So, three elements can be affirmed as to the identity of the interlocutor in Romans 2: he is a Jew; he is a Jew who has not believed the gospel; and he is a representative of the nation as a whole. The context of “boasting” in 2:17, 23 is Paul’s list of Jewish privileges in 2:17–20. There is general agreement on the meaning of Ioudaios in 2:17. W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam focus on the national character: Jews over against the gentile nations.14 Yet this also
Page 200