Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

An overview of chapter 2 before we go into the verse by verse study.

What does Romans chapter 2 mean?

In Romans 2, Paul springs a bit of a trap for religious people, especially for religious Jews living under the law. In the second half of Romans 1, Paul described the downward progression followed by humanity in our sin. It concluded with a list of all the different kinds of sin we end up indulging in after rejecting God. A self-assured religious person might have read that description of humanity’s sinfulness and assumed it was about other people: pagans, “sinners,” and so forth.

Paul now turns to look those religious people in the eye. He calls them hypocrites for making themselves judges over others. In truth, everyone is guilty of some of those sins. All of us are guilty of the sin nature that leads to them. All religious people agree those who practice sin deserve God’s judgment, so why would anyone think he or she will escape that judgment? To presume God’s kindness, in this moment, implies that He will never judge us for our own personal sin.

In fact, Paul insists, God will judge everyone based on the same standard: whether his works were good or bad. If his works are shown to be consistently and perfectly good, he will receive eternal life. If his works are shown to be selfish and disobedient, he will receive wrath and fury. This goes for both Jews and Gentiles, Paul says. In the following chapter, Paul will show the logical conclusion of this concept. In short, it means that all people are doomed on the basis of their deeds. Nobody can possibly be judged by God as having done good and not evil in this life.

For now, though, Paul wants to speak to those who are under the law: those who practice Judaism. They will not be protected from God’s judgment because they have the law or because they are circumcised. It’s important to remember that Paul speaks from personal experience, as a former Pharisee and zealous adherent to Judaism himself

“though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” (Philippians 3:4–7).

So is there any value in the law? Paul lists several good things that Jews have because they have the law. That includes being included in God’s chosen people, boasting that their God is the one true God, knowing God’s will, serving as a guide to the blind, and teaching children and the foolish the truth. Having built his Jewish readers up with this impressive list, however, Paul finally turns it around on them. If you have all of these things, why don’t you follow the law?

His point is that having the law of Moses is no good, in the end, if you don’t keep it. Lawbreakers dishonor God. Jewish people should not think that God will spare them from His judgment simply because they have the law or because they are circumcised.

Circumcision is valuable, still, Paul insists, but only for those who keep the law. If someone who is circumcised breaks the law, it’s as if they aren’t circumcised, at all. On the other hand, if an uncircumcised Gentile were to keep the law, God would regard that person as if he were a circumcised, Jewish person.

Jewishness, or any other set of religious rituals and sacraments, is about what’s going on inside a person and not on the outside. “Circumcision” becomes a shorthand reference to all of these. Having said that, Paul will show in the following chapter that nobody, including the Jews, is able to keep the law. Nobody is able to fix their darkened hearts in order to be praised by God.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1: Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

Chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original Scriptures. So, this passage must be read in close connection with the conclusion of Romans 1. Paul has just finished describing the “ungodliness and unrighteousness” of humanity in our rejection of Him. He concluded that section with a long list of the human sins that result when God gives us over to our debased minds in response to our rejection of God (Romans 1:18–32).

It’s likely that Paul’s Jewish readers, those who religiously followed the law of Moses, imagined Paul’s description to have been leveled at Gentile—non-Jewish—pagans and those they considered “sinners.” Perhaps even Gentiles who followed moral philosophies imagined Paul’s words as being meant for other ears.

Paul now seems to read the minds of these self-appointed “judges.” He says to them—to all of us, really—that they are not the one with the gavel. You, “oh man,” are the one on trial. And we are all guilty. How can this be? Paul says it plainly, “You do the same things.” In addition to participating in some of the sins Paul lists in Romans 1, these judges also practice the sin of hypocrisy in their judgment of other guilty people.

Paul’s religious readers, especially those who follow the law, might protest that they do not do the things Paul has described. Paul will show in Romans 2, however, that even the most religious of Jews will be judged for their sinful choices.

Verse 2: We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

Paul has sprung a kind of trap on his religious readers. He is especially targeting those Jewish people who think that following the law of Moses has made them right with God, and therefore free from His judgment. In the previous chapter, Paul described how humanity on the whole rejects God and indulges in all kinds of sinful words, actions, and lifestyles (Romans 1:18–32). Paul concluded that argument by saying that such sinful living earns a death sentence from God. Paul’s trap was this: He knew many of his Jewish readers assumed that list of sins and the resulting judgment of God did not apply to them. After all, they were God’s special people. He would not condemn them.

