By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 11-20 of chapter 2.
1.1.1. Having established in a previous study the fact that the judgment that
shall be carried out upon a person by the Lord with be based only upon the good
or bad works that he/she commits, in that study Paul began to apply that truth
to the Jews, for they were a people who thought that they always had God’s
favor just by the fact that they were of the nation of Israel.
1.1.2. The Jews made the error or presumption but Paul told them that God is
impartial in all of His judgments.
1.1.3. We saw that all stability in the universe is based upon God always
being impartial and unchanging, and if He were not so we could never know if we
could trust God with our lives.
1.1.4. We saw that the Jews had so many things in their storied history to
look upon which showed that at one time they had God’s favor. Of all of the people groups upon the earth,
the Jew knew that it was they who were chosen of God to be His people. The Jews also knew that they had the great
patriarchs as their ancestors, men like Moses, Israel, Joseph, Elijah, David, Giddeon, Daniel, etc.,
These men had God’s approval made so evident to them, and they conquered
lands and obtained inheritances only because God had been with them. The nation was also the keeper of the
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at verses 21-30 of chapter 2.
1.2.1. Paul continues to expound upon his theme that having God’s approval
over a person’s life has nothing to do with his nationality, race, cultural
traditions, family heritage, station in life, etc.
1.2.2. Paul begins to confront the Jews directly pressing them to consider
whether or not in their religion that they said one thing, or commanded people
to do one thing, and then did another thing themselves, i.e. whether or not
they are hypocrites in their religion.
1.2.3. Paul is again setting the foundation in this book for the doctrinal
truth that all men are sinners and cannot save themselves, and thus they need a
Savior.
1.2.4. The Jews thought that because God had given as a sign of the Jew’s
separation to God the performing of circumcision upon the males that this
guaranteed them favor with God. However,
Paul will tell the Jews that circumcision of the flesh means nothing because
what really matters to God is a person’s circumcision of the heart, i.e. the
attitude and obedience of the heart by those who take God’s Name.
2. VS 2:21 - “21 you,
therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that
one should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one should not commit
adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” - Paul admonishes the Jews about the pride they
held in their nationality as Jews telling them that if they preach something to
people that they ought to live the things that they preach
2.1.
The Jews assumed that just
because of their being physical descendants of Abraham, that they had a special
relationship with God unlike any other peoples on earth. As was mentioned, there were so many things
in the Jew’s heritage that reminded them that they had once been God’s people,
and as a result they assumed that they would always have God’s favor.
2.2.
Paul had earlier written
that God would judge the Jews based upon their deeds, and here he challenges
them concerning their obedience to the Law which they possessed. Many years earlier John the Baptist in Matt.
3:9 had said that if the Jews did not repent and obey God’s Law that God would
raise up another people for Himself, “9 and do not suppose that you can say
to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you, that God is
able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”
2.3.
Later on in Romans, Paul
writes that it is always only a remnant of God’s people who will be saved. That is, it is only the ones who are willing
to do His will and walk in truth who will be saved.
2.4.
The Jews had not realized
that having a relationship with God was dependent upon their obedience to Him,
and that until they repented and turned over control of their life to Him, that
they would be destined for hell. That
repentance included a willingness to follow the truth to the extent as to come
to Jesus as their Lord and Master. It is
written that Samuel the prophet said the following to Saul after he and the
people had disobeyed the Lord, “22 …Has the Lord as much delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices As in obeying
the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice, And to heed
than the fat of rams. 23 “For rebellion
is as the sin of divination, And
insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.” If a Jew was not obedient to the Lord’s will
for his life, then all of the sacrifices and rites which he might perform would
gain him no advantage with the Lord.
2.5.
In order to convict the
Jewish readers of their sins, Paul asked the Jews if when they teach others not
to commit certain sins, if they themselves sin in the same way?
2.5.1. There were three particular sins in which Paul inquires as to whether
or not they do them, after teaching others not to do them, and apparently it
was the case that the Jews (especially their leaders) were known for committing
these sins:
2.5.1.1. They preach not to steal, but then do they themselves steal?
2.5.1.2. They preach not to commit adultery, yet do they commit adultery
themselves?
2.5.1.3. They say that they abhor idols, yet do they rob the pagan temples of
their idols greedy to obtain what is in them?
2.5.2. The assumed answer to these questions is, “Yes,” plus it is an
historical fact that the Jews were known for committing all of these sins.
2.6.
