translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: ROM

label: NET study note

text: Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10 . (5) Paul’s material in is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People , 123); another who sees as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in –30 provide the background for ; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).


text: A quotation from Ps 62:12 ; Prov 24:12 ; a close approximation to Matt 16:27 .


text: Paul uses the term Greek here and in v. 10 to refer to non-Jews, i.e., Gentiles.


text: This is the first occurrence of law ( nomos ) in Romans. Exactly what Paul means by the term has been the subject of much scholarly debate. According to J. A. Fitzmyer ( Romans [AB], 131-35; 305-6) there are at least four different senses: (1) figurative, as a “principle”; (2) generic, meaning “a law”; (3) as a reference to the OT or some part of the OT; and (4) as a reference to the Mosaic law. This last usage constitutes the majority of Paul’s references to “law” in Romans.


text: Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.


text: On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25 ; 2 Tim 2:8 .


text: The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.


text: A quotation from Isa 52:5 .


text: Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14 . Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn ( Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision ( περιτομή , peritomh ) and uncircumcision ( ἀκροβυστία , akrobustia ) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).


text: On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41 ; Deut 10:16 ; Jer 4:4 ; Ezek 44:9 .