Romans 2.25-Jewish Disobedience to the Law Negates the Value of Circumcision
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 18, 2007
Romans: Romans 2:25-Jewish Disobedience to the Law Negates the Value of Circumcision
Lesson # 67
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 2:17.
This evening we will continue with our study of the twelfth and final principle of divine judgment that is contained in Romans 2:17-29, namely, that God judges according to reality and without regard of racial background or religious profession.
The Jews erroneously, presumptuously and arrogantly thought that they would enter the kingdom of heaven because of their racial background as Jews and circumcision as well as the privileges that God had given to them such as possessing the Law given to Moses.
In Romans 2:17-24, Paul addresses his unsaved Jewish audience with regards to their arrogance related to their racial background as well as their being the recipients and custodians of the Old Testament Scriptures.
In Romans 2:25-29, Paul addresses the issue of circumcision with his unsaved Jewish audience.
This evening we will study Romans 2:25, in which Paul teaches his unsaved, self-righteous Jewish audience that circumcision can not deliver them from eternal condemnation since disobedience to the Law negates the value of circumcision.
This passage teaches the principle that Jewish disobedience with the ritual of circumcision is meaningless and unrighteousness in the eyes of God.
Tomorrow evening we will note Romans 2:26, which teaches that perfect Gentile obedience to the Law without the ritual of circumcision would be considered as righteousness in the eyes of God.
Dr. Thomas L. Constable commenting on Romans 2:25-27 makes the following insightful comment, he writes, “Next to the Mosaic Law the Jews boasted almost equally in their circumcision. Some of them believed that God would not permit any circumcised male to enter perdition. They felt this rite guaranteed their acceptance by God (as some Christians believe baptism guarantees salvation). Paul reminded such people that reality is more important than profession and obedience more vital than testimony. Circumcision would not shield them from God's wrath if they failed to do all He commanded. ‘. . . in contrast to Jewish teachers, who held that only a radical decision to renounce the covenant invalidated one's circumcision, Paul argues that simple transgression of the law can have the same effect.’ In our day cans and bottles have labels on them to indicate what is inside. Circumcision was a label and implied that the Jew was obedient to God. However if he was not completely obedient the label was not only worthless but deceptive. The contents of the can are more important than the label. Similarly if a Gentile was completely obedient to God the absence of the label of circumcision was not of major consequence. The Jews had put more emphasis on the presence of the label than on the contents of the can. Paul's point was that disobedience brings condemnation and perfect obedience theoretically brings salvation, regardless of whether one is a Jew or a Gentile (Notes on Romans; 2006 Edition; page 24).
In order to gain a greater insight into the impact of Paul’s words in Romans 2:25-29 that were addressed to his unsaved, self-righteous Jewish audience, on Thursday evening, we studied the meaning and purpose of circumcision and on Sunday we noted the controversy that it caused in the first century apostolic church.
Let’s read Romans 2:17-29 and then concentrate on Romans 2:25.
Romans 2:17-29, “But if you bear the name ‘Jew’ and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For ‘THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,’ just as it is written. For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”
“For” is the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which emphasizes an inference drawn from the preceding paragraph that began in Romans 2:17 and concluded in Romans 2:24.
In Romans 2:17-19, Paul destroys the unregenerate Jews’ false security, which was based upon six privileges God had given to them, which did not produce obedience in them but rather arrogance towards their relationship with the Gentiles.
In Romans 2:19-20, the apostle Paul lists four pretensions of the Jew and in Romans 2:20c, Paul teaches that this arrogance is based upon “having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth.”
In Romans 2:21-23, Paul poses five rhetorical questions to the self-righteous, unsaved Jew that exposed their hypocrisy implying that they did not obey the Law themselves.
In Romans 2:24, he teaches that as a result of their conduct the reputation of the character of the person of God being slandered among the Gentiles.
Thus, Paul destroys the false security that the Jew placed in his being the recipient and custodian of the Old Testament Scriptures in that possession of the Law does not protect them from the wrath of God or guarantee them entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
In Romans 2:25, the apostle Paul continues his emphasis upon obeying the Law rather than simply hearing the Law.
This time in Romans 2:25, Paul attacks circumcision, which the unsaved Jew believed would guarantee them protection from the wrath of God and entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
Romans 2:25-29 emphasizes that the ritual of circumcision is of value if the Jew obeys the Law but if he is disobedient, circumcision is of no value and cannot protect him from the wrath of God.
Therefore, in Roman 2:25, the apostle Paul employs the conjunction gar to intensify his discussion regarding the importance of obeying the Law and to introduce a statement, which destroys the Jews’ false security in circumcision.
The conjunction gar intensifies the inference drawn from the preceding paragraph that possession of the Law is meaningless if the Jew does not obey the Law.
In fact, their disobedience to the Law places them under greater condemnation than the unsaved Gentiles who were not given the privilege of being the custodians of the Old Testament Scriptures.
The conjunction gar introduces a new paragraph that teaches that in the same way, the ritual of circumcision is of no value if the Jew is disobedient to the Law.
Therefore, gar connects the previous paragraph to the one to follow, and intensifies Paul’s argument that perfect obedience to the Law is essential in order to be justified before God who is perfect.
