Who is Paul dealing with in the verses after Romans 2:17?
Paul is dealing with the religious person, specifically the religious Jew, described as the third segment of humanity. These people rested in the law and made their boast of God, as verse 17 states, but their religion was not true Christianity.
Les teaches that in Romans 2:17 and the succeeding verses, Paul acts as a prosecuting attorney moving to the third segment of humanity: the religious person. Specifically, Paul is dealing with the religious Jew, because that was the primary religion Paul had to deal with. Les explains that religion is man's attempt to please God, prompting hatred, war, and legalism, while Christianity is God reaching down in mercy and grace to a lost human race. Paul himself was saved out of the Jew's religion and had hated the very name of Jesus of Nazareth as a religious person. Verse 17 identifies this Jew who rests in the law and boasts of God.
Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,