2: 13.

act in accord with law shall be so esteemed on that day when, as my Good News declares, God shall judge the secrets of men by means of Jesus Christ. For when the heathen, who have no law, do by the light of nature what the law requires, then, since they have no law, they are a law to themselves. For what the law requires can be seen written on their hearts, their conscience at the same time attesting that they do right or wrong, and the conclusions of reason attained by discussion, accusing or excusing them.

But if you bear the name of a Jew,

And rely on the law,

And make your boast of God,

And know his will,

And distinguish the things which differ, Because you are instructed out of the law; And believe yourself to be a guide to the blind,

A light to those in darkness,

An instructor of the foolish,

A teacher of children,

Because you have in the law the outline of the knowledge of the truth

You, then, who are the teacher of others,

Why not teach yourself?

You, who loudly tell others not to steal,
Do you steal?

ROM. 2:22.

THE TRUE JEW.

145

You, who say others should not commit

adultery,

Do you commit adultery?

You, who abhor idols,

Do you rob temples?

You, who boast about the law,

Do you dishonor God, by breaking the
law?

For the name of God is blasphemed among the nations
Because of you, just as it is written.

For circumcision is of advantage to you
If you keep the law.

But if you are a breaker of the law,

Your circumcision has become uncircumci

sion.

So if the uncircumcised observe the law's re

quirements,

Shall not their uncircumcision

Be considered as circumcision?
And the physically uncircumcised

By fulfilling the law,

Will condemn you, who by means of

your literal circumcision

Are a breaker of the law.

For he is not a Jew, who is one outwardly

only,

Nor is that true circumcision

Which is only external and physical.

2:29.

But a Jew is one who is such in the secret
of his heart,

And true circumcision is that of the heart,
And is spiritual, not literal.

Whose praise does not come from men,

But from God.

What, then, is the superiority of the Jew? Or, what is the advantage of circumcision?

Great in every way. First, because the Jews were entrusted with the revelations of God.

What! If some were unfaithful, surely their unfaithfulness would not do away with the faithfulness of God?

By no means. Let God be proved true and every man false, just as it is written :

So that thou mightest be shown to be right in thy argument,

And triumph in thy cause.

But if our badness establishes God's goodness, what shall we say? Surely God is not bad in making his wrath felt? (I say this from the standpoint of a man.)

By no means. For how, then, is God to judge the world? But if the truth of God, by means of my lie, has resulted in his honor, why am I also still judged as a sinner, and why should it not be, just as we are slanderously reported, and just as it is declared we say: Let us do evil so that good

ROM. 3: 8.

may come?

demned.

ALL SINNERS.

147

Such a contention is justly con

What, then? Are we the better off?

Not altogether. For we have already brought the charge that both Jews and Greeks, all of us, are sinners, just as it is written :

There is not a good man, not one:

There is not one who understands,

There is not one who keeps seeking after God.

All have gone astray, they have become altogether useless.

No one is of use, not so much as one.

An open grave is their throat,

With their tongues they have deceived.
The poison of asps is under their lips,
Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are quick to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their ways,
And they never knew the path of peace.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says it to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become subject to judgment before God. Because by

doing what the law requires

No one is set right in his sight.

For by means of the law is the full knowledge of sin.

3: 21.

But now, aside from law, a goodness which comes from God is made known, and it has the witness of the law and the prophets. It is a goodness which comes from God through faith in Jesus Christ, and is intended for all those who believe in him, without reference to who, or what they are. For every one of us has sinned and we keep failing to attain to God's glorious ideal. But, by his favor, we are being freely set right in his sight through the deliverance which we have in Christ Jesus. For God placed him before the world, to be, by his death, and through faith in him, a means of reconciliation. And he did it, to prove his goodness, as well as because of the fact that, in his forbearance, he had passed over the sins men had previously committed. He did it, I say, as a proof, at the present time, of his goodness, and also, so that he might be good, and might at the same time set him right in his sight, who is actuated by faith in Jesus. Where, then, is the boasting?

It is excluded.

By what law? The law which tells us how we are to act?

No, but by a law which tells us how we are to believe. For we maintain that man is set right by faith aside from the acts which the law requires. Or, does God belong to the Jews alone? Does he not also belong to the heathen? Yes, to the