Romans 2:12-29

“Living Up to the Light”

Romans 2:12-29 (Message #6)

February 21, 2016 (Sligo, Ireland)

INTRODUCTION:

Last Sunday in our continuing study of the Book of Romans, from chapter 2:1-11 we looked at five (5) principles that the Apostle Paul gives us showing us how God evaluates people’s lives. Let’s review them:

            #1. Knowledge of God’s Law does not justify one before God. (v. 1)

            #2. God’s judgement is always according to truth. (v. 2)

            #3. God’s kindness should never be interpreted as permissiveness. (v. 4)

#4. God’s judgement will be according to men’s deeds rather than their professions of faith and holiness. (v. 6)

            #5. God’s judgement will not be according to our pedigree. (v. 11)

TRANSITION:

            Today we continue on in Romans chapter 2, starting at verse 12. In these verses Paul gives us two more Principles of God’s Judgement. The SIXTH PRINCIPLE of God’s Judgement is found in verses 12-15, and the SEVENTH in verse 16. But before we get to them I’d like to read Romans 2:1-16 to you from The Message, a paraphrase of the NT done by Eugene Peterson. Just listen:

1-2 Those people [i.e. sinful Gentiles] are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.

3-4 You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because He’s such a nice God, He’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

5-8 You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!

9-11 If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. Being a Jew won’t give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up His own mind.

12-13 If you sin without knowing what you’re doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you’re doing, that’s a different story entirely. Merely hearing God’s Law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what He commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.

14-16 When outsiders who have never heard of God’s Law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s Law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes His final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences.    

MAIN BODY:

            You can sense in these verses that Paul is continuing to address his remarks to Jewish critics of the Gospel. But it is also obvious that Paul refers to two distinct groups of people in verse 12—Jews and Gentiles. The Jews believed that because they were God’s covenant people and had been chosen to occupy a place of special privilege in His sight, God would therefore judge them much more leniently than the sinful, heathen, Gentile world. Moreover, the people that Paul addresses were putting all their faith in religious rituals and man-made rules for getting to Heaven. To correct this thinking, in Romans 2:12-24 he strikes at the 1^st Pillar of Judaism; namely, THE LAW, and the common Jewish assumption that just possessing and knowing God’s Law is enough to satisfy God’s righteous demands. Paul shoots that idea down in a hurry!

            ILLUSTRATION: Before you take off on a business trip you leave a note for your son tacked up on the refrigerator that says: “Son, this week while I’m gone please clean up the garage. Throw away the junk and arrange everything neatly. I’ll check it when I get home. Love, Dad.” The boy comes home, reads the note, and then sits down to ponder. He admires your neat handwriting. He takes the note with him and shows it to all his friends. That night before going to bed he tucks the note away in a special place for safekeeping. The first chance he gets he has the paper laminated so that it won’t tear or wear out. He often takes the note out of his pocket and kisses it. However, he never actually finds the time to go into the garage. Finally, the end of the week comes around and you fly home to your family. That night at supper you turn to your son and say: “Well son, did you do what I asked you to do?”

            Now I’ll let you use your imagination to work out more or less how the conversation would go from here. But I’m pretty sure that at some point you would explain to your son that the core issue is obedience, not merely knowing the Law. It is just as true in Paul’s argument concerning Jews and Gentiles. The Jews had certainly received more “light” (i.e. revealed truth) than the Gentiles, but that fact, in and of itself, is no comfort or guarantee because the critical issue is not how much light you have received but rather, how you have responded to the light you have been given.

            The question is still valid: How have you responded to the truth you have been taught? How have you responded to the conscience that God placed within you? The Jews were given God’s special revelation in the Law. However, even the Gentiles have received a kind of natural revelation imprinted on their consciences. Paul is simply pointing out that both kinds of revelation are equally condemnatory if they are ignored. This is the SIXTH PRINCIPLE of God’s Judgement, which I spoke about a few minutes ago: God’s judgement will be according to how each person responds to the amount of light/truth which he/she has received. Look again at verse 12.

Verse 12: “For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law.

• Paul is saying that the issue here is SIN, not which system you come under. Sin under both systems brings death and judgement. Verses 13-15 are basically a parenthesis amplifying and explaining verse 12.    

Verse 13: “For it is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law who will be justified.” 

• Again we see the emphasis on doing, not just hearing and knowing. This is echoed by James in James 4:17, “Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good (right) and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” This does not mean that simply keeping the Law saves a person. Salvation has always been a matter of faith in God. The coming of the Law in no way substituted faith. In Hebrews 11 notice the long list of people justified by faith before Moses and the Law even showed up on the scene.  

      Verse 14: “For when Gentiles, who do not have the Law, by nature do what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the Law.”  

•  God’s moral law engraved upon the conscience of the Gentile becomes a law in and of itself, and they are obliged to obey it.   

Verse 15: “They show that the work of the Law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them…” 

• God has imprinted His truth on the hearts and thoughts of humans. We are all stamped with His image and likeness right from the box, at least with enough truth for Him to hold us accountable. Look at the evidence:
• Most of us humans struggle with feelings of guilt over things we’ve done wrong (lying, stealing, cheating, immorality, etc.).
• Many of us have a sense of shame because of things we’ve done.
• We agonize over questions of right and wrong.
• We have to fight to keep from giving in to evil desires.
• We suffer attacks of conscience.  
• These are all evidences of the fact that God gave us consciences to help keep us out of trouble and to bring us to repentance. The sad truth, however, is that many people learn to suppress their consciences to such a degree that it no longer bothers them to commit even the most disgusting and heinous sins. With practice and self-talk and societal brainwashing we humans can convince ourselves that sin and morality are just outmoded concepts to be discarded like yesterday’s rubbish.

Verse 16: “…on that day when, according to my Gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”   

• In this verse we find the SEVENTH PRINCIPLE of God’s Judgement; namely, that God’s judgement will be according to His revealed truth in the Gospel. Notice the details:
• “…on that day” = The day is already scheduled in God’s mind. 
• “…when, according to my Gospel” = The standard is already determined. 
• “…God judges” = The Judge is already named. 
• “…the secrets of men” = The depth of the investigation as decreed; men's deepest secrets.
• “…by Jesus Christ.” = The Advocate has already been appointed.  

Now in verses 17-20 Paul recounts the high privileges enjoyed by the Jews. He does this by making reference to several classic Talmudic statements with which any first-year rabbinical student would have been familiar. In this way he reminds the Jews of what they were always claiming to be.

Verses 17-20: “But IF you call yourself “a Jew” and rely on the Law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know His will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the Law; ¹⁹ and IF you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—“    

• They boasted about knowing God personally, claimed to know His will, and considered themselves to be superior moral judges with knowledge of what is right and wrong. But the sad thing is that this is exactly what God had always wanted them to be. They had the truth because God had given it to them. Notice the word “Law” used three (3) times in verses 17-20. God had chosen and commissioned Israel to teach His truth to the whole world.  
• When we come to verses 21-24 Paul recounts the delinquency of the Jews in living up to that commission that God had given them. We noticed the two “IF” statements in verses 17 and 19. The answering “THEN” statement is found in verse 21. 

Verses 21-24: “…you THEN who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the Law dishonour God by breaking the Law. ²⁴ For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’”     

• In these verses Paul quotes Isaiah 52:5 and Ezekiel 36:20ff.
• Paul accuses them of being…
• Teachers who ignore their own lesson (e.g. Nicodemus in John 3:10)
• Preachers who fail to practice what they preach.
• Thieves who tell others not to steal.
• Adulterers who point fingers at other people’s immorality.
• Here in verse 24 we see the target conclusion that Paul has been aiming at, starting clear back in verse 17. These self-righteous religious people were DISHONOURING GOD by breaking His Laws while the whole time condemning others for being Law-breakers. By their hypocrisy, religious bigotry, and outright sinful behaviour they were giving to the world a false impression of God’s character, the very God they claimed to know, to worship, to love, and to serve.

Now, in verses 25-29, Paul drives the Jew out of his last safe religious foxhole by attacking the 2^nd Pillar of Judaism; namely, CIRCUMCISION. In these verses Paul clarifies the true meaning of circumcision, explaining that it was an outward sign of an inward relationship with God. 

Verse 25: “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the Law, but if you break the Law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.” 

• Paul says that disobedience makes the religious practice of circumcision null, void, and entirely meaningless. ILLUSTRATION: Buying an Army Ranger’s uniform at a secondhand store and wearing it would be meaningless, an affront, an insult to every soldier who ever wore the uniform. In the same way, circumcision was valid only if accompanied by a clean heart and a right attitude toward God. Circumcision and Law-keeping were never intended to atone for sin and wrong living, but were given to be a spur toward repentance, holiness and right living.

Verse 26: “So, if a man who is uncircumcised [i.e. a Gentile] keeps the precepts of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?”  

• Paul poses the case of a Gentile who is right before God and asks if it will not be counted to him as righteousness. The answer is obviously—YES! For example, gold bullion without the government’s stamp is still gold, isn’t it? And just as valuable? The label means little. 

Verse 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.”  

• This would have been a bitter pill for Paul’s Jewish friends to swallow; namely, the idea that RIGHTEOUS Gentiles who obey God will one day stand on the Day of Judgement to witness the condemnation of circumcised Jews who had the Law all along but chose to disobey it.

      Verse 28: “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.”    

• The outward trappings of religion, no matter how carefully observed or how sincerely followed, do not, cannot, will not ever make one a true child of God! Not in a million years! The Bible says in I Samuel 16:7, “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” God looks past all of the religious junk to search the hearts of men, but therein lies the problem! Men’s hearts and minds need a complete makeover, and God is the only one who can do it. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Or Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so it he.”   

Verse 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.”  

• Paul says here that the true Jew is the one who is circumcised inwardly, in his heart, because circumcision points to a unique relationship to God on the basis of faith and obedience, and doing away with the useless “fleshly” things of our old sinful life.
• Applying this teaching, lets look as a couple of examples. On this basis…

o   Cornelius = an uncircumcised Gentile, righteous before God…was on a par with…

o   Peter = a circumcised Jew, righteous before God. And both of them outweighed…

o   Caiaphas = a circumcised Jew, unrighteous before God, who was equal with…

o   Pilate = an uncircumcised Gentile, who also was unrighteous before God.

You see, the issue has never been about religion, but about righteousness!!! In closing I would like you to listen as I read verses 17-29 in Eugene Peterson’s, The Message.

17-24 If you’re brought up Jewish, don’t assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you’re an insider to God’s revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God’s revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I’m quite serious. While preaching, “Don’t steal!” are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and His Law. The line from Scripture, “It’s because of you Jews that the outsiders are down on God,” shows it’s an old problem that isn’t going to go away.

25-29 Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God’s Law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being circumcised. The reverse is also true: The uncircumcised who keep God’s ways are as good as the circumcised—in fact, better. It’s better to keep God’s Law uncircumcised than break it circumcised. Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin that makes you a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.

CONCLUSION:

             Friend, what are you trusting in to get you to Heaven? Rituals? Relics? Sacraments? Infant baptism? Church membership? Charitable deeds? Righteous relatives? None of these things count for anything in getting us through the door into Heaven. It is only through our accepting by faith the death of Jesus Christ in our place, and on our behalf, and believing solely on Him as our Saviour that we can finally have peace with God and a guaranteed home in Heaven for all eternity.

And Christian, are you trying to kid yourself into believing that God is happy with you just because you show up here at church once in a while? If that is what you think, then you’d better think again.

FEEDBACK:

            Any comments, questions, or observations about what I’ve presented?