Paul's whole point.
Paul's thesis for the letter is in Romans 1:16-17
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"
Paul then goes on a diatribe about the wickedness of the Gentiles, those uncircumcised Gentiles who are doing all that stuff over there.
But he then pulls a 180 turn,
"Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." - Romans 2:1
Having lulled his Jewish audience into a judgmental kind of agreement, Paul says says that they are no better. Judging "those people" and yet being just as wicked as they are.
"For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ... For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them" - Romans 2:12,14-15
The Jew who knows the Law is judged by it; even more the Gentile to whom the Law was never given, though acts in accordance with it, shows themselves more lawful than the Jew who does not abide by the Law though had received it.
Paul continues,
"But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, 'The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.'" - Romans 2:17-24
So being a Jew, having been part of the people who received the Law, making one's boast in God about being a Jew who had received the Law, yet violating its principles renders one's boast in the Law to no effect. After all, as we've seen, the Gentile who never had the Law, yet lives in accordance with its principles, is more lawful than the Jew who having received the Law violates its precepts. Boasting that one is a Jew, boasting in the Law, is to be of no effect; for the Law instead becomes the bitter judge of the one who boasts.
"For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law." - Romans 2:25-27
One's circumcision marks them as a member of God's Covenant People, but what good is one's circumcision if they live in violation to the Law? It is as though they were uncircumcised, being a Gentile outside of God's Covenant. Conversely, the uncircumcised Gentile who is living in accordance with the precepts of the Law shows themselves to be more in line with God's Covenant than the circumcised person who lives in violation to God's Law and Covenant. So the lawful uncircumcised Gentile stands even as a judge over the one who breaks the commandment--simply being part of those who received the Law and have Covenant with God through it does not mean anything if one is living contrary to God's Law and acting as though they are outside of it.
Therefore,
"For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God." - Romans 2:28-29
What does it profit one who being circumcised lives as the uncircumcised? So circumcision which profits the one who lives as the circumcised ought to live, in accordance with the precepts of God's Law which were given to their fathers on Mt. Horeb does not profit one if they live contrary to those very precepts.
However,
"Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?" - Romans 3:1-3
It is not that circumcision is not of any value, that being Jewish doesn't mean anything here; because it was to the Jews that God made His covenant, that He sent the Prophets. The faithlessness of some Jews does not negate the faithfulness of God who gave them His Covenant and promises.
And here's Paul's point that he's been leading up to for a while now,
"What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin," - Romans 3:9
That's what Paul has been building up to. Paul is not contradicting himself from verses 1-3 to verse 9; instead Paul has been trying to hammer the point that Jews are just as sinful as Gentiles. Judging the Gentiles is hypocrisy, boasting in one's Jewishness is empty, speaking of one's circumcision as though it made one better than the uncircumcised is rendered false. For, ultimately, the Law condemns all of us and justifies none of us.
"'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.' ... Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." - Romans 3:10-11,19-20
We are all condemned under the Law, both Jew and Gentile. There is no one who is righteous under the Law, not even one.
"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Romans 3:21-26
For the Law being the condemnation of both Jew and Gentile, for all having sinned, no one being righteous; yet God by His grace and mercy has provided a righteousness apart from the Law, the righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. So that Christ, by His righteousness, and through faith, might be both righteous and the one who makes us righteous. This is the righteousness of God revealed through the Gospel from faith to faith, as Paul had said right there in his thesis, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God to save all who believe, the Jew first and also the Gentile, for through it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"
And so:
"Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith." - Romans 3:27-30
So we see, in all of this, the Apostle is not saying that circumcision as given to the Jews was nothing; that is not his point. Of course circumcision was something, it was the sign and seal of God's Covenant with the Jewish people, that they were to be His people who having received the Law at Mt. Horeb were to be a people who walked in accordance with God's precepts to be a light to the nations.
But that Law was not given to justify sinners. Indeed the faithlessness of the people who had been given the Covenant and promises demonstrates their sin, and that they, just like the Gentiles, are sinners.
So what good was boasting in one's circumcision if one lived lawlessly? Therefore all boasting in the Law is rendered null and void. Jew or Gentile, it doesn't matter, for all have sinned, all have fallen short, all are condemned under God's Law. All have been found sinners, and therefore condemned. So that no one is with excuse, and no one stands justified before God.
But God, in His love and kindness, had always purposed another righteousness, the righteousness of His own beloved Son, who having lived, died, and rose again has made peace with God for us. And His righteousness is what justifies us. A righteousness apart from the Law, the righteousness which is through faith.
But we haven't yet finished where Paul is going, we have only just begun. Paul will continue his brilliant masterpiece of an epistle in the chapters following here.
-CryptoLutheran
