Misplaced Faith in External Trappings

Paul has been making his case that no one, on their own, is righteous before God. He has spent time focused on the unrighteousness of the Gentiles, and in the first half of Romans 2 began to turn his attention to the Jews. Now in our passage this morning, he turns his focus explicitly on the Jews. The Jews had great faith that the outward trappings of their religion would guarantee them safety from God’s judgment, but they neglected the deeper reality that was meant to be signified by these exterior marks.