Romans 9:4

Romans 9:4. Who are. The form of the original is almost equivalent to: ‘seeing they are.'

Israelites, belonging to God's chosen people. In Romans 9:3 it is stated that they are Paul's people, but he loved them all the more because they were God's people, descendants of one whom God himself had chosen and named. Since their advantages grew out of this relation, all the privileges named point toward the sovereignty of God, which comes into view in the subsequent discussion of the enigma presented by their rejection of Christ.

Whose is the adoption. Six privileges of the Jews are enumerated in the remainder of this verse: ‘purely sacred, historical divine benefactions' (Meyer). The first is ‘adoption,' not in the full New Testament sense (comp. Romans 9:6-7), but in the theocratic sense pointing forward to the close union between God and men formed by Christ the only begotten, through the Holy Ghost.

And the glory. This refers to the visible Shekinah, which attended the people of Israel through the wilderness. Those who insist upon a chronological order, find a reference to earlier manifestations of Jehovah's presence, especially as ‘the Angel of the Lord,' with which the later appearance is identified, however, in Exodus 14:19.

And the covenants. The repeated covenants made with the patriarchs after the first covenant with Abraham, not the Old and New Testaments (covenants), nor the two tables of the law.

And the giving of the law. Not exactly the law itself, but the formal and distinctive act by which it became the possession of the Jews; a secondary reference to its substance may be implied.

And the service of the sanctuary, i.e., the Jewish (or, Mosaic) ritual service in the worship of God; in the tabernacle first, and then more fully established in the temple.

And the promises. This includes all the promises made to the chosen people, from the days of Abraham onward. This inclusive term prepares for the next clause.