Paul does condemn them, though, starting with their judgment of other sinners. Now he declares that we all know God is justified in condemning those who sin in the ways previously described. God judges sin. Period. This even applies to sins practiced by faithful Jewish followers of the law. They should not assume they are immune from God’s judgment.

Paul is beginning to lay the groundwork for the central theme of this letter, and his entire ministry: everyone, even Jewish people, must be saved by faith in Christ.

Verse 3: Do you suppose, O man — you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself — that you will escape the judgment of God?

In the previous verse, Paul declared what he assumes his readers know and understand: God judges people for practicing sin. Now Paul asks a direct question: Do you think you are exempt from God’s judgment for sin?

Why would anyone think they could escape God’s judgment? As Paul showed in Romans 1, Gentiles may think this because they have rejected the very idea of God. He insists they are wrong. Now he comes to his Jewish readers. They may make the mistake of thinking God won’t judge them for their sin either because they don’t think themselves sinful or because they think He won’t judge Jewish people. Paul will show they are wrong on both counts.

God will judge everyone one of us, Jewish or not, for our sinful practices. And we all commit sins, a point Paul will make later in this letter (Romans 3:23). All of this supports the central idea of this letter: that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Verse 4: Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God ‘s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

This verse contains a crucial teaching about God’s kindness. Paul is addressing anyone who doesn’t think themselves guilty of the kinds of sin described in Romans 1, leading them to a judgmental attitude. Paul has stated emphatically in the previous verse that these people, actually all people, deserve the judgment of God for our sins.

Who could possibly think they would be excluded from God’s judgment for sin? Some Gentiles—non-Jewish people—of Paul’s day followed a philosophy of morality. Paul likely had in mind, however, the religious Jews who assumed their special national relationship with God exempted them from His judgment for personal sinfulness. This allowed them to be both judgmental about “sinful Gentiles” and complacent about their own sins.

Paul now calls this attitude presumptuous. These self-righteous sinners are presuming on or showing contempt for the riches of God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience. Aware of God’s vast goodness, they have miscalculated that He won’t ever judge their sin, even though He may judge the sins of others. In the following verse, Paul will describe just how wrong and dangerous it is to ignore God’s merciful warnings. For now, though, he says something fascinating: God’s kindness is meant to bring sinners, all of us, to repentance.

In modern English, we sometimes hear the phrase “do not mistake my kindness for weakness.” The same is true with God. His mercy in dealing with mankind is not a sign of indifference or frailty. It’s meant to inspire us to thankfulness, to faith, and to repentance. God’s temporary display of patience isn’t a signal that our sin doesn’t matter to Him, or that He is unwilling to express His wrath. Instead, He means to call us, through His display of kindness in this moment, to turn from our sin and follow after Him forever. That’s true repentance.

Verse 5: But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God ‘s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Paul is calling out all those who sit in judgment—in their thoughts, words, and actions—over the sinfulness of others. In the previous chapter, Paul described in great detail how a refusal to acknowledge God leads to an avalanche of sinful lifestyle choices. In this chapter, Paul has clarified that all of us participate in sin. That error is not merely connected to those thought of as the most sinful in a particular culture.

To assume that God will not judge our own sinfulness, because He shows kindness to us in this moment, is a dangerous presumption. God’s kindness now is meant to lead us to turn from our sin, not to continue in it. In fact, Paul now writes, those who refuse to repent from their sin are storing up God’s wrath for ourselves. God will express that wrath on the “day of wrath,” the day when His righteous judgment will be revealed.

None of us should make the mistake of thinking that just because our sins seem smaller, we will be saved from His wrath toward our sin. Nor can we assume that our relationship with God is more special than that of other people. On the contrary, as Paul is saying, all people are guilty and deserving of God’s wrath. Our good deeds cannot and will not save us.

It’s critically important to continue to follow Paul’s train of thought in Romans. He’s not done, yet. He will eventually show that there is, indeed, a way to be saved from God’s wrath (Romans 3:22–25).

