27APR25: "What is a True Jew?"
Notes
Transcript
Intro
What defines your identity? Is it where you were born? Where you were raised? What football team you support? What hobbies you enjoy? What degree you have, what job you have, how big of an online following you have?
When it comes to matters of faith, is your spiritual identity rooted in the church+denomination+culture you grew up in? Is it a particular flavor of theological doctrine? Is it your membership at LBC?
It’s clear that identity is complicated and multi-faceted. Lord willing, we’ll tackle the topic of identity today, as we examine what it means to be a “True Jew” and see what God’s Word has to say about the MOST IMPORTANT facet of our identity: our relationship with Him.
Preamble
I don’t know about y’all, but our study in Romans has truly fed my soul. What I’d like to do to start is to do a Mach 2 fly-by of the two chapters, to make sure we’ve got the context in our heads, before we zoom in on 5 short verses to conclude ch 2. You can find today’s passage on page 940 of the blue pew Bibles. While you’re flipping there, I’ll kick the tires and light the fires and take off on our fly-by of what we’ve covered in Romans thus far.
Right out of the gate in ch1, Paul gives his main point of this letter, and quite honestly, of the entire Bible: that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation, to everyone who believes in the Savior, the Son of God, Jesus. The ones who are made righteous, are the ones who believe in the Righteous One, Jesus.
Then, beginning with v18 in chapter one, Paul begins to systematically explain the pervasiveness of unrighteousness within the human race, and he does so in a progressive, or, sequential manner all the way through Chapter 2, concluding in chapter 3. Chapter 1, v18 through v32 generically explains that all people, both Jew and Gentile, know the Truth of God, and therefore those who practice unrighteousness, violating God’s Truth revealed to them, are worthy of death.
Up until this point, the Jews who are hearing these words are offering a hearty approval. “Those Gentile heathens, practicing all sorts of terrible sins of the flesh, rejecting God’s Law, and rejecting God, all those people, yes, they deserve every last drop of divine judgement!”
But then, chapter 2 happens. Paul’s argument builds to show that the ch1v18 men, “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth”, are not only Gentiles!
He exposes the hypocrisy of those who judge the unrighteous yet practice the same things themselves, and asks them the provocative question in v3 “do you really think you’re going to escape the same judgement??”
Paul introduces the MAIN PROBLEM in play here in v5, the MAIN determining factor of righteousness: it’s a heart issue. The unrepentant, stubborn heart is what’s causing wrath to be stored up for the transgressors on the day of judgement.
The next “section” of argument, if you will, is v11-16, when Paul shows that ALL people will be judged equally and fairly, according to the Law. As Jason put it: “The Jews thought they’d escape the wrath of God because they were Jews”. But, Romans 2:9 “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,” for v11 “there is no partiality with God”.
And then finally in verses 17-29, Paul picks up his discourse with a good old-fashioned DIATRIBE. He enters a mock debate with a hypothetical interlocutor.
Which is just a fancy way of saying: Paul pretends to be in a debate with someone and asks a bunch of questions [with obvious answers] to get his points across.
This particular hypothetical interlocutor is a Jew. In verses 25-29, Paul compares a hypothetical Jew to a hypothetical Gentile, and examines Jewish identity through conversational questioning. (“Jewish identity” = being one of God’s chosen people)
In this debate, we see Paul dismantle the security the Jews had as the divine, chosen recipients of God’s holy Law, His Word. We’ve already seen in our study that the Law won’t save them. Can’t save them. And actually, it condemns them.
SO, if the Jews’ national and cultural identity can’t save them, if their identity as Law-recipients can’t save them, then the next logical, and final, place the Jew could turn to, to avoid the wrath of God, is their most basic form of identity: the sign of their covenant with God, their circumcision. If Paul can dismantle the supposed value of fleshly circumcision, then he will have proven that ALL PEOPLE, Jew and Gentile, will be judged equally, and in accordance with, the Righteousness of God.
So, that’s our objective today, to see and understand Paul’s explanation of the function of the sign of circumcision, what it meant for the Jew, and most importantly, how we are to come away with a better understanding of the nature of salvation.
Now, if you’re able, would you please stand with me as we read today’s text, verses 25-29 of chapter 2.
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thank you for standing, you may be seated. Let us pray.
