{"id":8855,"date":"2016-06-07T07:19:21","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T14:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=8855"},"modified":"2016-06-07T07:19:21","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T14:19:21","slug":"romans-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/romans-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Paul really saying in Romans 2?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Romans 2,\u00a0<\/strong>In this chapter, Paul is trying to level the spiritual playing field by showing what the proper approach to Torah, and hence a right relationship with YHVH, should be. It should be a non-hypocritical and humble-heart approach, which is neither dependent upon one\u2019s race (i.e., Jew or Gentile) nor upon the factitiousness with which one keeps the various prescription of Torah.<\/p>\n<p>Being a Jew or not being one is not the point with YHVH. Rather, what is one\u2019s heart attitude vis-\u00e0-vis Torah-obedience. This is lifting Torah-obedience to its proper intent and highest level.<\/p>\n<p>This is the true message of this chapter as summed up in verse 29: <b>But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. <\/b>The word <i>Jew <\/i>is the Hebrew word <i>Y\u2019hudi <\/i>which is related to <i>hodayah <\/i>which means \u201cpraise<i>.\u201d <\/i>Therefore, a true Jew is a literally a \u201cYah-praiser,\u201d and Paul is using a wordplay hear to make this point. Why does one want to be a Jew, or why does one want to keep Torah? To please men, or to please YHVH? To keep Torah to be a man-pleaser negates the true intent of Torah and of being a Jew which is to help one to be a <i>hodayah<\/i>; i.e., a Yah-praiser.<\/p>\n<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemory\"><a href=\"javascript:\" onclick=\"Evernote.doClip({title: 'What is Paul really saying in Romans 2?',url: 'https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/romans-2\/',contentID: 'post-8855',suggestTags: 'Gentiles,Jews,Paul,Romans',providerName: 'Hoshana Rabbah Blog',styling: 'text' });return false\" class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryLink\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.evernote.com\/article-clipper.png\" \nclass=\"evernoteSiteMemoryButton\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryClear\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Romans 2,\u00a0In this chapter, Paul is trying to level the spiritual playing field by showing what the proper approach to Torah, and hence a right relationship with YHVH, should be. It should be a non-hypocritical and humble-heart approach, which is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/romans-2\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[64],"tags":[435,194,110,493],"class_list":["post-8855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-readings","tag-gentiles","tag-jews","tag-paul","tag-romans"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is Paul really saying in Romans 2? | Hoshana Rabbah Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/romans-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Paul really saying in Romans 2? | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Romans 2,\u00a0In this chapter, Paul is trying to level the spiritual playing field by showing what the proper approach to Torah, and hence a right relationship with YHVH, should be. It should be a non-hypocritical and humble-heart approach, which is &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/romans-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-07T14:19:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natan Lawrence\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natan Lawrence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Natan Lawrence\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df\"},\"headline\":\"What is Paul really saying in Romans 2?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-07T14:19:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":242,\"commentCount\":2,\"keywords\":[\"Gentiles\",\"Jews\",\"Paul\",\"Romans\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Weekly Scripture Readings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"What is Paul really saying in Romans 2? | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-07T14:19:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/07\\\/romans-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is Paul really saying in Romans 2?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hoshana Rabbah Blog\",\"description\":\"Midrash with Natan Lawrence\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df\",\"name\":\"Natan Lawrence\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Natan Lawrence\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.hoshanarabbah.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/natanl\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Paul really saying in Romans 2? | Hoshana Rabbah Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/07\/romans-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is Paul really saying in Romans 2? | Hoshana Rabbah Blog","og_description":"Romans 2,\u00a0In this chapter, Paul is trying to level the spiritual playing field by showing what the proper approach to Torah, and hence a right relationship with YHVH, should be. 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