Romans 2:27

Romans 2:27. And shall not the uncircumcision. As in Romans 2:23, the main question here is whether the verse is interrogative or affirmative. Here, however, the original is more decisively in favor of the affirmative than in the previous instance. We would then render: ‘And the uncircumcision,' etc. ‘shall judge thee,' etc.

Which is by nature; i.e., the Gentile; ‘by nature' = by natural birth.

If it fulfil the law; lit, ‘fulfilling the law,' but it introduces the condition more fully stated in Romans 2:26.

Shall judge. This verb stands in emphatic position. (Comp. Matthew 12:41-42, and similar passages.) The reference is not to the direct, but to the indirect, judgment of the last day, when the conduct of the Gentile will, by comparison, show the true moral attitude of the sinning Jew.

Who with the letter and circumcision, etc. ‘With' refers to the circumstances in which the action takes place; ‘here according to the context: in spite of which the transgression takes place' (Meyer). ‘Letter' points to the law as written by God; there is no implied opposition to ‘spirit.' ‘Circumcision' points to the covenant obligation of the Jew to keep the law. Hence the aggravated guilt of one who in such circumstances is a transgressor of this law

for that the Mosaic law is meant is plain enough. The absence of the article here (in the original) ought to be conclusive against the notion that Paul omits the article only when he means ‘law' in general