The Spiritual Advantage of Jews and Gentiles in Relation to the Law and Circumcision

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When the Gentiles, who lack the written law, nevertheless fulfill its requirements by innate disposition, Paul speaks of a nature that is not merely biological but moral—a law written in the conscience. He extends the term “law” beyond the Torah of Moses to include the prophetic writings, as when he cites Isaiah: ‘In strange tongues and through foreign lips they will speak to this people.’ Even Christ’s ethical teaching, he suggests, functions as a law—not the law of Sinai, but the law of grace embodied in obedience to God through Christ. Thus, when Paul declares that those who seek justification by the law are severed from grace, he is not rejecting moral effort but overturning reliance on the external letter of Moses, which cannot impart life. Circumcision, he clarifies, is not the physical mutilation some imagine, but a spiritual reality: the cutting away of corruption from the heart. One who is inwardly circumcised by the Spirit profits not from ritual observance but from the renewal of the soul, which enables the practice of righteousness. Yet Paul also acknowledges that the law can be interpreted externally, through exposition, as when he addresses those from Judea: he became as a Jew to win Jews, having circumcised Timothy and observed ritual purity, not to compromise the gospel but to remove avoidable offense. To the Gentiles, however, he refuses to impose circumcision, not because he is inconsistent, but because the Abrahamic promise includes Gentile believers not as proselytes bound by Levitical codes, but as heirs through faith. The Levites, priests, and elders were never commanded to impose such rites on converts; God’s concern was always for the heart, not the periphery. When the sacred rites of sanctification were observed, both native Israelites and resident foreigners brought offerings—just as, when the ten lepers were cleansed, only the foreigner returned to give glory to God, prompting Jesus’ lament: ‘Were not ten made clean? Where are the nine?’ Even regarding the Passover, if a Gentile proselyte insists on observing it, Paul would say: though God once commanded its observance with circumcision, that requirement no longer stands, for the substance has been fulfilled in Christ; to insist on the outward rite now is to burden consciences with what was never meant to be eternal. Then comes the question: What advantage has the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision? Great in every respect. First, they were entrusted with the very oracles of God. Yet this privilege does not consist in mere possession of scrolls or mechanical recitation, but in perceiving the divine mind within them—the mysteries hidden beneath the surface. As sound reason teaches, the one who muses on divine things from personal inclination, and yet speaks of them with learned lips, is like Moses and the prophets: Jews who grasped the oracles not as texts but as truth. And if any among them resembled this, so too did the apostles of Christ, who inherited this Jewish advantage and passed it on to those who learned Christianity from them. But there is also a superior advantage for the Gentiles: from them the kingdom of God has arisen, destined to be given to a nation that bears its fruits. And if the Jews were first entrusted with the oracles, then they are also the first to have believed—for the divine deposit precedes human response, and faith follows the gift.

