The Jew's privileges, the teacher who does not teach himself, and the name blasphemed (Romans 2:17–24)

Says "Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law" (2:17–18, BSB). The hearer is convinced that he is "a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants," because he has "in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth" (2:19–20, BSB). Implies Εἰ δέ ("but if") opens a long conditional clause that is never completed. Paul breaks it off at the end of 2:20 and starts again in 2:21 with οὖν ("then"). The broken sentence lets the list of privileges build up before the questions strike (note.language.Rom.2.17.ei-de-anacoluthon). The Byzantine text reads Ἴδε ("Look") for Εἰ δέ, which removes the break (var.Rom.2.17.ei-de-ide).

Implies Paul does not deny these privileges. Having the law, knowing God's will, and being instructed by it are real gifts (3:1–2; 9:4–5). μόρφωσις ("embodiment," lex.G3446) is positive here: the law truly gives the shape of knowledge and truth (note.language.Rom.2.20.morphosis). The charge is not that the hearer has these things, but that he does not do what he teaches. The article added before νόμῳ in the Byzantine text does not change the referent (var.Rom.2.17.to-nomo).

Implies "Rely on the law," "boast in God," and "know His will" (2:17–18) probably recall Mic 3:11 and Jer 9:23–24 (note.language.Rom.2.17.ei-de-anacoluthon). Mic 3:11 speaks of leaders who "lean upon the Lord" while they do wrong (BSB; xref.Rom.2.17.Mic.3.11.heb), and Swete's LXX uses the same verb (ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἐπανεπαύοντο; 2:17 has ἐπαναπαύῃ νόμῳ, without ἐπί; lex.G1879). Jer 9:24 says, "let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me" (BSB; xref.Rom.2.17.Jer.9.23-Jer.9.24.heb; note.language.Rom.2.17.jer-9-23-24-boast). Swete's LXX shares καυχάομαι ἐν, γινώσκειν, and θέλημα with 2:17–18, and Paul quotes Jer 9:24 himself at 1 Cor 1:31 and 2 Cor 10:17.

Uncertain Whether the titles of 2:19–20 echo Isaiah. The title "a light for those in darkness" may echo the Servant's calling to be "a light to the nations" (Isa 42:6, BSB; לְאוֹר גּוֹיִם, le'or goyim; compare 49:6; xref.Rom.2.19.Isa.42.6-Isa.42.7.heb; note.language.Rom.2.19.isa-42-6-7-light-to-nations). The wording is close, but Paul gives no marker of citation. The image of a "guide for the blind" also appears in Jewish and Greek teaching (note.historical.Rom.2.1-Rom.2.29.guide-to-the-blind; lex.G3595).

Says The questions follow: "you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?" (2:21–22, BSB). Implies The questions name transgressions of the commandments themselves, stealing and adultery, and not only an attitude of pride. Paul does not claim that every Jew steals or commits adultery. His point is that the teacher's knowledge does not protect him, since the law he teaches condemns what he does, and that such sins were found among those who had the law.

Uncertain What ἱεροσυλεῖς ("do you rob temples?") refers to (note.language.Rom.2.22.hierosyleis; lex.G2416; lex.G948). (1) Literal robbery of pagan temples, or trade in their valuables. (2) Sacrilege in a wider sense, such as robbing God of what is his due. This commentary leans to (1). The verb is set beside stealing and adultery, which are literal. And the law forbade Israel to take the silver and gold of idols: "do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves" (Deut 7:25, BSB; xref.Rom.2.22.Deut.7.25-Deut.7.26.heb). The hearer who abhors idols (βδελυσσόμενος) would then be profiting from them. The main alternative is (2).

Uncertain Whether Paul alludes to the Fulvia affair. Josephus tells of a Jew at Rome who posed as a teacher of the laws of Moses and, with three partners, persuaded Fulvia, a noblewoman who had become a proselyte, to send purple and gold to the temple in Jerusalem, and then kept it; when this came to the emperor Tiberius, he expelled the Jews from Rome (Ant. 18.81–84). The story would have been known in Rome, and it joins a self-appointed teacher of the law to a fraud involving temple gifts. But it was fraud, not the robbery of a shrine, and Paul gives no sign that he has it in mind. It shows that such a charge could be made in Rome; it does not identify what Paul meant. The evidence is set out in note.historical.Rom.2.1-Rom.2.29.temple-robbery.

Uncertain Whether 2:23, "You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?" (BSB), is a fifth question, as SBLGNT and the BSB print it, or a statement that sums up 2:21–22 and is grounded by the γάρ of 2:24. This commentary leans to a question, with the editions. The change from participles to the relative ὅς allows the other reading, which is the main alternative (note.language.Rom.2.23-Rom.2.24.isa-52-5-form).

Says "As it is written: 'God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you'" (2:24, BSB). The words follow the Greek of Isa 52:5, which has "because of you" (δι᾿ ὑμᾶς) and "among the nations" (ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν). The Hebrew has neither: "My name is blasphemed continually all day long" (Isa 52:5, BSB; שְׁמִי מִנֹּאָץ, shemi minno'ats). Paul changes "my name" to "the name of God" and places "as it is written" after the quotation (note.language.Rom.2.24.isa-52-5-ezek-36; xref.Rom.2.24.Isa.52.5.heb).

Uncertain How Paul uses Isa 52:5. In Isaiah the name is reviled because Israel is oppressed in exile. (1) Paul applies the words to a new situation, the conduct of his hearers, in the way Ezekiel had already diagnosed: "wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy name" (Ezek 36:20, BSB; xref.Rom.2.24.Ezek.36.20-Ezek.36.23.heb). (2) Paul keeps Isaiah's setting and reads the exile, in which the nations mock God's name, as itself the result of Israel's sin. This commentary leans to (1), with Ezekiel's diagnosis as the bridge, since 2:21–23 concerns conduct and δι᾿ ὑμᾶς is applied to it. Paul cites only Isaiah, and the main alternative is (2).

Since the work of E. P. Sanders, many have read Second Temple Judaism as a "covenantal nomism," in which a person entered the covenant by grace and remained in it by obedience (src.sanders-ppj). Sanders himself judged that Romans 2 sits uneasily with the rest of Paul's thought on the law (src.sanders-plj), and Räisänen argued that Paul's charges in 2:17–24 do not describe Jews fairly (src.raisanen-paul-law). Dunn reads the boast of 2:17, 23 mainly as confidence in Israel's privileged status, marked by the law and circumcision (src.dunn-wbc-romans). Gathercole argues that Jewish texts of the period also show confidence in final vindication on the basis of obedience, and he reads the boasting of Romans 2 in that light (src.gathercole-where-is-boasting). Westerholm surveys the debate and defends the older Protestant reading of Paul (src.westerholm-perspectives). Boasting returns in 3:27 and 4:2.