TEXT [Commentary]

  3.   Jews are sinners, too (2:17–3:8)

17 You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. 18 You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. 19 You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. 20 You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth.

21 Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? 22 You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples?[*] 23 You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. 24 No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.”[*]

25 The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile. 26 And if the Gentiles obey God’s law, won’t God declare them to be his own people? 27 In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God’s law but don’t obey it.

28 For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. 29 No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise[*] from God, not from people.

CHAPTER 3

1 Then what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the ceremony of circumcision? 2 Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.[*]

3 True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful? 4 Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him,

“You will be proved right in what you say,

and you will win your case in court.”[*]

5 “But,” some might say, “our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?” (This is merely a human point of view.) 6 Of course not! If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world? 7 “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?” 8 And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned.

NOTES

2:17 you boast about your special relationship with him. Or, “you take pride in your God” (REB). Lit., “you boast in God.” In 2:17-20, Paul lists a number of special privileges and roles Jews prided themselves in as a result of their being the covenant people of God.

2:18 You know what he wants. Lit., “you know the will”—i.e., the will of God, the ultimate will.

you know what is right. Or, “you discern what is best”; or, “you know what really matters” (REB); or, “you . . . are able to discern what is important” (NAB).

2:19 the blind. In context, those who are spiritually blind.

people who are lost in darkness. The word “lost” is added in the NLT for clarity.

2:20 the ignorant. Those who are morally and spiritually ignorant, not educationally deficient.

children. Those who in their faith are young, immature, or uninstructed; not literal children.

2:21-22 do you steal? . . . do you commit adultery? Having listed the special privileges and role of the Jews, Paul now exposes their hypocrisy with several rhetorical questions. They may be understood literally or in the more radical sense of Matt 5:21-48, assuming the demand for absolute purity of both thoughts and actions. For Paul, as for Jesus, sin is not a matter of simply breaking the letter of the law but of breaking the intention of the law—even in one’s heart and thoughts.

2:22 do you use items stolen from pagan temples? Lit., “do you do temple-robbing?” (The word “pagan” is added in the NLT for clarity.) This may be understood literally, as a reference to taking things from pagan shrines (or using things taken by others from them), or figuratively, as a reference either to inadequate giving to the Jewish Temple (cf. Mal 3:8: “You have cheated me!”) or to treating holy things in an unholy way generally (“Do you desecrate holy things yourself?” NJB; Cranfield 1980:169-170; Moo 1996:163-165). Temple robbery was regarded as a serious offense in the Roman world (cf. Acts 19:37, where Paul is publicly defended as having stolen nothing from the temple of Artemis). Though Jews were quick to condemn idolatry, some apparently felt free to make use of things taken from pagan temples for their own advantage.

2:23 you dishonor God by breaking it. Alternatively, a question parallel to the preceding four questions: “Do you dishonor God by breaking it?” (cf. NRSV, TEV).

2:24 The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you. This is a quotation from Isa 52:5, LXX. To “blaspheme” is to denounce or speak irreverently of God or the things of God. The despising of God’s name by the pagans in Isa 52:5 is due to the tragic plight of the Jews in exile, leaving the impression that their God has either no power or no care; but here, the despising of God’s name is due to the moral faults of the Jews, not their misfortune.

2:25 circumcision. Circumcision was traditionally understood in the Jewish community as the identification mark of a male devoted to God and committed to living according to God’s will, a member of the people of God—i.e., a true Jew (cf. Gal 5:3). Failure to live according to the will of God, then, in effect denied one’s circumcision—one’s claim to be part of God’s people. Hence Judah, several centuries earlier, was likened by Jeremiah to the neighboring countries that traditionally practiced circumcision but were in reality “uncircumcised”: “The people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts” (Jer 9:25-26; cf. Deut 10:16).

has value. Or, “means something.”

you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile. Lit., “your circumcision has become uncircumcision.”

2:26 won’t God declare them to be his own people? Lit., “won’t his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?”

2:28 you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. Lit., “being a Jew is not an outward thing (en tō phanerō [TG5318A, ZG5745]), nor is circumcision an outward thing in the flesh.” A relationship with God is defined not by external things but by the heart.

