Romans 2:24

Romans 2:24. For. This word is not found in Isaiah 52:5, the passage here quoted (from the LXX.). Paul inserts it to show that he has applied it in his own way. That he does not cite it as a fulfilled prophecy appears further from the unusual position of ‘as it is written,' after the Old Testament words. This verse confirms the statement of Romans 2:23, that God was dishonored through the transgression of the law by the Jews, and is appropriate, whatever view be taken of the construction of that verse.

The name of God, etc. The original passage is: ‘and my name continually every day is blasphemed.' The reference was to the dishonor put upon God's name by the enslaving of the Jews; but, as already indicated, Paul applies the words to different circumstances.

Among the Gentiles because of you. (‘Through you' is incorrect.) The LXX. has these words, though the order is different from that of the Apostle's language. The sense of the verse is plain: ‘The Gentiles judged the religion of the Jews by the scandalous conduct of the Jews themselves, and thus were led to blaspheme their God, Jehovah. The Jews boasted of the law, and reflected disgrace on the lawgiver' (Lange). For the Jews were ‘the Gentiles' Bible.' It was as true then as now, that ‘the greatest obstructors of the success of the Word, are those whose bad lives contradict their good doctrine' (Henry).

As it is written. He had quoted the language of the Old Testament, but not in its historical application. But Ezekiel 36:23 expresses Paul's thought: ‘I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them.'