Father, open our eyes, focus our minds, may we lay aside all disctractions. Spirit, convey the voice of the Lord through the reading and preaching of your infallible, omnipotent Word. Father, I pray that you would protect me from error and by your power present your Gospel clearly. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.
Now…Paul uses quite a bit of comparison language…uncircumcision vs. circumcision, obey the Law vs break the Law, inward vs outward…and every combination of those 6 things back and forth…it can get confusing!
I will try to be as clear as I can here, and Lord willing, He will allow us to keep all these categories straight as we move through the text.
So, without further adieu…
In verses 25 and 26, we will see God’s Standard of Righteousness: DEFINED.
God’s Standard of Righteousness: DEFINED
God’s Standard of Righteousness: DEFINED
Let’s read it again…
25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
Already, we’ve boarded a Pauline verbal seesaws :)
In his diatribe against against the hypocritical Jews in v17-24, we saw Paul explain that it’s not head knowledge of the Law that counts, but actual lived-out obedience of God that counts in the judgement.
In v25, Paul immediately continues his line of argumentation with the connecting word, “For”, and aims his guns at the sign of circumcision.
However, before we progress any more in Romans 2, we need to examine the sign of circumcision, understand where it came from and what it is symbolizing. Keep a finger in Romans, and flip back to Genesis 17.
Leading up to chapter 17, Yahweh had already cut a covenant with Abram, promising to give him an heir, even in his old age, promising to give him land, and promising to be his God. About 15 years had elapsed between the instantiation of that covenant and the beginning of chapter 17.
Scanning the text, you will see the covenant conveyed to Abram. God explains the obligations of both halves of the covenant clearly in v1-2, saying
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
Abram is to walk before Yahweh, and be blameless. Yahweh promises to give Abram an heir and make of him a great people. Then, God goes on to rename him Abraham, and explains in v7 the everlasting, eternal nature of this covenant…
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
A truly magnificent promise! Imagine if God Himself appeared before you and made you a promise like this, that God Almighty would be God to you and all your offspring for generation after generation, forever?!
And, the staggering truth is, as we’re going to see, the promise to Abraham was even bigger than simply having a big geneology, even even bigger than what Abraham understood it to be. We’ll get back to this thought at the end of the message.
In v10-11, God continues to expand the details of this covenant by issuing a command to Abraham: mark this covenant in your flesh.
10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
Part of the covenant, part of Abraham’s obedience and “walking blameless before God”, was for Abraham and his household to be marked in their flesh; an everlasting fleshly reminder of the everlasting covenant they’ve entered into with the Almighty.
God has told Abraham that He, Yahweh, would be their God, forever. God also knew that Abraham and his offspring would be wandering sheep. Fickle, forgetful, blameful sheep need reminding, and what better way than to bear a permanent mark in their flesh.
It’s a physical representation of the need to be clean and pure before the Lord God Almighty, a physical representation of how this people have been chosen by God and set apart to “walk before Him, blameless”, to, in a sense, be cut off from the rest of the world, in order to be God’s people and glorify Him.
This is what circumcision is and why God instituted it. v11 is clear: circumcision is a SIGN of the covenant.
The last thing I’ll point out here in Genesis is God defining the negative side of the covenant in v14:
14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
When it comes to outward, visible obedience to God’s command in the covenant...
those who obeyed God and were circumcised in the flesh of their foreskins, their circumcision would function as a sign of their obedience to God and inclusion in God’s people. And, conversely...
those who disobeyed God’s command and refused circumcision, their uncircumcision would be a sign of their disobedience and they would be cut off, excluded from God’s covenant people.
So now that we’ve got that straight, we can flip back to Romans 2.
25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
“is of value”…ophelEo, means “to benefit from”…circumcision will bring you a benefit, dear Jew, IF you obey the Law. But, it will bring NO value to you if you disobey the Law! What value is implied here?? Being counted as God’s chosen people, destined for rich blessing, and ultimately, salvation. Big deal.
The Jew’s most basic physical form of identity as God’s chosen, set apart people, was their circumcision. But the mark itself, in their minds, BECAME their security, it BECAME their sole “righteous work of obedience”. Many of the scholars I read in preparation referenced a Rabbinic tradition that quite simply states: “Circumcision will save Israel from Gehenna”.
