Romans 2:17–24

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law36 and boast of your relationship to God37 2:18 and know his will38 and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law,39 2:19 and if you are convinced40 that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth—2:21 therefore41 you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor42 idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”43

36	sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
37	tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.
38	tn Grk “the will.”
39	tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”
40	tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17–18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.
41	tn The structure of vv. 21–24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17–20; others see vv. 17–20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).
42	tn Or “detest.”
43	sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.