2. The Jew is Condemned; His External Circumcision does not Avail.

This section contains the direct application to the case of the Jew, in the form of an indignant outburst (Romans 2:17-24), much of the vehemence of which has been lost through the incorrect reading followed in the E. V.; the general principle is then applied to circumcision (Romans 2:25-29); preparing the way for the thought of chap. 3. The stronghold of Jewish pride was the sign of circumcision, and a reference to it could not well be omitted in this rebuke of Jewish pride. Romans 2:17-24 virtually resume the thought of Romans 2:1-3, but this thought had been enforced in the intervening verses, so that there is no abrupt change of subject. (Romans 2:17-20 form the minor proposition; Romans 2:21-24, the conclusion of the syllogism introduced by the last section.) No man must condemn another, for the judgment is on moral grounds and according to light (Romans 2:1-16); the Jew condemns others, proud of his religious privileges (Romans 2:17-20); which but makes his immorality the more inexcusable (Romans 2:21-24), and there is no escape through circumcision, since true circumcision is of the heart (Romans 2:25-29).

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Old Testament