The Jews had let the sign God graciously gave them, intended to be a persistent reminder of their duty in the covenant (walk blameless before Yahweh…aka, obey the Law), and turned it into a talisman of sorts, of their special status among the rest of humanity, and they thought that the sign itself brought salvation.
Take driver’s license out
This is my driver’s license. This driver’s license tells me, and anyone who looks at it, that according to the State of Florida, I have been given the rules of the road and know them. I’ve been told how to operate a vehicle on the road and know the laws that have been established to keep everyone safe.
Now, let me ask y’all this. If I get pulled over by the police, because I was doing 65 in a 35, and I whip out my driver’s license and tell the cop
“Good afternoon officer. Check out my driver’s license. You see it? Don’t worry, I know the rules. I’ve been entrusted with them, I can quote them all to you, I’ve been given this authority by Florida to operate this motor vehicle. So…we’re all done here.”…
Is that going to fly with this police officer? Is this little piece of plastic going to do anything to outweigh the fact that I’ve just recklessly trespassed the Law?? OF COURSE NOT!
Obedience of the traffic laws is what counts, not the possession of the license.
>John Stott summed this concept up succinctly when he wrote: “Circumcision was a God-given sign and seal of his covenant with them. But it was not a magical ceremony or a charm. It did not provide them with permanent insurance cover against the wrath of God. It was no substitute for obedience; it constituted rather a commitment to obedience.”
Looking back at v25, we see it deals with the negative side of Law obedience, and shows that the sign becomes worthless.
In verse 26, Paul flips the coin and says, if the uncircumcised man (the Gentile) obeys God’s Law, then his physical uncircumcision will be “regarded as” circumcision…WOA. Huge statement.
What Paul is explaining here, in this hypothetical scenario with his hypothetical interlocutor, is this:
If there is a Gentile out there, who were to perfectly obey the Law, then he would be COUNTED as if he were circumcised, which in its right function, would mean he’s counted as belonging to God and a recipient of God’s blessing. WITHOUT BEING A JEW.
Now, is Paul telling us here that there are uncircumcised, outside the covenant, Gentiles getting into heaven by obeying the Law with a right attitude in their hearts? NO.
>Commentator Douglass Moo was helpful here: “Paul is not pointing the way to salvation but is showing Jews that their position, despite their covenant privileges, is essentially no different from that of the Gentiles: disobedience brings condemnation; obedience brings salvation.”
**seesaw motion with hands**
This is the construct Paul is setting up: The Righteous v. Unrighteous seesaw rests on a fulcrum defined by OBEDIENCE of God’s WORD, and NOT circumcision.
There’s probably no where that states this concept more plainly than 1 Corinthians 7:19:
19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.
I’m employing the NASB here, to make sure we understand the forcefulness of Paul’s purpose. When considering what is “of value” to God, ophelEo, that which conveys BENEFIT…in the final analysis, both Circumcision and Uncircumcision are NOTHING, when compared to the value conveyed in obedience to God’s commandments.
Therefore, what we see here is Paul defining God’s ultimate standard of righteousness: His Good Law. Any sign or religious deed of the flesh matters not, if God’s standard of righteousness is not satisfied.
The Jews had distorted what was meant to be a sign of being God’s possession!
But, a SIGN, a Label, an outward visual marker of identity, is NOT identity itself! When the components of the covenant are functioning correctly, namely obedience, then the SIGN of that covenant will rightly point to thing that it is signifying, namely, belonging to God, cut off for his possession, so that in walking blamelessly before Him, His possession would glorify Him.
The final item I want to mention in these first two verses are those words: “regarded as”
The literal definition is “to be counted as”. The sense we ought to take away from the phrase is the obeying Gentile in this scenario is reckoned as circumcised: counted as and treated as circumcised.
Paul is giving a not-so-subtle preview here, with this one word, where his entire point of dealing with circumcision is going. So, like Paul, I’ll leave us all in suspense for now, and we’ll circle back at the end of the message to this concept, because it’s vitally important.
OK, to tie a bow on verse 25 and 26, here’s 3 summary points we need to remember:
In order to be “counted as circumcised”, or put more simply, to be counted as one of God’s chosen people…
One must obey God’s commandments.
Circumcision is only of value as a sign, if you obey God.
And, finally, it’s God’s Good LAW that is the standard, the measuring stick, by which obedience will be measured.
This brings us to our second item in the message...