Verse 6: He will render to each one according to his works:

In the previous verses, Paul has harshly condemned any moral or religious persons guilty of judging others for their sinfulness (Romans 2:1–3). Paul has hinted at the truth he will spell out in the following chapter: We are all sinners (Romans 3:23). None of us should presume that God will not express His wrath on us because of our sinfulness.

Now Paul begins to describe the absolute law of who will receive eternal life with God, and who will receive “wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8) from Him, instead. Paul quotes from Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12 to articulate the universal truth that God will give to each person according to his works. He describes the difference between those who will receive wrath or reward from God in the following verses.

Taken out of context, this is a troubling statement. Paul seems to indicate that God judges all people on the basis of their behavior. However, this is the same idea expressed by Jesus Himself

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. (Matthew 16:27).

In terms of reward, this is absolutely true; each person is judged on the basis of their deeds (Romans 14:10–12; 2 Corinthians 5:10). However, as Paul will make clear in this letter, nobody can be saved by their good deeds (Romans 3:23). Our only hope for salvation—for rescue from the penalty of our sin—is grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Verse 7: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;

God’s Word was not written in tiny pieces, nor was it meant to be studied and understood in fragments. Chapters and verses make finding certain words easier, but they are not part of the original text of Scripture. The words of any particular verse have to be understood in the context of the rest of that passage, and chapter, and book. This verse may seem, at first glance, to contradict what we understand to be the good news: salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not through human good works.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9).

However, it’s important to follow Paul’s full train of thought, instead of taking verses out of context. Paul is building the case for salvation by God’s grace through our faith in Christ alone, and apart from anything we could ever do to earn it. Paul’s point here sets up the truth of the gospel, it does not contradict it.

Having said that, Paul describes something that is absolutely true. God will judge each of us according to our works. For those who are saved, God does judge our works for the purpose of determining heavenly rewards (2 Corinthians 5:10). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Further, if someone was able to seek glory and honor and immortality by persistently doing good works, God would absolutely give to that person eternal life. A perfectly truthful, sincere person would follow God’s will perfectly for their entire life—and that would mean salvation. In reality, however, nobody will do that (Romans 3:23). A parallel application of this verse is that those who truly, honestly seek the will of God will find that will fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7–8).

The point Paul is building towards is that no person, not a single one of us, can lead such a perfect life. We don’t have it in us to persistently do good in that way. In the following chapter, Paul will quote Old Testament Scripture to show that “no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12) and that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Verse 8: but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Paul is making clear to his readers that God will indeed judge each one of us according to our works. If somehow we were able to lead lives full of persistent and ongoing good works, God would give to us eternal life (Romans 2:7). However, Paul will show in Romans 3 that none of us are able to lead such lives. In a sense, then, works “would have” been able to save mankind, if we were perfect. But we are not, and cannot be, and so good works can in no way, shape, or form result in forgiveness for our sins.

Now Paul addresses the alternative to those who seek God by obeying His will and His word. God will give “wrath and fury” to those who are self-seeking and don’t obey His truth. Instead, these people obey their own unrighteous desires. Having seen this, God will express His anger toward them in judgment.

Paul is building his case that none of us can hope to stand before God on our own merits and receive anything but the judgment we have earned with our sinfulness. We need another way to be saved, and Paul will reveal that it is through faith in Jesus standing before God in our place (Romans 3:22–25).

Verse 9: There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,

God will, in fact, judge every person according to what he or she has done. If a person is depending on their own good works to be saved—to enter into heaven—they are doomed, since their sin can never be undone or overcome by good deeds. If, on the other hand, a person is saved, judgment for their works involves heavenly rewards, instead (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul has written that if someone were able to lead a life of consistent and ongoing good works in the pursuit of glory, honor, and immortality, God would give that person eternal life. Paul will later show that none of us are able to live that way (Romans 3:23).

By contrast, God will give His “wrath and fury” to every person who lives in selfishness and disobedience to His truth. What form will God’s wrath and fury take? Paul now describes it as tribulation and distress. In other words, this judgment of God on everyone who does evil will be hard and stressful.

Notice that Paul has defined our selfish sinfulness as evil. He will go on to show that all of us are guilty of this evil. According to this universal truth that God will judge us according to our works, each of us will deserve the tribulation and distress He will deliver.

