The Oracles of God

2014-04-20

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (Romans 3:1-2)

In the previous chapter, we saw how even the Jewish people, God’s people of the Old Testament, also are under the bondage of sin, guilty of breaking God’s law, and in many ways are no better than the Gentiles. But their advantage is that they have the oracles of God.

What are the oracles of God? In the Old Testament, the oracle was the most holy place where the Ark of the Covenant was located (1 Kings 6:19). The Ten Commandments, written on two tablets by the finger of God, were kept inside the Ark. These were “utterances” of God that were revealed to the Jewish people. The oracles entrusted to the Jews were personal communication from God. Nobody else in the world had a covenant with God, nor knew Him by his personal name. They had the Law, and they had the prophets who preached both judgment and hope. They had the blessing and cursing of Deuteronomy 28.

They knew of God’s love for His people.