The logical follow-up to the preceding section is the question, “What advantage, then, is there is being a Jew?” (v. 1). Although ultimately Jews have no advantage, if we understand Paul rightly, they operate in the short run with a favorable handicap, for “they have been entrusted with the very words of God” (v. 2). God’s revelation does not happen just anywhere. Humanity cannot conjure up God whenever and wherever it will. God must be known where he makes himself known—within Israel. “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). Paul does not say, however, that God gave his words to Israel, but that God entrusted them to Israel. This shifts the emphasis from ownership to stewardship, from possession of the law to responsibility to it. Israel’s knowledge of God was, of course, for its benefit…