Jews Hidden and Exposed

In his remarkable Acquittal by Resurrection, Markus Barth argues that the judgment by which God justifies “cannot be a paradox or a wanton and arbitrary decision.” Barth lays out three conditions that such a judgment must fulfill if it is to be considered righteous: It must have “a solid legal ground,” that is, it must be grounded in God’s own law and covenant; it must do something that has not been done, has not been possible, under the Old Covenant; and it must be such that “not only the litigants but the public at large” will acknowledge the justice of the verdict (90-92). 

Barth is just right here: Justification must be theodicy, rather than an act that raises a question mark over God’s justice. I hope to summarize Barth’s arguments on that point in a later post. For now, my interest is in his second criterion, which he elaborates as follows:

“Paul teaches distinctly that ‘on the day (when) God judges the hidden things of men according to the Gospel through Jesus Christ, things hidden to former generations are brought to light. . . . In this judgment the ‘Jew in hiding’ receives ‘praise from God’ and Gentiles . . . are manifested as having the fulfillment of the law written upon their hearts. Both Jew and Gentile  will thus be, without partiality, ‘justified as doers of the Law’ (Rom. 2:10-15, 29). If God’s judgment reveals something hidden, then the judgment is not arbitrary. It serves exactly the purpose of every decent court – to unveil obscured facts and to bring to light, to proclaim, and to enforce what is right” (91-2).

One of the intriguing things about this statement is the light it throws on the conclusion of Romans 2. When Paul says that a true Jew is not the “outward” but the “inward” Jew, not the open Jew but the “Jew in hiding,” he still has in mind the revealing, illuminating judgment that he has been talking about throughout Romans 2. Outward Jews seek praise from men; hidden Jews seek praise from God, by doing their righteousness in secret, as Jesus commands (Matthew 6).

But the inwardness or hiddenness of the true Jew’s circumcision is not permanent and essential, because what is hidden is brought to light in the judgment to receive praise from God. It is hidden for a time, and will be brought to light at the judgment.