This is the third instalment from Romans Chapter 2, which I have entitled, “Let’s take a good look at ourselves!” It may sound somewhat repetitive to what we have said earlier, but two convictions guide me in being repetitive.
(i) We need frequent reminders. We need to be in the habit of continuously examining
ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5) The Greek philosopher Socrates famously said, “The
unexamined life is not worth living”.
(ii)
The essence of helpful biblical teaching is to repeat vital
truths over and over again. Paul is repetitive in his teaching method. As a rule we don’t listen well. We are very
distracted. As a result we don’t process well, and therefore the truth doesn’t
settle well in our souls.
Do you still remember the general argument thus far?
Paul is on a mission to show the
whole world that we all are in need of the gospel. He wants to show us that the gospel solves our
most fundamental problem: Our problem with God!
He wants us to see that in our fallen
nature we are without hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12).
He wants us to see that if we remain
estranged from God, we will not escape God and therefore we will have to face
the wrath of God.
He wants us to see that God has
provided a way out for us in this dilemma. It is the gospel. That, I submit, is worth listening to. It is
worth thinking over. It is worth asking the question: If this is all true - HOW
THEN SHOULD I LIVE? See how it
affected Paul:
Paul tells us that he has been set
apart for the proclamation of the gospel (1:1). Knowing this, he is
eager to preach the gospel (1:15). Knowing this He is not shamed of the
gospel, because it is a life-giving message. It is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes (1:16). To
this end Paul has been called of God,
and to this end he has dedicated himself. God was
Paul’s life. Apply this to yourself. God is your life! For that end you
were created.
Now let’s see what he is up against:
In Romans 1:18 – 3:20 Paul
wrestles with the stubborn inclinations of our fallen hearts. It is a universal
problem. Gentiles and Jews (Paul writes from the perspective of the latter) are
sinners in need of the gospel. In chapter 2 we hear a protest from the Jews.
They agree that the gentile world is sinful, but they do not see themselves as
sinful. They presume upon their covenant relationship with God (2:4),
but here’s the problem: They do not live within the boundaries which that
covenant relationship stipulates. So, Paul’s people, the Jews were judging the
gentile world, but Paul holds a mirror before them and shows them that they,
the Jews are guilty of the very same things which they accuse the gentiles of (2:3).
Paul relentlessly pushes his countrymen into a corner by reminding them that
they too have to answer to God for disobeying His law, even as the gentiles
will have to give account to God for disobeying that same law, which is written
on the tablets of their hearts (Rom. 2:15).
Paul has been dealing with the
problem of the hypocritical spirit – judging others, whilst being guilty of the very same thing. This is a great
challenge for us too. Let’s learn to take a close look at ourselves.
1.
2: 17-24 Paul challenges Jews –
those who claim to be God’s people to examine themselves
2. 2:25-29 Paul challenges Jews not
to rely on merely external means but on internal obedience to the law of God
The
Jew said
9 things about himself: "I am a Jew; I rely on the law; I boast
in God; I know His will; I approve of what is excellent because I have been instructed from the law;
I am a guide to the blind; I am a light
to those in darkness, and instructor of the foolish; I am a teacher of children; I have in the law
the embodiment of knowledge and truth" (2:17-20)
But here comes the hard question 2:21-24: “Very well then. You call yourself a Jew. You boast in God... If you claim all this, then why then do you live as a practical atheist? You teach others, but do you do not teach yourself? You rely on the law, but do you do not apply the law to yourself? (2:21b-23). The fact is you don’t! And the gentiles who you call sinners and whom you despise – well, they can smell a religious hypocrite from a mile away – and they blaspheme the Name of God because of your poor testimony (2:24)[1]. Dear people, how many people think of God or His Word as insignificant and dispensable because of poor behaviour from religious people here in Robertson or elsewhere?
He
considered himself a law-keeper. But when Jesus helped him to examine the
motives and the attitudes of his heart he was undone! Go and sell everything... and follow me!
And the young man walked away sad because he had great possessions.
Jesus showed him very quickly that he could not even keep the first commandment
- to love the Lord his God with a whole heart, mind and strength. He walks away-
sad, but essentially unmoved by the truth. The truth is- he did not love God.
He was a religious hypocrite.
And so it is! We easily tend to separate
the knowledge of God from God Himself. We can know a great deal about God
without knowing God Himself. We can think about God without having personal
fellowship with God. Many people fall in love with the theology of God, but
they don’t necessarily love God Himself. But God is not just theology! He is theology on fire!
Paul challenges these religious
people who are very quick to see the sins and shortcomings of the Gentiles but
very slow to see their own failure. Let us be quick to examine ourselves. It is no good accusing Muslims and Hindu’s and
Buddhists of all their shortcomings in their systems of belief, when we, in our
Christian world are so deficient in the knowledge of God’s Word and in the living out of God’s word.
Take note of the consequences...
Head knowledge of God without heart
knowledge of God makes us proud.
It inoculates against hearing the
saving truth of God.
It makes us deaf to the gospel.
