You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.
a. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? It comes down to this principle: “You have the law, do you keep it? You can see how others break the law, do you see how you break it also?”
i. Much of the rabbinic Judaism of Paul’s day interpreted the law so that they thought they were completely justified by the law. Jesus exposed the error of such interpretations (Matthew 5:19-48).
ii. God applies His law to both our actions and our attitudes. Sometimes we only want our attitudes evaluated, and sometimes only our actions. God will hold us accountable for both motives and actions.
iii. “Hypocrites can talk of religion, as if their tongues did run upon patterns, they are fair professors, but foul sinners; as was that carnal cardinal Cremensis, the pope’s legate, sent hither, A.D. 1114, to interdict priests’ marriages, and being taken in the act with a common strumpet, he excused it by saying he was no priest himself, but a corrector of them.” (Trapp)
b. You who abhor idols, do you rob temples: Morris speaks to the idea of robbing temples. “Clearly some people held that a Jew might well make profits from dishonest practices connected with idolatry, and Paul may well have had this in mind.”
c. The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you: Paul reminds the Jew that God said in the Old Testament that the failure of the Jew to obey the law causes Gentiles to blaspheme God.
5. (25-29) The irrelevance of circumcision.
For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
a. For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law: Paul recognizes that a Jew may protest and say that his salvation is based on the fact that he is a descendant of Abraham, proven by circumcision. Paul rightly answers that this is irrelevant in regard to justification.
i. The Jew believed that his circumcision guaranteed his salvation. He might be punished in the world to come, but could never be lost.
ii. In Paul’s day, some Rabbis taught that Abraham sat at the entrance of hell and made certain that none of his circumcised descendants went there. Some Rabbis also taught “God will judge the Gentiles with one measure and the Jews with another” and “All Israelites will have part in the world to come.” (Barclay)
iii. Circumcision (or baptism – or any ritual in itself) doesn’t save anyone. In the ancient world the Egyptians also circumcised their boys but it did not make them followers of the true God. Even in Abraham’s day Ishmael (the son of the flesh) was circumcised, but it did not make him a son of the covenant.
iv. Circumcision and baptism do about the same thing that a label on a can does. If the outer label doesn’t match with what is on the inside, something is wrong! If there are carrots inside the can, you can put a label that says “Peas” but it doesn’t change what is inside the can. Being born again changes what is inside the can, and then you can put the appropriate label on the outside.
v. Of course, this is not a new thought. The Law of Moses itself teaches this principle: Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer (Deuteronomy 10:16).
b. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law: If a Gentile were to keep the righteous requirement of the law through his conscience (as Romans 2:15 shows), would he not be justified, instead of the circumcised Jewish man who did not keep the law? The point is emphasized: having the law or having a ceremony isn’t enough. God requires righteousness.
i. Morris quoting Manson: “If they are loyal to the good they know, they will be acceptable to God; but it is a very big ‘if’.”
c. And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? This is God’s answer to the one who says, “What about the Pygmy in Africa who has never heard the gospel?” God will judge that Pygmy by what he has heard, and how he has lived by it. Of course, this means that the Pygmy will be guilty before God, because no one has perfectly lived by their conscience, or perfectly responded to what we can know of God through creation.
i. The problem of the “innocent native” is that we can’t find an innocent native anywhere.
ii. “What about the Pygmy in Africa who hasn’t heard the gospel?” is a good question, but there are two far more important questions:
· What about you who hear the gospel, but reject it? What excuse is there for you?
· What about you, who are commanded to take the gospel to that Pygmy in Africa (Matthew 28:19), but refuse to do it?
d. Whose praise is not from men but from God: All the outward signs of religion may earn us praise from men, but they will not earn us praise from God. The evidence of our rightness with God is not contained in outward signs or works, and it is not assured because of our parentage. The evidence is found in the work of God in our heart which shows itself in fruit.
e. William Newell summarizes Romans 2 with “Seven Great Principles of God’s Judgment” that are worth noting:
· God’s judgment is according to truth (Romans 2:2).
· God’s judgment is according to accumulated guilt (Romans 2:5).
· God’s judgment is according to works (Romans 2:6).
· God’s judgment is without partiality (Romans 2:11).
· God’s judgment is according to performance, not knowledge (Romans 2:13).
· God’s judgment reaches the secrets of the heart (Romans 2:16).
· God’s judgment is according to reality, not religious profession (Romans 2:17-29).
