Research into Romans 2
Mood:  not sure
Topic: MyWords::RE::God'sWords

Here's my distillation of several sources, including Barth's and Barrett's commentaries, Word Biblical Commentary, and Keener's New Testament backgrounds commentary ... 

It would be good to mention the Jewish way of looking at the world--"Jews" and "nations." 

Probably, after hearing Romans 1, some Jewish persons in the church were saying, "Yes, that's exactly what the Gentiles are like. Paul is taking our side!"--they don't see themselves in the list of vices found at the end of chapter 1. The person described here is saying, "I am the exception." To this, Paul replies, "There are no exceptions."

Paul's argument has a major premise (2:1), a minor premise (2:2), and a conclusion (2:3). He creates an imaginary opponent for the sake of making his point.

2:2: "We--the Jewish people--know that God's condemnation of people who do the things described in chapter 1 is righteous." 

2:4: "Think lightly of God's goodness" = "You don't see the full picture of God's goodness--it not only is an expression of love for you but it can also become an expression of wrath." 

2:5: The "day of wrath" or "day of the Lord" is a phrase from the prophets (see, e.g., Is2:11-12; Ezk30:2-3, etc.), indicating the time of God's vengeance. Many Jews expected that Gentiles would be wiped out at that time.

2:5, 8: The words for "wrath" form an inclusio with Romans 1:18-19.

2:9-10: "Jew first, then Greek" is not only true when it comes to the Gospel but also when it comes to wrath. 

2:12-16: The logic here is that the more truth you know, the higher the standard to which God will hold you. Keeping the Torah for the sake of your soul's salvation profits nothing, because God knows that--even if you keep the rules in your flesh--your heart still strays. Romans 2:14-15 is addressed to Gentile believers.

2:17-25: Interestingly, the very word "Jew" means "praise" "If you think it's your 'Jewishness' that makes you righteous, remember that there are Jews who steal, etc." It is not enough to be an excellent Jew, to trust in the righteousness of Jewishness. It is necessary to associate oneself with something more perfect even than Jewishness.  "What's more, if you transgress any part of the Torah, your keeping-the-law is turned into breaking-the-law." In AD 19, four Jews persuaded a Roman nobless to give a large sum of money to the Temple in Jerusalem, but they kept the money and used it for themselves. As a result, Caesar Tiberius threw all Jews out of Rome (Jospephus, Antiquities, 18:81-84). "Circumcision is valuable only if you keep the Torah"; that is, when it comes to salvation, the only way circumcision would matter is if you perfectly kept the whole Torah--and nobody's done that (Gal5:3).

2:26-27: Keeping God's Torah is something bigger, something more, than any human being can see.

2:29: What matters is how God sees ("praises") the person--not how others see him or her.