Paul, the law, Jews, and Gentiles: A contextual and exegetical reading of Romans 2:12-16

I. INTRODUCTION

The issue of Jewish and Christian relations is one that occupies public attention to this day. This reality was evidenced with the dedication of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on April 22, 1993. The report of the ceremonies, on the front page of the Chicago Tribune on April 23, brought the issue into bold relief. In a touching photograph, Vice President Albert Gore is seen with his arm around a Christian woman who had hidden several Jews during the days of the Holocaust, one of whom she eventually married. If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, this picture evokes a myriad of questions and assertions, many of which have infiltrated academic communities and imposed their agendas upon scholarly enquiry with great vigor.

The present discussion will, in some degree, reflect this trend. The passage under investigation, Rom 2:12-16, addresses the Jew/non-Jew relationship from the perspective of that which is integral in defining the essence of being Jewish: the place of the Law in God's dealings with Jews and Gentiles. The passage raises several important questions. What is the relationship of the Law to Gentiles? Is there a "natural law" that is the Gentile equivalent to the Jewish Law? How is "conscience" implicated in the argument? Can Gentiles receive salvation through obedience to this natural law in the same manner in which the Jews were thought to be able to be saved through their Law? Is Paul's argumentation in 2:12-16 a "flat contradiction" to the position articulated in 3:9 and 20?1

This essay will investigate these and related questions. The organization of this enquiry is as follows. Rom 2:12-16 will first be examined with regard to its place in its literary context. This will require definition of the boundaries of the literary context as well as of the flow of Paul's argumentation in this section of the epistle. Against the background of the literary context, 2:12-16 will receive its exegetical consideration. Finally, some theological implications of this treatment will be considered.

In many ways, delineation of a literary context for Rom 2:12-16 is arbitrary and as varied as the scholars who interact with the passage. R. Jewett argues that the entire epistle must serve as the literary context when discussing the issue of the Law as it relates to Jews and Gentiles.2 F. Watson sees chaps. 1-11 as providing the theoretical legitimation for the social reorientation of 14:1-15:13.3 C. E. B. Cranfield further narrows the context by delineating 1:18-8:39, and more specifically 1:18-4:25, as the literary context.4 Several others have recognized 1:18-3:20 as the context most pertinent for the study of 2:12-16.5 We shall see that the flow of Paul's argumentation in 1:18-3:20 recommends it as the proper literary context for this study.

In 1:18-3:20, Paul is concerned to establish the foundation for his exposition of "justification by faith," which follows in 3:21-4:25. This foundation is essentially that both Jews and Gentiles stand in need of the redemptive work of Christ as appropriated by faith. Paul's strategy is to demonstrate that both parties stand under the prospect of divine judgment without favoritism (... ..., 2:11). That Gentiles stand under God's judgment would be evident to Jews. However, 2:1-29 demonstrates that, despite their several "advantages" over Gentiles, Jews were susceptible to the judgment reserved for Gentiles, and this liability lay precisely in their relationship to the Law. A brief overview of the stages of Paul's argumentation will demonstrate Paul's strategy and intent.

1.1:18-32. Paul begins by arguing that "pagans" are currently under the wrath of God for the expressed reason that they did not walk in the knowledge of the Creator that should have been clearly evident to them through their observation of the created order (vv. 18-20). Rather than worshiping the true God, they gave themselves over to the worship of images fashioned in the likeness of created beings (vv. 21-23, 25). The first hint of the nature of God's revealed wrath against them is the abandonment of their darkened minds to sexual impurity (v. 24). The nature of this perversity is spelled out in vv. 26-27. In v. 28, Paul confirms in bold relief the substance of God's wrath against such people (cf. v. 24), detailing the resulting sentence of depravity pronounced upon them (vv. 29-31). Verse 32 provides Paul's conclusion to this discussion: although provided with some knowledge of God's just ordinance (...) and the consequences of disobedience, they practice and approve of their depravity.

2. 2:1-29. It is here that Paul turns his attention away from Gentile depravity and begins to focus it upon Jewish culpability. Carras(6) has divided Paul's treatment of Jews in chap. 2 into four sections, each of which addresses an objection that Paul's Jewish "critic" raises in defense of the position that the Jew has a privileged status before God.7 These objections relate to supposed Jewish moral superiority (w. 1-11), possession of Torah (w. 1216), Jewish national privilege (vv. 17-24), and circumcision (w. 25-29).