Deuteronomy 4:7

Hebrew Bible

5 Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in the land you are about to enter and possess. 6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise people.” 7 In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? 8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law that I am about to share with you today? 9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Romans 3:2

New Testament

1 Therefore what advantage does the Jew have, or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Actually, there are many advantages. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What then? If some were unfaithful, their unfaithfulness will not nullify God’s faithfulness, will it? 4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being shown up as a liar, just as it is written: “so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged.”

 Notes and References

"... elsewhere in Greek usage logion means an 'oracle' or 'oracular saying' (LSJ, BGD), and this sense of the numinous quality of an inspired utterance is also present in Num 24:4, 16 and reflected in Acts 7:38 ('living oracles') and 1 Peter 4:11 (charismatic utterance). See further Manson, Studies, 87-96. For the view that Paul refers specifically to the promises of God see Williams, 'Righteousness,' 267 ... Paul does not yet so restrict his thought (compare 9:4-5). A play on the concept of pistis is clearly intended in verses 2-3, but its scope is not clear. If it is intended to evoke Jewish responsibility within the covenant, with reference to the 'righteous' of 2:26 (as Stuhlmacher, Gerechtigkeit, 85 suggests), the point is that the 'righteous' are not conceived in the terms used by Deuteronomy 4:7-8 or Psalm 147:19-20, but as 'oracles' given to the Jews to hold in trust for others. This is the implication when Paul uses it in this way of his own commissioning and gospel (1 Corinthians 9:17; Galatians 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; also 1 Timothy 1:11; Titus 1:3), and may be implied in the choice of logion to indicate divine oracles whose interpretation had only become clear through the gospel of Christ ..."

Dunn, James D. G. Word Biblical Commentary: Romans 1-8 (p. 131) Word Books, 2008

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