There are many people today
who think that they have a relationship with God because of something external
in their life. They may have been
baptized as a baby in some church, and now they think that they are Christians
as a result. They may belong to some
particular church and now the erroneously think that as a result of their
church membership they are in a certain standing with God? Some people think that because they are
Americans, that they are Christians.
However, regardless of peoples’ mistaken notions, what Paul is saying in
these verses is that it does not matter what external thing that a person wants
to rely upon as providing him some sort of special status with God, for the
practice of external things does not provide any special standing with
God. People must repent and turn their
lives over to God and be obedient from the heart to whatever the Lord has for
their lives if they want to be considered by God to be His people.
2.7.
I like what W.M. Newell says
about how this section applies to the church today: “If we should thus apply this passage
(17-19), must it not read something like this?
-’If thou bearest the name of a Christian, and
restest on having the gospel, and gloriest
in God, and knowest His will, and approvest
the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the gospel; and art confident that thou thyself art a
guide of the blind, having in the gospel the form of knowledge and of the
truth’- Then would follow the searching
questions of verses 21 and 22; for do we
not know teachers that teach others, but refuse to follow their own teaching? And preachers that denounce stealing, but are
accused by the world of being themselves money-grabbers? So it would read, ‘Thou who gloriest in the
gospel, through thy disobedience to the gospel, dishonorest
thou God? The name of God is blasphemed
among non ‘church-members’ because of you!
Church-membership indeed profiteth if thou be
an obeyer of the gospel; but if thou be a refuser
of a gospel-walk, thy ‘church-membership’ is become non
‘church-membership’. If therefore a non
‘church-member’ obey the gospel, shall not his non ‘church-membership’ be
reckoned for ‘church-membership’? And
shall not non ‘church-members’, if they obey the gospel, judge thee, who with
the letter and ‘church-membership’ art a refuser of a
gospel-walk? For he is not a Christian
who is one outwardly, nor is that ‘church-membership’ which is outward in the
flesh; but he is a Christian who is one
inwardly; and ‘church-membership’ is
that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not of men,
but of God.”
3. VS 2:23-24 - “23 You
who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24
For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.” - Paul asks the Jews if through
their breaking of the Law that they think that they dishonor God because the
Gentiles blasphemy God because of the Jews’ hypocrisy in saying one thing and
doing another
3.1.
In order to bring conviction
to the Jews, Paul asks the searching question of whether or not when the Jews
broke the law, that they dishonored God?
The answer to the question is assumed to be, “Yes.”
3.2.
Paul quotes from Isaiah 52:5
and Ezek. 36:20 when he writes that because of the attitude and lifestyle of
the Jews that God is blasphemed among the Gentiles. It was prophesied that the name Jew would
become a “byword” among the nations (Deut. 28:37) and indeed it had
become so. In fact, sometimes people
would say to someone, for instance, “You are acting like a Jew,” using
the name Jew in a derogatory sense typifying a hypocritical type of behavior.
3.3.
A man once said to a group
of Christians, “God loved you so much that He was willing to risk His
reputation on you!” We Christians
need to realize that what we do in our lives reflects upon our great God. Our life can bring glory to Him, or it can
dishonor Him. How can we who claim to be
Christians continue to live in sin and rebellion against the Lord in our
life? How can we bring such dishonor to
the One who gave up His life for us on a cross so that we might be forgiven?
4. VS 2:25-27 - “25 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.
26 If therefore the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will
not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
27 And will not 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?” - Paul tells the Jews that they cannot depend
upon their having been circumcised to gain or guarantee them favor with God
4.1.
Circumcision is the rite
which Jehovah commanded Abraham to perform upon himself and all the males of
his household and all his descendants throughout all of their generations in Genesis
17:10-14, “10 “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between
Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be
circumcised. 11 “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your
foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 “And
every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your
generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with
money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. 13 “A servant
who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be
circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting
covenant. 14 “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in
the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has
broken My covenant.””
4.2.
