Saturday, August 5, 2023

Frank J. Matera on Romans 2:24

  

Having described how his Jewish interlocutor identifies himself and his mission, and having shown the disparity between who the interlocutor professes to be and what he does, Paul pronounces his verdict: As it is written, “because of you, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles” (2:24). The verdict is not Paul’s own but the verdict of the very Scriptures upon which his interlocutor depends. However, although the text of Isa. 52:5 says that the Gentiles blasphemed God’s name because they witnessed Israel’s suffering, Paul makes use of the Septuagint, which adds “because of you” and “among the nations,” and he rereads the text in the light of his people’s contemporary situation: the Gentiles are presently blaspheming God’s name because of the Jewish failure to observe the law (Käsemann 1980, 71).

 

Lest Paul’s indictment be misunderstood, it is important to recall that he is not criticizing Judaism as corrupt and hypocritical. Nor is he saying that this behavior is representative of each and every Jew. The purpose of his diatribe is to show that Israel has failed to fulfill its vocation to be a light to the nations (Wright 2002, 447). For reasons that Paul has yet to explain, Israel has not observed the very law in which it boasts. (Frank J. Matera, Romans [Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2010], 74-75)

 

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