John Gill Commentary Romans 2:29

"but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." — Romans 2:29 (ASV)

But he is a Jew which is one inwardly. Who has an internal work of grace upon his soul: who has not only an outward name, but an inward nature; not the law of God in the hand, but in the heart; not an external righteousness only, but internal holiness; and who is not a mere outward court worshipper, but a worshipper of God in Spirit and in truth. The Jews have a ^F5 saying themselves, ``that whoever denies idolatry, (ydwhy arqn) , "is called a Jew":'' so that, according to them, this is a name that is not confined to themselves, but belongs to all such who truly fear and worship God; and they say, in the same place, that Pharaoh's daughter was called (tydwhy) , "a Jewess", because she denied idolatry, and went down to wash herself from the idols of her father's house. And elsewhere <sup>F6</sup> , ``that faith does not depend upon circumcision, but upon the heart: he that does not believe as he should, circumcision does not make him a Jew; and he that believes as he ought, he indeed is a Jew, though he is not circumcised.''

And circumcision is that of the heart; which God requires and he himself promises to give, (Deuteronomy 10:16) (30:6) (Jeremiah 4:4) . Upon which last passage, a very noted Jew ^F7 has this observation, (blh tlm ayh taz) , "this is the circumcision of the heart"; the very phrase the apostle here uses: circumcision of the flesh was typical of this, which lies in a godly sorrow for sin, in a putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, and in renouncing a man's own righteousness in the business of justification.

The ancient Jews had some notion of this typical use of circumcision. So Philo the Jew says ^F8 , that circumcision taught (hdonwn kai paywn pantwn ektomhn) , "the cutting off of all pleasures and affections": And elsewhere he says ^F9 : it is a symbol of two things particularly; the one is the cutting off of pleasures, as before; and the other is the removal of arrogancy, that grievous disease of the soul: And in another place ^F11 he calls purity, or chastity, (peritomhv peritomhn) , "the circumcision of circumcision".

Now this our apostle says is in the spirit; meaning either the spirit or soul of man, which is the seat and subject of it; or the Spirit of God, who is the author of it: the Ethiopic version reads it, "by the Holy Ghost":

and not in the letter; or "by the letter" of the law; but the Holy Ghost produces this spiritual work instrumentally, by the preaching of the Gospel. To which the apostle adds,

whose praise is not of men, but of God; referring not to circumcision immediately spoken of before, but to the Jew who is one inwardly: and alludes to the name Judah, from which the Jews are called, which comes from the word (hdy) , which signifies to "praise"; and intimates here, that such persons must not expect praise from men, who are only taken, with outward things, but from God, who searches and knows the heart.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F5: T. Bab. Megilia, fol. 13. 1.
• F6: Nizzachon ad Gen. xvii. Apud Maji Theolog. Jud. p. 252.
• F7: R. David Kimchi in Jer. iv. 4.
• F8: De Migrat. Abraham, p. 402.
• F9: De Circumcisione, p. 811.
• F11: De Somniis, p. 1111.