“Behold, you call yourself a Jew, resting on the Law and boasting in God. Thou knowest the will, and, being instructed from the law, thou examineest the essential. You also trust yourself to be leader of the blind, light of those in darkness, educator of the imprudent, teacher of the underage, because you have the form of knowledge and truth in the law.”
Romans 2:17-20

Paul does not mince words when he writes to the church in Rome. However, we who live almost 2000 years later should be aware of the situation at that time. Paul is writing to a church. I emphasize this here because I have heard countless times in Christian circles the ideas from this text as “universal truth about all Jews of all times.” That was definitely a negative assessment. The word “Phariseeism” or the talk of the “Law” far too often pass into Christian language unthinkingly.

However, Paul is not making a general statement, but he is specifically addressing a particular situation in the Roman church that had come to his attention. His understanding is important and liberating.

Advantage from the lineage?

Let us note that Paul himself is a Jewish man from Tarsis (Acts 21:39) who had an unprecedented career in the Jewish faith (Phil 3:4-6). Growing up in Jerusalem, he had the privilege of being “instructed at the feet of Gamaliel in the exact interpretation of his father’s law, and he was a zealot for God” (Acts 22:3). He had a great understanding of everything that came out of Judaism. He knew it from his own experience and by no means writes as an anti-Semite. Just like Jesus, Paul does not make sweeping condemnations. That is far from him. We must understand that the apostle is alluding to a situation in the church in Rome.

When Christians speak hastily of “Pharisaism” and classify all Jews as being under the “Law”, they do not do justice to the Bible, nor to the expectation that is kept for us and for Israel. Paul is critical and rightly so, but his criticism is directed at a specific situation. Obviously, there are people in the community who saw a special advantage in their ancestry.

Paul describes it this way, “You call yourself a Jew, resting on the law and boasting in God.” The apostle refers to a certain situation in which some Jews in the church in Rome were probably acting self-righteously. This is by no means new, and it is by no means limited to Judaism. In the context of the Letter to the Romans, the statement has relevance to the context. There were some who dared to act as teachers – on the basis of their ancestry! “You also trust yourself to be the guide of the blind, the light of those in darkness, the educator of the unwise, the teacher of the young …” (Rom 2:19-20).

We have the Torah

If you read this passage carefully and especially the end of the passage, it becomes clear that Paul was not just talking about descent, but about a certain understanding:

“You trust yourself to be a teacher … because you have the form of knowledge and truth in the law.”
Rom 2:19-20

Accordingly, Paul sees a problem in looking at the Bible. One “has” the Torah, therefore one “has” right and therefore one “can” be a teacher. Don’t many Christians today see it exactly the same way? One “has the Bible” and “thus the truth leased. Whoever does not think and believe as I do, is wrong”. This too is self-righteousness, not unlike what Paul describes here.

For Paul, the Torah is the “form of knowledge and truth.” The Torah is not to be confused with knowledge and truth itself. It is only the form of the same. This is a significant statement, especially in light of the doctrine of verbal inspiration.

Against self-righteousness

Self-righteousness is the evil against which Paul expresses his criticism. In particular, his warning is against those who boast about the Bible. Of course, he is directly addressing some Jews in the community here, and instead of “Bible” he is talking about Torah. However, this should not divert our attention from its purpose.

As mentioned in previous posts, Paul builds an argument in Romans 1:18 through Romans 3:20 wherein no man is righteous anymore. Sometimes this group comes next, sometimes that group. In the end, however, there is the great equalization. No one manages to stand before God by his own strength. We are and remain all exclusively dependent on His grace.