What Happens:
Paul continues his tirade against the Romans. He tells them they have no excuses for their atrocious behavior, and have no right whatsoever to actually pass judgment against other people. He says angrily that they are hypocrites for doing the exact same behaviors that they denounce in others. When they do so, they bring God’s judgment on themselves. They show contempt for God’s kindness and patience, and don’t realize that his kindness is intended to lead them to repentance.
Paul writes that unless they repent and change their ways, they will bring God’s wrath down on themselves. God will “repay each person according to what they have done.” Those who have tried to do good will get eternal life. Those who have rejected the truth and follow evil will get God’s anger. Paul says that there will be “trouble and distress” for anyone who does evil: First for the Jew, then for the gentile. Likewise, there will be peace and honor for anyone who does good: First for the Jew, then for the gentile. “For God does not show favoritism.”
Paul goes on to say that those who claim to follow the Jewish Law will be judged by the Law, and that righteousness comes from actually obeying the law, not just from reading it. God’s law is in fact “written on people’s hearts”, in the sense that non-Jews who have never even heard of the law still follow parts of it by nature. At the end of the world God will judge people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, “as my gospel declares.”
Now, Paul says, if you’re a Jew, if you think you know God’s will from reading his law, if you’re convinced you’re a guide for the blind, a light in the darkness, if you’re a teacher for others, then why do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who denounce adultery, do you commit adultery? You who hate idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you break the law? Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah: “God’s name is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you.”
He concludes that circumcision, the physical sign of Jewish adherence to God’s law, is valuable only if the person actually observes the law. Otherwise, it is worthless, and the person might as well not be circumcised (or Jewish) at all. “The one who is not circumcised physically yet obeys the law will condemn you, who even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.” If you’re a Jew only outwardly and your circumcision is solely physical, then you’re not really a Jew. A real Jew is one inwardly. Their circumcision is “one of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” Their praise comes from God, not from other people.
Commentary:
In the previous chapter, Paul was really laying in to some unidentified group in Rome. Although his letter is directed to the Jewish community there, he spent several paragraphs railing against some group of “godless and wicked men”, which he never named but appeared to be the Roman population in general.
However, this chapter extends the tirade to include the Jews. And boy does Paul seem unhappy with them. Especially with their hypocrisy in pretending to follow Jewish Law and then completely ignoring it (plus the added hypocrisy of criticizing the non-Jew Romans for committing the exact same type of behaviors that the Jews are committing.)
Paul’s main intent here seems to be to try and get across to the Roman Jews that their behavior is unacceptable and needs to change, stat. He threatens them with God’s anger and judgment. At one point he mentions “my” (i.e. Paul’s) gospel. Which is confusing since the gospel is about Jesus, not Paul. That wording makes sense only if Paul included a copy of the gospel (“gospel” being the account of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection) in with his letter. Given that his audience here seems to be Jewish, not Christian, it’s plausible that he would have included the story of Jesus’ life for evangelical purposes. It’d be easier for Paul to convert them once he gets to town if they already know the basic facts about Jesus. Then all he has to do is prove that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and boom, converts. The only gospel narratives to survive to the modern day (that I know of) are the ones written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which today comprise the first four books of the New Testament. If Paul did include one of those works with his letter, it would most likely have been Luke’s, as Luke and Paul were traveling partners for much of Paul’s journeys. Although, Paul does describe it as “his” gospel. The idea of Paul writing a gospel himself, which has subsequently been lost over time, makes my inner archaeologist rub their hands in glee. However, Paul is also a MAJOR type-A, run everything, everything-is-my-way type of guy, and I can easily see him describing stuff (such as Luke’s gospel) as “his” because he currently controls it, not because he wrote it.
Anyway, this chapter seems mostly a setup for a call to conversion later. He spent the first chapter talking about how morally terrible Rome is, then this chapter telling the Jews how morally terrible they are, and now that they’re convinced that they’re awful and need to change, he’ll probably spend the next chapter(s) telling them how to do that.
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