Manifest and Secret Jews

Romans 2:27-29 is frequently brought into discussions of sacramental efficacy: There’s a difference between the physical rite of circumcision and the spiritual reality to which the rite points. I’m not so sure that’s what Paul is talking about.

The terminology of the passage is interesting. Verse 27 speaks of those who are “uncircumcised by nature ( phuseos ),” picking up the language of 2:14: “the nations who have not the law by nature.” Both are talking about those who are “naturally” Gentiles, Gentiles by birth. The contrast of “inner/outer” is perhaps better translated as “secret/manifest” ( phaneros/kruptos ). That does imply some sort of inner/outer distinction but differently colored than many have suggested.

The upshot is that the passage is about the Jew/Gentile distinction. The true Jew is the one who, in the power of the Spirit, keeps the Law; the true Jew is the one who has entered into the new covenant reality of the Spirit, with the law written on his heart. The contrast is not anthropological in the first instance, but redemptive-historical.