The Jewish Annotated New Testament (249 page)

13
:
Justified
, lit., “made righteous,” legitimated.

15–16
: Cf. Eccl 12.13–14.
Hearts
signifies real intentions;
secret thoughts of all
, lit., “hidden (intentions) of humans.”

2.17
–29: The responsibility of Jewish teachers.
Turning from a dialogue with a hypothetical non-Jew’s response to the gospel’s condemnation of unrighteous intentions and behavior versus reward for righteous intentions and behavior, Paul enters into a hypothetical dialogue with a fictive Jewish teacher of Gentiles. Since Paul’s target audience is Gentile Christ-followers, this turn to an imaginary Jewish interlocutor may serve as a rhetorical gambit to emphasize the message that no instructors, not even Jewish teachers, are above the judgment of the all-knowing God—nor would they be expected to claim to be. It is not Jewishness but pretentiousness and hypocrisy that are at issue. The overall message is that God always does right and seeks representatives among Israel and the nations who are fully committed to living by as well as teaching those values, and not masking either intentions or behavior behind mere appearances, which can perhaps hide hypocrisy from each other but not from God. It is not clear that there is any such Jew among Paul’s audience; this is a rhetorical device to teach non-Jews Jewish values, not to criticize Jewish values, although traditional interpretations suggest otherwise.

17
–24
: Epictetus, the Stoic-Cynic, offers similar criticism of those who call themselves philosophers but do not live accordingly—with which any philosopher would be expected to agree (
Diatr
. 2.19.19; 3.7.17; 3.22.93–94; 3.24.40–43; 4.8–9).

17
: The phrasing is theoretical (“if”), and ambiguous. The fictive interlocutor is portrayed as if claiming the title of Jew and as if a teacher of Gentiles.
Boast of your relation to God
, lit., “boast/exult in God”; “of your relation to” not in Gk.

18
–20
: The point is not that one should not exult in God, or that Torah is at fault, but that it is self-evident that those who teach it should observe it.

23
:
Boast
, or “glory.”

24
: Altered form of Isa 52.5 LXX. Isaiah was indicting the nations, not Israel or even, as Paul adapts it, certain hypocritical Israelites. Paul describes the opposite outcome from what should result when Israelites announce God’s righteousness to the Gentiles.

25
:
Is of value
, lit., “helps”;
break
, lit., “stand beside”;
uncircumcision
, lit., “foreskin.” The point of this statement is not to accuse Jews of hypocrisy but to help non-Jews carry out the Jewish value of avoiding hypocrisy.

Paul does not write “uncircumcision” and cognates, but “foreskin” and cognates throughout.

26
: If—without the benefit of Torah, or circumcision, which signifies commitment to Torah—a Gentile observed the intent of Torah by observing comparable laws of moral and civil behavior, that would signify what circumcision is meant to signify. Paul makes the same point as in 2.14–16. Paul affirms that the requirements of Torah are righteous, although this inference in the Gk is omitted in the translation.

27
: Therefore an intentionally righteous Gentile accomplishing the intention of Torah, yet without the benefit of circumcision or Torah guidance, would logically stand in judgment of an intentionally hypocritical (male) Jew.
Physically uncircumcised
, lit., “foreskinned from birth”; i.e., not circumcised at eight days of age, as are (male) Jews;
keep
, lit., “accomplish the goal.”

28
: Paul refers to the ideals to which circumcised flesh for Jewish males bears witness:
For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly
, lit., “for the Jew is not (ultimately) the one conspicuously known to be (a Jew)”;
nor is true
(Gk lacks “true”)
circumcision something external and physical
, lit., “nor is the one known to be circumcised in the flesh thereby necessarily the ideal Jew.”

29
: Paul’s point is not that Gentiles are the true Jews, or that the foreskinned are the true or real circumcision; quite the opposite: the terms “Jew” and “circumcision” are reserved for Israelites.
Real circumcision
(Gk lacks “real”);
it is spiritual and not literal
, lit., “by spirit (made manifest in the way one lives), not by inscription (i.e., not [merely] by a cut into the flesh).” Thus this verse could be translated: Rather, the deepest character of the Jew, even the purpose of circumcision, is about the spirit, the intentions of the heart (at work through the way one lives who is so marked), not (merely) inscribed (in flesh) (as if a mark alone fully defined who one is).

3.1
–26: God is just, and the one who justifies.

1
: The diatribe continues. The interlocutor does not appear to be a Jew, since Jews are referred to in v. 2 as “they.”

2
:
The Jews
, lit., “they.” The
oracles
or words/prophecies of God; see discussions in 9.30–10.21.

4
–5
: God is defended by appeal to Ps 51.6 (LXX 50.6). See also Ps 116.11 (LXX 115.2); 1QS 11.9–14.
Liar … true
, even if we all have to be shown to be lying, God will be shown to be true.
Injustice … justice
, the fact that our actions or lives are shown to be unjust validates the very idea of justice, since we accept the standard by which we are being judged:
the justice of God
.