2:29 a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. Lit., “being a Jew is an inward [or hidden] thing” (en tō kruptō [TG2927A, ZG3220]); cf. 9:6-9. The word “Jew” (Heb. Yehudi [TH3064, ZH3374]), derived from the name of the ancient ancestor Judah (Yehudah [TH3063, ZH3373]), is linked to the word “praise” (yadah [TH3034A, ZH3344]); cf. the exclamation of Judah’s mother at his birth, “Now I will praise the LORD!” (Gen 29:35), and the deathbed blessing of his father, “Judah, your brothers will praise you” (Gen 49:8). Readers with a Jewish background may have sensed wordplay here. Paul was emphasizing that the real Jew is the one who is genuinely concerned with God’s praise, not just going through the motions (Cranfield 1980:175-176; Bruce 1985:89-90).

true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law. Lit., “circumcision is not a literal thing” (ou grammati [TG1121, ZG1207]).

it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. Or, “it is a matter of the heart, a spiritual thing” (kardias en pneumati [TG2588/4151, ZG2840/4460]).

And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people. Or, “. . . his commendation comes from God, not from people” (cf. REB). Lit., “whose praise is not from people but from God.”

3:2 the whole revelation of God. Lit., “the words (ta logia [TG3051, ZG3359]) of God,” a general reference that probably includes the OT as a whole, not just the revelation of the law on Mount Sinai.

3:3 some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful. Or, “some of them did not believe; but just because they were unbelieving.” The terms ēpistēsan [TG569, ZG601] and apistia [TG570, ZG602] can be translated either “were unfaithful” and “unfaithfulness” (so Dunn, Schreiner, Moo) or “were unbelieving” and “unbelief” (so Murray, Cranfield). The other occurrences of the terms in the NT favor the latter, but the immediate context, which speaks of the contrasting “faithfulness” of God, favors the former. Because the terms embrace both ideas, early readers may not have made the distinction; “unfaithfulness” and “unbelief” are closely related.

3:4, 6 Of course not! This emphatic negation (mē genoito [TG3361/1096, ZG3590/1181]) occurs ten times in Romans (3:4, 6, 31; 6:2, 15; 7:7, 13; 9:14; 11:1, 11) but nowhere else in Paul’s writings.

As the Scriptures say about him. Lit., “as it is written.” The words “about him” are added in the NLT for clarity.

You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court. This is a quotation from Ps 51:4, LXX, showing God’s verdict always to be right.

3:5 our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Or it could be phrased as a question: “If our doing wrong only serves to highlight God’s doing right, then isn’t it unfair of God to judge us?” This is a preposterous question, refuted by Paul to show that God’s judgment on human sin is merited. The phrase “how righteous God is” (lit., “God’s righteousness” [so NIV, NAB], theou dikaiosunēn [TG1343, ZG1466]) is translated in a variety of ways: “God’s doing right” (TEV); “how right God is” (CEV); “God’s justice” (REB, cf. NRSV); “God’s saving justice” (NJB); “his integrity” (JB).

This is merely a human point of view. Or, “I am using a human argument” (NIV). Lit., “I speak in a human way” (kata anthrōpon [TG444, ZG476]); cf. 6:19; Gal 3:15.

3:6 judge the world. This is a reference to the final day of judgment.

3:8 And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Lit., “Let’s do evil (ta kaka [TG2556B, ZG2805]) so that good (ta agatha [TG18C, ZG19]) may come of it.” Paul’s comment about slander should be understood as a parenthetical statement: “If that is true, then you might as well say ‘The more we sin, the better it is!’ (Some people slander us by saying that’s actually what we teach. Such people deserve to be condemned.)” Such slander may be a response to Paul’s emphasis on salvation by grace apart from the law and to the way he speaks of grace as transcending all human sin (5:20). For Paul’s response to the charge that the Good News of grace undermines the foundation of morality and ethics, see 6:1-23. For a discussion of the grammatical complexities of this verse, see Cranfield 1980:185-187.

Those who say such things deserve to be condemned. The reference is to the divine condemnation of those who slander Paul and the church (3:8), not those speaking in 3:5, 7.