“Circumcision — cutting around. This rite, practiced before, as some
think, by divers races, was appointed by God to be the special badge of his
chosen people, an abiding sign of their consecration to him. It was established
as a national ordinance (Gen. 17:10, 11). In compliance with the divine
command, Abraham, though ninety-nine years of age, was circumcised on the same
day with Ishmael, who was thirteen years old (17:24–27). Slaves, whether
home-born or purchased, were circumcised (17:12, 13); and all foreigners must
have their males circumcised before they could enjoy the privileges of Jewish
citizenship (Ex. 12:48). During the journey through the wilderness, the
practice of circumcision fell into disuse, but was resumed by the command of
Joshua before they entered the Promised Land (Josh. 5:2–9). It was observed
always afterwards among the tribes of
As a rite of the church it ceased when the New
Testament times began (Gal. 6:15; Col. 3:11). Some Jewish Christians sought to
impose it, however, on the Gentile converts; but this the apostles resolutely
resisted (Acts 15:1; Gal. 6:12). Our Lord was circumcised, for it “became him
to fulfill all righteousness,” as of the seed of Abraham, according to the
flesh; and Paul “took and circumcised” Timothy (Acts 16:3), to avoid giving
offence to the Jews. It would render Timothy’s labors more acceptable to the
Jews. But Paul would by no means consent to the demand that Titus should be
circumcised (Gal. 2:3–5). The great point for which he contended was the free
admission of uncircumcised Gentiles into the church. He contended successfully
in behalf of Titus, even in
In the Old Testament a spiritual idea is attached to
circumcision. It was the symbol of purity (Isa. 52:1). We read of uncircumcised
lips (Ex. 6:12, 30), ears (Jer. 6:10), hearts (Lev. 26:41). The fruit of a tree
that is unclean is spoken of as uncircumcised (Lev. 19:23).
It was a sign and seal of the covenant of grace as
well as of the national covenant between God and the Hebrews. (1.) It sealed
the promises made to Abraham, which related to the commonwealth of
Under the Jewish dispensation, church
and state were identical. No one could be a member of the one without also
being a member of the other. Circumcision was a sign and seal of membership in
both. Every circumcised person bore thereby evidence that he was one of the
chosen people, a member of the church of God as it then existed, and
consequently also a member of the Jewish commonwealth.”
4.3.
In the book, “The New Testament Milieu,” it is stated,
“It was every father’s duty to have his
son circumcised. In Gn 17:12 we read that
circumcision had to take place on the eighth day after birth, and, accordingly,
John the Baptist (Lk 1:59), Jesus (Lk 2:21) and Paul (Phlp 3:5) were
circumcised on the eighth day. Yet an emergency could cause it to take place
later. Circumcision was one of the few things that could be done on a Sabbath.
The occasion was rounded of by a festive meal.
Although circumcision was not only a Jewish custom (cf. Schürer), as a sign of the covenant it had immense symbolic
value. As external proof of his being a member of the people of God, it was the
main sign of the difference between a Jew and a non-Jew (Billerbeck).
It was an identity-marker that
bound the Jew forever to his Jewish heritage, wherever he lived in the ancient
world. For this reason, a non-Jew desirous of becoming part of the Jewish
community of faith was only accepted as a full member after he had been
circumcised.”
4.4.
This outward cutting of the
flesh was a sign to the Jews that they were God’s people. It has been conjectured that because man’s
nature is so prone to be sinful that everything about man needed to be
cleansed, even the sex organ, and therefore the Lord commanded Abraham to
perform this act. Abraham’s descendants
continued this ritual upon all of the males, and with the giving of the Law of
Moses, God gave commands to the Israelites concerning the performance of this
rite upon the young male children. Kind
of like baptism is to the Christian, circumcision was to be symbolic to the Jew
of what was already internal within God’s people. They were to have cleansed hearts and hands
which had committed no unconfessed and unrepented-of sin, and this was what circumcision was to be
symbolic of.
4.5.
Warren Wiersbe has written,
“Often in biblical covenants, God appointed some physical or material
“token” to remind the people of what had been promised. His covenant with
Abraham was “sealed” by the rite of circumcision (Gen. 17:9–14; Rom. 4:11).
When God established His covenant with
4.6.
The Jews in Paul’s day
prided themselves in that they were circumcised. This outward sign separated them from all
other peoples, and thus they thought that if circumcision were performed upon
someone that they were guaranteed to go to heaven when they died. In fact the Jewish rabbis taught that Abraham
himself stood at the gate of hades in order to
prevent anyone who had been circumcised from entering in.
4.7.
In these verses, Paul tells
the Jews that circumcision only has value for them if they have repented of
their sins and are walking in the way in which God intended for them. However if Jews were depending only upon the
fact that they were Jewish, had the Law, and were circumcised in order to
guarantee them favor with God, then they were sadly mistaken for they did not
belong to the Lord.
4.8.
What Paul is getting at in
these verses is that what really matters as far as God is concerned is where a person’s
heart is at in relation to God. Religion
in the true sense must exist in a heart that is sanctified and offered up to
God, and God’s people must be obedient and willing vessels for His purposes in
this world. Those who are not of this
type are not God’s people at all, regardless of whether or not they have been
circumcised, baptized, confirmed, accepted into membership, etc.
