Daily Bible Nugget #147, Romans 3:2

The Nugget:

Romans 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

My Comment:

Paul, in answering the question “What advantage has the Jew?” makes use of the twelfth title the Bible gives itself, the oracles of God. It is to the Jew that God entrusted His written word.

I observe many anti-Semitic slurs posted on the Internet in reader comments below articles on popular news sites against both Jews and the modern Jewish nation of Israel.

Such an attitude reveals the ignorance of the Bible of such writers who make those comments. The Jews still are God’s chosen people. They are still the “apple of His eye.” Those who speak against them, those who in Bible language curse them (Genesis 12:3), place themselves in a very precarious relationship to God. The land of Israel (and the boundaries given it described in the Bible) remains the promised land for the Jewish people as confirmed by an unbreakable eternal covenant.

Just lately I heard that the United Nations bowed to the request of Muslim nations who objected to a display documenting 3500 years of Jewish history in Israel. The display was removed from the United Nations. The United Nations and all Muslim nations are the enemy of God, the enemy of truth, and enemies of the Gospel. Our current President, and John Kerry, are likewise the enemies of God. They stand as the enemies of Israel by the policies they advocate.

Don’t give me any of this nonsense that God has permanently cast off His people Israel. Anyone who makes this theological claim is just revealing their ignorance of Scripture. Take note of just one Bible passage which clearly and irrevocably proclaims the opposite, Isaiah 41:8-9, “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.”

This Bible statement demolishes the mistaken teaching on prophetic matters of the Roman Catholic Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church (who proclaim their superior knowledge of Bible prophecy!), the Jehovah’s Witnesses (who do the same), not to mention many Calvinists and others who claim to believe in the Preterist position in Bible prophecy, a position which denies literal Israel any possible future in the Land once promised them in fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Such interpreters, grossly misinformed about Bible prophecy, believe that Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” refutes any claim I might make asserting that God plans to fulfill His promises to the literal nation of Israel in a literal manner. On the basis of this verse they argue that the promises have been transferred from what I call natural Israel to what they call spiritual Israel, namely the Church, or all believers in Christ. But in so arguing they neglect what Paul teaches in Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” In other words, irrevocable. In Romans 11:26 Paul declares, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion [Zion] the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

God still has His plan reserved for natural Israel. The prophetic roadmap for events over long centuries is well laid out in great detail in Leviticus chapter 26. So, there is no excuse for anyone, and especially Christians, to engage in berating Israel or the Jews. To do so is to place oneself under the curse proclaimed in the Abrahamic Covenant provision given at Genesis 12:3, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” The sure mercies of David (Isaiah 55:3) are still in force. So is the Abrahamic Covenant. Instead of castigating the Jews and Israel, we should be thanking God for His great mercy to us in extending His salvation to all who will believe. The very oracles of God, what we call our Bible, has come to us through God’s Jewish people. We need to heed the commandment reflected in Psalm 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.”

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 1276 for Romans 3:2.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1296 or in Logos 5 Bible software for Romans 3:2.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

Romans 3:2. Much. ver. *3. Ro 11:1, 2, 15-23, *28, 29. Ph %3:3. because that unto them. ver. 19. Ro *2:14, 18. **9:4. Le 15:2. Dt *4:7, 8. 32:10. 2 S *7:23. Ne *9:13, 14. Ps 76:1. *78:4-7. *147:19, 20. Is +**8:20n. 40:21. Ezk *20:11, 12. Lk *16:29-31. Jn +4:22. +**5:39. Ga 3:19. 2 T +**3:15-17. 2 P *1:19-21. Re *19:10. committed. or, entrusted with. T#1079. Ex 25:16. Dt 4:8. Ps *147:19, 20. 1 C 9:17. 2 C 5:19. Ga 2:7. 1 Th 2:4. 1 T *1:11. 3:15. 6:20. 2 T 1:14. T *1:3. the oracles. Ro 1:2. 2:23. Nu 24:16. Dt 4:5, 6. 2 Ch +*17:9. Ps **19:7. *119:103, 140. Da *10:21. Is 22:1. 40:8. Ho 8:12. Ac +7:38. 2 T +**3:15, 16. He *5:12. 1 P **4:11. 2 P +*1:20n, 21. Re 22:6.