Romans 2:26-27 - The Place of Circumcision

Romans 2:26-27 - 26 So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?

Message: The Gentile can be circumcised

Time: Romans was probably written during Paul’s third missionary journey from Corinth to a Jewish/Gentile church in Rome (around 56-57 AD).

What the Lord is Saying:

Paul continues in chapter 2 to build the case that what the Jew has erected over the years as the things that a Jew sets them apart from other people and makes them acceptable to God, namely association with the Law of Moses and having circumcision -- is not what God really wants of them. And he shows how a Gentile can actually be a Jew.

Verse 25 showed them that an outward act won't save them. And now in verse 26 and verse 27, as is Paul's custom, he drives the point further by stating that a Gentile, who hasn't been circumcised can keep the Law and be better off from a Jew that has simply been circumcised. So, the outward ritual is not significant, but obedience is significant.

Paul is not saying that the Gentile is able to be saved by keeping the Law. He is communicating to the Jew that their preconceived ideas of what God wants from them are wrong. There is value in being a Jew, but Paul will get to this in Chapter 3. Paul has said that everything depends on obedience. Again, he is using sort of a hypothetical statement to show that the Law points us toward obedience and complete obedience to the Law is what God wants and therefore if someone has that complete obedience then they are truly circumcised (whether or not there has been an actual cutting away of the foreskin).

There isn't anything magical about being circumcised. Circumcision should be a sign of an inward change. A label on a can tells us what is inside the can. But, it is possible that what is inside the can contradicts the label. What is ultimately important is what is inside the can. What is inside will end up marking the outside significant before God.

These verses probably made the Jew very defensive. And remarks of "How dare you?" might have been exclaimed. In verse 27, Paul again repeats partly what he has already said before, like in verse 13 and verses 17 through 20. He states that it is not significant to simply known what the Law says and have circumcision, but significance is in doing the Law and so this is what stands out. 

Promise: The heart is always what is most important to God.