God recognized the Jews as worthy, and therefore entrusted to them the heavenly revelations" (blessed Theophylact). "I know that some interpret the word έπιστεύθησαν to mean that the oracles of God were believed by them, or that they believed the oracles of God. But the course of the speech does not allow this. The Apostle says that God entrusted His word to them, not that they believed the word" (Saint Chrysostom).
Having said this, the Apostle has said everything. If we take these words in themselves, they lead to the following thoughts. "This is a high honor: when other nations had only the natural capacity to know the truth, the Jews received the law, that is, the oracles of God" (blessed Theodoret). This advantage consists in the fact that divine revelation communicated to them exact and full knowledge of everything needful. It resolved all those questions that irresistibly stand before the mind and give it no rest until it finds their answer. What is God? What is the world? What is man? How should one live, and what should one expect ahead? Revelation resolved these questions and sealed its answers with divine authority, which allowed no wavering or doubt. How precious such an advantage is can be known, and is shown in practice, by those who either do not have such a support for their convictions, or who move away from it. The Gentiles also knew many things, partly by tradition, partly by their own inquiry and reasoning. But neither path gave their knowledge unshakable conviction, and they were carried away by every teaching.
Thus it is precious in general to have God's revelation. But this advantage becomes incomparably higher in view of the truth that in it were given, and are given, sure foretellings of the Savior of the world who was to come into the world. Upon these foretellings faith in the Savior was first to rest, as the indispensable condition of salvation. Since this salvation was appointed also for the Gentiles, the benefit from the entrusting of God's oracles to the Jew was a seed of blessings that were to unfold also in relation to the Gentiles. In this respect the Gentiles themselves had to acknowledge the great advantage of the Jew, and they did acknowledge it as soon as they learned of the oracles of God.
Thus the advantage of the Jew has been clearly set forth. But while satisfying the Jew, the Apostle did not want the sense of guilt awakened by the previous discourse to dry up in him. Therefore he set forth this advantage in such a way that it pointed directly only to God's favor toward the Jew. With regard to the Jew himself, it suggested responsibility before God precisely because of this favor. The entrusting of the oracles of God can be considered a personal advantage of the Jew only when it is shown that he faithfully keeps and preserves the treasure entrusted to him. In itself, it is only God's benefaction, God's mercy. It is evident that, when thinking of this, no self-satisfaction or exaltation could be born in the Jew. Rather, humble self-condemnation would arise. Saint Chrysostom and our other interpreters look at the Apostle's answer chiefly from this side.
Yet this answer could naturally lead the Jew himself to see the merely temporary significance of the Old Testament economy. If, instead of the abstract idea of the advantage of having the oracles of God, we attend to what had to occur in the Jew's soul at these apostolic words, we shall see there the following chain of thoughts. The oracles have been entrusted to us. Here is God's word to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concerning the seed from them that would pour out blessing upon all nations. Here is Jacob's word about the expectation of the nations, which would appear when the prince from Judah's loins had ceased. Here is the word of Moses the lawgiver concerning another Prophet who was to come, whom one must hear. Here are the countless prophetic indications concerning the coming Ruler and Father of the age to come, and the establishment of a new law. Here are Daniel's weeks. Here is Malachi's indication concerning the Angel before the face of the Lord, and the entrance of the Lord Himself into His Church.
We see all this fulfilled before our eyes. The prince from Judah has ceased. Daniel's weeks have passed. The Forerunner came, and after him Someone, a Man mighty in word and deed, who taught as one having authority, greater than the Sabbath and Solomon. Therefore there is no doubt that the law has ceased. Behold, the New Covenant, foretold by the Prophets, is proclaimed. The duty of every true Jew is to enter it, so as not to prove himself an opponent of God.
Such a chain of thoughts could be produced by the Apostle's answer. One may think that in personal conversations with the Jews, the Apostle himself set this chain before their consciousness and thereby acted upon them victoriously. Some of those to whom the Epistle was written were personally known to the Apostle and knew this manner of his understanding of the Old Testament oracles. Therefore one may suppose that, by mentioning this here, the Apostle intended to make them recall his conversations at these words. They were then to tell others what this answer about the entrusting of the oracles of God means, and where it should lead the Jew.
The holy Apostle, guided by the Spirit of God, acted here as the Lord did when He first appeared after His Resurrection to all the Apostles. The Evangelist writes that the Lord, instead of citing the prophecies about Himself, opened the Apostles' mind to understand the Scriptures. When, through this action, they saw with the mind what was written, the Lord added only the conclusion from Himself. "And He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations" (cf. Lk 24:46-47). So also Saint Paul, having said that the oracles of God were entrusted to the Jews, did not begin to explain where this led. He left these very words to produce in their souls what he desired to see produced there.
It appears that the Apostle already sees all this produced in the minds of the Jews who read him. For the Apostle's following words do not refer directly to the preceding words, but to those thoughts which he sees as having been produced in the minds of the Jews. The chain of thoughts produced by the Apostle's answer in the Jew's mind leads him to the conclusion: therefore the law has ceased. One must accept, without being troubled, the New Covenant proclaimed by the messengers of God, as by the Prophets. But as the Jew's thoughts were being calmed in this way, a new disturbing thought arose. How is it, then, that many, very many of our own people do not believe the new preaching, and especially the foremost ones, who ought to be ahead? The Apostle meets this thought and repels it.
THEOSIS