Romans 3:2

2 Much, indeed, in every way! In the first place, God trusted his message to the Jews.

Romans 3:2 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 3:2

Much every way
The circumcised Jew has greatly the advantage of the uncircumcised Gentile, (Mynp lkm) , "in all respects", (du lk le) , "on every side", as the Rabbins speak; phrases to which this in the text answers:

chiefly;
more especially, particularly, and in the first place;

because that unto them were committed the oracles of God;
by which are meant the law of Moses, and the writings of the prophets, the institutions of the ceremonial law, and the prophecies of the Messiah and the Gospel church state; and in a word, all the books of the Old Testament, and whatsoever is contained in them; which are called so, because they are of divine inspiration, contain the mind and will of God, and are infallible and authoritative: and it was the privilege and profit of the Jews that they were intrusted with them, when other nations were not, and so had the advantage of them; they had them for their own use; for hereby they had a more clear and distinct knowledge of God than the Gentiles could have by the light of nature; and besides, became acquainted with the doctrines of a trinity of persons in the Godhead, of the sonship and deity of the Messiah, of the sacrifice, satisfaction, and righteousness of the Redeemer, and of salvation by him; and also with the manner of worshipping of God according to his will; all which the Gentiles were ignorant of. Moreover, they had the honour of being the keepers of these sacred books, these divine oracles, and of transmitting them to posterity, for the use of others.

Romans 3:2 In-Context

1 Do the Jews then have any advantage over the Gentiles? Or is there any value in being circumcised?

2 Much, indeed, in every way! In the first place, God trusted his message to the Jews.

3 But what if some of them were not faithful? Does this mean that God will not be faithful?

4 Certainly not! God must be true, even though all human beings are liars. As the scripture says, "You must be shown to be right when you speak; you must win your case when you are being tried."

5 But what if our doing wrong serves to show up more clearly God's doing right? Can we say that God does wrong when he punishes us? (This would be the natural question to ask.)