Romans 2:22

Commit adultery. See on v. 1.

Abhorrest. Gr. bdelluzo, “to detest,” “to turn away from in disgust.”

Commit sacrilege. Or, “rob temples.” This is generally explained as the plundering of heathen temples, meaning that Paul is here referring to the inconsistency of robbing temples in spite of the professed defilement of contact with idolatry. That the Jews had a reputation for such a crime may possibly be inferred from Acts 19:37-41, where the town clerk of Ephesus acquits Paul and his companions of being temple robbers. This sin was forbidden by the Jews in harmony with Deut. 7:25. Josephus thus paraphrases this prohibition: “‘Let none blaspheme the gods which other cities revere, nor rob foreign temples, nor take treasure that has been dedicated in the name of any god’” (Antiquities iv. 8. 10 [207]).

However, it is possible that Paul is referring to the Jewish desecration of the Temple and of the Temple services. The essence of idolatry is the profanation of God, and of this the Jews were in a high degree guilty. They made God’s house a “den of thieves” (Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).