Romans 2:21-24

With a series of rapier-like interrogations (rhetorical questions) Paul poked holes in the Jews’ hypocritical facade. Evidently it was not uncommon for Jews to rob the temples of the pagan Gentiles (Romans 2:22; cf. Acts 19:37). They may have done this by using the precious metals from idolatrous articles stolen from pagan temples (cf. Deuteronomy 7:26). [Note: Ibid., p. 129.] By doing so, they betrayed their own idolatry, which was love of money. Furthermore, rather than staying away from what they professed to abhor, they went after pagan idols. The Jews’ Gentile neighbors saw their inconsistency and despised Yahweh because of it (Romans 2:24). The Jews did not apply their own teaching to themselves. Paul backed up his claim with a quotation from Isaiah 52:5.

Undoubtedly Paul did not mean that every single Jew practiced these sins, but these sins represented the contradiction between claim and conduct that marked Judaism.