Paul writes to Jews, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” (Romans 2:22b ESV)
The English translation “rob temples” makes readers think of pagan temples. There was only one Temple for Israel, so robbing more than one would indicate other temples are in view. And if the Jews wanted to worship these idols secretly, or in shrines of their own devising, they could be robbing pagan temples in order to get them.
The charge then, would be that the Jews are known for rejecting idolatry but actually steal idols for themselves.
But…
- Paul doesn’t say that they rob these temples of idols. He just accuses them of robbery.
- The noun “temple” does not actually occur in the sentence, either singular or plural. Rather, Paul uses a verb, “hierosuleó.” A possibly more accurate translation would be, “You who abhor idols, do you engage in temple-robbery?”
- It is natural to expect Paul to be accusing the Jews of outright hypocrisy, like he did in the previous accusation: “You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?” (Romans 2:22a). But Paul’s accusation would also work if he was referencing a sin that is just as bad, and corresponds to, idolatry.
- The scenario that idolatrous Jews would be more likely to steal an idol, with all the risks and consequences that would be involved, than to secure an idol by honest means, seems bizarre. Paul thinks this is a widespread sin the Jews are known for, resulting in blasphemy among the Gentiles (Romans 2:24). This is entirely implausible.
The bottom line is that we are not told which temple(s?) is/are being robbed and for what reason.
What if these Jews who boast in abhorring idols are also stealing from God’s Temple? They think they are righteous because they reject idolatry, but a substantial number don’t feel any shame in plundering the Temple for personal gain.
Is there evidence of this in the Bible?
THE ARGUMENT
This accusation would comport with Jesus’ claim that Israel has made the Temple in Jerusalem a den of robbers (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:15; Luke 19:46), and his launching into a prophecy of judgment after seeing the widow give everything (Mark 12:41ff; Luke 21:1ff). In both Gospels, just before the story of the widow giving all to the temple, Jesus accuses the scribes because they “devour widow’s houses” (Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47). Scribes aren’t priests, but Mark and Luke seem to see a close relationship between the two. Furthermore, this was probably related to the “corban” tradition that Jesus also accuses the Pharisees of inventing to put wealth eventually in the treasuries of the Temple, presumably to the benefit of both the Pharisees and Sadducees.
But these lines of evidence are local. Paul seems to be referring to the Jews of the diaspora, dispersed throughout the Mediterranean imperial world. How would the Jews collectively be known as temple-robbers?
I will answer this first by looking at a story from the Gospels.
When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”
Luke 7:3–5 ESV
This story helps us understand another centurion in the book or Acts:
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God .
Acts 10:1–2 ESV
“The people” refers to the Jewish people (Acts 26:17, 23; 28:17). The Jews received patronage from God-fearing Gentiles, not only in Israel, but throughout the Gentile territories.
These basic facts deserve some thought. Solomon’s original Temple was materially supported by a Gentile power (1 Kings 5). The prophets spoke of Gentiles bringing glory into the Temple (Isaiah 60). Cyrus ordered and sponsored the rebuilding of the temple (1 Chronicles 36:25, 26). Also, we know that, locally, Jewish teachers had ways of getting conscientious believers to give them money (Matthew 17:24).
In Acts, we find uncircumcised Gentile god-fearers in the synagogues of the Mediterranean world (Acts 13:13-49; 14:1; 17:1-5, 10-12; 18:4). What are the odds that believers like Cornelius in these synagogues were not taught and expected to support the Jerusalem Temple financially? Very low.
And what are the odds that the money was handled by the Jewish leaders faithfully? If we believe the Gospels, even lower.
A CITATIONARY PAUSE IN THE ARGUMENT
For what it’s worth, Josephus tells of a quartet of Jews who swindled purple fabric and gold from a wealthy god-fearing Gentile, using the subterfuge of supporting the Temple.
There was a man who was a Jew, but had been driven away from his own country by an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws, and by the fear he was under of punishment for the same; but in all respects a wicked man. He, then living at Rome, professed to instruct men in the wisdom of the laws of Moses. He procured also three other men, entirely of the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one that had embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the temple at Jerusalem; and when they had gotten them, they employed them for their own uses, and spent the money themselves, on which account it was that they at first required it of her. Whereupon Tiberius, who had been informed of the thing by Saturninus, the husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might be made about it, ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome; at which time the consuls listed four thousand men out of them, and sent them to the island Sardinia; but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling to become soldiers, on account of keeping the laws of their forefathers. Thus were these Jews banished out of the city by the wickedness of four men.
Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, chapter 5
I got this reference from this post by Lionel Windsor (https://www.lionelwindsor.net/2014/09/09/rob-temples-romans-2-22/). He has written a book, Paul and the Vocation of Israel, which argues that Paul in Romans
is using ἱεροσυλεῖν in Rom 2:22 to imply that the misappropriation of funds for the holy temple in Jerusalem by Jews, such as that described by Josephus, is equivalent to desecration of the temple itself. This, of course, makes a mockery of the Jewish claim to “abhor idols,” since the abhorrence of idols and the upkeep of the worship in the Jerusalem temple were two sides of the same coin—negative and positive aspects, respectively, of Jewish worship (2 Kgs 23:19–25, 2 Chr 33:7–8; cf. 1 Macc 1:41–53). Paul’s charge is thus a prophetic indictment, equivalent to Jeremiah’s condemnation of his Israelite contemporaries. It places Paul’s Jewish interlocutor in the same moral position as the foolish Gentiles who worship idols and dishonor God himself (cf. Rom 1:21–23). In this way, the Law-teacher becomes a foil for Paul’s own prophetically informed apostolic ministry. In fact, Paul later claims that his own apostolic ministry will succeed at precisely the same point that his interlocutor’s preaching had failed: Paul himself fulfills this very task by bringing funds from the Gentiles to the “poor” in Jerusalem (Ἰερουσαλήμ, Rom 15:25–27). (p. 166)
Sadly, the book is priced at far more than my current funds allow me to purchase. But I find his basic interpretation of Romans 2:22 plausible, and am endeavoring to figure out why it seems right.
THE ARGUMENT RESUMED
Jesus clearly criticized the Jewish leadership’s desire for money and the ways they devised to get it (Luke 16:14; 11:39; Matthew 23:25; Mark 7:11; Matthew 15:5; Mark 12:40; John 2:14-16). People who Jesus characterized as full of “greed and self-indulgence” and who set aside God’s commands with their own traditions are not likely to be trustworthy with money.
This makes more sense of the original text. Were the Jews known collectively as thieves in general or adulterers in general? This seems hard to believe and we don’t hear such criticisms from Jesus or the Apostles in the Gospels or Acts. But what if “committing Temple robbery” is the actual crime that Paul is accusing them. It is the concrete crime behind the question, “do you steal?” (Romans 2:21) and the reference to adultery could be a metaphor for serious unfaithfulness to God that involved in this widespread financial malfeasance. Both accusations may be designed to outrage the Jews who hear them read, before Paul describes the actual corruption, which is an open secret. The leadership is corrupt in Israel, as Jesus said, but also in the diaspora. They are exploiting the financial sacrifice of Gentile god-fearers and they are also robbing God.
In his commentary on James, Wisdom for Dissidents, Jeff Meyers argues that James 4:13-5:6 are two parables of judgment coming on unbelieving Jews persecuting Christians, according to orders coming from Jerusalem. If James was written as early as Jeff thinks (and I think he is right), the exodus of god-fearing Gentiles had not yet begun to be a recognizable problem. But even nascent Christianity would still represent the siphoning off of funds from the Temple-Synagogue system and its beneficiaries. It is noteworthy then, that both parables feature financial issues.
Even before Stephen was martyred, the priests were “filled with jealousy” (Acts 5:17). This was very early in the history of the Church, but the Apostles had already been established as an alternative financial aid system for those in need (Acts 2:45ff; 4:32ff). Instead of going to the Temple treasury, funds were laid “at the Apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:35, 37). The church even had to install new officers to make sure the funds were overseen responsibly (Acts 6:1ff). And God himself severely judged financial malfeasance in the new organization (Acts 5:1-11).
So there is every reason to think the “jealousy” of the priests included their sense of entitlement to have all of the money run through their hands. Once we see the financial picture, parables James tells of “you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’” (James 4:13) and “you rich” (5:1) become even more pointed. The Jews in the religious “caste,” whether Sadducee or Pharisee, were, quite literally, seeking profits and holding back what they owed.
Of course, all Jesus’ many sayings and parables about wealth become more pointed as well. Perhaps the most striking one is the parable of the unjust steward who Jesus commends as an example of rational action (Luke 16:1ff). The Pharisees (Luke 16:15) should reduce their take now, while Jesus has not yet installed new stewards, so that they will be welcome into the Church when it is exalted. Acts shows the unjust stewards who refused to heed Jesus’ warning, watching the new stewards grow in wealth and power.
Paul hoped that jealousy would provoke some to repent (Romans 11:11, 13, 14). He worked hard with the Gentiles to show the Jews how blessed they could be in a society of cheerful givers (2 Corinthians 9:6) that honored God rather than stole from Him.
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”
2 Corinthians 9:10–15 ESV