On The Sixth Day #12

Romans 2.17 – 24 The Claim of the Jew – AND Its Problems

But if you call yourself a Jew and rest on Torah and boast about God and know his will and give your approval to what is right, because you have been instructed from the Torah; and if you have persuaded yourself that you are a guide to the blind, a light in the darkness, an instructor for the spiritually unaware and a teacher of children, since in the Torah you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth; then, you who teach others, don't you teach yourself? Preaching, "Thou shalt not steal," do you steal? Saying, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? Detesting idols, do you commit idolatrous acts? You who take such pride in Torah, do you, by disobeying the Torah, dishonor God? —as it says in the Tanakh, "For it is because of you that God's name is blasphemed by the Goyim [Gentiles/Nations]."

• Israel – the Jews"
  
  • light to the nations!!
    
  • entrusted with the Torah!!
    
  • from which would come Messiah
    
    • and the "world to come" under his Kingship
      
    • with Israel as the King's court perhaps
      
• but Israel was a complete failure even with it's advantages
  
• it's high opinion of itself has blasphemed God among the very nations to which it was supposed to shed light
  
• v. 17 - "But if you call yourself a Jew" –
  
  • highest point of Jewish glorying, after further description of it
    
    • is interposed, vv. 17-20,
      
      • in two sets of five statements
        
        • of which the first five, vv. 17-18, show what he boasts of in himself;
          
          • rest on Torah and
            
          • boast about God and
            
          • know his will and
            
          • give your approval to what is right, because you
            
          • have been instructed from the Torah
            
        • and the second five, vv. 19-20, what he glories in with respect to others.
          
          • a guide to the blind,
            
          • a light in the darkness,
            
          • an instructor for the spiritually unaware and
            
          • a teacher of children,
            
          • since in the Torah you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth;
            
    • then refuted, correspondingly, in vv.21-24,
      
  • is itself refuted in vv. 25ff,
    
• v. 24 quotes Isaiah 52:5 [LXX] and calls to mind Ezekiel 36:20-23
  

Romans 2.25 – 29 The Badge the Name and the Meaning

For circumcision is indeed of value if you do what Torah says. But if you are a transgressor of Torah, your circumcision has become un-circumcision! Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah, won't his un-circumcision be counted as circumcision? Indeed, the man who is physically uncircumcised but obeys the Torah will stand as a judgment on you who have had a b'rit-milah and have Torah written out but violate it! For the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision is not only external and physical. On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly; and true circumcision is of the heart, spiritual not literal; so that his praise comes not from other people but from God.

• v. 25 -- the Jews were inclined to believe that they would be spared at the last judgment by virtue of their circumcision. Circumcision was required of all Jewish males for entrance into the covenant (Genesis. 17:9–14; Leviticus. 12:3), and hence it was likely viewed as a form of covenant protection. Un-circumcision. Paul argues, however, that those who violate the law are counted before God as uncircumcised. In other words, they are outside the covenant and therefore destined for judgment. Circumcision would be of value (Gk. ōpheleō) for salvation if the circumcised would obey the law perfectly, but no one can do that.
  
• Paul takes up the issue of circumcision again in Romans. 4:9–16; and Galatians. 2:3–5; 5:2–12; 6:12–15.
  
• The "badge" of Jewish distinction – circumcision is only valuable if what it identifies is true – someone who is part of the true "light to the nations"
  
• but Israel has failed and not rather than mark honor and distinction, circumcision now adds to God's anger because the once "favorite son" is now just like every other stranger – un-circumcised
  
• whether physically circumcised or not – all who truly and out of faith in God keep the Torah – knowingly or unknowingly – will be a Jew inwardly –
  
  • a true chosen one of God &
    
  • truly a light to the nations
    
  • circumcised in his/her heart by the Spirit
    
    • well known in OT
      
      • Deuteronomy 10:16 & 30:6
        
      • Jeremiah 4:4
        
      • and seen as God's work in people's hearts
        
        • Jeremiah 31:33; 32:39-40;
          
        • Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26-27
          
• such a person will be honored by God's "praise"
  
  • a play on words
    
    • Judah from which the word "Jew" comes means "praise"
      
    • though it doesn't work in Greek – obviously, Paul is thinking in Hebrew
      
    • so this "praise" would make a believer part of the renewed/refreshed covenant
      

(Source material is from N T Wright, John Wesley, Martin Luther, ESV Study Bible, Orthodox Study Bible, NLT Study Bible, NET Bible, et. al.)