Paul's Jewish Addressee in Romans 2-4: Revisiting Recent Conversations

Abstract

Several scholars (many of whom belong to the approach commonly labelled 'Paul within Judaism') have argued that in Romans 2:17 Paul does not address a Jew but a Gentile who believes he can 'call' himself 'a Jew' because he has been circumcised and adopted customs from the Mosaic Law. These scholars claim that identifying the addressee as a Gentile dramatically affects the interpretation of Romans by shifting a purported Pauline critique of 'legalism,' Jewish 'ethnocentrism', or 'Judaism' to the more accurate critique of gentile transgression and Judaizing. These scholars have rightly noted that the identification of the addressee as a Jew in 2:17 has often been assumed rather than argued. This article responds to common arguments made for a Gentile addressee, provides a positive case that the figure is Jewish, and argues that a Jewish addressee can be accommodated within an interpretation of Rom. 2-4 that does not interpret Paul's indictment in terms of 'legalism,' Jewish 'ethnocentrism', or 'Judaism', but as an address to a Jewish kinsman of the sinful generation of 'the last days' that precedes the national restoration.