Paul adds that God’s judgment will be delivered first to the Jew and then to the Greek. In this context, “the Greek” means the same thing as “Gentile:” those who are not Jewish. Paul used this same phrase in Romans 1:16 when describing how the gospel, not our good works, brings salvation to every believer, “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (NIV). In other words, the good news of salvation by faith in Christ was first presented to the Jews, God’s chosen people. In the same way, Paul shows that God’s judgment for sinfulness will also fall first on the Jews, and then on everyone else.

Paul’s purpose in saying this will be restated in verse 11: “For God shows no partiality.” In other words, when it comes to judgment for personal sin, God regards each one of us individually, no matter our race or any other consideration.

Verse 10: but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

Paul restates something similar to what he wrote in verse 7. God is completely fair and impartial with humanity. He will judge each person according to that person’s own works, not the works of family, or their community, or their nation. If a person were able to lead a life full of ongoing unselfish good works, God would reward that person with glory and honor and peace. Verse 7 went further: God would give them eternal life. Of course, as Paul will show later, that kind of perfection is not possible for sinful mankind (Romans 3:23).

Paul writes again that this reward would be given first to the Jewish people and then to the Greeks—here meaning the same thing as Gentiles, or non-Jews. In other words, it’s the same for all, no matter of race or nationality. Paul will show in the following chapter that none of us are able lead such a life. We simply cannot, do not, “do good.” Instead, every last one of us, by nature, turns away from God and becomes worthless (Romans 3:12).

So what hope do we have? That’s why Paul is writing this letter. He will show that our only hope of receiving eternal life, along with glory and honor and peace, is through faith in Christ. We have no hope through our own ability to do good.

Verse 11: For God shows no partiality.

This verse refers to what Paul has written several times so far in this letter. The good news of the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus was given first to the Jewish people and then to all others (Romans 1:16). In the same way, God’s judgment on sin and the potential reward for good living will be given first to the Jews and then to all others (Romans 2:9–10). In spite of both things being given first to the Jews, they will also be extended equally to all of mankind, and under the exact same conditions.

In that way, God does not show partiality even to His chosen people of Israel. When it comes to His judgment on human sin, God holds the same standard for all.

Paul’s words likely infuriated the Jewish religious leaders who opposed him all around the known world. They held as sacred truth the idea that they were protected from God’s wrath because of the law and their special relationship with God as a nation. Paul will insist, though, that salvation for any one person is available only through personal faith in Jesus Christ and not through following the law of Moses.

Verse 12: For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

In the previous section of verses, Paul divided all of humanity into two categories: Those who lead good lives and are given eternal life by God (Romans 2:7) and those who are self-seeking and earn God’s wrath (Romans 2:8). God will judge each person according to that standard, Paul wrote, no matter whether Jew or non-Jew.

This seems, at first, like an endorsement of salvation by works. However, as Paul will show later, the first category is empty. Nobody is able to escape their own selfish and disobedient nature. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” he will say in Romans 3:23.

Now Paul begins to answer all of his readers who are asking, “What about the law? Won’t the law protect the Jews from the wrath of God?” Paul describes two more categories for humanity: those who sin “apart from the law” and those who sin “under the law.” Paul is referring to the law of Moses, given to Israel by God at Mount Sinai, as described in Exodus 20 and beyond.

Notice that both of these categories contain those “who have sinned.” There is no third category of people, no group who have not sinned. Sinners without the law of Moses to follow—the Gentiles—will die and be judged by God without the law, because their sin is still sin. Sinners under the law—Jewish people who adhere to the rituals and sacraments of the law of Moses—will be judged by God according the law of Moses when they die. Each person is held to the standards of their own knowledge, and as Paul has already pointed out, God has given every person enough knowledge to be without excuse (Romans 1:18–20).

The point Paul is building towards is that the verdict will be the same in all cases. All have sinned, no matter what standard of good and evil they lived under.

Verse 13: For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Some of Paul’s Jewish readers had made the mistake of thinking that by simply being Jewish, they would be declared righteous by God and spared from His wrath for their sin. After all, they were under the law of Moses. Most Jewish people grew up listening to the books of the Law read aloud from the time they were infants. By definition, they were “hearers” of the law. They knew the words. They understood the big ideas. And they were part of the chosen people of Israel.

