From what does Paul quote?

Explanation:

In Romans 2:17–23, Paul says that the Jews boast in their covenantal status as those with God’s law, who use the law to teach others, but who fail to uphold the law themselves. In other words, the Jews boast in their status as God’s people, but continue to sin. By boasting in God while continuing to sin, the Jews blaspheme God’s name among the Gentiles. Then Paul writes, as it is written (Romans 2:24). Given that Paul writes as it is written and quotes from Scripture, we can deduce that Paul uses Scripture to support his argument in Romans 2:17–23.⁴

So what passage does Paul quote from? Likely Paul combines insights from Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:20–23. First, Isaiah 52:5 says that the people are in exile and suffering so that the nations despise God’s name. Second, Ezekiel 36:20–23 says that when the people were exiled, the nations profaned God’s name because the Israelites were driven from the land that God had given them. Thus, in both cases we can detect that the behaviour of the Israelites ultimately results in exile, and the defiling of God’s name among the nations.⁵

Counterargument:

This view points out that Paul includes the phrase as it is written to indicate that he is about to quote from Scripture. What is important to notice is that Paul includes the phrase after the quote from Scripture. That is significant, in that it signals that he is not quoting from Scripture in his usual way. In fact, this is the only time in all of Paul’s letters where he places the phrase as it is written after the quoted content. That suggests that he is not directly quoting Scripture to support his argument, but to show continuity between how the prophets denounced Israel’s behaviour and along the lines of his own denouncement.⁶ Thus, Paul is not quoting Scripture directly but making a parallel case that as the Israelites blasphemed God by their behaviour, so do the Jews in his day.

Response to counterargument:

While it might be that this is the only time that Paul includes the phrase as it is written after a quotation rather than before it, this does not mean that he is not using Scripture to support his argument. For we know that when Paul uses the phrase as it is written, he does so to indicate that he is about to quote Scripture.⁷ And while it is abnormal for him to include the phrase at the end rather than at the beginning of the quotation, it is easy to explain why he might have done this. That is, he likely includes the phrase as it is written after the quote, so that the language of the quote would be tightly integrated into the argument that precedes.⁸

Explanation:

Paul says that those who call themselves Jews, extol the law, teach others, and yet sin themselves, blaspheme the name of God among the nations. When Paul says the self-righteous Jew blasphemes the name of God among the nations, the quote aligns closely with the Septuagint version of Isaiah 52:5 where God says that his name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles. Given the grammatical similarity between the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 52:5 and Romans 2:24, Paul is likely quoting from Isaiah 52:5 to support his argument in Romans 2:17–23 with Scripture.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that, while the wording between the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 52:5 and Romans 2:24 are similar, the theme of Isaiah 52:5 does not align with Paul’s intent in Romans 2:23. For in Isaiah 52:5, God is saying that his name is blasphemed among the nations because the people are suffering under the oppression of Egypt and Assyria.⁹ On the other hand, Romans 2:24 has to do with the people claiming to be God’s righteous teachers and yet they sin against the law. Thus, God’s name is blasphemed in Isaiah 52:5 in the sense that the Lord’s people are left to suffer, while his name is blasphemed in Romans 2:24 because the people claim to be God’s people and yet sin.

Response to counterargument: It makes sense that Paul would use Isaiah 52:5 to support his argument from Romans 2:17–23 because the themes between these are remarkably similar. We can detect this by considering the broader literary context of Isaiah 52:5. For earlier in Isaiah 50:1 we read that the people have been exiled because of their sin. ¹⁰ There God says that it is because of their iniquities that the people were sold and sent away. Thus, it is because of the sin of the Israelites that they were exiled, and because of their exile that the people blasphemed God’s name.¹¹ So sin leads the Gentiles to blaspheme God’s name, just as the sin of Paul’s contemporaries leads the Gentiles to blaspheme God’s name.

The weakness of this view is that when Paul uses the phrase as it is written, we expect him to quote directly from Scripture. Of course, there is no direct quote from Scripture in Romans 2:24, so it is not clear that Paul is using Scripture to support his argument.

Explanation:

Paul says that those who call themselves Jews promote the law and teach others how to live rightly, but then fail to live rightly themselves, blaspheming God’s name. In fact, Paul seems to use a quotation from Scripture to support the fact that such behaviour blasphemes God’s name. Of course, there are grammatical hints that suggest Paul is quoting not Scripture but material that was developed by the Jewish Christians in Rome. The grammatical clues are twofold: Paul opens Romans 2:24 with the conjunction for and ends the verse with as it is written.¹²

That Paul opens Romans 2:24 with for is an important grammatical clue because he introduces other traditional materials in this letter, and when he does, he precedes the material with for. Relatedly, the fact that the phrase as it is written follows the quote from Romans 2:24 further suggests that Paul does not quote Scripture, but quotes traditional material developed by the Jewish Christians in Rome. For he often uses the phrase as it is written to introduce scriptural material, but nowhere else does he place the phrase after the quote, as he does in Romans 2:24. ¹³ Likely, he does this because he knows the material is loosely based on Scripture, but is not itself Scripture.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that the conjunction for can be used by a writer for any number of reasons, not just to introduce traditional materials. In fact, when we consider the context, it seems that the reason Paul uses for is to explain why breaking the law dishonours God (Romans 2:23). In particular, breaking the law dishonours God because breaking the law blasphemes the name of God among the nations. Now, since Paul uses Scripture to make this argument, he is careful to include the phrase as it is written so that his audience will notice that the authority of Scripture stands behind his exhortation. Still, because he wants the argument in Romans 2:17–24 to flow nicely, he opens Romans 2:24 with for rather than as it is written, which he simply moves to the end.¹⁴

Explanation:

Paul writes that when the Jews claim to follow the law and teach others, while transgressing the law, they blaspheme the name of God just as it is written. This phrase normally indicates that Paul is quoting from Scripture, but when we look in the Old Testament for the clause, The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, we do not find this exact quote. Rather, we find similar quotes in both Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:22. Likely, this indicates that Paul does not quote from Scripture directly, but that some of the Jewish Christians in Rome have combined Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:22 for an unknown reason. ¹⁵ Paul, desiring to warm up to his audience and perceiving that the quote supports his argument, introduces it in Romans 2:24. While he is not quoting directly from Scripture, what he is saying is that just as the Israelites’ behaviour was denounced by the prophets, so is the behaviour of the self-righteous Jews who sin.

Counterargument:

The quote from Romans 2:24 is quite similar to Isaiah 52:5. The Septuagint translation of Isaiah 52:5 has, My name is blasphemed among the Gentiles. And in Romans 2:24, Paul writes, For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you. The only difference between these (aside from the conjunction for, which only appears in order to connect Romans 2:24 with what precedes) is the insertion of through you. Given the close similarities between Isaiah 52:5 and Romans 2:24, likely Paul quotes from the Septuagint. 

Response to counterargument:

If Paul quotes from the Septuagint, we expect the quote to be precise. That is, if he wants his audience to notice that he uses Scripture to denounce the conduct of the self-righteous Jew, we expect him to record an exact quotation. That he fails to record an exact quotation suggests that he is not using an exact passage from Scripture to support his argument in Romans 2:17–23, but is offering traditional material likely developed by the Jewish Christians in Rome.

The weakness of this view is that there is no evidence of early Jewish Christian writings that combine Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:22 such that Paul could quote from this material. In fact, it is not at all clear how such a quote would be useful to the Jewish Christians, or why they would develop it. Of course, the quote is quite similar to both Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:22, suggesting that Paul has Scripture in mind. Further, it is unlikely that Paul would use the phrase as it is written to introduce something other than Scripture.