is watching.

FROM THE CONTEXT:
The pivotal verse in this section is Romans 3:6: "What shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?"

God will judge the world in justice and in wrath. Without recognizing that, the rest of the text is meaningless. But what prompted Paul to say this here? It was His statement a few verses back that "Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised" (Romans 2:25).

Paul has said very clearly and definitively that being an Israelite ("circumcised") has no value if you break the Law (i.e., if you sin). Jews cannot use their heritage as a "Get Out Of Hell Free" card.

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3:1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?

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In the verses immediately prior, Paul emphasized that the qualification for being a true Jew is inward, not outward (Romans 2:28-29). "Jewishness" isn't about accomplishments such as keeping the law and circumcision. If someone doesn't love God's Law on the inside - if his circumcision is just the removal of flesh rather than a genuine separation of himself to God - then none of it has value. Living righteously, rather than bloodline or legal obedience, must been a man's internal desire, and to accomplish that he must genuinely separate himself from the world.

Well, then. Do Jews have any advantage at all over Gentiles? Absolutely! Next verse, please.

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3:2 Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

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Jews have HUGE advantage over Gentiles. Whereas Gentiles who have not been evangelized can only know God impersonally and indirectly by observing the result of His work in nature and living according to their consciences, Jews were given God's word directly from God through direct encounters with YWHW, through scripture, and through prophets. Gentiles, it might be said, knew about God while Jews knew God Himself.

Knowing God Himself carried with it the indescribably awesome opportunity to serve Him purely. That sounds boring if God is just one among many things you care about in your life. But if God is the center; if honoring, worshiping, serving, exulting, and living for Him shapes everything else you do and care about; then there could be no greater privilege than to have His direct words and guidance as you go about life.

To repeat the statement from the last chapter, "God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous" (Romans 2:11).



Paul's question – "what advantage there is to being a Jew" – is even more significant in the context of the divided Roman church to which he was writing.

So far Paul has discussed three ways God has communicated Himself to mankind:

• Creation – which pagans acknowledged (Romans 1:19-20)
• Conscience – which moralists cared about (Romans 2:15)
• Scripture – which God-worshipers cared about (Romans 3:2)
  

So it sounds like Jews and Gentiles are on equal footing, but they aren't. Jews still have an advantage – a huge advantage that carries huge responsibility: God chose them to carry out His game plan.

Are their advantages to being chosen by God to play on His team? Yes! As God's team members, God communicated His game plan to them more profoundly. Members of God's team received the Law and the prophecies of the Messiah. Jews received the game plan - a detailed account of how to please God, how to be holy, and how to be saved.

Gentiles knew God exists, but Jews knew how to please Him. Their knowledge of God was deeper than that of the Gentiles. In His very own words, God gave the Jews the parameters of righteousness. But with that came a greater responsibility - to uphold the Law - and greater condemnation when they failed to do so.

The very thing that made their relationship with God special could also condemn them.

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3:3-4 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."

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Some Bible students interpret these verses to say that all Jews (all of Israel) will be saved in the end, even those without faith. To those interpreters, the gist of these verses is “If God didn’t save Jews who don’t have faith, He would be unfaithful to His promise and would be a liar.”

But the context makes it very clear that Paul means exactly the opposite. God is faithful to His promises without saving those who don't have faith. His promises have always been to those who have faith. Circumcision has always been circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Romans 2:29).

By asking “what if some did not have faith,” Paul zeroed in on what makes a person accepted or rejected by God. If righteousness requires both the Law and faith, and some don’t have faith, would that mean God is not faithful? Absolutely not! God did His part. Their lack of faith was on them.

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3:5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8 Why not say--as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say--"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.

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Some people slanderously accused Paul of teaching that that the more we sin, the more grace we receive, so we might as well sin as much as we can. His choice of the word “slanderously” suggests that the people who said this didn’t actually believe he taught this, they just accused them of it to turn people away from his teaching – much like the mud-slinging we see during government elections.

Jb said, "Paul has said very clearly and definitively that being an Israelite ("circumcised") has no value if you break the Law (i.e., if you sin). Jews cannot use their heritage as a "Get Out Of Hell Free" card."

Amen!  In fact, today Christians could not stand on the street corner in Jerusalem and proclaim the gospel without fear of arrest.  Yet, the American Evangelical leadership is funding, promoting, lobbying and cheer leading for the building of a Third Temple and everything else Jewish rather than telling the Jewish people they will perish without Jesus Christ.  Seems as if most American Christians do lot love our Jewish brothers enough to keep them from an eternity separated from Yahweh!  

I know the Pharisees heard this, "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."  (Matthew 5:31).  Guess John Hagee and company missed the Sermon on th eMount.

Helps us Lord to be bold in the face of persecution by our brothers without Christ!

Well said JB.  I will take back my comment but will stand on the fact that America is in a moral free-fall because most American Christians do not look much different that non-believers.  The roots of our country were steeped in Reformed Christianity as demonstrated by the Puritans who settled here.  They certainly would not recognize the culture they started and I suspect they would be looking for another "new World" to settle.  I pray that those of us who are called by His Name are still recognized as His children when we leave these earthen vessels and meet Him face to face.

Blessings to you my friend!