What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.
What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:1–2, 9, 22–23 NIV
In this chapter, Paul compared Jews with Gentiles. Was there an advantage to being a Jew? Yes, and no. They had an advantage in that they had been exposed to the word of God for generations. They were raised with at least an intellectual knowledge of God.
But having the word of God did not make them righteous. Jew and Gentile alike had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And both experienced justification as an act of God’s grace through faith. Their family background made no difference.
And what was true of the Jews in this chapter is just as true of those of us raised in Christian homes. It offers us the advantage of being exposed to God and his word as we are growing up. I am very thankful for my upbringing with believing parents and in the church.
And yet, no matter how good my upbringing, how godly my parents were, how well I learned the Bible, and how good the church and youth group were, I was still a sinner, separated from the life of God. I was just as lost as the most unchurched and ungodly people I grew up around.
When I stand before God at the end of my life, it will make no difference who my parents were. It will not matter how much of the Bible I have memorized. Or how “good” a life I have lived. What will matter is having God’s righteousness. A righteousness that is given through faith in the Lord Jesus to all who believe.