Paul argues that just being under the law and hearing it regularly was not enough to save anyone. Hearing the words of Moses’s law could not making anyone righteous. In order to be declared righteous in God’s eyes, one must obey the law. In fact, Paul will later point out that a person living under the law would have to obey the law perfectly, in every way, in order to be declared righteous by God. Nobody was able to do that until Jesus arrived.

This passage of Romans parallels the message of the book of Hebrews, which clarifies how the old covenant, including the law of Moses, was never meant to save man from sin. It was only meant to teach mankind, to prepare them to accept a Savior.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.  Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently,  when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:1–10).

Verse 14: For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

Some translations put parentheses around Romans 2:14–15, showing that Paul might be making a related side point with these two verses. In the previous verse, Paul argued that Jewish people living under the law did not become righteous before God merely by hearing the Law read. They had to keep the law, and keep it perfectly, in order to be truly righteous.

Speaking of obeying the law, Paul mentions that some non-Jewish people—Gentiles—end up keeping parts of the law “by nature,” even though they are not required to do so by God. In other words, the human conscience sometimes prompts people to “do the right thing” even without having a written law to tell them to do it. This parallels Paul’s point from earlier in this letter that God makes certain things obvious to all people (Romans 1:18–20). In this way, those Gentiles allow their consciences to become a kind of law for them to follow. They might not even know what is included in the written books of the Law given to the Israelites.

Notice that in this and the following verse, Paul is not suggesting that a Gentile who lives by his conscience will be declared righteous by God. His point, as implied here, is only that such a person is following some kind of minimum standard for right and wrong.

Verse 15: They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

This verse concludes an idea begun in the previous verse. Paul wrote that Gentiles, though not given God’s law or required to follow it, may end up keeping parts of the law “by nature” just by listening to their own conscience. This is similar to his point from the prior chapter that God makes certain ideas obvious to all people (Romans 1:18–20).

Now Paul makes it clear that this doesn’t mean Gentiles with this awareness always do the right thing. What it does mean, apparently, is that the same God who gave the Israelites the law also built into the heart of all people a sense of what is right and wrong. It is the human conscience that condemns us when we do wrong and defends us when we do right. The conscience, though, is not a perfect standard. It is flexible. It can be hardened or softened. That’s why Paul refers to our “conflicting thoughts,” as the conscience talks to us about the morality of our choices.

Verse 16: on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Paul has divided humanity into two groups: those who have sinned under the law—the Israelites, or “the Jews”—and those who have sinned without being under the law—which is everyone else. Those who sin under the law will be judged by the law. However, Paul has written in the previous verses, even Gentiles might keep some parts of the law just by listening to their own consciences. After all, the same God who gave the law to Israel built into human beings a sense of right and wrong. There is no third category: all people fall short of God’s standard of perfection (Romans 3:9–10).

Now Paul refers to the day when God will judge the “secrets of men by Jesus Christ.” At that judgment, Paul suggested in the previous verse, our consciences will stand as a witness in regard to what we have done, right or wrong. God’s judgment of Gentiles, in other words, will be as fair and consistent as His judgment of Jewish individuals who have lived under the law of Moses. Sin is sin, whether we have been given an explicit list or not.

Paul writes that, according to his gospel—the gospel of Jesus Christ—this will include a judgment of the “hidden things” of people. God will judge thoughts and secrets, as well as actions. Also, this judgment will be by Jesus Christ. He will stand as judge in this moment.

For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. (John 5:22–27)

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13).

Again, we see the larger point Paul is coming to: nobody, whether Jew or Gentile, will be shown to be righteous at the judgment based on their own good works. Only in Christ, by grace and through faith, will anyone be declared righteous and given eternal life.

Verse 17: But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God

Paul has just finished talking about God’s judgment for Gentiles: people not under the requirements of the law of Moses. Now he turns the case he is making to the Jewish people who do live under the law.

This verse begins an if-then statement that will be concluded as this passage continues. Paul describes three specific good things that come with being Jewish. First, one who understands himself to be a Jew is a member of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 7:6).

It is a high honor.

Second, such a person may “rely on the law.” Though the law of Moses was a weighty thing for Israel, it was also a gift, the revelation of God’s standards for how to live on earth. The law was given to Israel and no other nation.