COMMENTARY [Text]

After describing the depraved lifestyle of the Gentile world (1:18-32) and then emphasizing that the judgment of God falls equally upon all who sin, Jews as well as Gentiles (2:1-16), Paul now specifically addresses those who are Jewish, reminding them of their own sins. Though intensely proud of their religious heritage and their devotion to the law of Moses, in reality they have fallen far short of faithfully keeping that law. And Jews who fail to keep the law are no better in God’s sight than uncircumcised Gentiles; indeed, Gentiles who faithfully obey the law are better off than Jews who don’t! So a real relationship with God is defined not by mere ethnicity (being Jewish) or by external criteria (being circumcised) or by mere formal adherence to the law of Moses but by something deeper—genuine devotion of the heart, a circumcised heart. This can only come about by the transforming work of the Spirit of God, when one comes to personal faith in Christ.

Addressing those who are Jewish, Paul now seeks to make the children of Abraham aware of their own sin, to help them see that Jews stand as guilty before God as pagan Gentiles. To those who prided themselves in their Jewishness and their devotion to the law of God, who thought of themselves as the chosen people of God and the “people of the Book,” superior to all others because of their privileged calling and religious insight (2:17-20), Paul raised the uncomfortable question of their actual obedience to the revealed truth of God. Hadn’t they, too, committed acts of thievery, adultery, and temple-robbing (2:21-22)? After all, the Jews had a long history of dishonoring God by breaking his law. No wonder Gentiles ridiculed the name of God (2:23-24)!

Most pious Jews would have been shocked by Paul’s suggestion that they, too, were guilty of such blatant sins as thievery, adultery, and temple-robbing—as most people who consider themselves good, moral people would be, if accused of such things. But sin runs deeper than the letter of the law; it is all-pervasive and is reflected not only in actions but also in the thoughts and intents of the heart. So thievery occurs whenever we selfishly take for ourselves something that belongs to someone else, no matter how small it may be (cf. Paul’s reflection on the prohibition of coveting in 7:7-8). Adultery is expressed even in the way we look at people, or the way we think about people, if it reflects an underlying spirit of lust or faithlessness to our spouse (Matt 5:28). Traces of even the most blatant sins, then, can be found even in the people who seem to be most moral. We are all radically infected with sin.

The failure to live out the ideals one professes—especially when a person is unaware of this failing or blatant in disregarding it—lies close to the essence of hypocrisy, and such hypocrisy is condemned throughout the New Testament. Jesus, for example, excoriates the Pharisees for their hypocrisy: “They don’t practice what they teach. . . . [Their] hearts are filled with hypocrisy” (Matt 23:3, 28; cf. 23:1-33); “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce” (Mark 7:6-7). Both Jesus and James warn God’s people against hypocrisy (Matt 6:1-18; Jas 2:14-26), and Jesus emphasizes that only those who actually live out their faith will be in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 7:21). James reminds us that a hypocritical faith—a faith that is not lived out—won’t save anyone (Jas 2:14). So one of the marks of God’s true people is—and always has been—their serious attempt to live out what they claim to believe. As Christians, we need to be ever vigilant lest there be aspects of our lives that blatantly contradict what we say we believe. Christian living should be a fully integrated expression of our confession of faith.

In this light, Paul asks, “Who, then, is the real Jew?” His answer is that a real Jew is not one just born of Jewish parents or one that is circumcised. The outward mark of circumcision by itself means nothing, Paul argues, if a person is not actually committed to obeying the demands of God. It is the ones who actually do what God commands who are regarded as the people of God, even if they are not circumcised (2:25-27). The real mark of one’s “Jewishness,” then, is internal rather than external. The real Jew is defined inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—something spiritual, not literal (2:28-29; cf. 4:9-12). Those with “circumcised hearts” (converted hearts) are less concerned with the commendation of others than they are with the commendation of God himself. Failure to take seriously the demands of God, which one professes to follow, merits nothing but the judgment of God, regardless of whether a person is circumcised or not. (For more on circumcision, see notes and comments on 4:9-12.)

