by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Text: Romans 3<\/p>\n
Was there an advantage to being a Jew versus being a Gentile? The question here concerns the Old Testament period, and the answer is yes<\/strong>.<\/b>\u00a0The Gentile world did not <\/b>have the revelation of God in a written, codified form. That meant that the Gentile world, as we read in Romans 1, had to rely on its own efforts to figure things out. As Dr. Phil would often ask: “How’s that working for you?” Answer: not very well. For the simple matter that God’s thoughts are not man’s thoughts. What man thinks falls short of and is different from the mind of God.<\/p>\n The Jewish revelation was God telling them what He specifically wanted. So, the biggest advantage is simply that they <\/b>(as a people, a collectivity) were entrusted with the oracles of God.<\/p>\n But<\/strong>, with greater privilege and advantage comes greater responsibility! This <\/b>is where the Jews failed. The rest of Romans 3 will show how many ways they failed to live up to this revealed knowledge. The conclusion then becomes “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God<\/em>” (Romans 3:23).<\/p>\n Thus, the need for Jesus and the Gospel message that explains how we can find forgiveness through Jesus.<\/p>\n We have been blessed with the gospel! With that comes the responsibility and obligation to know <\/b>its message and conform our thinking to its teaching. As it was stated in the Great Commission: ‘teach them to observe all that I commanded you<\/em>…’ (Matthew 28:20).<\/p>\n As we follow Jesus, there remains the openness of forgiveness as John wrote: “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:7-9).<\/p>\n Such walking in the light is not being perfect, but it does involve recognizing when we sin and repenting and confessing such to God. In this, we find forgiveness.<\/p>\n Are you walking in the light?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong Text: Romans 3 Was there an advantage to being a Jew versus being a Gentile? The question here concerns the Old Testament period, and the answer is yes.\u00a0The Gentile world did not have the revelation of God in a written, codified form. That meant that the Gentile world, as we read in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[274,120],"class_list":["post-95760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-jews","tag-romans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36005,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-jewish-hebrew-or-gentile\/","url_meta":{"origin":95760,"position":0},"title":"Am I Jewish, Hebrew, or Gentile?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Am I Jewish, Hebrew, or a Gentile? My mother was a German Christian. Her grandparents immigrated and were from Germany. What is known is that my father the son of his mother, who was the daughter of her mother, who was the daughter of her father, an Orthodox German\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13364,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-greek-and-a-gentile\/","url_meta":{"origin":95760,"position":1},"title":"What is the difference between a Greek and a Gentile?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can someone help me understand who is referred to when the Bible speaks of a Greek and Gentile? For instance, Timothy's father was Greek. Does that mean he was a Gentile? And Paul said in Romans 1, \"It is the power of God ... to the Jew first and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81558,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/salvation-light-and-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":95760,"position":2},"title":"Salvation: Light and Glory","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Shortly after Jesus' birth, His parents took Him to the temple \"to present Him to the Lord.\" There was a righteous and devout man, Simeon, upon whom was the Holy Spirit and who was \"waiting for the consolation of Israel.\" The Holy Spirit had revealed to him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1609,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-what-flesh-is-in-romans-41\/","url_meta":{"origin":95760,"position":3},"title":"Can you explain what “flesh” is in Romans 4:1?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you explain what \"flesh\" is in\u00a0Romans 4:1? Answer: This verse is translated in two different ways: \"What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?\" (New King James Version) \"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62379,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faith-works-and-grace-in-romans\/","url_meta":{"origin":95760,"position":4},"title":"Faith, Works, and Grace in Romans","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 1:1-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In understanding biblical writings, it is important to remember that God is the author \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0II Timothy 3:16 - All the written writings are breathed from the mouth of God \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This was Paul\u2019s point in I Corinthians 14:33 when discussing roles and organization\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17763,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-the-passage-about-homosexuality-in-romans-1-and-the-one-about-the-jews-and-gentiles-in-romans-11-be-compared-since-they-both-talk-about-what-is-natural-or-contrary-to-nature\/","url_meta":{"origin":95760,"position":5},"title":"Can the passage about homosexuality in Romans 1 and the one about the Jews and Gentiles in Romans 11 be compared since they both talk about what is natural or contrary to nature?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about homosexuality. I have been thinking about something, analyzing it, and wondering if you could make an argument out of something I noticed. In Romans 1:26-27: For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}