Covenant Membership in Christ (Circumcision of the Heart)
Romans 2:17–29
Abstract: This article, based on Romans 2:17-29, explores the transformative nature of covenant identity through faith in Christ. Paul critiques the Jewish reliance on external markers, such as circumcision and possession of the law, to define their identity as God's people. He argues that true righteousness comes not from lineage or religious rituals, but from an inward change brought about by the Holy Spirit. The message is divided into three key points: (1) Misplaced Confidence in the Law, where Paul challenges self-identification through outward signs without obedience; (2) Failing to Keep the Law, which highlights Jewish hypocrisy and its damaging effect on their witness to the Gentiles; and (3) Redefining Covenant Identity, where Paul reorients covenant membership around inward transformation, fulfilled through faith in Christ and obedience to the Spirit, calling for heart transformation over external rites.
Circumcision of the Heart
Misplaced Confidence in the Law (Romans 2:17-20)
Romans 2:17-18, “But if you (1) call yourself a Jew and (2) rely on the law and (3) boast in God and (4) know his will and (5) approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;”
Paul lays out five ways people identify as God’s people. Origen observes, “The first thing to notice is that Paul does not say that the person he is rhetorically addressing is a Jew; only that he calls himself one, which is not at all the same thing.”1 This distinction helps clarify that Paul is using “Jew” to illustrate those who claim to be God’s people based on outward appearances. For Paul, being God’s people is about heart transformation, not external signs. Ambrosiaster makes this connection explicit, “They are called Jews not so much because of Judah as because of Christ, who was born of Judah according to the flesh.”2 So, Paul critiques the Jewish self-identity by pointing out that simply possessing the law or circumcision without true obedience doesn’t make someone part of God’s Kingdom. In the most profound sense, the real Jewish identity is tied to Christ.
Paul is addressing a common issue of the day. The Jews boast in the law and take pride in their identity as distinct from Gentiles. This is an “in-house” critique of Jewish presumptions.3 The problem was that many Jews believed that just having the law and being circumcised gave them a special status with God. They relied too much on their heritage and the law without obeying it. Paul doesn’t dismiss their claim to possess the law but challenges their assumption that simply possessing it equates to righteousness.4
Romans 2:19-20, “and if you are sure that you yourself are (1) a guide to the blind, (2) a light to those who are in darkness, (3) an instructor of the foolish, (4) a teacher of children, (5) having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—”
Paul continues by listing five activities they prided themselves on: being guides to the blind, lights to those in darkness, instructors of the foolish, teachers of children, and those who had the law’s truth. But their actions didn’t align with this self-perception. Chrysostom points out, “Paul does not say that the Jews are really guides to the blind, only that they think they are.”5 The Jews assumed they were guiding Gentiles in ways of truth, but Paul avoids praising them, instead exposing their misguided confidence in their teaching abilities and the law itself.
The Jews’ confidence in possessing the law didn’t guarantee a covenant status before God. The real issue is that “one keeps and fulfills the Torah by committing their lives to Jesus the Messiah.”6 It’s not about being born under the Torah or practicing certain rites; it’s about obedience to God, which is fully realized in Christ.
Failing to Keep the Law (Romans 2:21-24)
Romans 2:21-24, “You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? (1) While you preach against stealing, do you steal? (2) You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? (3) You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’”
Paul directly confronts the hypocrisy of those who claim to teach the law but fail to live by it themselves. Those Jews who rejected Christ were essentially committing spiritual adultery by distorting the law. Ambrosiaster explains that “the Jew adulterates the law by removing the truth of Christ from it and putting lies in his place.”7 Paul isn’t accusing every Jew, but through his line of rhetorical questioning, he is highlighting that the actions of some undermine the Jewish nation’s pride in the law. This is the ironing of the Jewish position: “the national boasting in the law has to be set alongside the fact that Jews dishonor God by breaking the same law.”8
Paul’s use of Isaiah 52:5 emphasizes that the Jews’ failure to keep the law had caused God’s name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles.
Isaiah 52:5, “Now therefore what have I here,” declares the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the LORD, “and continually all the day my name is despised.”
Paul’s quote from Isaiah ties the current Jewish disobedience back to the historical disobedience that led to exile, showing that the same pattern of failure and its consequences is repeating. Paul is challenging the national attitude that being possessors of the law makes them automatically righteous. “Not only has Israel not glorified God’s name among the nations, but her sin (and exile) has caused God’s name to be dishonored among the nations.”9 Even if not all Jews were guilty of these sins, the actions of some affected the witness of the entire community. Paul’s point applies to the Church today as well—just as Jewish failure led to Gentile blasphemy, so does the Church’s hypocrisy cause God’s name to be dishonored.
Redefining Covenant Identity (Romans 2:25-29)?
Romans 2:25-29, “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”
Here, Paul uses circumcision illustratively, showing that it is meaningless without obedience. He stresses that circumcision of the heart—internal transformation by the Holy Spirit—is the true marker of being one of God’s people. As Ambrosiaster notes, “it is not the circumcision of the flesh which he is talking about but the circumcision of the heart, which is made by the Spirit.”10 Chrysostom adds, “The Gentile who does right is more praiseworthy than the Jew who breaks the law.”11
For Jews of Paul’s time, circumcision was central to their covenant identity. Paul’s argument that Gentiles who obey the law inwardly are considered more righteous than Jews who rely on circumcision but fail to live according to the law would have been shocking. This redefinition of covenant membership shifts the focus from physical signs like circumcision to internal transformation by the Spirit. Paul argues that true covenant membership isn’t about external markers but a heart transformed by God.
This redefinition also reflects the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Paul isn’t just challenging individual Jews; he’s pointing to a broader theological shift. Under the New Covenant, the work of the Spirit brings about true righteousness, not outward conformity. As Paul teaches, “If you’re united to Him, to Jesus, then you are in covenant with God.”12 The true people of God are marked by faith and loyalty to Jesus, not by physical signs like circumcision.
Paul’s argument reaches beyond his own time. Modern Jews, having rejected Christ, are not considered part of God’s people under the New Covenant. Even Gentiles can now fulfill the law by the Spirit’s inward transformation, which is more valuable than outward observance of Jewish rites. This transformation brings judgment on those who rely solely on external signs. Chrysostom notes that “if [the Gentile] keeps the law, it will judge the circumcision which breaks it.”13 Paul’s emphasis on inward transformation challenges any reliance on external identity markers and points to a deeper spiritual reality.
In this passage, Paul fundamentally redefines what it means to belong to God’s covenant family. True membership is not about lineage, external markers, or religious rituals; it’s about an inward transformation led by the Holy Spirit. Paul’s message calls both Jews and Gentiles into a deeper relationship with God that goes beyond the letter of the law and points to life in the Spirit. This is the heart of the New Covenant, and it challenges any reliance on physical descent or external observance. God’s people are now marked by their faithfulness to Jesus and the inward transformation of their hearts. As Jesus Himself said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Paul’s message rings just as true today as it did then: what matters most is the circumcision of the heart.
Notes
Origen, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, Books 1–5, ed. Thomas P. Halton, trans. Thomas P. Scheck, vol. 103, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2001).
Ambrosiaster, Commentaries on Romans and 1-2 Corinthians, ed. Thomas C. Oden and Gerald L. Bray, trans. Gerald L. Bray, Ancient Christian Texts (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2009).
James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1–8, vol. 38A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1988).
Grant R. Osborne, Romans, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004).
John Chrysostom, The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans, A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church (Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; J. G. F. and J. Rivington, 1841).
Matthew Halsted, “Romans Part 6 (Romans 2:17-29),” The Bible (Unmuted) podcast, June 6, 2023, MP3 audio, 49:35, https://matthewhalsted.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Episode-16-Romans-Part-6-Rom-chapt-2-vs-17-29-The-Bible-Unmuted-Transcript.docx.pdf.
Ambrosiaster, Commentaries on Romans and 1-2 Corinthians.
Dunn, Romans 1–8.
Halsted, Romans Part 6.
Ambrosiaster, Commentaries on Romans and 1-2 Corinthians.
Chrysostom, The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom.
Halsted, Romans Part 6.
Chrysostom, The Homilies of S. John Chrysostom.
