Romans 3:2

Romans 3:2

Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

a. NLT: Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.

b. NIV: Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.

c. Amplified Bible:  Much in every way. To begin with, to the Jews were entrusted the oracles (the brief communications, the intentions, the utterances) of God.

d. Worrell Translation: Much every way: first, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

1. “Much every way…”

a. Much [4183 * polus] [Strong: including the forms from the alternate pollos; (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) many; neuter (singular) as adverbial, largely; neuter (plural) as adverb or noun often, mostly, largely:--abundant, + altogether, common, + far (passed, spent), (+ be of a) great (age, deal, -ly, while), long, many, much, oft(-en (-times)), plenteous, sore, straitly.]

b. every [2596 * kata] [Strong: a primary particle; (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined):--about, according as (to), after, against, (when they were) X alone, among, and, X apart, (even, like) as (concerning, pertaining to touching), X aside, at, before, beyond, by, to the charge of, (charita-)bly, concerning, + covered, (dai-)ly, down, every, (+ far more) exceeding, X more excellent, for, from ... to, godly, in(-asmuch, divers, every, -to, respect of), ... by, after the manner of, + by any means, beyond (out of) measure, X mightily, more, X natural, of (up-)on (X part), out (of every), over against, (+ your) X own, + particularly, so, through(-oughout, -oughout every), thus, (un-)to(-gether, -ward), X uttermost, where(-by), with. In composition it retains many of these applications, and frequently denotes opposition, distribution, or intensity.]

c. way [5158 *tropos] [Strong: from the same as 5157; a turn, i.e. (by implication) mode or style (especially with preposition or relative prefix as adverb, like); figuratively, deportment or character:--(even) as, conversation, (+ like) manner, (+ by any) means, way.

1). The Scripture goes on to say clearly the Jew is no better than the Gentile, that all are under sin and all need the Savior.

a). Romans 3:9-19  What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

3:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

3:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:

3:17 And the way of peace have they not known:

3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

2). But it is also clear that the Jew has an advantage, whether you like it or not. Much advantage, much excellence, much preeminence, much increase and much profit, that is what the Jew has, mainly because unto the Jewish people through the Old Covenant the Scriptures were given. There are a number of Old Covenant promises and blessings that were given to the Jewish people that they are experiencing today and the world has been blessed by them because of it. For instance the world has been blessed by the Jewish people in fields of science and literature in amount of .Jewish Nobel Prize Winners: 165 Jewish Nobel Prize winners, since 1901. Folks that’s 24 % of the total amount of winners, no other ethnic group comes close; (2/2006 Edition of Jewish Magazine.) That my friend is a divine advantage, Glory to God!

a). Literature [11]: 1910, Paul Heyse; 1927, Henri Bergson; 1958, Boris Pasternak; 1966, Shmuel Yosef Agnon; 1966, Nelly Sachs; 1976, Saul Bellow; 1978, Isaac Bashevis Singer;     1981, Elias Canetti; 1987, Joseph Brodsky; 1991, Nadine Gordimer; 2002, Imre Kertesz.

b). World Peace [9]: 1911, Alfred Fried; 1911, Tobias Asser; 1968, Rene Cassin; 1973, Henry Kissinger; 1978, Menachem Begin; 1986, Elie Wiesel; 1994, Shimon Peres; 1994, Yitzhak Rabin; 1995, Joseph Rotblat.

c). Chemistry [27]: 1905, Adolph Von Baeyer; 1906, Henri Moissan; 1910, Otto Wallach; 1915, Richard Willstaetter; 1918, Fritz Haber; 1943, George Charles de Hevesy; 1961, Melvin Calvin; 1962, Max Ferdinand Perutz; 1972, William Howard Stein; 1972, C.B. Anfinsen; 1977, Ilya Prigogine; 1979, Herbert Charles Brown; 1980, Paul Berg; 1980, Walter Gilbert; 1981, Ronald Hoffmann; 1982, Aaron Klug; 1985, Herbert A. Hauptman; 1985, Jerome Karle; 1986, Dudley R. Herschbach; 1988, Robert Huber; 1989, Sidney Altman; 1992, Rudolph Marcus; 1998, Walter Kohn; 2000, Alan J. Heeger; 2004, Irwin Rose; 2004, Avram Hershko; 2004, Aaron Ciechanover.

d). Economics [22] 1970, Paul Anthony Samuelson; 1971, Simon Kuznets; 1972, Kenneth Joseph Arrow; 1973, Wassily Leontief; 1975, Leonid Kantorovich; 1976, Milton Friedman; 1978, Herbert A. Simon; 1980, Lawrence Robert Klein; 1985, Franco Modigliani; 1987, Robert M. Solow; 1990, Harry Markowitz; 1990, Merton Miller; 1992, Gary Becker; 1993, Rober Fogel; 1994, John Harsanyi; 1994, Reinhard Selten; 1997, Robert Merton; 1997, Myron Scholes; 2001, George Akerlof; 2001, Joseph Stiglitz, 2002, Daniel Kahneman; 2005, Robert (Israel) Aumann.

