Romans 2: The Gospel for the Jews
Application: The student will summarize that salvation is not of works but solely of grace.
WE WILL BEGIN TODAY BY BORROWING A VERSE OR TWO FROM CHAPTER 11 TO SET THE TABLE FOR OUR DISCUSSION ON THE GOSPEL OF GRACE FOR THE JEWS.
ROMANS 11:7-11:
“… Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for: but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
… God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day.
… Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see…
Have they stumbled that they should not fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles.”
WE REMEMBER THAT ROMANS ONE WAS A CLEAR FOCUS ON PEOPLE WHO INTENTIONALLY REBELLED AGAINST AND REJECTED GOD.
ROMANS TWO WILL BE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT BECAUSE IT WILL COMPEL US TO EXAMINE BOTH THE JEWS AND OURSELVES IN THE COMMON NEED OF GRACE.
ROMANS TWO CENTERS ITS MESSAGE ON REFUTING RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY IN RULES BASED FAITH SUCH
AS JEWS THEN AND THE ROMAN CHURCH STILL TODAY
ROMANS ONE PROVIDED PERHAPS THE MOST DAMNING STATEMENT IN THE ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT ON FALLEN MANKIND IN THEIR WICKED DEPRAVITY.
23 FRIGHTFUL SINS WERE LISTED WHICH BROUGHT TOTAL MORAL PERVERSION THAT WAS EVIDENT IN ROME AT THE TIME OF THE EPISTLE.
THAT WICKEDNESS WAS COMPLETE AND GOD IN HIS WRATH GAVE THEM UP INTO THEIR REBELLIOUS LIVES.
FALLEN MAN CAN NO MORE STOP SINNING ON HIS OWN THAN HE CAN STOP BREATHING.
ALL THOSE VERSES WERE ADDRESSED TO THE GENTILES, AND NOW PAUL TURNS HIS ATTENTION TOWARD THE JEWS.
PAUL GAVE US A COMPLETE VIEW OF THE MIND OF GOD TOWARD THOSE WHO ARE UNRIGHTEOUS.
NOW HE WILL TURN THAT SAME ATTENTION TOWARD THOSE WHO ARE SELF RIGHTEOUS.
WE MUST NOT MISTAKENLY THINK THAT THESE VERSES ARE ABOUT SALVATION FOR THEY ARE NOT.
THEY ARE ABOUT SIN.
VERSE 1 QUICKLY TEACHES THAT THOSE WHO JUDGE OTHERS CONDEMN THEMSELVES BY DOING SO BECAUSE THOSE WHO JUDGE DO THE SAME THINGS.
TO REJECT THE SON OF GOD IMMEDIATELY BRINGS UPON A PERSON THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, AND THE ONLY VERDICT IS GUILTY.
1ST JOHN 5:12 SPEAKS ON THIS ISSUE SAYING THOSE WHO HATH NOT THE SON HATH NOT LIFE.
JOHN 5:24 SPEAKS ON THIS ISSUE TEACHING THAT THOSE WHO HEAR THE WORD AND BELIEVE IN THE ONE WHO SENT IT HATH EVERLASTING LIFE.
JOHN 3:36 SPEAKS CLEARLY TEACHING THAT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT THE SON SHALL NOT SEE LIFE BUT THE WRATH OF GOD ABIDETH ON HIM.
PAUL NOW LAYS DOWN THE PRINCIPLES BY WHICH GOD WILL JUDGE SINNERS WHO ARE CULTURED AND REFINED AND KNOW THE COMMANDS OF JEHOVAH, MEANING HE IS ADDRESSING THE JEWS.
IN VERSE 2 HE SAYS THAT IT IS SURE THAT THE JUDGMENT OF GOD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO COMMIT SUCH THINGS AS REJECTING THE MESSIAH JEHOVAH SENT TO HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE.
VERSE 3 TEACHES THAT THOSE WHO JUDGE OTHERS FOR SIN WHILE DOING THE SAME THINGS THEMSELVES CAN NOT ESCAPE JUDGMENT.
PAUL NEXT SAYS DIRECTLY THOSE WHO HAVE HARDNESS AND IMPENITENT HEARTS WILL BE HARSHLY JUDGED AND IN VERSE 5 EACH MAN SO HARDENED WILL BE RENDERED UNTO AS TO HIS DEEDS.
IN THIS 2ND PRINCIPLE, A WAY OF LIFE IS THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT, AND THAT WAY WAS JUST DESCRIBED.
IN THE 3RD PRINCPLE, GIVEN IN VERSE 11 PAUL TEACHES THAT GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS.
THE JEWS KNEW THIS PRINCIPLE WELL AS IT IS DETAILED IN DEUT 10:17:
“For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.”
PETER RESTATED THIS OLD TESTAMENT TRUTH AS HE WITNESSED TO CORNELIUS IN ACTS 10 WHEN HE SAID:
“Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.”
ALL MEN ARE ALIKE BEFORE GOD.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP OR A GOOD FAMILY OR BEING A GREAT CITIZEN HOLD NO VALUE IN THESE MATTERS.
THERE IS ONLY ONE ISSUE THAT MATTERS, DO YOU HAVE A SAVIOR WHOSE NAME IS JESUS CHRIST?
NO ISSUE IS ABOVE THAT ISSUE.
VERSE 12 SHOWS THE NEUTRALITY OF GOD NO MATTER WHERE SOME ARE IN THE LAW OR SOME ARE NOT.
THE SIN OF BOTH ARE THE SAME TO GOD.
VERSE 13 PROVIDES OUR NEXT PRINCIPLE.
“For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
NOW PAUL PROVIDES AND TEACHES THE 5TH PRINCIPLE IN VERSE 13.
GOD WILL JUDGE ALL SINNERS BY THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE AND THE SECRETS OF MEN WILL BE JUDGED BY JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO HIS GOSPEL.
GOD IS GOING TO JUDGE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE, AND THE JEWS IN PARTICULAR, BECAUSE THEIRS WAS A GOD GIVEN RELIGION.
VERSES 17-18 SAYS THEY KNOW THE WILL OF GOD HAVING BEEN INSTRUCTED OUT OF THE LAW.
RELIGION WAS NO LONGER CONSIDERED A CRUTCH OF THE JEWS.
THEY HAD BECOME PROUD AND THOUGHT THEY WERE SELF SUFFICIENT AND WERE SAVED ALREADY AS CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM.
PAUL TAUGHT IN GAL 3:9 THAT THOSE IN FAITH ARE BLESSED WITH ABRAHAM.
JOHN 1:13 CLEARLY TEACHES THAT SALVATION IS NOT OF BLOOD OR THE WILL OF MAN, BUT ONLY OF GOD.
IN VERSES 19-22 PAUL SETS UP 10 REASONS WHY JEWS HAD ORIGINAL ADVANTAGES OVER THE GENTILES.
THE 1ST FIVE ARE WHAT THE JEW WAS:
HE BEARS THE NAME JEW (MEANING FROM JUDAH)
HE RESTS UPON THE LAW WHICH WAS GOD GIVEN
HE BOASTS OF THE THINGS OF GOD
HE KNOWS THE WILL OF GOD FROM THE PROPHETS
HE KNOWS WHICH ARE MORE EXCELLENT THINGS, BEING INSTRUCTED OUT OF THE LAW.
THE 2ND 5 ARE WHAT HE DID:
HE WAS TO BE A GUIDE OF THOSE SPIRITUALLY BLIND
HE WAS TO BE A LIGHT TO THOSE IN DARKNESS
HE WAS TO CORRECT THOUGHTLESS & IMMATURE THINGS
HE WAS TO BE A TEACHER
HE WAS TO HAVE AN OUTWARD FORM OF KNOWLEDGE
AND TRUTH.
PAUL NOW CHALLENGES THE JEWS WITH QUESTIONS ASKING IF THEY ARE DOING THESE THINGS COMMANDED OF GOD FOR HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE TO DO.
HE SAYS ARE THEY DOING THE SAME THINGS THEMSELVES BY COMMITTING SINS AGAINST OTHERS, SINS OF SENSUALITY (SINS AGAINST SELF) OR SINS AGAINST GOD?
HIS TRUE QUESTION IS DO YOU PREACH THESE IMPORTANT GODLY THINGS AND DO YOU PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH?
ALL OF THESE TEACHINGS TOWARD THE JEWS IN THIS CHAPTER ARE TO SHOW THE JEWS THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY THINK THEY ARE RIGHTEOUS SIMPLY FROM BEING JEWS, THEY ARE CONSIDERED SINNERS EXACTLY LIKE THE GENTILES.
TO PROVE THIS POINT PAUL MAKES THIS POINT OF THE HIGHEST PRIORITY IN VERSES 25 & 26:
“For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?”
AND PAUL DRIVES THE POINT EVEN HARDER IN VERSE 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.”
JEWS WOULD IMMEDIATELY UNDERSTAND THAT THIS TEACHING WAS TAKEN BY PAUL DIRECTLY FROM THE LAW OF MOSES GIVEN IN DEUT 10:16:
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff necked.”
THE TEACHING THAT WE MUST RECEIVE FROM CHAPTER TWO IS THAT INWARD IDENTITY IS MOST TRUE, NOT OUTWARD IDENTITY.
INWARD IDENTITY IS FOUND IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY WERE BORN JEW OR GENTILE.
WE REMEMBER THAT JEWS ONCE CAME TO JOHN THE BAPTIST AT THE JORDAN RIVER FOR BAPTISM BUT HE REFUSED THEM SAYING THEY MUST BRING FRUITS MEET FOR REPENTANCE. (MATHEW 3:8)
THEY KNEW ONLY THE PRACTICE OF THE LAW WITHIN THEM AND HAD NOT EVEN KEPT THAT.
THEY HAD NOT REPENTED TOWARD GOD AND BELIEVED IN THE PROMISE OF THE MESSIAH SENT.
JESUS REMINDED US ALL OF THIS FACTOR IN JOHN 1:47 AS HE DESCRIBED NATHANIEL AS A JEW IN WHOM THERE WAS NO GUILE, IDENTIFYING HIM AS A TRUE SPIRITUAL JEW, BECAUSE OF HIS BIRTH IN THE SPIRIT, NOT BECAUSE OF HIS BEING SIMPLY BORN JEWISH.
ALL ARE SINNERS AND ALL ARE IN NEED OF SALVATION.
THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS ON THEIR OWN, NO NOT ONE.
OUR SINFULNESS OF OUR ORIGINAL NATURE REMAINS WITH US EVEN AFTER SALVATION AND RECEIVING OUR NEW SECOND NATURE AS A NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST.
IN THE LAST 15 MINUTES OF OUR RECENT REVIVAL ON FRIDAY NIGHT, TERRY HEAD STEPPED BACKWARD AND GAVE US ONE OF THE GREATEST TEACHINGS OF THE ENTIRE WEEK WHEN HE SAID:
“I am not the good man you think I am.
And you are not the good people I think you are.
We have no righteousness of our own, and if there is any
found among us, it came from Christ”
HIS FINAL TEACHING TO US IN THAT WEEK OF REVIVAL IS EXACTLY WHAT PAUL IS TEACHING IN ROMANS TWO TO THE JEWS.
