You Who Abhor Idols, Do You Rob Temples?" — Paul, Josephus, and the Hypocrisy That Blasphemes God

"You Who Abhor Idols, Do You Rob Temples?" — Paul, Josephus, and the Hypocrisy That Blasphemes God


Romans 2:22 has long baffled readers:


“You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?”


The accusation seems strange at first glance. Paul is writing to a Jewish audience—those who abhor idols by definition. So how could he possibly accuse them of robbing temples?


But an obscure detail in Josephus throws surprising light on Paul’s meaning. In Antiquities of the Jews 15.11.3, Josephus describes the Temple in Jerusalem—ostensibly the holiest place in Jewish life—as adorned with plunder:


“This cloister looked to the gates of the temple; and it had been adorned by many kings in former times; and round about the entire temple were fixed the spoils taken from barbarous nations; all these had been dedicated to the temple by Herod, with the addition of those he had taken from the Arabians.”


In the very Temple of Yahweh, the house of the One True God, was decorated with stolen goods—spoils taken from Gentile nations, including the Arabians. These weren’t free-will offerings from pagan converts. These were plundered, repurposed, and “dedicated” in a way that masked conquest with sanctity. Paul’s sharp rhetorical question in Romans 2:22 suddenly snaps into place. The Jews prided themselves on rejecting idolatry, distinguishing themselves from the nations. And yet, their own house of worship was filled with treasures seized from the temples of those very nations. Paul’s question is not random—it is prophetic irony.


“You abhor idols—so why are the treasures of idol-worshipers in your temple?”


This is not merely about hypocrisy on a personal level. It’s about systemic, religious hypocrisy. Paul is showing how the old covenant system, in its final corrupt form, had become complicit in the same kind of behavior it condemned in others. It’s the height of contradiction: robbing temples while preaching monotheism.


And the consequence?


“The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24, citing Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:22)


Gentiles saw the Temple not as a house of prayer for all nations, but as a hoarder of the spoils of conquest. This theft under the banner of religion brought dishonor to the very name of God. Paul was not merely rebuking individuals—he was exposing the rot in a system that was on the verge of collapse. The Jewish temple, once the symbol of covenant holiness, had become a trophy house of nationalist religiosity. Its judgment was imminent. And it was. Within a generation, in 70 AD, that temple was destroyed.



Conclusion


The Jews can’t cry out against the idols of culture while building temples of their own pride, adorned with the very things they claim to reject. The world sees through religious pretense. And when the name of God is used to sanctify power, conquest, or greed, His name is blasphemed—not because of the pagans, but because of the faithful who should have known better.


So Paul’s haunting question echoes still:


“You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?”


And perhaps even more personally:

What have we dedicated in God’s name that was never ours to take?


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