https://youtu.be/yqwPUTxi4fM
In our verse by verse study of Romans and last time we had just started on Rom 2:24; that addresses the reversionistic failure of a priest nation.
Rom 2:24; "For the name of God" the postpositive conjunctive particle "gar," translated "for" that is used to express a self-evident conclusion should be translated in an inferential manner as "Consequently."
Plus the nominative singular subject from "onoma," that means name, title, category, person, reputation, or fame. Here it means "reputation."
Then a possessive genitive singular from "Theos" plus genitive singular definite article "o" modifying the word "God" that is used to reference Jesus Christ as the God.
So far we have "Consequently the reputation of the God." This is a reference to the holiness or integrity of Jesus Christ who is "the God."
"is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you" this actually begins with the words "through you," "dia hymas blasphemetai en tois ethnos." So it starts out literally, "because of you." You is referring to the priest nation of Judea.
In this clause the prepositional phrase is first for emphasis, "dia" plus the accusative plural from the personal pronoun "su", "all of you." The pronoun refers to the Jews, self-righteous, arrogant, legalistic, self-righteousness and their maladjustment to God's justice for salvation.
"Consequently, because of you, the reputation of the God is blasphemed," present passive indicative of "blasphemeo," that means to slander when used of people, to blaspheme when used of God.
That is the way it is translated, but it also can mean, "maligned." This is a progressive present tense that denotes the action of the verb in a state of persistence in linear action.
The passive voice tells us that the God's integrity or reputation receives the action of the verb of slander, maligning, or blasphemy from the Gentiles. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of historical reality.
Gentiles were blaspheming the name of God because of the obvious self-righteous hypocrisy and legalism of the Jews at the time. Then the preposition phrase, "en" plus the locative plural of "ethnos, "used for the Gentiles; it also means "nations" or "among the Gentiles."
As individuals, as nations, the Jew as a member of a priest nation was responsible for presenting the gospel to the Gentiles. He was responsible for communicating doctrine and the preservation of the Word.
Instead of fulfilling these things as a part of the priest nation he was simply using the Word of God, twisting it and distorting it into a system of self-righteousness as a means of salvation by works.
There is an additional phrase that belongs to this verse and indicates that this verse is quoting Isaiah 52:5-"as it stands written." translated from "kathos grapho."
As a priest nation Judea in the time of Paul was responsible for the custodianship of the written Word of God, both its composition and its preservation, as well as its communication.
In addition the priest nation of Judea was responsible for evangelization, the inculcation of Bible doctrine, and providing a haven for Jews during periods of anti-Semitism in the devil's world.
Self-righteous reversionism and legalism of the Judaisers resulted in the distortion of doctrine that resulted in the distortion of their representation of God's integrity.
If you distort God's Word you automatically distort how you present God and His perfect holiness and integrity.
This distortion was detected by the common sense and discernment of the Gentiles who could see the self-righteous facade of Judaism and blame God for it.
The Gentiles' blasphemy of God was caused by self-righteous legalism from religious Jews. The same thing is occurring in the USA today where self-righteous Christians misrepresent God by their legalism and cause unbelievers to blaspheme God.
Instead of attributing such hypocrisy to the failure of the Jews who were maladjusted to God's justice for salvation the Gentiles maligned and slandered God by ascribing to Him the legalistic evil of the Jews.
The failure of the Jews resulted in the administration of the 5th cycle of discipline to Judea, twelve years after Paul wrote this epistle.
The function of the priest nation of Judea passed to her conquerors, the Romans. Imperial Rome became God's first client nation in the Church Age.
"just as it stands written" includes the adverb "kathos," translated "just as" indicating a quotation.
Then the perfect passive indicative from the verb "grapho" translated " it has been written."
The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect, the rhetorical use of the intensive perfect indicating something completed, and the results continue.
The passive voice: the passage quoted from the Old Testament scripture receives the action of the verb, it is permanently a part of God's Word of truth and is therefore an expression of God's perfect integrity.
The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the canon of the Old Testament scripture.
Expanded Translation Rom 2 24; "Consequently the reputation of the God is slandered among the Gentiles because of you, just as it stands written."
Verses 25-27 describe the fallacy of ritual without reality. The function of Judea as the priest nation plus the previous function of the united Israel (Ephraim and Judah) raises a series of questions regarding circumcision and true Israel.
Those questions are addressed in the remainder of this chapter. The first question: What is the significance of ritual circumcision? The second question: What is a true Jew and what is a false Jew?
Rom 2:25; introduces the concept of a race. The subject of circumcision deals with the beginning of the Jewish race. In the NASB it reads, "For indeed circumcision is of value"
In the Greek the first word is actually "peritome," translated "circumcision," a nominative singular subject. The absence of the definite article emphasizes the quality of the noun.
