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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Romans 2:25 - 2:29
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False and true circumcision:
v. 25. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the Law; but if thou be a breaker of the Law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
v. 26. Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
v. 27. And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the Law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the Law?
v. 28. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;
v. 29. but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
To the arraignment of Paul the Jews might have raised the objection that he was forgetting the sacrament of circumcision and the special significance which attached to this rite, by which the Jews were separated, set apart, from the heathen round about them. But circumcision does not change the argument of Paul in one single particular. It is true indeed that it has its value, if one practices the Law, follows its injunctions at all times and in all cases. If a circumcised Jew is a transgressor of the Law, the chief purpose of the sacrament is lost, for it bound the Jews under the obedience of the Law. Unless the keeping of the Law followed circumcision, the Jew was exactly in the same position as the Gentile. If, now, the uncircumcision observe the demands of the Law, will not the uncircumcision of such a person be regarded as circumcision? The argument is: If a Jew, though circumcised, break the Law, he will be condemned; if, therefore, a Gentile, though uncircumcised, keep the Law, he shall be justified. What follows? And the uncircumcision by nature (the Gentile, by nature uncircumcised and therefore unclean) that fulfills the Law will judge and condemn thee, who in spite of the letter and of circumcision art a transgressor of the Law. A heathen who with his imperfect natural law succeeds in keeping some of its demands may well condemn a Jew that boasts of the written Law and of the rite of circumcision, and yet does not honor the Law by keeping it.
And so Paul brings on his conclusion. Not he who seems so according to appearances is really a Jew; neither is that a true circumcision which is obvious as having been performed in the flesh. The mere fact that a person is a descendant of Abraham and has received in his body the rite of circumcision does not make him a member of the real Israel of the Lord, of the chosen people in the real sense of the word. The situation rather is this: He is a Jew indeed, a true Israelite, that is one in heart, in the inner man; and the true circumcision is that of the heart, that which is performed in the spirit, not in the letter. When the Holy Ghost, through the Word, changes the unrepentant, unbelieving heart into a believing heart, that is the true circumcision. And the person in whom this miracle has been performed has his praise not from men, but of God, Deu_10:16. He does not rely upon mere outward descent and ceremonies, to which he might boastfully point, but he realizes that his conversion is the work of God alone, Deu_30:6. He gives all praise and honor to God alone. Note: in a similar manner it is true of Baptism, that it must not be regarded as a rite of admission, regardless of faith and change of heart. It is a washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, and both obliges and enables the baptized person to lead a godly life.
Summary
God, the impartial Judge, will render to every person his reward, from the evidence of his works, according to the Gospel; the Jews that make their boast of the Law and yet transgress the Law become guilty before the Lord and will have to bear His wrath; herein circumcision will avail them nothing, for the mere external rite has no value before God unless it is accompanied also by a circumcision of the heart, which is shown in the fulfilling of the Law