Third, this person, a Jew who relies on the law, can also “boast in God.” Paul is not describing selfish bragging. The Jewish people could rightly boast that the one true God was their God and they were His people. Their glory as a people was found in belonging to the glorious God.

The following verses will continue the “if” part of Paul’s if-then statement.

Verse 18: and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;

Paul is building a devastating if-then statement in this section of verses. He is addressing those who would call themselves Jews, who rely on the law, and who boast in God. The prior verse referred to those who identified as Jewish, depending on the law and confident in their relationship to God.

Now he further defines the people he is talking to. These people do not simply rely on the law of Moses. Through it, they know God’s will, and they use His law as a standard by which to decide if anything is excellent. They can do this because they have been so well taught from Moses’ law.

After building up this group for all their knowledge and understanding, Paul will challenge their actual behavior in the following verses. The larger point he is making is about their misplaced confidence. These people have confidence that God will not judge their sin, because of their identification with the law. This is assurance aimed in the wrong place. Paul uses this idea to show how the Jewish people are as guilty as the Gentiles, and must be saved by grace and not the law.

Verse 19: and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

Paul is addressing a representative Jewish person in this and the previous verses. He is showing all the benefits that person has received because of receiving the law from God. This person knows God’s will. By that, they can evaluate everything to see what is “excellent,” and what is not.

Now Paul adds that this person can serve as a guide to the blind and a light to those in darkness. In other words, God gave His law only to Israel. Thus, they had the opportunity to show everyone else what was true and who God was. They possessed the light of God’s truth that others needed.

Paul, however, is leading all of this buildup to a negative. He is asking that if all these things are true for Jewish people, why don’t they live according to the law? This is part of Paul’s short-term goal of showing that even God’s chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6) fall short of His standards of perfection. In the longer view, this supports Paul’s point that all people need to be saved by grace, through faith, apart from their own works (Romans 3:22–25).

Verse 20: an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth —

Paul is building a powerful “if-then” statement. The “if” aspect of this passage is about all of the benefits that come with being an Israelite. Those who are part of God’s chosen people also have knowledge of the law of Moses. In the Jewish mindset, this made Israel the recipient of God’s ultimate truths. This sets a high standard. Paul is setting his Jewish readers up for some hard questions in the following verses.

He has asked “if” such a person relies on the law, and boasts in God, and is sure he is a guide to the blind (Romans 2:17–19). Now, he includes the idea of such a person seeing himself as an instructor of the foolish people who do not have God’s law. Does he see himself as a teacher about the law, as an adult to children? And if this Jewish person really has the law, God’s law, which is the embodiment of knowledge and truth, then, Paul will ask in the following verses, why doesn’t he perfectly follow the law?

Verse 21: you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

Paul has set his Jewish readers up for a series of difficult questions. His larger purpose is to challenge those who assume that being Jewish means they do not have to worry about God judging them for their sinfulness. They believe the law of Moses stands between them and God. In a broader sense, this point is meant to apply to anyone who tries to rely on their own religiosity in order to be right with the Lord.

Paul has asked a series of leading “if” questions: If you are a devout Jew, if you rely on the law, if you boast in God, if you are sure you are a guide to the blind, if you’re a teacher of the foolish and of children, if you truly have the law which you believe to be the embodiment of knowledge and truth…then why don’t you follow it?

More specifically, Paul begins in this verse by asking why the teachers don’t teach themselves. He then follows with three examples of not following the law. If they preach against stealing, do they steal? It’s not clear what, if any, examples of theft Paul has in mind. What is clear is Paul’s larger point: Having the law is not enough. You must also keep it. And, as he will explain later in this letter, nobody can perfectly keep it (Romans 3:10).

Verse 22: You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

Paul is addressing Jewish people in this section, especially those who believed that being under the law of Moses, given to them by God, meant that they would not be judged by God for their personal sinfulness.

Paul has shown that, though these religious Jews hold the law as their sacred and special connection to God, they do not keep it. He has asked a series of rhetorical questions. Now he adds to them: Do you commit adultery, though you teach others from the law that nobody should do that? Do you rob temples, though you say that you hate idols?