Greek

φυσικός, καθ' ὃ εἴρηται ὅταν γὰρ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ νόμον ἔχοντα φύ ει τὰ τοῦ νόμου ποιῇ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. λέγεται νόμος καὶ ἡ Μωσέως ἱστορία, ὡς ὅταν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας φάσκῃ λέγετέ μοι οἱ τὸν νόμον ἀναγινώ κοντε τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἀκούετε, γέγραπται γάρ, Ἀβραὰμ δύο υἱοὺ ἔ χεν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. καλεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ προφητικὰ νόμον, ὡς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ γέγραπται, ἐν ἑτερογλώ οι καὶ ἐν χείλε ιν ἑτέροι λαλή ω τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ ἐν Ἠσαίᾳ. μήποτε δὲ καὶ τὴν Χριστοῦ περὶ τῶν πρακτέων διδασκαλίαν νόμον καλεῖ, ὡς ὅταν φάσκῃ ἑαυτὸν μὴ ἄνομον εἶναι θεοῦ ἀλλ' ἔννομον Χρι τοῦ. ὅταν οὖν φάσκῃ οἵτινε ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦ θε τῆ χάριτο ἐξεπέ ατε, ἀνατρέπει ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ Μωσέως γράμματος. περιτομὴν οὖν, ἣν αὐτός φησι νῦν, ἑτέραν λέγει παρὰ τὴν κατατομήν· καὶ νόμον, τὸν πνευματικόν. δύναται δὲ νῦν νόμος νοεῖσθαι καὶ ὁ κατὰ τὰς φυσικὰς ἐννοίας· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς βελτίωσιν ὁ πνευματικῶς περιτεμνόμενος ὠφελεῖται κατὰ τὴν τῶν φαύλων περιαίρεσιν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ πράττειν τὸν νόμον τὰ πρακτέα ἐργαζόμενος. δύναται δέ τις καὶ κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν ἐκτὸς ἀναγωγῆς ἐξηγήσασθαι τὸ ῥητόν, καί φησιν ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων διαλεγόμενος τοῦτό φησιν· ἐγένετο γὰρ τοῖ Ἰουδαίοι ὡ Ἰουδαῖο ἵνα Ἰουδαίου κερδή ῃ, περιτεμὼν τὸν Τιμόθεον καὶ κειράμενο καὶ καθαιρόμενος κατὰ νόμον, ὥστε καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγειν περιτομὴ μὲν γὰρ ὠφελεῖ ἐὰν νόμον πράσσῃς, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν διαλεγόμενος ταύτην κωλύει, μὴ ἐναντιούμενος ἑαυτῷ· ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἴρηται ἐν τῷ περὶ ταύτης λόγῳ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν περιτέμνεσθαι, εἰ μὴ τοὺς ἀπὸ πέρματο αὐτοῦ, καὶ τοὺς οἰκογενεῖ καὶ ἀργυρωνήτου · ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ Λευιτικῷ περὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ εἴρηται μόνον· οὐκ ἀνάγκη δὲ καὶ τοὺς προσηλύτους τούτοις προσυπακούεσθαι, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ τὰ περὶ τῶν Λευιτῶν ἰδικῶς νενομοθετημένα, ἢ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἱερέων, ἢ τὰ περὶ τῆς γερουσίας προσυπακούειν αὐτοῖς δίδωσι καὶ ἑτέρους. ὅταν γὰρ καὶ τοὺς προσηλύτους βούλεταί τι διαπράττεσθαι, ἰδικῶς καὶ αὐτῶν μέμνηται, ὡς ὅταν περὶ θυσίας φησίν. ἀμέλει καὶ συνεστηκότος τοῦ καλουμένου ἁγιάσματος προσέφερον καὶ προσήλυτοι· ὡς καὶ περὶ τῶν δέκα λεπρῶν τῶν καθαρθέντων ὁ κύριος ἔφη πορευθέντε δείξατε ἑαυτοὺ τοῖ ἱερεῦ ιν· ἀφ' ὧν αμαρείτη εἷς ἦν. ᾧ μαρτυρῶν ὁ σωτήρ φησιν οὐχὶ οἱ δέκα ἐκαθαρί θη αν; οἱ δὲ ἐννέα ποῦ; οὐχ εὑρέθη αν ὑπο τρέψαντε δόξαν δοῦναι τῷ θεῷ εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀλλογενὴ οὗτο . εἰ δέ τις τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐξόδου ἀνθυποίσει περὶ τῶν ἐσθίειν τὸ πάσχα βουλομένων προσηλύτων, ὡς δεῖ αὐτοὺς περιτέμνεσθαι, φήσομεν ὡς ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ θύε θαι τὸ πά χα προσέταξεν ὁ θεός, τούτου δὲ μὴ ἱσταμένου νῦν περιττὴ ἡ περιτομὴ τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν. 11 iii 1–3 τί οὖν τὸ περισσὸν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου, ἢ τίς ἡ ὠφέλεια τῆς περιτομῆς; πολὺ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ὅτι ἐπιστεύθησαν τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ. τί γὰρ εἰ ἠπίστησάν τινες; μὴ ἡ ἀπιστία αὐτῶν τὴν πίστιν τοῦ θεοῦ καταργήσει; μὴ γένοιτο. τὸ πιστευθῆναι τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἐν τῷ βιβλία καὶ γράμματα πι στευθῆναι χαρακτηρίζεται, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς νοῦν καὶ τὰ ἐναποκείμενα μυστήρια γινώσκεσθαι. κατὰ γὰρ τὸν ὑγιῆ λόγον ὁ οφὸ νοή ει τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου τόματο · ἐπὶ δὲ χείλε ι φορέ ει ἐπιγνωμο ύνην. τοιοῦτος ἦν Μωυσῆς καὶ οἱ προφῆται, Ἰουδαῖοι ὄντες καὶ πιστευθέντες τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ εἴ τις παρ' αὐτοῖς τούτοις παραπλήσιος. καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι δὲ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἶχον τὸ περισσὸν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου καὶ τὴν τῆς περιτομῆς ὠφέλειαν παρὰ τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῶν μαθόντας τὸν χριστιανισμόν. ἔστι δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν πολὺ τὸ περισσὸν παρὰ τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς· ἀπ' ἐκείνων γὰρ ἤρθη ἡ βα ιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἵνα δοθῇ ἔθνει ποιοῦντι τοὺ καρποὺ αὐτῆ . εἰ δὲ πρῶτοι ἐκεῖνοι ἐπιστεύθησαν τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰσὶν οἱ καὶ δεύτερον πιστευ θέντες· τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον

About this text

Origen of Alexandria, Commentarii in epistulam ad Romanos (catena Greek) (Greek).

Original English Translation of Origen’s Commentarii in epistulam ad Romanos (catena Greek) — new OET from PG 14 Greek.

Catalogue & scope

Khazarzar scan

Witnesses

Copy-text PG 14 (Khazarzar) (Greek)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.