“What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?”
The full verse · Romans 3:1 · KJV
hath the ? is there of ?
Asked by
Paul: the apostle writing to the believers in Rome (Romans 1:1, 7), here voicing the objection that, as Barnes says, "A Jew would naturally ask"
Asked to
Romans: the believers in Rome, called to be saints, to whom Paul wrote his letter (Romans 1:7)
The Scene
Paul has just said that the true Jew is one inwardly and that real circumcision is "that of the heart" (Romans 2:28-29).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionPaul anticipates the obvious objection. If an uncircumcised law-keeper can be counted as circumcised (Romans 2:26), and the true Jew is one inwardly (Romans 2:29), then what is the point of being a Jew at all? Barnes says, "A Jew would naturally ask" this, and that the objection arises especially from Romans 2:25-26. Matthew Henry frames it the same way: if Jew and Gentile stand on the same level before God, what advantage does the Jew have? The first question asks about the advantage of the people; the second asks about the value of their covenant sign.
The Response
What Scripture recordsPaul answers at once: "Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2). Barnes says "chiefly" marks "the principal advantage, and one including all others." Paul then takes up the next objection, that Israel's unbelief might cancel God's faithfulness, and answers, "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:3-4). Yet the advantage does not make the Jew righteous: "are we better than they? No, in no wise" (Romans 3:9).
Historical Context
The world behind the words"The oracles of God" are the Scriptures. Barnes says the phrase is used to "denote the Scriptures, as being that which was spoken by God." Gill says they included "the law of Moses, and the writings of the prophets." The KJV says they were "committed" to the Jews; the ESV says "entrusted."
Matthew Henry calls the Jews "the Christians' library-keepers." He writes that the oracles were "committed to them as trustees for succeeding ages and churches," so that the Old Testament was kept for all who would later believe.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows that God does not take back His gifts lightly. Paul has leveled every human claim in Romans 2, yet he will not say God's choice of Israel meant nothing. God gave Israel His word, and that gift was real. Matthew Henry writes, "The enjoyment of God's word and ordinances is the chief happiness of a people."
The answer also points beyond Israel. The advantage was a trust, not a guarantee. Paul's next questions show that God stays faithful even when people do not (Romans 3:3-4), and that Jew and Gentile alike are "all under sin" (Romans 3:9). The Scriptures entrusted to Israel are the same Scriptures that witness to the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-22).
Look Closer
What led Paul to ask, "What advantage then hath the Jew?"
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord, You have entrusted Your word to people like me; how do You want me to treasure it and pass it on?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- How could having easy access to God's word make someone more humble rather than more proud?
- Who first helped you value Scripture, and what did they do that made a difference?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
If you have a Bible you can read, you hold what Paul called the chief advantage of God's people: "the oracles of God." That is a gift, and it is also a trust.
Treat it that way: read it, obey it, and pass it on. Having God's word is not the same as heeding it, "for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified" (Romans 2:13).
This doesn't make you better than people who have had less access to Scripture. Paul is clear that privilege does not lift anyone out from "under sin" (Romans 3:9). It is grace, not advantage, that makes anyone right with God (Romans 3:24).
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?”
“What then? Are we better than they?”
“Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?”