What does Romans 2:18 mean?
Paul is building a devastating if-then statement in this section of verses. He is addressing those who would call themselves Jews, who rely on the law, and who boast in God. The prior verse referred to those who identified as Jewish, depending on the law and confident in their relationship to God.Now he further defines the people he is talking to. These people do not simply rely on the law of Moses. Through it, they know God's will, and they use His law as a standard by which to decide if anything is excellent. They can do this because they have been so well taught from Moses' law.
After building up this group for all their knowledge and understanding, Paul will challenge their actual behavior in the following verses. The larger point he is making is about their misplaced confidence. These people have confidence that God will not judge their sin, because of their identification with the law. This is assurance aimed in the wrong place. Paul uses this idea to show how the Jewish people are as guilty as the Gentiles, and must be saved by grace and not the law.
Romans 2:12–29 describes two groups of people, with an emphasis on how their sin relates to their knowledge of God's written Law for the nation of Israel. Here, ''Gentiles'' are those who sin apart from the law, while ''Jews'' are those who sin under the law. Paul shows how, in both cases, God will judge people based on whether they kept the law and were circumcised in their hearts. Even Gentiles who follow the law out of sincerity would be regarded by God as truly Jewish. Meanwhile, God will discount the Jewishness and circumcision of someone under the law who breaks the law and does not have a sincere heart. Paul will show in the following chapter that, in truth, no one can keep the law.
Romans 2 springs a trap on any religious person who read Paul's lists of sins at the end of Romans 1 and thought it wasn't about them. Paul calls them out for making themselves judges when they are also guilty. He shows that God will judge everyone, including those under the law, based on their works. This prefaces this letter's theme of salvation by grace, through faith, rather than by works. Many benefits come with having the law, but only if those under the law keep it. Jewishness—circumcision—must be an inner state, not just an outer one. Paul will show in the following chapter that none of us really meets those conditions.