With deep insight, Paul makes it clear in this passage that a relationship with God can never be defined by external or merely formal criteria. On this basis, Christian baptism, often taken as a parallel to Jewish circumcision in marking a person’s relationship to God, is no more effective than circumcision in establishing such a relationship if it is not accompanied by a commitment that goes deeper than the baptism itself. It is not the physical act of baptism per se that defines our relationship to God but what the baptism signifies on a deeper level about our belonging to Christ and our commitment to Christ. Throughout the Bible, a relationship with God is never defined by mere externalities; God always looks at the heart and judges by the heart. “People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). That is why Jesus, in contrast to the legalistic Pharisees, consistently emphasized that the important thing is not religious rituals in themselves but what comes from the heart (Mark 7:18-23). Both Jesus and Paul emphasize that everything significant springs from the heart—the heart must be converted and changed.

Of all the New Testament writers, it is Paul who explored most deeply the question of how the heart is to be changed. The real secret to an obedient life, Paul writes, lies not in a more emphatic determination to observe the law of God but in the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit, who alone has the power to convert and change the human heart (2:29). Only in this way can Christians begin to obey God and live out the kind of life that God desires of them. Although he hints at the importance of the transforming work of the Spirit, Paul says nothing more about it here, leaving his discussion of the Spirit’s role for a later stage in his argument (7:4-6; 8:1-14).

What, then, is the advantage of being circumcised—or for that matter, of being a Jew at all (3:1)? Here Paul poses a question that he knows will be in the minds of Jewish readers objecting to his argument. Behind the question lies a deeper and more troubling concern: Don’t Paul’s teachings deny the basic principles of the law of Moses? Don’t Paul’s ideas fundamentally contradict the teaching of the Hebrew Scriptures?

For 2000 years, Christian scholars have wrestled with the difficult question of how to reconcile Paul’s teaching with the Old Testament, or whether there are fundamental contradictions between the two. The question of how Paul’s teaching relates to the Hebrew Scriptures—especially the law of Moses—is part of the larger question of how the New Testament as a whole relates to the Old Testament that precedes it. This is a crucial question because our understanding of the relationship between the two, to a large degree, determines our understanding of the Christian life. We shall return to this question later, when we consider 3:31 and 4:3. (See “The Law of Moses” in the Introduction.)

Paul responded to the anticipated concern of his readers (3:1) by affirming one of the most basic convictions of the Old Testament: God has indeed singled out the Jewish people for himself and entrusted them with his revealed word (3:2). And God remains faithful to his chosen people, even if some of them have not remained faithful to him (3:3-4). So whatever new thing has come about in Jesus, it does not negate the validity of what God has done in the past or his faithfulness to the people he originally chose to be his own. Indeed (as Paul says later), God will honor the promises he made long ago to the ancestors by one day restoring all of Judaism to himself—“All Israel will be saved” (11:26). God’s faithfulness remains, as do his promises; he can be fully trusted to keep his word.

Paul then addressed another question posed by some: Is it really fair of God to judge people so harshly for their sins, especially his own people? If even their failings serve, by way of contrast, to validate his righteous judgment or to show the rightness of all he does, then on what basis can he punish them? If even their disobedience serves his more ultimate purposes and brings him glory, how can God properly call them “sinners” (3:5-7)? The ridiculous nature of this argument is seen in the extreme to which some had accused Paul of taking it: “The more we sin, the better it is!” (3:8). His point is clear: The fact that human sin may result in glory being given to God in no way excuses the sin. Because of his righteousness, God must punish sin, whoever’s sin it is—even if, in some strange way, such sin serves his ultimate purposes. Sin is sin, and in his holiness God has decreed judgment on all sin. So, yes, God will indeed judge the failings of the Jewish people, just as he judges the failings of all people.

In the modern world, skepticism about the notion of God’s judgment is widespread. Belief in the traditional understanding of the judgment of God seems largely to have died out in many parts of the Christian community. “Hell has been in steady decline as a doctrine since the seventeenth century. By 1985 Martin Marty, the church historian, could quip that ‘hell disappeared but nobody noticed’” (Hunsinger 1998:409). Such skepticism mirrors the relativistic perspectives of the modern culture that have shaped our thinking and reflects a lost sense of the radical holiness of God. This is a common way of thinking today, but it is strikingly at odds with the perspective of the biblical writers, who take the holiness of God and the thoroughgoing nature of human sin much more seriously.