Romans
2:17 ¶ Behold, thou art called a Jew,
and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18 And knowest his will, and approvest
the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19 And art confident that thou thyself art a
guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of
babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21 Thou therefore which teachest another,
teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost
thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man
should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law
dishonourest thou God? 24 For the name
of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. 25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou
keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made
uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the
uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision
be counted for circumcision? 27 And
shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee,
who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly;
neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and
not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Here, Paul shows that
he is talking specifically to what we would call an unsaved Jew. First, he lays
out how a Jew of that day would feel about themselves and their standing before
God. They know His will. They have His law. They are confident that they can
teach the rest of us beknighted savages a thing or two. They were just like a
lot of Fundamental Baptists or theologically liberal high church folks today
believing they are the proverbial ‘all that and a bag of chips.’
Verse 21 brings us back
to an accusation of self-deception, though. The most righteous Jew or works-salvation
Christian believes that he or she is holy and righteous but the fact remains;
Ecclesiastes
7:20 For there is not a just man upon
earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
Paul will reinforce
this soon. The Jews of Paul’s day claimed to be righteous but were just as
wicked as the Gentiles. In the same way, Fundamentalist Baptists make a mockery
of our faith in front of the world with hundreds of pastors, youth pastors, and
other workers charged criminally with sexual abuse in the United States. Many
Baptists show nothing to the world but fear and/or hypocrisy regarding their
walk with God. These very things that Paul writes can be forwarded in time and
although I’ve heard a Baptist actually say he knew someone was a Christian by
the fact that he kept his lawn nice and his car cleaned as part of the speaker’s
standard of righteousness I’ve heard far more ridiculous things.
It is foolish to say we
are justified by our righteousness when we violate God’s standard of
righteousness in thought and deed so often in a day’s time. Paul relates how
the Jew without Christ is a pure phony and would be better off not being
circumcised than to violate God’s Law based on the testimony the Jew often
expresses before the Gentiles. If you believe you are justified before God by
your good nature and your good deeds and your good intent you are of all people
a sorry fool. As Paul next explains though he is not saying that being a Jew is
meaningless or worthless.
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