God’s Standard of Righteousness: EMPLOYED
God’s Standard of Righteousness: EMPLOYED
God’s Standard of Righteousness: EMPLOYED.
Like we reviewed in the beginning, Paul is systematically moving through all categories of people, showing how there is no partiality in God, and building to the conclusion that ALL people have fallen short of God’s Righteous standard, and therefore, do not inherently deserve to be regarded among God’s chosen people.
John MacArthur characterizes the Jew’s Identity and sense of security in this way: it’s based in their identity of Nation, the Law, and the Sign.
God promised Abraham to make a “great nation” of him, and therefore the Jew, as a son of Abraham, considered himself securely in God’s favor based on that national identity.
Secondly, the Jew considered himself safe and secure because they were the divinely chosen recipients of God’s Law. The keepers. They were entrusted with God’s precious special revelation. They had defeated all their enemies and taken possession of the promised land because they were the keepers of God’s Law in the Ark. They were CHOSEN for this noble task.
And, thirdly, they bore the PHYSICAL SIGN of membership in their flesh. They were, quite plainly, set apart from the rest of humanity…
AND THEY KNEW IT.
They were marked in the flesh with a permanent badge! They were Abraham’s! Protection, blessing, and salvation were all promised to them because they bore this mark!…Right??…
In light of that mindset, that sense of identity, imagine reading or hearing v27…
27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
Let’s be clear with this: Paul is saying the “physically uncircumcised”, the Gentiles, the nationless-lawless-signless Gentiles, by their obedience WILL CONDEMN the Law Breakers, in spite of their physical possession of the written code, the Law, and in spite of their physical possession of the Sign, circumcision.
You could almost hear it…
A Gentile judging US?!?! Do THEY have the Law?? Do THEY have Abraham’s blood running through their veins?? Are THEY marked in the flesh, bearing the sign of the covenant??
This must have totally rocked their world!
How does it feel when those who you consider beneath you, those who you consider “the outsiders”, demonstrate openly and plainly in their lives that you have fallen short? That you have failed? That you are a hypocrite??
At first, indignation! But when the dust settles and we’re being honest with ourselves…guilt and condemnation.
In Matthew 21, Jesus used this parable while teaching the chief priests and elders in the temple…
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
What’s Jesus referring to? It’s back in chapter 3…
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
You see, merely clinging to their familial line as merit to avoid the wrath to come is not going to cut it! John the Baptist is calling them to ACTUALLY repent, and BEAR FRUIT as a SIGN of ACTUAL repentance. The tax collectors, the prostitutes, the soldiers, all stereotypical Gentiles, were like that first son in the parable, who initially rejected the internal and external witness of God. However, when their minds were changed and accepted His teaching as truth, Jesus is saying they are welcomed into the Kingdom of God.
Their obedience of God’s Word in faith exposes the ineffectual and obstinate death-grip to national/Law/circumcision identity traits. The Gentiles obedience to the Word of Truth exposes the disobedience of the Jewish leaders. The Gentile’s belief exposes unbelief on the Jewish leaders.
Dear friends, do we do the same? Fellow Americans, fellow church members, fellow orthodox Protestants, fellow baptized believers…do we do the same?
God’s standard of righteousness, His Law, when obeyed in truth, is EMPLOYED to reveal God’s holy character, and thereby expose fallacy, hypocrisy, and pride. Dear Christian, let us take note and examine ourselves: the warm love an unbeliever shows to his fellow man, exposes the hypocrisy of the unloving believer.
Paul is showing here that if a Gentile were to “fulfill the Law” or “keep the Law”, doing so would shine a 1,000,000 lumen spotlight onto the Keepers of the Law, the Jews, and their transgression of the Law would be exposed. The uselessness of their physical sign, circumcision, would be exposed.
This is not a new concept, look at Matt 12:41
41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Jesus Himself says the scribes and Pharisees will be “condemned” or “judged” by the Nineveh! Why? Because they REPENTED at the preaching of Jonah. They obeyed God.
Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire, descendents of Ham through Cush and Nimrod. Quite decidedly not in the line of Shem, and ultimately Abram. To the scribes and Pharisees, these were a people group firmly outside the Abrahamic covenant. Yet, it will be Nineveh’s REPENTANCE AND FAITH that will EXPOSE, and thereby condemn, the scribes and Pharisees at the final judgement!
This is sobering news.
