It would seem from Paul’s statement in the first place that he intends to list a series of advantage that the Jews have, but in fact he mentions only this one. However, in 9.4-5 Paul does mention other advantages of the Jews.

The emphatic response much, indeed, in every way! may need to be expanded somewhat by a repetition of part of the preceding verse—for example, “it certainly helps very much and in all ways” or “in everything indeed it helps very much.” After this type of introductory statement, the phrase in the first place may be rendered as “the first way is that God trusted his message to the Jews.”

God trusted his message to the Jews is a passive construction in Greek (see Revised Standard Version “the Jews are entrusted with the oracles of God”). It may be helpful to note that the word rendered trusted is the verb which appears elsewhere in the New Testament with the sense of “to have faith” (in God or Christ). In 1 Corinthians 9.17 and 1 Thessalonians 2.4 the verb is used in a sense similar to its use in this passage.

God trusted his message to the Jews may be rendered as “God gave his message to the Jews to preserve.” It is important to avoid the implication that God gave this message to the Jews for them to keep as a secret.

There is some question regarding the exact limitations to be placed on the meaning of his message (Revised Standard Version, New English Bible “the oracles of God”; An American Translation* “the utterances of God”; Phillips “God’s messages”; Jerusalem Bible “God’s message”; Moffatt “the scriptures of God”). Some take this to be a reference to the entire Old Testament, while others limit it either to special divine revelations as on Mount Sinai, or to the promises of God in the Old Testament. However, in light of the parallel passage in 9.4, it would seem best to take it in the larger sense of the entire Old Testament.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .