Romans 2:28

It is not those who perform rituals to show they are God’s people who are true Jews, and it is not being circumcised in their bodies that causes God to accept them [MTY].

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

In Context

27If any one of you disobeys God’s laws, even though you(sg) have the Scriptures and even though someone has circumcised you {you are circumcised} God will punish you. And those people who are not circumcised, but who obey God’s laws, will declare that God is right when he says that he will punish you.

29On the contrary, we whom God has changed inwardly are true Jews [MTY]. And God has accepted us because we have allowed God’s Spirit to change our hearts, not because we perform rituals. Even if other people will not praise us for that change, God will praise us.

Read all of Romans 2

Cross References

Psalms 73:1God truly is good to us Israeli people, to those who totally want to do all that God desires.

Isaiah 48:1Yahweh says, “You descendants [MTY] of Jacob, who are also descendants of Judah and are now called the people of Israel, Listen to me! You make solemn promises using my name, Yahweh, and you request that I, the God to whom you Israeli people belong, will hear you, but you do not do it sincerely.

Hosea 1:6Later Gomer became pregnant again, and she gave birth to a daughter. Yahweh said to me “Give her the name Lo-ruhamah, which means ‘not loved,’ because I will no longer show that I love the people [MET] of Israel, and I will not forgive them for the sins that they have committed.

John 1:47When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said about Nathaniel, “Here is an example of a good Israelite! He never deceives anyone!”

Romans 2:17Now I have something to say to any one of you Jews to whom I am writing: You (sg) boast about yourself saying, “I am a Jew.” You (sg) trust that God will save you because you possess the laws that he gave to Moses. You boast that you belong to God.

Romans 9:6God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that their descendants would all inherit his blessings. But although most of my fellow Israelites have rejected Christ, that does not prove that God has failed to do the things that he promised, because it is not all who are descended from Jacob and who call themselves the people of Israel whom God considers to be truly his people.

Matthew Henry on Romans 2:18-29

The Pretensions of the Jews; The Depravity of the Jews. ( a. d. 58.) 17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21 Thou therefore which teachest… Read the whole commentary →

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