προέχω ((from Homer down)): present middle 1 person plural προεχόμεθα; to have before or in advance of another, to have pre-eminence over another, to excel, to surpass; often so in secular authors from (Sophocles and) Herodotus down; middle to excel to one's advantage (cf. Kühner, § 375, 1); to surpass in excellences which can be passed to one's credit: Rom_3:9; it does not make against this force of the middle in the present passage that the use is nowhere else met with, nor is there any objection to an interpretation which has commended itself to a great many and which the context plainly demands. (But on this difficult word see especially James Morison, Critical Expos. of the Third Chap. of Romans, p. 93ff; Gifford in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' p. 96; Winer's Grammar, § 38, 6; § 39 at the end, cf. p. 554 (516).)

προέχω proechō 1x to have or hold before; intrans. and mid. to excel, surpass, have advantage or preeminence, Rom_3:9

προ -έχω , [in LXX : Job_27:6 A ( H2388 hi .) * ;] 1. Trans., to hold before ; mid ., to hold something before oneself ( Hdt .), hence, metaph ., to excuse oneself: Rom_3:9 , R , mg . (but v. Field, Notes , 152 f .; Lft., Notes , 266 f .; ICC and Vau., in l ). 2. Intrans . (a) to project; (b) in running, to have the start , hence, metaph ., to excel: pass ., Ro, l.c ., R , txt . ( v. reff. supr .).†

προέχω (~ προέχομαι ) [page 539] Unfortunately we have as yet no such new light as F. B. Westcott ( St. Paul and Justification , p. 158 ff.) hoped for from some fortunate exhumed sherd, or strip of papyrus to help to explain the difficult προεχόμεθα of Rom_3:9 . He himself thinks the meaning must be are we in better case? but Field ( Notes p. 152 f. : cf. Lightfoot Notes p. 266 f., SH ad l. ) inclines to treat the verb as pass. = are we excelled? or are we in worse case than they? (RV), and cites (from Wetstein) a clear ex. of this usage from Plutarch II. p. 1038 C : ὥσπερ τῷ Διῒ προσήκει σεμνύνεσθαι ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ τε καὶ τῷ βίῳ , καὶ μέγα φρονεῖν . . . οὕτω τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς πᾶσι ταῦτα προσήκει , κατ᾽ οὐδὲν προεχομένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ Διός ( cum nulla in re a Jove superentur ). We may give a few miscellaneous exx. of the use of the verb in the act. : P Petr II. 12 (4) .6 (B.C. 241) ὑπολόγησον ὃ προέχουσι , take into account what they have already (Ed.), BGU IV. 1121 .8 (B.C. 5) ὃ ] προε̣ι̣ͅχ̣εν Ἱέραξ ὁ Ἱέρακος ἐπὶ τοῖς οὖσι ὁρίοις , P Lond 897 .22 (A.D84) (= III. p. 207) οὐκ ἔγραψα δὲ διὰ τῆς ἐ [π ]ιστολῆς εἰδὼς ἐμαυτῶι ὅτι ἤδη [π ]ροέσχη [κας ] ἐν τῶι π̣ρ̣α̣γματι , BGU III. 889 .9 (A.D. 151) ἃ προεῖχεν μισθῷ ὁ προγεγρ (αμμένὀ ) Πτολ (εμαῖος ), PSI V. 450 .17 (ii/iii A.D.) Πεκῦσις Διογένους προ [έσ ]χον τὴν φερν [ήν , and Cagnat III. 103 .8 ἐν νομικῇ ( iurisprudentia ) προὔχοντα Κλεόμβροτον ἥρπασε μοῖρα .

προ-έχω [in LXX: Job.27:6 A (חָזַק hi.) * ;] __1. Trans., to hold before; mid., to hold something before oneself (Hdt.), hence, metaphorically, to excuse oneself: Rom.3:9, R, mg. (but see Field, Notes, 152 f.; Lft., Notes, 266 f.; ICC and Vau., in l). __2. Intrans. __(a) to project; __(b) in running, to have the start, hence, metaphorically, to excel: pass., Ro, l.with, R, txt. (see reff. supr.).† (AS)