e). Medicine [51] 1908, Elie Metchnikoff; 1908, Paul Erlich; 1914, Robert Barany; 1922; Otto Meyerhof; 1930, Karl Landsteiner; 1931, Otto Warburg; 1936, Otto Loewi; 1944, Joseph Erlanger; 1944, Herbert Spencer Gasser; 1945, Ernst Boris Chain; 1946, Hermann Joseph Muller; 1950, Tadeus Reichstein; 1952, Selman Abraham Waksman; 1953, Hans Krebs; 1953, Fritz Albert Lipmann, 1958, Joshua Lederberg; 1959, Arthur Kornberg; 1964, Konrad Bloch; 1965, Francois Jacob, 1965, Andre Lwoff; 1967, George Wald, 1968, Marshall W. Nirenberg; 1969, Salvador Luria; 1970, Julius Axelrod; 1970, Sir Bernard Katz; 1972, Gerald Maurice Edelman; 1975, David Baltimore; 1975, Howard Martin Temin; 1976, Baruch S. Blumberg; 1977, Rosalyn Sussman Yalow; 1977, Andrew V. Schally; 1978, Daniel Nathans; 1980, Baruj Benacerraf; 1984, Cesar Milstein; 1985, Michael Stuart Brown, 1985, Joseph L. Goldstein; 1986, Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]; 1988, Gertrude Elion; 1989, Harold Varmus; 1991, Erwin Neher; 1991, Bert Sakmann; 1993, Richard J. Roberts; 1993, Phillip Sharp; 1994, Alfred Gilman; 1994, Martin Rodbell; 1995, Edward B. Lewis; 1997, Stanley B. Prusiner; 1998, Robert F. Furchgott; 2000, Eric R. Kandel; 2002, Sydney Brenner; 2002, Robert H. Horvitz;

f). Physics [45] 1907, Albert Abraham Michelson; 1908, Gabriel Lippmann; 1921, Albert Einstein; 1922, Niels Bohr; 1925, James Franck; 1925, Gustav Hertz, 1943, Gustav Stern, 1944, Isidor Issac Rabi, 1945, Wolfgang  Pauli; 1952, Felix Bloch, 1954, Max Born; 1958, Igor Tamm; 1958, Il'ja Mikhailovich; 1958,  Igor Yevgenyevich; 1959, Emilio Segre; 1960, Donald A. Glaser; 1961, Robert Hofstadter; 1962,  Lev Davidovich Landau; 1963, Eugene P. Wigner; 1965, Richard Phillips Feynman; 1965, Julian Schwinger; 1967, Hans Albrecht Bethe; 1969, Murray Gell-Mann; 1971, Dennis Gabor; 1972, Leon N. Cooper; 1973, Brian David Josephson; 1975, Benjamin Mottleson; 1976, Burton Richter; 1978, Arno Allan Penzias; 1978, Peter L Kapitza; 1979, Stephen Weinberg; 1979, Sheldon Glashow;  1988, Leon Lederman, 1988, Melvin Schwartz; 1988, Jack Steinberger, 1990, Jerome Friedman; 1992, Georges Charpak; 1995, Martin Perl, 1995, Frederick Reines; 1996, David M. Lee; 1996, Douglas D. Osheroff; 1997, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji; 2000, Zhores I. Alferov; 2003, Vitaly Ginsburg; 2003, Alexei Abrikosov.

2. “…chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”

a. chiefly [4412 * proton] [Strong: neuter of 4413 as adverb (with or without 3588); firstly (in time, place, order, or importance):--before, at the beginning, chiefly (at, at the) first (of all).]

b. because [Compound word? Made up of two Greek words # 3303 & 1063][3303 * men] [Strong: a primary particle; properly, indicative of affirmation or concession (in fact); usually followed by a contrasted clause with 1161 (this one, the former, etc.):--even, indeed, so, some, truly, verily. Often compounded with other particles in an intensive or asseverative sense.]

c. [1063 * gar] [Strong: a primary particle; properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensification; often with other particles):--and, as, because (that), but, even, for, indeed, no doubt, seeing, then, therefore, verily, what, why, yet.]

d. that [3754 * hoti] [Strong: neuter of 3748 as conjunction; demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant); causative, because:--as concerning that, as though, because (that), for (that), how (that), (in) that, though, why.]

e. committed [4100 * pisteuo] [Strong: from 4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ):--believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.] [Zodhiates: In Romans 3:2, to entrust, commit in trust to someone…to be entrusted with something, to have something committed to one’s trust or charge.]

f. oracles [3051 * logion] [Strong: neuter of 3052; an utterance (of God):--oracle.] [Zodhiates: Sentence, declaration, especially the utterance of the gods,…”]

1). The Jews were given the law, the covenants, the promises.

a). Romans 9:3-5  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

b). Psalm 147:19, 20 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

147:20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.

2). The Levites were to be the guardians of the Law:

a). Deuteronomy 31:24-26 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,

31:25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

31:26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.

3). They were probably also were responsible to make copies of the Scriptures just like the King.

a). Deuteronomy 17:18, 19 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

17:19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

4). God’s word promised the faithful Jew, that those who sought out the wisdom of His word would find wonderful discoveries. Surely the above lists of Nobel Prize winners fits into that category.

a). Proverbs 8:12  I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

5). In light of all this the promises of God toward Israel, Jerusalem, and the Jew during the 1000 year reign of Christ and the perfect age are very powerful. Just this one passage is full of the favor of God toward Israel.

a). Isaiah 60:9-22 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.

60:10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

60:11 Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.

60:12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

60:14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee; The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

60:15 Whereas thou has been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

60:16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

60:17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.

60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.

60:19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

60:20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

60:22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.

6). Yes, the Jew will be the top ethnic group on the face of the earth after Christ comes back, and that will be for all of eternity. But don’t lose heart, you can be grafted into the Jewish nation, by getting born again, and accepting what was accomplished by Christ in his death and resurrection. The following passages establishes that particular Covenant truth.    

a). Romans 2:28, 29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

b). Romans 11:13-18 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

11:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

c). Ephesians 2:11-19 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;