Obedience is the dividing factor here. True, pure, obedience. Not knowledge, not labels, not signs, not marks.
Again, this is not a new idea. Listen to Samuel’s instruction to Saul when confronting Saul about his obedience to the Lord:
22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
And just a few verses later before Samuel anoints a young man named David to be King.
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Beloved. The actions and activities and badges and markings and lineages and family names of man are all for naught, if the INNER MAN…if the HEART…is not obedient to voice of the Lord. And it’s been this way from the beginning.
Honestly, Paul is not saying anything fundamentally new in Romans 2 that hasn’t already been said by God. The Jews know this to be true, because they have the Law and know it, but they have let their possession of identity markers shortcut the most important component in the equation that leads to actually being one of God’s own: the HEART.
To borrow from Stott again, and summarize this second section of the circumcision passage : “Their circumcision did not make them what their disobedience proved they were not. This is not salvation by obedience, but obedience as the evidence of salvation.”
God’s Righteous IDENTITY, Defined and Conveyed
God’s Righteous IDENTITY, Defined and Conveyed
Which brings us to our final two verses and final item in your outline this morning. <say the title>
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
This is where the diatribe ends, where the constructed scenario between a Jew and a perfectly obeying Gentile ends. In these final couple verses, Paul unveils his main point, quite plainly: Real, authentic, effective Jewishness has nothing to do with the flesh, and everything to do with the heart.
Paul uses the term “Jew” here to get at a person’s true IDENTITY of being God’s own possession, under His saving love.
Salvation: that’s what the Jew’s perfect obedience to the Law would do, and what their sign of circumcision was meant to point to.
But, instead, because of their disobedience, it ends up being a sign of their judgement under the Law.
You see, circumcision has never been merely about the physical, outward mark in the flesh. I’m going to rapid fire 4 verses here tracing the lineage of this claim:
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh—
Same exact concept that Paul is teaching here in Romans. God’s wrath will come to those with uncircumcised hearts, because of their evil deeds, even if they are circumcised in the flesh.
16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
Quickly peek at v5…do you remember Pastor Jason preaching on this verse? This is where we get our definition for what a circumcised heart is. Quite simply, uncircumcised hearts are STUBBORN hearts. Circumcised hearts are REPENTANT hearts. As Paul will explain in Ephesians 1, Hearts who’s eyes have been enlightened, able to see its own sin and despise it, and turn to God, and hold fast to Him!
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
A circumcised heart produces Love and Life!
Perhaps you’ve felt this conclusion building. Because, there’s no way the Jew could perfectly obey the Law and thereby actually “walk blamelessly before Yahweh” on his own! Same for the hypothetical Gentile…that’s why he’s hypothetical… And guess what, same goes for me and you!
Ladies and gentlemen, the chief problem for the the Jews, AND THE GENTILES (Us), is a HEART problem! It’s our HEARTS that need surgery, that need to be cut, that need to be purified. Circumcision is NOT outward, it’s NOT of the flesh, it’s INWARD. Our hearts are DESPERATELY SICK.
Our hearts seek after self-gratification, they seek after self-aggrandizement, they seek after fame, money, lust, admiration, attention, autonomy, bigger, better, more, more, more for me, me, me!
Do we honestly think that merely getting circumcised, merely getting a cross tattoo, merely putting a cross or fish bumper sticker on our cars, merely doing whatever-fill-in-the-blank action is going to…
…stem the tide of justified wrath against an uncircumcised heart that is obsessed with itself and despises the things of Gods, and rejects the very God that gave him life and breath and ALL things!?
Dear church members, do we think that the outward, visible act of attendance every Sunday, or your name in the church directory, are saving signs themselves??
Let me go one step further…
Do we think that the physical act of climbing in those baptismal waters and saying the right words and getting dunked, so that all may see and clap for us and rejoice…do we think that act itself is going to do anything to save us, if all the while we remained DEAD on the inside?
No. No mark of the flesh will save the Jew under their covenant. And, similarly, no mark/deed/action of the flesh will save you, fellow Gentile. The only thing that can save, that only thing that has EVER saved anyone, is: a new heart, given to you, by God.
Look at this Deut 30:6 verse, who does the heart operation?? The Lord GOD Almighty.
