προεχόμεθα; (proechometha) in Romans 3:9: Verb First Person Plural Present Middle or Passive Deponent Indicative

Verb: used as a compact rhetorical question, the form asks whether the we group excels or has an advantage.

Present: puts the claimed advantage before the audience as the question currently at issue. It does not describe a repeated act of surpassing.

Middle or passive in form, deponent in this usage: the question has the active sense are we better or do we have an advantage, not are we being surpassed.

Indicative: frames the possible advantage as a direct rhetorical question that the next words answer.

First person: the speaker includes himself in the questioned group, but morphology alone does not settle whether we means Jews, Paul and interlocutors, or another discourse grouping.

Not applicable: finite verbal morphology does not mark noun case.

Plural: the question concerns a group represented by we rather than one individual.

Not applicable: gender is not part of this finite verb form.

The verb follows Τί οὖν, what then, as its own rhetorical question and receives the immediate answer οὐ πάντως, not at all.

The transition from the objections in Romans 3:1-8 to Paul's summary charge against Jews and Greeks alike.

It tests a possible group advantage before Paul denies it and explains that all are under sin.

It does not teach passive subjection, define the we group by morphology alone, or grant even a temporary spiritual superiority.

High: The rhetorical predicate introduces the denial of any group advantage before all are charged as under sin.

Standalone first-person plural deponent question. asks whether the speaker's group has a comparative advantage. Attached to the implied first-person plural subject. Governed by the Τί οὖν transition and immediate οὐ πάντως answer. The answer denies the proposal; discourse evidence is needed to specify the group's membership.

Does Paul allow the group represented by we to claim a better standing? No. The immediate reply is not at all, because Jews and Greeks have already been charged as all under sin.

Direct: The deponent question supports an active comparative rendering such as are we any better or do we have an advantage.

The first-person plural referent is a discourse question and should not be fixed from morphology alone. English better captures the comparison but can sound moral; advantage may better expose the rhetorical issue. Present aspect poses the live question without describing ongoing competitive action.

Middle or passive form demands passive English: The verb is deponent here and functions with active comparative meaning. we is self-evidently all Christians: First-person plural marks a group including the speaker; the local argument must identify it more closely. question leaves room for partial superiority: The explicit answer οὐ πάντως and the universal charge close that reading.

Romans 3:9 reads Τί οὖν; προεχόμεθα; οὐ πάντως, tagging the questioned verb as V-PNI-1P.

The lemma προέχω concerns being ahead or excelling. The rhetorical frame turns that idea into the question of comparative advantage.

Deponent usage supplies an active sense, first-person plural marks the queried group, and the short negative answer denies the proposed superiority before γὰρ gives the reason.

Whatever precise rhetorical membership the we carries, Paul allows no advantage that escapes the charge already made: Jews and Greeks are all under sin.

The question serves Romans 1:18-3:20, where distinct audiences are brought under God's righteous judgment before the revelation of righteousness through faith.

Preserve the pace of Paul's reasoning by reading the brief question with its immediate no and the explanation that follows.

Do not force passive meaning from the form or settle the full identity of we without the surrounding discourse.