Romans ~ Part 8
Note: To examine the graphics in this series, click on them for a pop-up version.
As I’ve emphasized in my previous post, we’re on a journey to understand the profound significance of Sha’ul’s Letter to the Romans, a crucial cornerstone of our faith. This significance isn’t something to be taken lightly but to be deeply understood and appreciated. Your active engagement in grasping the depth of its meaning and its impact on our spiritual journey is not just important; it’s crucial. It’s a responsibility that you, as a seeker of faith, must actively embrace, for it holds the key to our spiritual growth and understanding. Your role in this journey is integral, and your understanding is vital.
Judgment of God ~ Part 4
As I wrote in our last post, reviewing Romans 2:12-24 reminds you of the importance of living out your faith authentically in all areas of your life. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it past 2:16. So we will pick up where we left off at 2:17. Take time each day to reflect on your actions and attitudes, asking God to reveal areas where your behavior may not align with your beliefs.
The Law Cannot Justify
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rest on Torah and boast about God 18 and know his will and give your approval to what is right because you have been instructed from the Torah; 19 and if you have persuaded yourself that you are a guide to the blind, a light in the darkness, 20 an instructor for the spiritually unaware and a teacher of children since in the Torah you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth; 21 then, you who teach others, don’t you teach yourself? Preaching, “Thou shalt not steal,” do you steal? 22 Saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? Detesting idols, do you commit idolatrous acts? 23 You who take such pride in Torah, do you, by disobeying the Torah, dishonor God? – 24 as it says in the Tanakh, “For it is because of you that God’s name is blasphemed by the Goyim.”
Having shown that being without the Torah does not necessarily place the Gentile at a disadvantage, Sha’ul demonstrates with cutting sarcasm derived from his own experience as a very zealous Pharisee (Acts 22:3, 26:5; Galatians 1:13–14; Philippians 3:4–6) that a Jew can waste his advantage (Romans 3:1–2) by misusing his Jewish status and Torah knowledge to justify boastfulness (vv. 17–20) and hypocrisy (vv. 21–23). The picture drawn is not antisemitic but applies the universal truth of, as we learned in our last post, vv. 1–3 in a specifically Jewish context.
Circumcision Cannot Justify
25 For circumcision is indeed of value if you do what the Torah says. But if you are a transgressor of Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision! 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah, won’t his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
On the one hand, circumcision, taken as symbolic of being Jewish but recalling the covenant with Avraham in particular, is indeed of value, as explained in 3:1–2, 9:4–5, 11:11–32—but only if you do what Torah says. But if you are a transgressor of Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision! You have thrown away everything your Jewishness stands for. By despising God and his Law, you have cut yourself off from his promises and his people spiritually, even though biological and cultural attachments remain. The reality behind the symbol has departed. (On the significance of circumcision, see Acts 15:1, 16:3.)
On the other hand, if an uncircumcised man, a Gentile, keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah, … his physical uncircumcision will be counted as spiritual “circumcision of the heart” (v. 29; the imagery comes from Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 10:16, 30:6; Jeremiah 9: 25–26; compare Acts 7:51). He will then become an heir to promises of the covenant with Avraham (this theme is resumed in chapter 4; also in Galatians 3:6–29).
27 Indeed, the man who is physically uncircumcised but obeys the Torah will stand as a judgment on you who have had a b’rit-milah and have Torah written out but violate it!
Sha’ul presses his case against sanctimoniousness in general and its Jewish form. The Greek word “krinei” may be rendered “will judge,” “is judging,” or, as here, “will, by his very existence and manifestly righteous behavior, stand as a continual judgment.”
28 For the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision is not only external and physical. 29 On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is of the heart, spiritual, not literal so that his praise comes not from other people but from God. [1]
Special Note: I have attached a separate document to this post with very insightful comments by David Stern’s thoughts on these two verses. Click here for David Stern’s Comments.
In our next post, we will pick up on Romans 3:1.
Click here for the PDF version.
[1] Romans 2:17–29.
My Heart is for Israel 