“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,”
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God. Paul now directly addresses the Jewish interlocutor who prides himself on his identity and covenant privileges. The reliance on the law (epanapa nomos) and boasting in God (kauchaomai epi theōi) suggest confidence in special relationship. This is not inherently sinful but becomes so when it generates false confidence and obscures the need for obedience.
Church Fathers on Romans 2:17
After saying that the Gentile wants nothing appertaining to salvation if he be a doer of the Law, and after making that wonderful comparison, he goes on to set down the glories of the Jews, owing to which they thought scorn of the Gentiles: and first the very name itself, which was of great majesty, as the name Christian is now. For even then the distinction which the appellation made was great. And so he begins from this, and see how he takes it down. For he does not say,…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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