Romans 2:26

f. Here the inference is drawn from the principle laid down in Romans 2:25. This being so, Paul argues, if the uncircumcision maintain the just requirements of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be accounted circumcision, sc., because it has really done what circumcision pledged the Jew to do? Cf. Galatians 5:3. ἡ ἀκροβυστία at the beginning of the verse is equivalent to the Gentiles (ἔθνη of Romans 2:14), the abstract being put for the concrete: in ἡ ἀκροβυστία αὐτοῦ, the αὐτοῦ individualises a person who is conceived as keeping the law, though not circumcised. As he has done what circumcision bound the Jew to do, he will be treated as if in the Jew's position: his uncircumcision will be reckoned as circumcision. λογισθήσεται may be merely a logical future, but like the other futures in Romans 2:12-16 it is probably more correct to refer it to what will take place at the last judgment. The order of the words in Romans 2:27 indicates that the question is not continued: “and thus the uncircumcision shall judge thee,” etc. κρινεῖ is emphatic by position: the Jew, in the case supposed, is so far from being able to assert a superiority to the Gentile that the Gentile himself will be his condemnation. Cf. Matthew 12:41 f. ἡ ἐκ φύσεως ἀκροβυστία should properly convey one idea “those who are by nature uncircumcised”. But why should nature be mentioned at all in this connection? It seems arbitrary to say with Hofmann that it is referred to in order to suggest that uncircumcision is what the Gentile is born in, and therefore involves no guilt. As far as that goes, Jew and Gentile are alike. Hence in spite of the grammatical irregularity, which in any case is not too great for a nervous writer like Paul, I prefer to connect ἐκ φύσεως, as Burnes does (Moods and Tenses, § 427), with τελοῦσα, and to render: “the uncircumcision which by nature fulfils the law”: cf. Romans 2:14. τὸν διὰ γράμματος καὶ περιτομῆς παραβάτην νόμου. The διὰ is that which describes the circumstances under which, or the accompaniment to which, anything is done. The Jew is a law-transgressor, in spite of the facts that he possesses a written revelation of God's will, and bears the seal of the covenant, obliging him to the performance of the law, upon his body. He has an outward standard, which does not vary with his moral condition, like the law written in the pagan's heart; he has an outward pledge that he belongs to the people of God, to encourage him when he is tempted to indolence or despair; in both these respects he has an immense advantage over the Gentile, yet both are neutralised by this he is a law-transgressor.