17Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
25Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
Main Points and Discussion Questions
1. Those who fail to practice what they profess bring dishonour to God’s reputation (2:17-24).
Disc. Question #1: While Paul is particularly addressing Jews here, pointing out to them that knowing and teaching Mosaic Law cannot rescue them from God’s judgment, what warnings could we as Christians glean from these verses?
2. Being a true Jew is an inward matter. It marked by a “circumcision of the heart” and brought about by the Holy Spirit (2:25-29).
Disc. Question #2a: Is the instruction to “circumcise one’s heart” a new requirement that we first rearead about in the New Testament? (Deut 10:14-16; Jer 4:1-4)
Disc. Question #2b: What were God’s purposes in initiating the physical rite of circumcision, and giving the Mosaic Law? (Romans 4:7-11; Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:22-24) Why would God have ordained these things if He knew that Israelites would put too much confidence in them?
Special discussion question: - taken from Douglas Moo in the NIV Application Commentary (Zondervan, 2000):
How should Christians respond to their Jewish friends and neighbours in light of Romans 2?
