Romans 2:17-24

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ¹  and boast of your relationship to God ²  2:18 and know his will ³  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ⁴  2:19 and if you are convinced ⁵  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ⁶  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ⁷  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ⁸ 

[2:17]  ¹ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ² tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ³ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ⁵ tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

[2:21]  ⁶ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

[2:22]  ⁷ tn Or “detest.”

[2:24]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.