For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. [Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:20-23. By their conduct the Jews had fulfilled the words of Isaiah and the meaning of Ezekiel. The Gentiles, judging by the principle that a god may be known by his worshipers, had, by reason of the Jews, judged Jehovah to be of such a character that their judgment became a blasphemy. (See also Ezekiel 16:51-59) Thus Paul took from the Jew a confidence of divine favor, which he had because he possessed the law. But the law was not the sole confidence of the Jew, for he had circumcision also, and he regarded this rite as a seal or conclusive evidence that he belonged to the people of God, being thereby separated by an infinite distance from all other people. He looked with scorn and contempt on the uncircumcised, even using the term as an odious epithet (Genesis 34:14; Exodus 12:48; 1 Samuel 17:26; 2 Samuel 1:20; Isaiah 52:1; Ezekiel 28:10) The apostle, therefore, turns his fire so as to dislodge the Jew from this deceptive stronghold. He drives him from his hope and trust in circumcision.]

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Old Testament