Look back at…
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Who does the inward work of circumcising the heart?? it is BY THE SPIRIT, and NOT by the letter of the law (the head knowledge of the words of the law)
Galatians 6:15 “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” A new creation, A new heart. Ladies and gentlemen, the circumcision of the heart is a creation event, Only God can speak things into existence ex nihilo, out of nothing. Just like He made the heavens and the earth out of the breath of his mouth, just like Jesus, God the Son, brought Lazarus from dead body to life with the command of His mouth, just like God set your heart beating in your mother’s womb, ONLY GOD can convey eternal life into your soul by the power of the Gospel, and define you as HIS possession to keep you and preserve you and purify you and SAVE you.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Remember John the Baptist’s admonition of the Jewish leaders, and the stones that he said God would raise up to provide offspring to Abraham IOT keep his covenant promises to Abraham?? Remember those stones??
For the sake of His holy name, He will take that dead, lifeless, dirty, sinful weight in your chest, that heart of stone, and replace it with an active, living, beating, circumcised heart of flesh. And the Spirit will dwell within the believer and cause the believer to see his sin, to cause the believer to love the Word, to love the things of God, and to obey God’s commands, because he knows that he’s been saved from eternal wrath and been given eternal life.
Brothers and sisters, you know these things to be true, and I pray hearing them is a mighty encouragement to your soul, and that you would behold the God who saved you with awe, and reverence, and gratitude.
Those who are maybe hearing these things explained for the first time, I want you to hear me clearly: this heart transplant, this heart circumcision, the purifying of the inner man, this “marking” as one of God’s children and set apart by His saving love for ETERNAL LIFE, all of these blessings are free gift of God’s Grace, through FAITH in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord!
Think back to Genesis, and Abraham. I told you we’d circle back to Abraham. We didn’t read it explicitly this morning, but my question for you is this: was Abraham given the sign of circumcision before, or after, he believed on the Lord his God and was counted righteous??? He was given the sign AFTER he believed in God!
As an uncircumcised man, he was given Faith, and THEN he was given the sign of circumcision. This is so important, because it fully explains the grand promise of God to Abraham, to make his offspring a vast multitude, to make him a father of many nations. The promise, the IDENTITY as God’s possession, is conveyed BY FAITH, not by SIGN or nation, or family lineage, or anything else… FAITH is the key.
Adherent=Jew, shares faith=Gentile
16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
Paul closes chapter 4 by saying…
22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
My fellow saints, and my fellow man who does not yet have a personal relationship with Jesus as Savior and Lord:
Believing that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin on the cross (“delivered up for your trespasses”), and believing that Jesus defeated death and rose again to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father (“raised for your justification”)…that faith is what joins you in to God’s great plan of redemption, makes you a “son of Abraham” and adopts you in as a child of God, and it’s made possible by the Spirit of Christ performing the necessary spiritual heart surgery!
Colossians 2:11 “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,”
Outside of Christ, the sign of circumcision does not end up being a sign of inclusion in God’s covenant people, but merely a reminder of the condemnation that disobedience brings.
But IN CHRIST…It was Jesus’ 100% obedience in life and in death on the cross that redefined the sign of circumcision…the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit of Christ sets that soul apart, and marks that soul as a member of the body of Christ, enjoined with him, Him who tore down the veil separating God and man, and making an everlasting peace between God and man that NO power on this world can, or will, ever take away!
What once pointed to condemnation, now in Christ, points to eternal salvation!
As I close, I’ll leave y’all with this final thought. Well, two final thoughts. The first one: I left a lot on the table, and I encourage you to set aside or mark off some time, or maybe “circumcise some time” ;), for further study. There’s a ton more cross-references to dive into, and honestly, the entire chapter of Romans 4 is basically an expository sermon by Paul on Romans 2:25-29.
Ok, my final, final point. And it’s short and sweet, and one I pray provides warming comfort and rest in God’s love as we go today.
The word, Jew, comes from the the name Judah, who’s root word, “ydh” - yadAH, means “praise”. Turn your eyes to those final words in Romans 2: His praise is not from man, but from God.
Authentic identity as a member of God’s covenant people [true Judah-ness, or TRUE JEW-ness] is to have TRUE praise FROM GOD because you have been bought for, justified, sanctified, and glorified, for our good and for God’s eternal glory!! The praise of man will fail, fade, and pass away, but the praise of God is true, bright, and eternal!
Let’s pray.
Romans 1:16–17 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””