9
:
Are under the power of sin
, lit., “are under sin.”
Sin
(or error) can dominate human beings; see 6.23.

10
: Eccl 7.20. See also Ps 14.3; 53.4; 1QH 9.14.

11
: Ps 14.2; cf. 53.3.

12
: Ps 14.3.

13
–14
: Ps 5.9; 140.3; 10.7.

15
–17
: Isa 59.7–8; cf. Prov 1.16.

18
: Ps 36.1.

19
:
It speaks to those who are under the law
(i.e., to Israel, entrusted to announce God’s words to the nations),
so that every mouth may be silenced
, thus no one has the right to speak against God’s righteousness/justice.

20
: Paul develops the humility of the psalmist’s appeal to God’s righteousness, not his own, in Ps 143.2, and [of the psalmist’s appeal] to God’s faithfulness in 143.1; cf.
1 En
. 81.5–6; 1QS 11.
By deeds prescribed by the law
, lit., “by works of law,” i.e., circumcision (for marking the people of God). An alternative translation is: “Because as a result of (completing transformation by) actions (prescribed by) Torah [“erḡn nomou,” “works of law” or “tradition’s actions/rites,” i.e., the rite of circumcision] not all flesh will be made righteous before him,” for through (completing) circumcision comes knowledge of sin (i.e., after becoming dedicated to God’s righteousness by the rite of circumcision, one becomes aware when not living according to the conventions of righteousness under Torah, creating awareness of the need for God’s forgiveness).”

21
:
Apart from law
, or in addition to a convention (of circumcised, Israelite identity);
attested by the law and the prophets
, i.e., by the “oracles/words of God” which the Jews are to declare to the nations, 3.2; 10.14–15.

22
: Or “the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ’s faithfulness for all who are faithful (to it).”
For there is no distinction
, or utterance; i.e., “outcry” against God’s justice. “Utterance” for “diastolē,” rather than
distinction
(the verb can mean both “distinguish” and “command”; cf. Heb 12.20) brings out the point of v. 19, that everyone is “silenced,” i.e., everyone is culpable; cf. 10.12.

24
:
They are now justified by his grace as a gift
, lit., “they are being justified freely by his benefaction.”

25
:
Sacrifice of atonement
, lit., “as a place of expiation,” draws upon the language of Yom Kippur (Lev 16.13–15; Heb “mercy seat [“kapōret”]”).
By his blood
, lit., “in his blood”;
effective
not in Gk;
through faith
, or through faithfulness.

26
:
And that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus
, or “and that he [God] because of the faithfulness of Jesus justifies [every]one [i.e., whether Jew or Greek].”

3.27
–31: God’s faithfulness is for all.
The issue throughout these chs is that the faithfulness of God includes non-Jews (foreskinned) as well as Jews (circumcised) among the righteous ones. There is no basis for judging each other inferior, for Jews and Gentiles are equal recipients of God’s benefaction in Christ.

27
:
Then what becomes of boasting
, i.e., before other people for being identified as one of the righteous ones.
By that of works
, i.e., by being circumcised.
No, but by the law of faith
, or by faithfulness.

28
:
By faith
, or by faithfulness;
apart from works prescribed by the law
, without circumcision (in this case proselyte conversion); “prescribed by the” is not in Gk. Gentiles are justified by faithfulness to God’s revelation in Christ apart from becoming members of Israel.

31
:
Do we then overthrow
(or make obsolete)
the law
(i.e., of circumcision, i.e., by which Israel has been marked and entrusted to announce God’s word to the nations)
by this faith
? W
e uphold
(establish)
the law
(i.e., the ideal of the circumcision of Israelites is an advantage for Israelites). For the Jew, Christ is the goal of Torah righteousness directly; for the one who is not a Jew, Christ is the goal of Torah righteousness indirectly, for Israel announces Torah righteousness for Jew and non-Jew; see 10.4.

4.1
–25: The faithfulness of Abraham, and his descendants.
The question now arises: If Gentiles enjoy through Christ the same benefaction as do Jews, without becoming members of Israel, why was Abraham circumcised? Paul argues that although Gentiles do not become children of Israel and thus under Torah, they do become children of Abraham, for Abraham was faithful and received the promise of children from many nations before he received circumcision as the sign of that faithfulness for himself and his ethnic descendants. His ethnic descendants know that they are responsible to undertake faithfulness to inherit the promises made to Abraham. They have a special benefaction before those from the other nations, but that does not warrant judging; instead, it involves responsibility to serve. Gentiles who are faithful to the descendant promised to Abraham to restore the world are children of Abraham, on the same ideal terms of faithfulness. Now both groups of descendants are called to live faithfully