Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Romans 2:17

Under the same principle comes the Jew, who has full and privileged opportunities (21) and yet makes ill use of them by open unrighteousness (25) from the consequences of which no privilege can deliver him in face of a judgment which considers character and not privilege, (Romans 3:1) His advantage was an exceptional trust given by GOD, which his failure does not impair, as on GOD’S part, though it justifies his punishment, but not himself. (9) He is, therefore, as sinning against knowledge, a state foreseen in O.T., under the same condemnation as the Gentile, law having given to him the knowledge which makes wrongdoing into sin.

This section shows explicitly that the Jew belongs to the class τῶν τὴν�. They possess the truth, Romans 2:17-20, ἐν�, 21 ff. Here, as there is no dispute as to fact, the Jew obviously possessing the truth, the main argument is directed to his supposed plea, that his specially privileged position exempts him from condemnation (Romans 3:1-20).

It is important to realise that the whole stress is laid on acting upon knowledge, whether embodied in human consciousness or in an external law; it is this duty of obedience which is the characteristic demand of the pre-Christian dispensation; and its exposition leads to the conclusion that all have sinned and are amenable to judgment, as all have failed to obey law, in one form or another. cf. S.H., p. 58, Lft, Galatians 4:11, Hort, R. & E. p. 25.

17. εἰ δὲ. Apodosis Romans 2:21; on the construction cf. Winer-M., p. 711 (who keeps. εἰ δὲ) Blass, p. 284 (who prefers ἴδε; so Field ad loc.). If we read εἰ δὲ it is a case of anacoluthon, of a quite intelligible kind. The nexus supports εἰ δὲ. He is passing from the case of the Gentile to the case of the Jew with his special conditions; and the particle of contrast is required.

Ἰουδαῖος)[91] Ἔλλην marks nationality, but suggests too all that the distinctive nationality meant to the Jew; cf. Galatians 2:4.

[91] )( opposed to

ἐπονομάζῃ. Only here in N.T. The ἐπί gives the force of a specific name, differentiating a part in a wider class. So here = not ἄνθρωπος only, but Ἰουδαῖος. cf. Plato, Protag. 349 A, σοφιστὴν ἐπονομάζεις σεαυτόν.

ἐπαναπαύῃ κ.τ.λ. These clauses enumerate the details of the true prerogatives of the Jew, as called by GOD; so

καυχᾶσαι, in a good sense; all your boasting is in GOD and His dealings with you; cf. Romans 5:11; 2 Corinthians 11:7.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Romans 2:17

Old Testament

New Testament