17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;
17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God
17 If you're brought up Jewish, don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you're an insider to God's revelation,
17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God,
17 You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Romans 2:17
Commentary on Romans 2:17-24
(Read Romans 2:17-24)
The apostle directs his discourse to the Jews, and shows of what sins they were guilty, notwithstanding their profession and vain pretensions. A believing, humble, thankful glorying in God, is the root and sum of all religion. But proud, vain-glorious boasting in God, and in the outward profession of his name, is the root and sum of all hypocrisy. Spiritual pride is the most dangerous of all kinds of pride. A great evil of the sins professors is, the dishonour done to God and religion, by their not living according to their profession. Many despise their more ignorant neighbours who rest in a dead form of godliness; yet themselves trust in a form of knowledge, equally void of life and power, while some glory in the gospel, whose unholy lives dishonour God, and cause his name to be blasphemed.