Rom 2:17-20 | PNT | STEP | Behold, thou art called a Jew . Already, Paul has shown that all men, Jew or Gentile, will be judged according to their deeds, whether they have the law or not ( ). Now he applies the argument directly to the Jew, in order to show his need of the gospel as well as the Gentile. state what the Jew claimed for himself. Called a Jew . To Paul the word "Jew" had a meaning much like "Christian" to us. It meant to him one of God's people. Rested upon the law . There is no article before "law" in the Greek. The Jew had law, in this case "the" law, for his foundation. Makest thy boast of God . Boasted of God's favor to his race.

Romans 2:17-20

Behold, thou art called a Jew. Already, Paul has shown that all men, Jew or Gentile, will be judged according to their deeds, whether they have the law or not (Ro 2:1-16). Now he applies the argument directly to the Jew, in order to show his need of the gospel as well as the Gentile. Ro 2:17-20 state what the Jew claimed for himself.

Called a Jew. To Paul the word "Jew" had a meaning much like "Christian" to us. It meant to him one of God's people.

Rested upon the law. There is no article before "law" in the Greek. The Jew had law, in this case "the" law, for his foundation.

Makest thy boast of God. Boasted of God's favor to his race. Knowest [his] will. As revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures in the hands of the Jews.

Approvest the things that are more excellent. Instructed in the law, the Jew approved by word its excellent moral principles. A guide of the blind. It was God's purpose that in choosing Israel the Israelites should become teachers of the truth; but their sin was that while they boasted of this privilege they failed to do their duty. See Mt 15:14. Such a boast as this was current among the Jews of Paul's time. He heaps phrase on phrase to exalt their claims, in order to show in what follows how far short their lives fell of their professions. Which hast the form of knowledge. In the law they had the form, the pattern, of knowledge and of the truth. The truth in its fullness came with Jesus Christ (Joh 1:17), but the law was the pattern, the typical form, of this truth.