Romans 2: introduction and focus change

The Unity of Christianity in Rome

Jews were expelled from Rome- Background on Context of Rome-Life:

Jewish Christians, of course, would have been expelled along with the rest of the Jews.[2] During the five years between Claudius’s edict (A.D. 49) and his death (A.D. 54) when the edict lapsed and Jews started to return, the composition and self-understanding of the house churches in Rome would have shifted considerably. Paul’s letter to the Romans would have arrived in Rome somewhere around A.D. 57, during the period when Jews were still trickling back into Rome.

Upon their return to Rome, Jewish Christians would have been placed in the awkward situation of having to assimilate into groups that felt rather foreign to them. This is a reverse of what would have happened before Claudius’s edict; at that time Gentiles would have had to adapt to Jewish customs to fit in. Surely, when the Jewish Christians showed up again in the now mostly-Gentile churches, tensions would have emerged over who was in charge and how Christians were supposed to relate to all-things-Jewish.

If this reconstruction is correct—and it does seem to be where the external historical evidence leads us—then we should expect to encounter evidence within the book of Romans that questions of self-identification of Jewish and Gentile Christians were in Paul’s mind as he wrote the letter. This is in fact one of the things we discover when we read it with some historical awareness. Knowing this background will cause you to be more attentive to such questions of Jewish-Christian and Gentile-Christian self-identification when you open Paul’s famous letter.

One of Paul’s teaching strategies in his letter to the Romans is to use questions (85 at my count) to move along his argument and to help his readers think hard about what he’s writing. I’ll close this post with 15 of Paul’s questions that will underscore that Paul was speaking into just such a historical situation as I’ve described here. Notice that the self-identification of Jewish and Gentile Christians vis-à-vis one another and in relation to the non-Christian Jewish community plays an important role in this list of questions.

As you keep the historical setting in mind, you’ll become a much better reader of Paul’s letter to the Romans.

3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;

3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also?

3:31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

4:9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also?

7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?

9:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith…

10:18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?

10:19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they?

11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?

11:2 Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

11:11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.

11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?

Text: Romans 2:1-11 No Excuse!

Romans (Romans 2:1–16) Turning the Tables: Paul’s condemnation of clearly sinful behavior in 1:29–31 would not draw opposition, but agreement, especially from those who were confident in their righteous standing before God. He turns the tables in 2:1–3 by declaring that “you” are under judgment, identifying “you” as those who pass judgment on others and do the same things.Paul finally identifies “you,” three times in quick succession (2:1, 2, and 3). “You” here refers to people who judge others for doing something they do themselves. He exploits the human tendency toward pride to emphasize that we all face the same impending judgment, thus we all have the same need for reconciliation with God. We may not have committed the heinous sins listed at the end of Romans 1, but no one is sinless. We display the height of hypocrisy when we judge others for what we do ourselves.

Stewart Brisco, in his Commentary on Romans, says— “But in the court of God there will be no standing, no misrepresentation, no miscarriage of justice, no misdemeanor, and no mistakes-all will be according to truth. They were priding themselves in being acceptable to God because of their moral superiority to the pagans while discounting the reality of their own heart condition . Any man can observe external actions and maybe even rightly evaluate the inner motives, but only God can be relied upon rightly to judge the innermost being of both uninhibited pagan and the disciplined moralist hidden behind : Calvin called “the mask of a feigned piety.” Pg. 58

The Battle of the Believer’s Heart’- Practices & Preference; God’s Wrath and Working out Faith.

Paul is having the reader understand that God is God. Is one way, this is a setup for the coming discussion on the Law. In another it is the beginning of removing any sense of thinking of oneself as a God favorite due to birth… Jew.

The blessing of God for doing good… A Judgement without favor or partiality. This judgement gives value to life.

Stewart Brisco says: Yet those who reject the concept rarely consider the alternatives. If God does not judge a man ultimately, that means that his actions have no ultimate value, and the man whose actions lack ultimate value has little alternative but to view his life as being devoid of meaning and his existence as totally inconsequential. Those who wish to free people from the awesome thought of divine judgment need to believe that the fact of divine judgment points to the intrinsic value of humanity? For if God regards what we do important enough to judge, He certainly must regard what we are as important enough to matter. (Pg. 58)

v.7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;

8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Here it is more than what is translated in most English versions: It is a self-seeking with the intent of contentiousness towards others (the worse off or authority). A rebellious attitude towards others. This is the core element of a judgmental heart. It supports Self and one’s conduct. It is justifiable sin, disobedience.

The story of Saul who does not completely follow the Lord’s command for defeating the enemy. 1 Sam. 15.

1 Samuel 15: 7 Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. 8 He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. 9 Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.

The LORD Rejects Saul (In a separate place)

10 Then the LORD said to Samuel, 11“I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.” Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the LORD all night.

12 Early the next morning Samuel went to find Saul. Someone told him, “Saul went to the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal.”

13 When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. “May the LORD bless you,” he said. “I have carried out the LORD’s command!”

14“Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded.

15“It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the LORD your God. We have destroyed everything else.”

16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the LORD told me last night!”

“What did he tell you?” Saul asked.

17 And Samuel told him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD has anointed you king of Israel. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ 19 Why haven’t you obeyed the LORD? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the LORD’s sight?”

20“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. 21Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

22 But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices

or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”

What is in the Lord’s sight of right, wrong is the guide to follow.

A modern way of expressing this is, “if the Bible doesn't exactly say it, then it does not apply to me.” It is a self-derived form of legalism.

9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil. In the apostles declaration and warning he sets out to state that the Jews and Gentiles will each be judges for their lifers.

In this exhortation to the Church in Rome Paul gives 5 Statements that humanity is to be aware of when it comes to God’s Judgement: 1. He judges by Truth 2. His judgement is inescapable 3. The judgement of God is cumulative (v.4-5) God’s judgement is based on humanity’s conduct (saying they believe, but they live as non-believing 5. The judgement of God in impartial: Jew, Gentile, no favoritism of nations or exceptions of intent (v.11). In summary; God’s judgement is absolute!

Jesus’ last words: “it is finished”. Jesus is the recipient of the sentence/judgement. Is he yours?