The “particularity of the Jew” according to Karl Barth

Here is the peculiarity of the Jew and the meaning of circumcision. God is known as the Unknown God, who justifieth the ungodly (4:5), who quickenteth the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were (4:17), on whom men can only in hope believe against hope (4:18). When the ‘Jew’ realizes this peculiar possibility, when he recognizes that he has been set at the barrier between two worlds, he is able to rejoice in his peculiarity (comment on Rom 3:20, pg. 91).