It is very important to understand that in the beginning circumcision was very meaningful. Abraham who had maximum doctrine resident in his soul was the first man circumcised. It was not so much the outward circumcision that was significant; it was the doctrine that related to it that was important.
When you forget the doctrine and still have the ritual then you lose the meaning. It is the doctrine that matters by itself ritual is meaningless.
Abraham had a son, Ishmael, who was also circumcised, but Ishmael had no doctrine so circumcision had no meaning except that he was obedient.
God also commanded that Ishmael be circumcised. Obedience was involved here but there was no doctrinal factor, except blessing by association with Abraham. All of his life Ishmael was a troublemaker but he had moments of great blessing that were all associated with his father Abraham.
Also with this word is the postpositive particle "men." It is a particle of affirmation that is used with the particle "de" translated "but" to create a comparison that means on the one hand or on the other.
Along with the postpositive conjunctive particle "gar," that is an inferential particle that describes a self-evident conclusion. The verb is the present active indicative of "opheleo" that means to help, to aid, to benefit, to be beneficial, advantageous. It is translated " of value" in the NASB.
So we have "So on the one hand circumcision is beneficial." The present tense is a customary present that denotes what habitually occurs when there is maximum doctrine resident in the soul or where maturity adjustment to the justice of God exists.
Obviously circumcision was beneficial to any Jew who had the same doctrine in his soul that Abraham had when he was circumcised. The problem with the Jew is that God's command was to be circumcised on the eighth day as a child.
A child has no doctrine, so his circumcision was to be an overt reminder to him about who he was and where he was going regarding God's plan and God's integrity. It was to be the basis for the creation of his personal sense of destiny.
God's integrity was the principle and he must learn to adjust to God's integrity by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for positional adjustment to God's integrity and going on to reach spiritual maturity for experiential adjustment to God's integrity just like Abraham did.
Even though the Jew in his body is in the genetic line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in his soul he must have the same doctrine that Abraham had. The customary present denotes what habitually occurs when there is maximum doctrine in the soul.
The active voice: ritual circumcision produces the action of the verb. The ritual was a challenge to grow into spiritual maturity. It was a challenge to maturity adjustment to God's integrity from maximum doctrine in the soul.
The declarative indicative mood represents the verbal action from the standpoint of its reality. The reality of circumcision is found in the fact of maturity adjustment to God's justice that results in the situation where the first conditional clause is true.
The first third class conditional clause is "if you may practice the law" translated from "ean nomos prasso." "ean is translated "if," "nomos" is "law," and "prasso" is in the present active subjunctive translated "may practice."
The subjunctive mood forms a conditional clause with the third class condition of "if." "If and maybe you will and maybe you won't."
The second clause "but if you are a law breaker" begins with another conditional conjunction "ean," with the affirmative particle "de?" Translated "but if" or "on the other hand."
This is the second conditional sentence in this verse, the first one, reversed the protasis and the apodosis. This time we have "de" used correlatively so it is translated "but if on the other hand."
Then the present active subjunctive of the verb "eimi" translated "you might be." The present tense is a retroactive progressive present denoting something that has begun in the past and continues into the present time.
The action is the self-righteous unbeliever, in this case a Jew, who is producing the action. The subjunctive mood is the potential subjunctive, part of the protasis of the third class condition (if and maybe it is true and maybe it is not true).
This subjunctive also implies a future reference being qualified by the element of contingency so it is translated "if on the other hand you are." Then we have the problem, "a law breaker" translated from the predicate nominative of "parabates" that means a transgressor or violator.
The objective genitive from the noun "nomos" refers to the Mosaic Law being abused, distorted and misapplied by arrogant, self-righteous Jews who are trying to use it as a vehicle for salvation rather than a vehicle for condemnation.
While this is a third class condition of "if" it tends toward reality because the actual status of these Jewish unbelievers, as actually stated here.
There are two third class conditional clauses used because the possibilities are being examined as possibilities rather than stating what actually happened as actual historical reality.
We have the word "if" introducing a third class condition, followed by another "if" introducing another third class condition, but the actual reality is the second-class condition.
The actual situation is the case of violation or transgression of the law that is the status quo of the Jewish unbeliever who has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and is in positional maladjustment to God's justice.
Circumcision is only beneficial for the Jewish believer who is adjusted to God's justice for salvation. Circumcision is a ritual without reality for the Jewish unbeliever. To be a true Jew you have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Esau and Jacob were twins. Esau was a Semitic Gentile; Jacob was a Jew. Esau was negative toward the gospel and therefore maladjusted to God's justice. Jacob was positive toward the gospel and therefore he believed in the Lord, and so he was adjusted to God's justice.
Jacob was adjusted; Esau was maladjusted, and that divided them for time as well as for eternity. Jacob is the perpetuation of the Jewish race; Esau is the perpetuation of the Semitic Edomite race.
The difference was adjustment to God's justice for salvation by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.