Only the Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly obedient to the Law, thus revealing to the Jew that he is in need of a Savior who is Jesus Christ.
Romans 2:25, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.”
“Circumcision” is the noun peritome (peritomhv) (per-it-om-ay), which refers to the ritual act of cutting of the foreskin of the male’s penis.
It was given as a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham and his biological descendants that they were set apart by God and yet was not given to justify them before God or save them from eternal condemnation.
“Is of value” is the verb opheleo (w)felevw) (o-fel-eh-o), which means, “to be beneficial.”
“If” is the conditional particle ean (e)avn) (eh-an), which introduces the protasis of a fifth class conditional statement.
The conditional particle ean is employed with the subjunctive mood of the verb poieo, “practice” and the present indicative form of the verb opheleo, “is of value” to form a fifth class condition, which offers a condition the fulfillment of which is realized in the present time.
In Romans 2:25, the conditional particle ean introduces the protasis of a fifth class condition, which is actually semantically a third class conditional statement that expresses a present general condition.
The fifth class condition expresses the spiritual principle that if the Jew practices the Law perfectly, then the fact that he is circumcised will as an eternal spiritual truth be beneficial to him.
“You practice” is the verb (pravssw), which means, “to make it a habit of practicing” and denotes a habit and a process leading to an accomplishment.
The present tense is “customary” or more accurately “stative” signifying an action that is to take place “continually” or is an “unbroken process” since in context Paul is demonstrating to his unsaved Jewish audience that they must be perfect as God in order to be justified by Him.
Of course, only Jesus Christ was perfect and the entire human race has fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:10, 23).
“The Law” is the noun nomos (novmo$) (nom-os), which refers to the entire Old Testament Scriptures and not just the Mosaic Law since in context, Paul is mentioning the privileges that God gave the Jews’, which they boasted of.
Therefore, their boast would be regarding the entire special revelation they received from God and not just the Mosaic Law.
Romans 2:25, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.”
“If” is once again the conditional particle ean (e)avn) (eh-an), which introduces the protasis of a third class conditional statement in the adversative clause.
In Romans 2:25, we have the present subjunctive form of the verb eimi in the protasis.
However, in the apodasis we have the perfect indicative of the verb ginomai.
Thus, this is not a “fifth” class condition, which requires a “present indicative” form of the verb in the apodasis whereas the “third” class can take virtually any mood-tense combination, including the present indicative.
In the adversative clause of Romans 2:25, the third class condition “depicts what is likely to occur in the future.”
Thus, Paul is saying with the third class condition that it is likely to occur in the future that his unsaved, self-righteous Jewish audience will be transgressors of the Law.
“You are” is the verb eimi (ei)miv) (i-mee), which means, “to possess certain inherent characteristics” or “a state.”
“A transgressor” is the noun parabates (parabavth$) (par-ab-at-ace), which is a compound word composed of the preposition para, “beyond, contrary to” and the verb baino, “to go,” thus the word literally means, “to go beyond.”
The verb describes a person one who goes beyond and thus is a violator of the law.
A transgressor is one who goes beyond the line drawn by the Law.
“The Law” is the noun nomos (novmo$) (nom-os), which again refers to the Old Testament Scriptures.
Romans 2:25, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.”
Next, in the adversative clause of Romans 2:25, we have the apodasis of this third class condition, which is conveyed “implicitly” meaning without a formal structural marker.
“Your” is the genitive 2nd person singular personal pronoun su (suv), which refers Paul’s self-righteous, unsaved Jewish audience.
“Has become” is the verb ginomai (givnomai), which means, “to enter into a new condition or state, to become something you weren’t before.”
Therefore, the word signifies the entrance of the circumcised Jew into the state of being uncircumcised in the eyes of God as a result of transgressing His Law.
“Uncircumcision” is the noun akrobustia (a)krobustia) (ak-rob-oos-tee-ah), which stands in contrast to the noun peritome, “circumcision” and means, “uncircumcision.”
The word appears twenty times in the Greek New Testament where it is used in both a literal and figurative sense.
In Judaism, to be uncircumcised meant to be a Gentile.
The expression “uncircumcised” was a derogatory expression used by the Jews when speaking of the Gentiles such as David speaking of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:26).
Although akrobustia is not used in 1 Samuel 17:26 but it does appear in at least fifteen places in the Septuagint.
The word is used in the Greek New Testament as a designation for the Gentiles in Galatians 2:7 and Ephesians 2:11.
It was used in a literal sense denoting the physical condition of uncircumcision in 1 Corinthians 7:18-19.
The word is also used of the state of being uncircumcised in Romans 2:26, 27, 4:9, 10, 11, 12, Galatians 5:6, 6:15 and Colossians 2:13 and 3:11.
In Romans 2:25, the noun akrobustia refers to the state of being uncircumcised.
Therefore, Paul is saying in Romans 2:25 that the Jew who is circumcised has become for all practical purposes in the judgment of God an uncircumcised pagan when he transgresses the Law.
In Romans 2:25, Paul teaches that performing the ritual of circumcision cannot provide salvation and produce the righteousness in the Jew that is needed to coexist with a holy God who is perfect since it is only beneficial if the Jew is perfectly obedient to the Law.
Therefore, ritual without perfect obedience to the Law of God is meaningless and unrighteousness.