Both of these questions imply a positive answer. It is not clear what Paul means by “robbing temples,” but his point is that the Jewish people were themselves breaking the law in various ways. Any honest assessment of our own lives reveals that we can’t perfectly keep to any moral code (Romans 3:10). Why would devout Jews think they were exempt from God’s wrath if they did not keep the law He gave to them? Why would any self-righteous person actually think God would ignore their sin?

Paul will go on to show that nobody can keep the law perfectly, which means that everyone is guilty of breaking God’s law and earning God’s wrath.

Verse 23: You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.

Paul has been asking a series of rhetorical questions. Now, he states his point with complete clarity. He is correcting the misperception of some religious Jews. By extension, this idea also applies to any person—Jewish, Christian, or otherwise—who thinks he can be justified before God on the basis of his deeds. The specific people Paul mentions here apparently believed that having the law of Moses, given by God, was enough to make them righteous in God’s eyes. They didn’t believe God would judge them for their sin as He would the sinful Gentiles.

Paul has shown that having the law is not enough if you don’t perfectly keep the law. He will go on in Romans to show that nobody can keep the law to that extent (Romans 3:10). Instead, everyone who is under the authority of the law ends up dishonoring God by breaking it. How can a holy God ignore sin, simply because a person sometimes does good?

Verse 24: For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Paul quotes from Isaiah 52:5 to drive home his point that those under the law “dishonor God by breaking the law” (Romans 2:23). When Isaiah wrote, the name—the reputation—of the God of Israel was sneered at by other nations because His people were being oppressed. In contrast, Paul now says God is dishonored by Israel’s own actions. By breaking the law of Moses, they give God a bad name among the Gentiles. Seeing that the Jewish people break their own God-given law while looking down on others, the Gentiles respond by speaking blasphemously about Israel’s God.

This highlights an important point which applies to believers in Christ, today. When those who claim to be Christians behave in un-Christ-like ways, it dishonors God. Non-believers see those sins and blame them on the faith. As Paul made clear earlier in this letter, that’s not a valid excuse for rejecting the truth (Romans 1:18–20). However, those who claim the name of God need to be extremely careful about the kind of reputation we create in this world.

The point Paul is building up to is that nobody can keep the law of Moses perfectly (Romans 3:10). Everyone breaks it, somehow and somewhere, bringing dishonor to God. Everyone deserves God’s judgment as a result of their sin. The law only helps to reveal sin, so salvation must come from another source. That source is faith in Christ (Romans 3:22–25).

Verse 25: For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

Paul has spent the past few verses insisting that having knowledge of God’s law is not enough to keep any person from being judged by God for their sin. Specifically, he is referring to devout Jews of his day, but the principle is meant to apply to anyone. Instead of merely claiming to be someone who has been “given” the law, those under the law must keep it. They must obey it—perfectly—in order to truly be saved from God’s wrath.

Now Paul answers the next logical objection, coming from a Jewish mindset: What about circumcision? Being circumcised, in obedience to God’s command to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17:9–10), ensured that Israelites would be identified as God’s people, the Jews. Apparently, many Jewish people believed that those who were circumcised were, by definition, saved. They would not be judged by God even if they broke His law. The ritual, for them, was enough to establish their salvation.

Paul disputes that idea, but he does not discard circumcision itself. He acknowledges that circumcision matters for the Israelites; it is an act of obedience in and of itself. However, the whole point of circumcision is lost if a Jewish person under the law breaks God’s law. Literally, Paul writes that their circumcision becomes “foreskin.” In other words, such a person is no better off than if they had not been circumcised, at all.

These words would have come as a shock to religious Jews who believed they were saved through circumcision and belonging to God’s chosen people. They should challenge the attitude of anyone who thinks that religious rituals, ceremonies, or other sacraments can overcome the stain of sin.

Verse 26: So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

In the previous verse, Paul said a shocking thing. His specific target was devout Jewish people, who lived under the law and thought circumcision would save them from being judged by God for their sin. More generally, Paul speaks to anyone who trusts in their religious rituals or sacraments in order to be made right with God. Paul said that if such a circumcised person breaks the law, circumcision is of no value to him, at all. In fact, he wrote that for law-breakers, circumcision becomes uncircumcision—the ritual itself becomes a form of rebellion when it’s not accompanied by obedience!

