First of all, I would like to do a very brief review of where Paul has taken us so far in Romans.
1. Paul laid out his purpose...to spread the gospel of God
2. Paul explained the importance of the gospel...it is God's righteousness revealed, brings salvation
3. Paul thoroughly explained the complete sinfulness of man in his lost state, corrupt mind and heart
4. Just in case they didn't get it, Paul told the Jews they were as sinful as those previously described
5. Paul explained to the Jews that the law was not a path to salvation, but revealed sinfulness
6. In the last verses Paul laid out that salvation is by the Spirit, not by the law
So - after completely destroying the foundation of what the Jews believed their salvation was tied to, namely keeping the law and the fact that they were God's chosen people, as proven through circumcision - Paul anticipates the next question...
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
We can't fault the Jews for this question...they were most likely becoming frustrated, and understandably so. They had been taught from their childhood the rituals of being a Jew, their parents had probably explained to them how fortunate they were to be Jews, the chosen people of God, and they were no doubt taught from their teachers in the synagogs throughout their youth that the law was of great importance, and keeping this law was a part of being a Jew...and a part of salvation.
Then, here comes a guy named Paul - who actually used to be just like the Jews, observing and believing everything that they did with passion - and now he is saying that all of that is wrong, and actually (in verse 24 of Chap 2) is destroying the name of God. How would we respond if suddenly everything we had been taught, everything we thought was right, was proven to be wrong? I think I would respond the same way the Jews did...with frustration and lots of questions!
So Paul responds to this anticipated question with a solid and encouraging answer:
Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
The Jews had the most amazing privilege of being given the Word of God, in which the Holy and Perfect Nature of God was revealed. Unfortunately, as man so often does, they had taken something pure and good and, through selfishness and pride across many generations, turned it into something completely different.
The law given to their forefathers had gone from glorifying God through revealing man's sinfulness and inability to glorifying man by watering down sinfulness in order to feel capable of keeping this law.
Paul was confronting this issue boldly and bluntly. He knew that they wouldn't like what they were hearing, but - as was Paul's style - he also knew that there was no advantage to skirting around the edges of the truth in order to please man's itching ears. The Truth is clear, and their opposition to the Truth was just was clear and needed to be dealt with.
Today, we as Christians enjoy the same privilege the Jews in Paul's day did. We have free and easy access to the Word of God, it's the highest selling book of all time. However, with that privilege comes a serious responsibility.We need to make sure we learn from the mistake the Jews made and don't fall prey to the same thing -
We cannot allow what we believe to influence how we read the Bible, the Bible alone must be the sole foundation of what we believe and why.
The Jews had this backwards, and through the generations what probably began as a slight misinterpretation of God's word became a massive problem with many people led astray through false teaching - to the point that they could no longer even grasp the Truth!
It's our responsibility to be in the Word constantly, to know why we believe what we believe based solely on the Bible. It's the only solid and perfect Truth that we have and everything we believe must be tested against it. We can be confident that all that is written in the Bible- from the Old Testament to the New, from beginning to end - is inspired by God - and is packed with Truth and relevance for all people through all time and all cultures.
We need to get into this Word! We need allow this word to shape every belief that we have - we cannot trust man's opinion or teaching to shape what we believe, as the Jews did. We need to hold each other accountable to this - as God's children - so that we can all be used as effectively as possible by Him for His glory, so that we can step out with confidence and boldness in a lost and dying world.
Please share any experiences or insight you have on these verses or any part of Romans! Looking forward to Chapter 3.
Next Post: 2.2.13
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