Romans 2:12-29

12-16

12-13

In continuing the from the last verse that God shows no partiality, Paul starts to contrast the Jews and the Gentiles. The Gentiles do not have the Law of Moses but as stated in chapter one they do know of God and his power revealed throughout creation so there is no excuse, and even though they do not have the law they will perish because of the natural revelation. But the Jew who does have the Law, they will be judged by it. To live up to God’s standard is to uphold they entire law in thought and deed for all time, which we know is impossible for fallen man, so keeping the entire law is the way to be justified not just knowing about the law and having heard it. There is a little debate on exactly who Paul is referring to when he says that doers of the law will be justified, or made right before God, some infer that Paul is talking about Christians, who Paul later says in Romans 8:4 “in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Christians through Jesus are justified in the law. But others and it is my opinion as well that Paul is saying if you are to be justified and be right with God you must keep all of the commandments perfectly and if, even though we can’t, if you could you would be justified. In other words, we all have the law either through natural revelation or being a Jew and given the revealed law by God, but knowing there is a law is not what provides salvation, keeping the law perfectly in thought and deed always, never having one errant sinful thought or deed, only if we could do that would we be justified.

14-15

Everyone and every civilization has some moral standards that usually mirror God’s law. Its bad to lie, cheat, steal, murder. Everyone proves that the law of God is written in our hearts from conception, we, Gentiles, are a law to ourselves, doing mostly morally correct things that God laid out in the law given to Moses. And when we do works that are against this heart written law our conscience lets us know that we have done wrong, although we can and do ignore our conscience sometimes.

16

On the last day, the day of judgment, Christ will reveal the secret things that men do, the actions and the thoughts, and they will be judged by them. Paul also is not taking credit for the gospel in this verse when he says “My gospel”, he is saying that men will be judged by the gospel that he is proclaiming, the gospel of Christ.

17-29

17-18

Paul returns to the question and answer style from earlier in the chapter, and if it was unclear he comes out and says , “if you call yourself a Jew” so there is no question on who Paul is addressing now. In the past the chosen people of God were referred to as Hebrews because of their language or Israelites being descended from Jacob also called Israel and the land they were given also being known as Israel, but by the first century they were commonly referred as Jews which was derived from Judah and the southern kingdom of Judah. Paul goes on to say what Jews hold dear to themselves, they have the law, they boast in God, they know what is good and correct because they learned the law and many would memorize large sections of it.

19-20

Paul continues to ask rhetorical questions that a Jew would all confirm as true, they viewed all Gentiles as being blind in thought, especially thought and knowledge of God and religion. They were God’s chosen people and their original calling was to be a spiritual light to the Gentiles who were in darkness, just as Jesus called His disciples to be the light of the world in Matthew 5:14. The Jews especially the scribes and the Pharisees thought they were great teachers of the truth, they were the knowledgeable ones teaching the children who knew nothing.

21-22

After asking the Jew rhetorically if they think all the things that they consider good and special about themselves are true Paul then turns to rhetorical questions asking them why they do not practice what they preach. If they teach others then they themselves should be taught, meaning if they taught the law then they should know what is right but they did not practice it. They taught thou shalt not steal, but theft was rampant, they would not pay all of the required temple tax, they would have false scales, over charge for sacrificial animals and exchanging of currency, Jesus in cleansing the temple saying that they have turned the house of God into a den of robbers. They taught thou shall not commit adultery but they would divorce their wives for any small issue just so they could marry another woman that they were attracted to Matthew 5:32 “But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” and while they were married they lusted in their hearts for other women, Matthew 5:28 “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”. The mentioning of robbing temples is perhaps less clear cut, it could be referring to gaining any precious metals that were used as idols was forbidden in Deuteronomy 7:25 “The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.” and that the townclerk in Ephesus proclaimed that Paul and those with him were not robbers of temples in Acts 19, this could have been more common place that we might think. This also could be another reference to those who robbed their own temple by withholding their tithes and offerings, thus making money an idol to them.

23-24

Paul accuses the Jews of while on one hand boasting in God and the law and not doing what they proclaim they dishonor God, Paul quotes from the Old Testament that because of the evil that they do the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles. Taken from Isaiah 52:5 “Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised.” There are also similar passages in Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36:20 “But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’” and Ezekiel 36:22 ““Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.”

25

The Jews held the physical identifiers of the chosen status very highly, as I mentioned last week many Jews believed that their heritage would save them and Abraham would be at the gates of hell to turn back any Jew from hell to heaven. Their being set apart was indeed of value, but only if they were obeying the law, but because they were willfully breaking the law even though they were boasting in it and teaching it at the same time, their circumcision, the physical sign of being chosen by God, was of no use and was just like being an uncircumcised Gentile.

26-27

Conversely to the Jew that does not follow the law, the Gentile who does follow the law but is uncircumcised would be counted among the circumcised. Paul then suggests that the uncircumcised Gentile that keeps the law will sit in condemnation on the circumcised Jew that does not, this is not suggesting though that the Gentile will be the judge but be on the side of God in judgement, as judgement is the exclusive right of God alone. This again like in verses 12-13 could be a reference to the Gentile Christians or just saying that IF a Gentile could although no one can fulfill the law etc. Moo suggests that Paul is setting up a “straw man” here to contest the Jewish claims of exclusive access to God’s saving grace in their covenant. Also again Paul is illustrating that God shows no partiality and that apart from Christ everyone will be judged according to their works.

28-29

Paul brings it all together and says that it is not the outward view that matters, you can whitewash a tomb and make it pretty on the outside but inside it is full of dead bones. It is what is on the inside, proclaiming and doing, but not for ones self but for and from God. The circumcision of the heart made possible only with the Holy Spirit and not by knowing the letter, or the law. This true believer does not seek the praise of men but the praise from God, well done my good and faithful servant.