4.9.
The Jewish readers could
have heartily agreed with Paul in his description of the Gentiles in chapter
1:21 through the end of the chapter, however now Paul tells the Jews something
that must have horrified them: If
Gentiles have obedient and willing hearts toward God, then it doesn’t matter
whether or not they are circumcised or not, they are God’s people; and further than that, a Gentile who walks
obediently before the Lord will judge a Jew who is depending for his
justification before God on just upon being a circumcised descendent of
Abraham.
4.10.
As I stated earlier in this
study, many people in our day are
relying upon the fact that they have been baptized, or that they go to the true
church, were raised in a Christian home, etc., and that these external things
assure them of salvation through Christ.
However, true Christians are those who have a personal relationship with
God through Jesus Christ that involves sincere saving faith and repentance of
sin, and, it is what is in the heart that matters to God. If a person relies upon any external things
in his life to gain him relationship with God, then he will not make it to
heaven.
4.11.
This idea of what is in our
heart as being the key to our acceptance before God and being pleasing to Him,
really effects many areas of our lives.
In regard to worship for instance, we know that the primary idea in worship
is really just to honor God. Likewise,
how we go about honoring Him with our life can really take many different
forms. It is not that we sing songs, or
what songs we sing, or what style of music that we employ in our worship, for
when we worship God in Spirit and from our hearts this makes what we do true
worship. What makes worship true and
genuine is the state of our heart before Him.
We do not even have to be at church to worship God either, for we can
worship Him in every facet of our lives if we keep in mind that we honor Him in
all that we do. In fact, we should learn
to worship God in all that we do and everywhere it is that we go. This of course, is not to say that we as
Christians should not be in church when it meets, and keep the Sabbath day
holy, etc.
5. VS 2:28-29 - “28 For
he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is
outward in the flesh. 29 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.” - Paul tells the Roman Christians that being a
Jew is based upon that which a person is inwardly in the heart and by the
Spirit, not by the attempt at keeping of the letter of the Law
5.1.
Paul tells his Jewish
brethren in these verses that to be a ‘Jew,’ by which he really means to
be one of God’s people, the heart must be circumcised, cleansed pure from sin
and sanctified to God, obedient to His will.
5.2.
We see in the scriptures
that not all of those who name themselves as God’s people, nor even those who
gather with God’s people, are indeed God’s people. Rather, it is a faithful remnant of God’s
people whom He considers to truly be His people.
5.3.
Paul says that the “true
person of God” is circumcised in heart ‘by the Spirit,’ that is to
say that the Holy Spirit must fill the person’s heart, and that therefore the
person does not walk by the letter of the Law of Moses, but rather he or she
walks in the power of the Holy Spirit and thus walks in true righteousness and
fulfills the spirit of the Law. There is
no one who can keep the Law in the power of his or her flesh, rather a person
must walk in the power of the Spirit and in doing this he will carry out God’s
will.
5.4.
Finally, Paul writes that
the true person of God is not performing righteous acts for the praise of men,
but rather he or she is walking in such a way as to please the Lord alone,
regardless of whether or not he or she has the praise and acclaim of men. God’s people are “God-pleasers,” not “man-pleasers.”
5.5.
If we Christians are to walk
in such a way as to please God, then we must learn to walk in the power of the
Holy Spirit. We must not be content to
be legalists, trying to keep God’s Laws in the power of our own flesh, walking
in the flesh, but rather we must walk in the power of the Spirit by faith. True righteousness involves walking in a
crucified life, with us putting to death the sin nature, the works of the
flesh, and letting the Holy Spirit have complete control of our lives, and
walking in the newness of life that we have as regenerated believers in
Jesus. Paul wrote about this type of
life in Gal. 2:20, “20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up
for me.”
5.6.
We Christians must learn to
walk in that crucified life. We must
learn to reckon, or count it to be true, that we have died with Christ (that is
our sin nature) and that now Jesus is living that resurrection life completely
through our life: Rom. 6:12-, “6 knowing
this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has
died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the
dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the
death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives,
He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to
God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not
let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, 13 and do not
go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of
unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not
be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”
5.7.
We Christians must die to
self and when we first come to that point in our lives, at that moment we have
come to salvation in Christ. Having come
to salvation in Christ, then God creates in us a new heart in righteousness and
we begin to be molded to the image of Christ (a lifelong process). This is what Ezekiel promised in Ezekiel
36:26, “26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a
heart of flesh.”
