Rom 2: 25-29: obeying the Law as a Mark of Authenticity

In this section of the pericope, Paul continues to expound the importance of obedience to the Law. As Dunn (1988a) observed, the argument narrows down from “doing good” in 2:7 and 10 to the more specific “upholding the Law” (2:12-16) and now to one commandment –circumcision (Dunn, 1988a:119). It is argued above that Paul appears to be conflating the role of the Law and his Gospel in 2:12-16: the Law informing the heart and action, with the Gospel assuming the authority of judging in the end. In this section, Paul contends that a circumcised heart and obedience to the Law are the two marks of hidden Jews who are composed of Gentiles and Jews.

In 2:14-16 Paul ascribes the authority of judgement to Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Paul. Yet, in 2:25-29, Paul insists that an uncircumcised person (Gentile) who fulfils the Law (τὸν νόμον τελοῦσα) or observes the righteous requirements of the Law (τὰ δικαιώματα τοῦ νόμου φυλάσσῃ; Rom 2:26) judges the circumcised person who transgresses the Law. In fact, this does not mean that the Gentile who fulfils the Law takes the place of Jesus. Rather, the Gentile who obeyed the Law will be evidence during the prosecution of the last day (Cranfield, 1975:174).

In 2:25-29, Paul argues that Jewishness is an inward feature and a result of obedience to the Law. Outward circumcision (which is given before the giving of the Mosaic Law) can only have value when it is accompanied by obedience to the Law. Outward Jewishness and outward circumcision are synonymous (2:28). Jewishness and circumcision, for Paul, is κρυπτός and καρδία respectively. In other words, both Jewishness and circumcision are transferred into the inward quality of the person in question. Such an inward experience is open for both the circumcised and the uncircumcised because circumcision with a corresponding obedience to the Law is also profiting. On the other hand, circumcision without obedience to the Law is reckoned as uncircumcision which is a reversal of status. Schreiner (1998:137– 145) pointed out that to be reckoned as uncircumcised means to become a Gentile and unsaved before

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God’s sight. Therefore, obedience (2:27) to the Law is a mark of a real Jewishness or membership in the community of God.

The word τελέω (2:27) can be translated as, “keep” (RSV), “fulfil” or “satisfy” (Jewett, 2007:234) or it “may be rendered simply as 'to do what the Law says one must do'” (LN 36:20). It conveys fulfilling the law qualitatively or in a deeper sense than quantitative performance of detailed ritual requirements (Dunn, 1988a:122). The difference between the circumcised disobedient person and the uncircumcised obedient person is the locus and the kind of circumcision. For Paul what counts is circumcision of heart and such circumcision is the work of the Spirit. Cranfield (1975:175) rejects reading ἐν πνεύματι as the human spirit as the inwardness and the unseen part of the person in question is adequately expressed by καρδία. The idea of circumcision of heart by the Spirit probably harks back to the promise given in Ezek. 11:19–20 and 36:26–27 where the Spirit will be sent into the hearts of the people of God. According to the promise, obedience to the Law is the result of the work of the Spirit in the heart of the people of God.

The debate over the identity of the Gentiles here is still under discussion. No need of belabouring the point here as it is already discussed above in 2: 12-16. Following a number of scholars (such as Cranfield, 1975:173; Dunn, 1988b:122; Wright, 1996:132–139; Gathercole, 2002a; Schreiner, 1993:196–204 and Das, 2001:185–186), the position taken here is a reference to Gentile Jesus followers. Suffice it to submit the following evidence: first, Paul uses words and language that he used in another place, that carry the same concept and subject. The language of 2:29 contrasts spirit and flesh which Paul uses to distinguish between Jesus followers and non-believing others, for instance, Rom 7:6, 2 Cor 3:6 and Phil 3:3. This language and concept in 2:25-29 evoke the subject of covenant renewal which is in the biblical and extra- biblical Jewish texts where the spirit and the flesh are contrasted (Ezek 36:24-28; 11:19). Paul used the word “reckoned” which is a language of justification and change of status (3:28; 4:3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24; 9:8; 2 Cor 5:19; Gal 3:6).

Second, structurally, the word γὰρ in 2:28 gives reason how Gentiles obey the law without being physically circumcised (2:28-29). The reason that Gentiles can observe the Law is because God is involved in transforming their hearts, which is metaphorically expressed as a circumcised heart by the Spirit. Particularly, the antithetical polarity between the Spirit and the letter is Paul’s expression of distinguishing the believer and unbeliever (7:6; 2 Cor 3:6).

Third, Paul seems to be arguing in other places of the letter that the Jesus followers can keep the Law (3:27; 8:4; 13:8-10). In 3.27, Paul’s Gospel establishes the Law. Law here is νόμος, not principle and

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Paul explains it later in the letter but hints at it here. According to Rom 8:4-9 the mind of the flesh cannot submit to God's Law; by implication the mind of the spirit can and does (Wright, 1996:137). Rom 10:4- 11 quoted Deut 30, the new covenant passage, when someone believes Christ, he is keeping the Law (Wright, 1996:137).

Evidently, Paul is contrasting the Jews who are boasting because of the status and possession of the Law and the Gentiles who neither possess the Law nor are proselyted, but the Law is engraved in their hearts through the Spirit. Hence, the pericope must be speaking of the Law being obeyed in the transformed lifestyle of the Jesus followers to bring honour to the name of God.