The Oracles of God

Paul has presented the case that all humans are slaves to sin in chapter one. In chapter two, Paul sets forth the case that the Jew is as guilty as the Gentile of sin and unbelief. A person's heritage, indoctrination, religious rituals, or education cannot make him righteous before God. A person is a child of God "from the heart" (2:29) and not by the letter of the law. The Jew would ask, "What is the advantage of circumcision?" A good lawyer knows the answer to a question before he asks it. Paul sets forth a series of questions and answers them. Then he lays out a fourteen-count indictment to all mankind "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (3:20). "It cannot escape notice how completely the doctrine of the Jews has been transferred by ritualists to Christianity." (Charles Hodge). If, by any means, anyone escapes the verdict of guilty, "he will never truly rely upon the shed blood of the Guilt-Bearer, Christ!" (William R. Newell).