Now Paul goes even further with a teaching sure to infuriate Jewish religious leaders. He writes that the opposite is also true. If a Gentile—an uncircumcised, non-Jewish man—adheres to the principles of the law, his lack of physical circumcision won’t prevent him from being regarded by God as one who is circumcised.

Paul is teaching that everything comes down to whether a person keeps God’s law or not. This applies whether one is Jewish or Gentile. Later, Paul will demonstrate that nobody is able to keep the law (Romans 3:10). This means that everyone deserves God’s angry judgment. Salvation must be found somewhere else, other than in rituals or good works (Romans 3:22–25).

Verse 27: Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.

Paul has painted a picture of two men. One is Jewish and circumcised and under the law of Moses. He breaks the law. The other is Gentile, uncircumcised, but he keeps the law of Moses. He obeys it. In what would have been a deeply offensive shock to his Jewish readers, Paul said that circumcision is of no use to the Jewish lawbreaker. Worse, he suggested that a lack of physical circumcision is no hindrance to the Gentile law-keeper. The first will be regarded by God as if he were not circumcised and not Jewish; the second will be regarded as if he were circumcised and Jewish, even though he’s not.

Now Paul concludes that the Gentile law-keeper will condemn the Jewish law-breaker, even though he has been given the law by God and has been circumcised. The only difference between them is whether they kept the law or not. Only later will Paul reveal that nobody, Jewish or Gentile, is able to keep the law, after all (Romans 3:10). All are sinners and must be forgiven for their sin in order to be saved from God’s wrath (Romans 3:22–25).

Verse 28: For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.

Paul adds another shocking statement to those in the previous verses. He has said, in essence, that when it comes to being judged by God, Jewishness doesn’t even matter. Specifically, the ritual of circumcision, which identifies someone as part of the Jewish community, is meaningless when not accompanied by obedience. Only those who keep the law will be declared righteous. Later, Paul will write that no one is able to keep the law (Romans 3:10), so all must be saved through Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone (Romans 3:22–25).

Now Paul redefines what it even means to be a Jew and to be circumcised. Paul insists it’s not about being born Jewish or even being physically circumcised. True Jewishness, Paul will insist in the following verse, is about the state of a person’s heart before God. Specifically, Paul’s words here involve Judaism and are directed to people of Israel. However, the broader point is meant to apply to everyone. Religious sacraments, labels, and other forms of good works are not what save us. We must be perfect in order to avoid judgment; since nobody can be perfect, grace becomes our only hope of redemption.

Verse 29: But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Paul concludes this section by defining what is required to be truly Jewish. Paul was born Jewish, lived as a devout Pharisee.

Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (Philippians 3:4–7),

and was converted to faith in Christ for his salvation. He is more than fully qualified to address this issue. Paul has recently indicated that true Jewishness is not about mere birth and circumcision. Circumcision, likewise, is not “outward and physical.”

Now he states the positive side of this claim. True Jewishness, to be included in the people of God, happens inwardly. True circumcision is about the sincere heart of a person. That circumcision is “by the Spirit, not by the letter.”

Bible scholars disagree about whether the word spirit in this verse should be capitalized. In other words, is it talking about Holy Spirit or not? If so, then Paul is saying that this heart circumcision, this being set apart as a member of God’s family, is carried out by God’s Holy Spirit. That fits with other passages that describe the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation. If Paul is referring to the Holy Spirit, this is his first mention of Christian salvation.

The alternative is that Paul is referring to someone being circumcised in their own spirit, not by following the mechanical requirements: “the letter of the law.” Or, perhaps Paul means that this heart circumcision is about following the spirit of the law and not about the letter of the law.

In any case, true Jewishness is about what happens inside a person and not just about being born an Israelite and being circumcised. Paul insists that Jewishness must be sincere from the inside out. This basic principle applies to Christian faith, as well. Labels and behaviors are not what matter; it is faith which identifies us as a true believer.

When it is sincere, when a person is circumcised in their heart and set apart with God’s people, that person is praised by God. After all, God knows our hearts. Otherwise, this person receives praise only from men who see the outside actions of a person that may or may not be sincere. The praise of men is far less valuable than to be praised by the God who truly knows us.