It causes us to be high-minded
against our neighbour because we think that we are superior. Wasn’t that true
of the Christianity of Apartheid South Africa?
What Paul is saying is just as
applicable to us today as it was to the Jewish people to whom He first spoke. We
must guard our hearts at all costs against spiritual hypocrisy.
Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones in his
commentary on Romans summarizes the characteristics of hypocrisy[2]:
1. A hypocrite only has a general and theoretical and intellectual
interest in truth.
2. A hypocrite is spiritually
complacent. he is self satisfied, always pleased with himself and never
conscious of any deficiency. There is never any humility about the hypocrite.
3. The hypocrite never
examines himself. He does not see the need for self examination
The problem with the hypocrite is
that he sees himself always in relative terms to others: “I am not as bad as
this tax collector“ (Matt. 18:9-14). He never sees Himself with respect to God. The
cure to hypocrisy is intimacy with God; fellowship with God.
When professing Christian believers
claim to be followers of Christ, and they live in contradiction of that
profession, they become the single, greatest hindrance to the gospel. Nominal Christianity
is the single biggest obstacle to evangelism.
2. 2:25-29 EXTERNAL RELIGIOUS BEHAVIOUR DOES NOT SAVE ANYONE
Paul continues to systematically rob
Jews / religious people of any false confidences in their so called faith
systems. He has one more argument to
make. It is very relevant to ourselves! It
has to do with the external rites we practise and in which we take comfort, and
by which we consider ourselves to be right with God. Paul here uses the example of circumcision.
Circumcision was considered to be THE
definitive sign and proof of a Jew’s union with God. It was commanded in the
law, and it was applied almost as soon as any male representative was
born. Externally they thus could prove that
they were “true Jews/ true sons of Abraham”. Now of course that was commanded,
and yes, it did create a national identity, and as such it was not wrong. But what happened? Circumcision became it! They believed that having the sign of
circumcision was all that was needed to be a member of God’s covenant
community.
No heart in it!
No living out of their convictions !
The truth of the matter was that the
Gentiles saw through the hypocrisy of the Jews (2:21-23) and on account
of this blasphemed the name of God, because they did not live up to their
profession.
This is what Paul now picks up in 2:25-29,
and he makes the point very strongly that circumcision[3]
is not the definitive sign of being a true Jew. Paul strongly argues that
circumcision is of no value if it is not attended by faithful practice of the
Law. Now, hear him out: He is not denying the value of an outward rite:
2:25 “For circumcision indeed is of
some value if you obey the law”, but he is also saying, “but if you
break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision“ i.e. your outward
sign of commitment to Judaism is undone. It is as if you are not a Jew. That is
a strong challenge to the Jews. Paul is
pushing an important point here: your
doctrine and your life must speak the same language – hence his words to
Timothy “Watch your life and doctrine closely (NIV)“ - anything else smacks of hypocrisy. This is
a tough challenge for the Jews- and for Christians!
In 2:26 he goes even further
with his challenge, “So, if a man who is circumcised (i.e. a gentile) keeps
the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as
circumcision? Paul has made
this assertion once before in 2:14. He is saying that a gentile
could technically be a circumcised man,
if he kept the law of his conscience- the law of God written on his heart.
And then Paul asserts in 2:27 that
a man who is uncircumcised by birth and yet keeps the Law, will judge the
circumcised lawbreaker (the Jew) who actually lives as though he were
uncircumcised – DESPITE all the right rites and connections he has!
And then in 2:28-29 Paul goes in
‘’for the kill’’. He says that true religion is always a matter of the
heart (i.e. of genuine faith and practise). Thus, Paul argues that a true Jew
is not one who is merely circumcised outwardly.
A true Jew is one who is circumcised inwardly, a circumcision of the
heart done by the Spirit and not by the written code. This is the circumcision
of the heart to which Jeremiah 31:31-33 refers. It is a reference to a
supernatural work of God in the heart of a man. It is the rebirth, the same
thing about which Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John 3:1 ff.
With these words Paul has caused the
whole foundation upon which the Jew stood and prided himself to collapse. And
he has proved that the Jew like the gentile is guilty before God. They are both
equally lost. Both need the gospel.
SUMMARY
1. We need to pursue the habit
of diligently taking a regular good look at ourselves. We need to learn to
judge and examine ourselves, before we judge others.
2. We cannot rely on external
spiritual acts (Baptism, church membership etc) as a means of salvation. In this regard we need to rethink the place of
our religious rites. They have some value, but only when Christ is at the
centre. Our external rites, as important
as they may be, have no saving power in themselves. Do not pride yourself in
your baptism, church membership, participation in the Lord’s supper. Make sure
that you love God! Remember that God always
looks at the heart! If there is no circumcision of the heart, it will be of no
use. That circumcision comes by the Holy
Spirit – and not by the written code. It
is the Holy Spirit that convicts the world of sin. He drives us to look at
Christ, who alone is the Saviour of the world – for the Jew first, and then
also for the gentile. (Romans 1:16,17)
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