Romans 3:2

Much every way (polu kata panta). Polu points back to to perisson. So it means the overplus of the Jew is much from every angle. First of all (prwton men). As in Mark 1:8 ; 1 Corinthians 11:18 Paul does not add to his "first." He singles out one privilege of the many possessed by the Jew. They were intrusted with (episteuqhsan). First aorist passive indicative of pisteuw, to intrust, with accusative of the thing and dative of the person in the active. In the passive as here the accusative of the thing is retained as in 1 Thessalonians 2:4 . The oracles of God (ta logia tou qeou). In the accusative case, therefore, the object of episteuqhsan. Logion is probably a diminutive of logo, word, though the adjective logio also occurs ( Acts 18:24 ). The word was early used for "oracles" from Delphi and is common in the LXX for the oracles of the Lord. But from Philo on it was used of any sacred writing including narrative. It occurs four times in the N.T. ( Acts 7:38 , which see; Romans 3:2 ; Hebrews 5:12 ; 1 Peter 4:11 ). It is possible that here and in Acts 7:38 the idea may include all the Old Testament, though the commands and promises of God may be all.