{"id":1287,"date":"2009-10-14T19:49:38","date_gmt":"2009-10-15T01:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1287"},"modified":"2009-10-14T19:49:38","modified_gmt":"2009-10-15T01:49:38","slug":"romans-31-the-profit-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-31-the-profit-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 3:1 – The Profit Statement"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

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Romans 3:1<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What advantage then has the Jew, or what<\/span> is<\/span><\/em> the profit of circumcision?<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Though we are special in God\u2019s eyes, we need to be humble.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cadvantage<\/span>\u201d is perisos<\/span><\/em> which is based on peri<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201caround\u201d or \u201cabove.\u201d Perisos<\/span><\/em> refers to \u201cthat which is beyond, above, over, or superior.\u201d I think a better translation of this word, in this case, would be \u201csuperiority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProfit<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word \u014dpheleia<\/span><\/em>, referring to \u201ca profit, an increase, or an advantage.\u201d So Paul is really asking, \u201cWhat is the advantage of being circumcised?\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul has just finished telling the Jewish Christians in Rome that the real test of Judaism is the internal attitude, not outward physical or ancestral indicators. <\/span>He will now carry on his discourse of justification by faith. <\/span>First, however, he needs to answer some objections that might be made against what he has just said about Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jews have historically considered themselves superior because they were the keepers of God\u2019s word in the Tanakh (our Old Testament), consisting of the Torah (five books of Moses), the Neviym (the prophets), and the Ketuvim (writings). They also believed themselves special because, through Abraham, their circumcision is s sign of the covenant that God has made with them. In the next verse Paul will, in fact, even affirm these facts. The Jewish people could even refer to the Scriptures to show that God also considered them special and different from all others:<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy<\/span> are<\/span><\/em> you, O Israel! Who is<\/em> like you, a people saved by the LORD, The shield of your help And the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you, And you shall tread down their high places.<\/span> (Deuteronomy 33:29<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.<\/span> (Exodus 19:6<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

As a result, the early Christians, who were predominantly converted Jews, believed themselves to be better than even their unsaved fellow countrymen. Paul is not trying to tell these Jewish Christians that their heritage and faith in God are wrong. <\/span>Instead, he is telling them that their justification before God is not wrapped up in obeying a set of laws or ceremonial practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on what Paul has just said, a Jewish Christian might well reply, \u201cBut, if the Gentiles can attain righteousness apart from being a Jew and apart from circumcision, then what benefit is there in being a Jew or of being circumcised?\u201d <\/span>In anticipation of these questions, Paul here rhetorically states these very objections. <\/span>In the next few verses he will answer these questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Once again, we need to apply what Paul was saying to these Jewish Christians of the first century church to our own lives. We are no better than any unsaved person living around us today. We are sinners just like they are. We are guilty and deserve the same eternal torment as they will receive. The only difference between us and them is that the blood of Christ has been applied to our account. Our debt has been paid! Praise be to God for His mercy and grace!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 3:1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Truth to Learn Though we are special in God\u2019s eyes, we need to be humble. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cadvantage\u201d is perisos which is based on peri, meaning \u201caround\u201d or \u201cabove.\u201d Perisos refers to \u201cthat which is beyond, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[549,543,518,550,552],"class_list":["post-1287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advantage","tag-circumcision","tag-jew","tag-profit","tag-superiority"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-kL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}