5.8.
Spurgeon once preached about
a man’s need for a new heart in order to come into a relationship with Christ
and be pleasing to him, he said, “You will notice that in my text [EZEKIEL
36:26] God does not promise to us that
he will improve our nature, that he will mend our broken hearts. No, the promise is that he will give us new
hearts and right spirits. Human nature
is too far gone ever to be mended. It is
not a house that is a little out of repair, with here and there a slate blown
from the roof, and here and there a piece of plaster broken down from the
ceiling. No, it is rotten throughout,
the very foundations have been sapped;
there is not a single timber in it which has not been eaten by the worm,
from its uppermost roof to its lowest foundation; there is no soundness in it; it is all rottenness and ready to fall. God doth not attempt to mend; he does not shore up the walls, and re-paint
the door; he does not garnish and
beautify, but he determines that the old house shall be entirely swept away,
and that he will build a new one. It is
too far gone, I say, to be mended. If it
were only a little out of repair, it might be mended. If only a wheel or two of that great thing
called “manhood” were out of repair, then he who made man might put the whole
to rights; he might put a new cog where
it had been broken off, and another wheel where it had gone to ruin, and the
machine might work anew. But no, the
whole of it is out of repair; there is
not one lever which is not broken; not
one axle which is not disturbed; not one
of the wheels which act upon the others.
The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot, to the crown of
the head, it is all wounds and bruises and putrifying
sores. The Lord, therefore, does not
attempt the repairing of this thing; but
he says, “I will give you a new heart and a right spirit will I put within
you; I will take away the heart of
stone, I will not try to soften it, I will let it be as stony as ever it was,
but I will take it away, and I will give you a new heart, and it shall be a
heart of flesh... Oh! shame on
manhood: never could there have been a
creature worse than man. The very beasts
are better than man, for man has all the worst attributes of the beasts and
none of their best. He has the
fierceness of the lion without its nobility;
he has the stubbornness of an ass without its patience; he has all the devouring gluttony of the
wolf, without the wisdom which bids it avoid the trap. He is a carrion vulture but he is never
satisfied; he is a very serpent with the
poison of asps beneath his tongue, but he spits his venom afar as well as
nigh. Ah, if you think of human nature
as it acts towards God, you will say indeed it is too bad to be mended, it must
be made anew.”
5.9.
We will see that the point
that Paul is getting to in the book of Romans is that all men are lost in sin,
their natures are depraved (utterly corrupt), and therefore if a person is to
come to salvation and a father/son relationship with God, then he must die to
self and be made new in heart through accepting Jesus Christ as his Lord and
Savior. He must receive a new heart from
God and be made a “new creature” in Christ. If you are not a new creature in Christ, you
need to repent of your sin and ask God to forgive you and send Christ into your
life to be your Lord and your Savior. If
you are a Christian, but you have allowed that new heart of yours to become
hardened and you are currently not living as a new creature in Christ, then you
need to repent of the sin of backsliding and ask God to forgive you through the
blood of Jesus, and now by His mercy begin to once again soften that heart that
once was pure of sin and soft towards the Lord.
5.10.
How strange a person appears
who tries to live the Christian life by merely relying upon external things to
bring him favor with God. Truly, such a
one is a fish out of water, for everything that he is by nature is opposed to
what a Christian life is to be composed of.
5.10.1.
The most graphic way to
explain this is to give an illustration of a pig. You can wash a pig, comb his fur, and place
gold jewelry on him, however because by nature his is still a pig, he will soon
just go and wallow in the mud where he is most comfortable. You see, the very nature of man must be
changed through receiving a new heart in order for a man or a woman to walk in
such a way as pleases Him, and until a man receives a new nature from God, then
his religion is worthless before God.
6. CONCLUSIONS:
6.1.
As we consider this message and how we ought to apply
it to our life, I will just ask you if you have had the Lord give you a new
heart, or not? Have you come to the
place of becoming circumcised in heart so that what you long to do more than
anything in your life is simply to walk in such a manner that you please the
Lord? If the answer to these questions
is, “No,” then I encourage you to surrender your heart and your will to God and
ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior and give you the gift of eternal life,
putting a new heart within you.
6.2.
Don’t think that you are going to get to heaven merely
be external observances of rituals and rites.
If your heart has not be rent in two by the Lord and if He has not begun
to remake you from the inside out, then you are still in need of the Savior,
still in need of receiving the gift of eternal life.