You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
22. Thou who abhorrest idols, etc. He fitly compares sacrilege to idolatry, as it is a thing of the same kind; for sacrilege is simply a profanation of the Divine Majesty, a sin not unknown to heathen poets. On this account Ovid (Metamor. 3,) calls Lycurgus sacrilegious for despising the rites of Bacchus; and in his Fasti he calls those sacrilegious hands which violated the majesty of Venus.
In the latter part of the chapter the apostle directs his discourse more closely to the Jews, and shows what sins they were guilty of, notwithstanding their profession and vain pretensions. He had said (Rom 2:13) that not the hearers but the doers of the law are justified; and he here applies that great truth to the Jews. Observe, I.
Commenting on Romans 2:17-29
For the name of God is blasphemed,.... The being and perfections of God, such as his holiness, omniscience, and omnipotence, are denied, or evil spoken of; and also the law of God, and the forms of worship instituted by him: among the Gentiles through you: through their iniquities, who when they observe them, conclude that the God of Israel is not omniscient, or he would...