<p>2:27&nbsp;<i>And shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge you</i>- The Christian Gentile believers, who were uncircumcised, would judge / condemn the Jewish Christian believer who trusted in keeping the letter of the Law and in his circumcision rather than in Christ. They would &lsquo;condemn&rsquo; them in that at the last day, those rejected will as it were be compared against other human beings and be relatively &lsquo;condemned&rsquo; by their example (Mt. 12:39-41). Paul has been emphasizing the need not to condemn our brethren (2:1 etc.)- he&rsquo;s saying that it is God who will use us to condemn others, of His choosing, at the last day judgment. The very existence of believing Gentiles judges the Jews as condemned (Rom. 2:27), just as Noah's very example was a condemnation of his world (Heb. 11:7) and the very existence of the repentant Ninevites condemned first century Israel (Mt. 12:41). The faithful preaching of the Corinthians would judge an unbeliever (1 Cor. 14:24). The fact the Pharisees' children cast out demons condemned the Pharisees (Mt. 12:27). This is why the rejected will be shamed before the accepted; they will bow in shame at their feet (Rev. 3:9; 16:15). Perhaps it is in this sense that &quot;we shall judge angels&quot; (1 Cor. 6:3)- rejected ecclesial elders, cp. the angels of the churches in Rev. 2,3? The point is, men's behaviour and conduct judges others because of the contrast it throws upon them. And this was supremely true of the Lord. No wonder in the naked shame and glory of the cross lay the supreme &quot;judgment of this world&quot;.</p><p>&quot;Shall not uncircumcision (i.e. the Gentiles)... judge thee (first century Israel), who... dost transgress the law?&quot; (Rom. 2:27) is an odd way of putting it. How can believing Gentiles &ldquo;judge&quot; first century Jews who refused to believe? Surely there must be some connection with Mt. 12:41, which speaks of Gentiles such as the men of Nineveh rising &quot;in judgment with this generation (first century Israel), and shall condemn it: because they repented...&quot;. I can't say there is a conscious allusion being made here. But the similarity is too great to just shrug off.</p><p>We may again need to read in an ellipsis when we read that uncircumcision fulfils the Law. The Gentile Christians fulfilled the essence of the Jewish Law. This was a paradox- the Law demanded circumcision, so how could the uncircumcised fulfil the Law? Another explanation is to understand that they &lsquo;fulfil the Law&rsquo; in that God counts them as having done so. And as soon as we think about fulfilling the Law, our minds surely go to the fact that the Lord Jesus was the One who fulfilled the Law by His life of perfect obedience. And Rom. 8:4 makes the point that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled &ldquo;in us&rdquo; because of the fact that the Lord Jesus died His representative death for us. Thereby, His righteousness is counted to us. He, the circumcised, perfect keeper of God&rsquo;s law, died as our representative. If we identify with Him by faith and baptism into Him, then women and uncircumcised men alike are all counted to be as Him. And in this way, uncircumcised, disobedient, law-breaking believers in Christ will as it were condemn those who have attempted to justify themselves by the circumcision ritual and obedience to the letter of the Law.</p><p><i>Who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?</i><i>-</i> &ldquo;Letter&rdquo; is Gk. <i>gramma</i>, s.w., &ldquo;Scriptures&rdquo;. Neither the Scriptures nor circumcision in themselves make a person break the Law of Moses. So we must read in an ellipsis here. By trusting in our obedience to these things we can put ourselves in a position where we are coming before God on the basis of justification by our own obedience rather than our faith in Christ. In this lies the danger of &lsquo;Biblicism&rsquo; when it&rsquo;s used the wrong way. If we are obsessed with obedience to the letter of God&rsquo;s Word and external, ritual signs such as circumcision, then we shall end up condemned as law breakers- because perfect obedience to God&rsquo;s word is actually impossible.</p>