Romans 2 - Paul Tells The Jews That They Are Guilty, Too

After confirming to his Jewish readers that the Gentile world was guilty, Paul really surprised them by saying that the Jewish world was just as guilty!  "It would not be an easy task to find the Jews guilty since disobedience to God was one sin they did not want to confess," my commentary said.  "Paul summoned four witnesses to prove the guilt of the Jewish nation."

The Gentiles:  Jews called them Gentile dogs and despised them.  "Paul used this judgmental attitude to prove the guilt of the Jews, for the very thing they condemned in the Gentiles, they themselves were practicing!  They thought they were free from judgment because they were God's chosen people.  But Paul affirmed that God's election of the Jews made their responsibility and accountability even greater."

God's blessing:  "Instead of giving the Jews special treatment from God, the blessings they received from Him gave them greater responsibility to obey Him and glorify Him ... Even after Israel crucified Christ, God gave the nation nearly 40 years of grace and withheld His judgment.  It is not the judgment of God that leads men to repentance, but the goodness of God -- but Israel did not repent.

God's law:  "The Jews boasted in the law ... But Paul made it clear that it was not the possession of the law that counted, but the practice of the law.  The Jews looked on the Gentiles as blind, in the dark, foolish, immature, and ignorant!  But if God found the deprived Gentiles guilty, how much more guilty were the privileged Jews! ... The Jewish people had a religion of outward action, not inward attitude."

Circumcision:  "The tragedy is that the Jews depended on this physical mark instead of the spiritual reality it represented!  A true Jew is one who has had an inward spiritual experience in the heart, and not merely an outward physical operation.  People today make the same mistake with reference to baptism..."

Paul has certainly gotten everyone's attention and pretty much knocked the props out from under any haughty attitudes, readying them to hear what God has told him to say next.

Father, I need my own props knocked out every now and them to remind me of Your grace and of my own connection with You.  I would be nothing without You and would have no hope in this life or the next if You hadn't called me to Yourself and saved me.  Thank You!

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford