The Bad News For The Jew
INTRODUCTION:
Last week after four weeks we finished up the first section of Romans 2. This morning we will begin the second section. Paul has established for us in chapter 1 and the first part of chapter 2 that every person is guilty before God and deserves God’s wrath and judgment against sin. There is no one who is righteous, no one who deserves God’s mercy and grace, we all stand condemned in our sin, whether we be like those described in chapter one who were abandoned by God because of their rejection of Him, or those described in chapter two who are on outside morally good people, but inside they are wretched and sinful.
This morning Paul turns his attention fully upon the Jews to show them that they are also in danger of God’s wrath and judgment. The Jews thought that they were morally superior to the Gentiles, they were God’s covenant people, they bore the sign of the covenant in their bodies, they were the keepers of the Law. The Gentiles were morally deprived, lacking the written revelation of God, the Jews considered the Gentiles as unclean, blind, living in the dark and foolish in their pagan beliefs. Paul speaks to his fellow countrymen and tells them that the Law in which they trust cannot save them and the sign of the covenant, circumcision, also cannot save them. Let’s pray and get into our Scripture passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 2:17-29, Paul’s indictment of the Jews. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Romans 2:17-29,
“But if you bear the name ‘Jew’ and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So, if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” (Romans 2:17–29, NASB95)[1]
THE LAW CANNOT SAVE YOU (Romans 2:17-24)
In the first part of this passage Paul addresses the Jew who trusts in the Law to save him from God’s wrath and judgment. Paul understands the mindset of these self-righteous Jews because he himself was a Jew just like them, zealous for the Law and zealous for God until he met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and his life was transformed and he put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone to save him from God’s wrath and judgment.
Paul begins with an “if” statement and this statement says, “But if you bear the name ‘Jew’…” (Romans 2:17a, NASB95)[2] This is a conditional statement in Greek which means that it assumes the statement is true. Paul is speaking to people now who are truly Jews and gloried in that name. This fact is followed by eight other moral and religious particulars in which these self-righteous Jews gloried in their sense of superiority to the Gentiles. All of these details are included as part of the “if” clause that began this section.
The verbs and the verb tense that Paul uses in Greek are all in the present and emphasize the habitual nature of each of these facts that he uses to describe these Jews who are just like he was before he trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation.
First, Paul writes that these Jews rely upon the Law. In other words, they put their confidence in it because God gave it to them, He did not choose another nation to receive it, but He chose the Jews which made them superior to the Gentiles of the other nations which were not chosen for this blessing from God.
Second, Paul writes that they boast in God. This statement simply means that they brag about their relationship to God, that they are His covenant people, they gloried in the covenantal ties that they had with God. Again, this has to do with the fact that God chose them out of all the other nations to make His covenant with them and to give them the written revelation of Himself, His standard, His promises, His blessings, His cursings, His warnings, and His character and how He will act if obeyed, and how He will act if disobeyed. The results of their confidence in the Law and their covenantal relationship to God are the third and fourth details.
The third detail, they know God’s will, they have an understanding of God’s desires and plans and fourth, they approve of the things which are essential. The Greek word translated “approve” carries the idea of testing the value of something and approving it when it proves valuable. In other words, these Jews have a concern for superior spiritual standards, they are able to discern what is essential and what is not.
They have these two abilities because of the fifth fact, which is they are being instructed out of the Law. This word “instructed” in Greek is where we get our word catechism in English. John MacArthur says that this Greek word, “…had the general meaning of oral instruction of any sort but was especially associated with teaching by repetition. Both at home and in the synagogues, Jewish boys in particular were systematically and thoroughly instructed in the Law.”[3] Then throughout the rest of their life they would hear the Law read aloud in the synagogue which provided this continual instruction.
The sixth fact says these Jews were convinced, and as a result believed certain things about themselves in relationship to Gentiles. Paul lists four of the things that they were convinced about themselves: they are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, and a teacher of the immature. These were all conditions used to refer to the Gentiles, they said they were blind, in darkness, foolish, and immature when it came to spiritual truth and they believed that they were the ones who could guide them in their blindness, give them the light to dispel their darkness, correct their foolish beliefs, and teach them the elementary truths of the Law and of God.
The seventh fact is the belief that they could be all these things in relation to the Gentiles because in the Law they had the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth. This word “embodiment” means a form or outline. In other words, these Jews had in the Law an appearance of knowledge and the truth, it was only an appearance. They did truly through the Law have the revelation of divine knowledge and the truth, but their understanding, teaching and living it had become so coated in the traditions and teachings of the rabbis that God’s true Law was obscured and therefore unknown and disregarded. So, the appearance, the embodiment was not true, it was a counterfeit.
All of these Paul would have given hearty agreement to in his former life before Christ, and the Jews to whom he was speaking in these verses would have agreed with what he was writing to them. They would have gloried in their special spiritual position in contrast with that of the Gentiles. Paul then summed up all these particulars with a statement followed by a question which is our eighth distinctive. Paul writes, “you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?” (Romans 2:21a, NASB95)[4] They had labeled themselves as teachers of the Gentiles, but Paul turns this on them and asks, “do you not teach yourself?” Paul then proceeds to give them a list of specific prohibitions in the Law, the laws against stealing, committing adultery, and idolatry.
Paul asked those who preach or proclaim that one shall not steal, do you steal? There were many forms of stealing, in Malachi’s day the Jewish people were robbing God by not bringing in the tithe, maybe these Jewish people were stealing from Gentiles by dishonest means in their business with them. The Holy Spirit knew that this was a command that was being broken and inspired Paul to begin with this one. Next Paul said, “You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?” This also was happening in Malachi’s day, they were divorcing their Jewish wives to marry foreign women thus committing adultery. Jesus said in the sermon on the mount that if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Paul again inspired by the Holy Spirit shows these Jews that they are not living what they are teaching. Next Paul wrote, “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” The Jews after the exile and during the Greek and Roman occupations developed a strong abhorrence for anything that remotely resembled idolatry. So how were they robbing temples? There are a couple of possibilities, this may have referred to robbing their own Temple in Jerusalem by withholding part of their tithes or offerings. Also, when Jesus cleansed the Temple during His lifetime, He said that the money-changers and the merchants of sacrificial animals had turned the House of God into a den of robbers. But Paul may have had something else in mind as he wrote of robbing temples. The Law strictly forbade Israelites from making personal gain from the idols seized after conquering pagan enemies. They were to destroy them. There seems to be some evidence that certain Jews during Paul’s day plundered pagan temples for financial gain. In Acts 19:37 the town clerk of Ephesus makes a statement that Paul and those with him were not robbers of temples, suggesting that it was not uncommon for Jews to be guilty of this offense. It is possible that Jews doing this rationalized that what they were doing was for God. There true motive, however, was not religious but financial because they could sell the idol.
In verses 23 and 24 Paul charges these Jews with hypocrisy. They boasted in the Law, they bragged about it and how they were a special people to have it given to them from God, the Jews chosen out of all the nations of the world for this honor, but they were hypocrites because they had the Law but did not keep it and so they dishonored God. An honest Jew would have to respond to Paul’s questions by admitting his guilt and hypocrisy. Paul did not condemn the Jews’ hypocrisy on his own authority, but quoted to them from their own Law that they boasted in. Their hypocrisy dishonored God and cause the Gentiles to blaspheme God. The Gentiles saw the hypocrisy of the Jews and thought why should we honor their God when His chosen people don’t follow Him. Paul quoted Isaiah 52:5 from the Greek translation, “For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.” (Romans 2:24, NASB95)[5] Paul said to the Jews, the Law in which you trust because God chose you to receive it as His covenant people condemns you because you do not obey it. It cannot save you from God’s wrath and judgment.
CIRCUMCISION CANNOT SAVE YOU (Romans 2:25-29)
Paul knew that the Jews he was talking to thought even if the Law cannot save us, circumcision, the sign in our flesh that we are the covenant people of God, will save us. Paul showed them that trusting in this rite was meaningless and was a basis for God’s judgment.
John MacArthur says this about the ceremony of circumcision, “No doubt this surgery was symbolic of the sinfulness of man that was passed from generation to generation. The very procreative organ needed to be cleansed of a covering. So man at the very center of his nature is sinful and needs cleansing of the heart. This graphic symbol of the need of removing sin became the sign of being a Jew.”[6]
Paul knowing what his Jewish readers were thinking wrote, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” (Romans 2:25, NASB95)[7] What this is literally saying is that if you are a lawbreaker, which Paul had just established that they were by their hypocrisy, then your sign of the covenant, your circumcision becomes a foreskin, the word for uncircumcision is from the root for foreskin. Paul is saying that a Jewish lawbreaker is just like a Gentile lawbreaker, his circumcision counts for nothing.
Paul goes on to point out that the opposite is true as well, if someone who is uncircumcised were to keep the requirements of the Law, his uncircumcision would be regarded in God’s eyes as circumcision. Not only that but Paul goes onto say that this person who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, he will judge you who had the Law in your possession and circumcision but are a transgressor or a lawbreaker. In other words, this uncircumcised person who does not have the Law, but keeps the Law his righteousness will condemn you who has the Law and are circumcised because you do not keep the Law. This thought would have been revolutionary for the Jew who was reading this because they thought as Jews, they were far superior to the Gentiles. Paul’s point in all this was that the substance of pleasing God is obedience to His will, circumcision was to be a symbolic reminder of this.
The apostle in verses 28-29 sums up this whole passage by demolishing the false trust that his Jewish readers had in the Law and in circumcision. Paul first writes, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.” (Romans 2:28, NASB95)[8] Paul says that a true, genuine Jew is not one who is only outwardly a Jew, dressing like a Jew, doing the things that a Jew does that shows he is a Jew outwardly. This is not a true Jew even if he is a descendant of Abraham. Paul goes on to say that true circumcision is not that which is done outward in the flesh, it is only a sign or a symbol.
Paul then in verse 29 defines for us the true, genuine Jew when he writes, “But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” (Romans 2:29, NASB95)[9] Paul here is describing the true child of God by using as his example a faithful Jew. The true child of God, the genuine Jew is one inwardly. The true child of God is not known by an outward symbol, such as circumcision, but instead it is inward, it is a godly condition of the heart that has been transformed by the power of God through the Holy Spirit. Paul again states the truth that the knowledge of God’s Law has no power to save a person. Salvation from God’s wrath is a work of the Spirit in the heart of the believer. The one who is a true child of God is not looking for the praise of men because of his outward appearance, but his praise comes from God who looks at the heart.
CONCLUSION:
In this passage Paul takes his fellow countrymen to task and shows them that the two things that they were trusting in to save them from God’s wrath and judgment were helpless to save them. Paul was trying to show his Jewish readers that faith is required if we hope to escape God’s wrath, faith in the perfect and final sacrifice for sin, Jesus Christ. That faith combined with the power of God in the life of the believer transforms him into a new creation, and are sins are forgiven and we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and are justified before God. Without salvation by faith in Jesus Christ we stand condemned whether we are a Jew or a Gentile.
Paul was quite harsh with his Jewish readers and it can be easy to condemn them, but before we do that, we need to look at our own lives to see if we are trusting in something to save us from God’s wrath and judgment. Countless people in churches throughout history have considered themselves safe from God’s judgment simply because they were born into a Christian family, or because they were baptized as an infant or as an adult, or they were confirmed, or they belong to a church or maybe they have even made a profession of faith in God’s existence. None of these things will save you, none of these will keep you safe from God’s judgment and wrath. As I said last week, sitting in a garage will not make you a car, neither will sitting in a church make you a Christian, nor will any of those other things make you a Christian. Why? Because none of them deal with our sin, that is what condemns us, that is what makes us guilty and deserving of God’s wrath and judgment. It is only when we repent of our sin before God and come in faith believing that Jesus Christ died in our place, that His death paid the penalty required for our sin, that He was buried and rose from the dead on the third day after His death that we are safe from God’s wrath and final judgment on sin. Our faith in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection takes care of our sin, we receive His righteousness so that we can stand before God forgiven, transformed, and justified. Search your heart this morning, what are you trusting in to keep you safe from God’s wrath and judgment? If it is something it will not keep you safe, if it is Someone and that Someone is Jesus Christ you are safe already.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 1-8. Chicago, IL : Moody Press, 1991
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 1-8. Chicago, IL : Moody Press, 1991
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[9]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995