Romans 3:1,2

“ What then is the advantage of the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way: foremost, in that unto them were committed the oracles of God. ”

It was a thing generally granted that the elect people must have an advantage over the Gentiles; hence the article τό, the, before the word advantage. The Greek term περισσόν literally denotes what the Jews have more than others. If they are judged in the same category as these, as the apostle in chap. 2, and particularly in Romans 3:25-29, had just shown, what have they then more than they? The οὗν, then, precisely expresses this relation. One might infer from what precedes that every advantage of the Jew was denied.

The second question bears on the material symbol of Israel's election: circumcision. “Will the people whom God has elected and marked with the seal of this election be treated exactly like the rest of the world?” This objection is of the same nature as that which would be made in our day by a nominal Christian, if, when put face to face with God's sentence, he were to ask what advantage there accrues to him from his creed and baptism, if they are not to save him from condemnation?