Romans 2:17-29

2:17 | The Jews were privileged to possess the law, all of God’s revelation in the OT. The Jews had the truth; the problem was what they did or didn’t do with it.

2:18 | Knowing God’s will is not discerning a specific decision or path. Robert Haldane explains that to “know His will” refers to revelation in Scripture that is “agreeable to Him, what He requires them to do, what He commands, what He prohibits, what He approves, and what He rewards.” The Jews inherited this treasure trove of truth through their covenant relationship with God. Yet they were blind to the promises being fulfilled before their very eyes.

2:19 | The Jews were to be spiritual guides to the nations, but Jesus had told them they themselves were blind (Matt. 13:13-15). He called them blind guides (Matt. 23:24), and blind leaders of the blind (Matt. 15:14).

2:20 | The Jews did not realize they needed to become like children themselves to learn what was important to teach the spiritually immature (Matt. 18:3). Form is translated from morphosis (Greek), meaning “a basic outline or sketch.” The law was true, but only a symbolic image of knowledge and truth with little or no substance.

2:21-23 | A flagrant inconsistency existed between the Jews’ profession and their practice.

2:24 | Blasphemed means “evil spoken of, railed at.” Seeing the hypocrisy in the legalistic yet evil ways of the Jews, the Gentiles reviled God and His Word (Ezek. 36:22).

2:25-27 | The Jews were confident they were right with God because they practiced the rituals or liturgies of their faith. Using the OT, Paul showed them that rituals were no longer sufficient to commend one to God.

2:25 | God instituted the rite of circumcision (Gen. 17:10-13) as a sign of His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the Jews. Romans 4:11 affirms that Abraham’s circumcision was also a seal of the righteousness he acquired by faith in God’s promises.

2:25-26 | Outward ceremonial acts only have value if they are indicative of a dynamic, personally transformative, scriptural, spiritual experience. People today tend to count such things as church membership, baptismal records, and denominational affiliation as proof of their Christianity. But outward signs have meaning only if one is committed to Christ.

2:26 | People who mock the clear teaching in God’s Word cancel everything a ritual stands for. But a person whose heart is right with God, yet has never practiced a ritual, is fulfilling the ritual’s purpose.

2:29 | The idea that the rite of circumcision does not make a man a Jew was not new; it is as old as the law and the prophets; Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer (Deut. 10:16). In the NT, the idea of inward circumcision illustrates the reality of the Christian experience: “In Him (Christ) you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11).