Romans 2:17-29
The Jews and the Law
Suppose you call yourself a Jew. You trust in the law. You brag that you know God. You know what God wants. You agree with what is best because the law teaches you. You think you know so much more than the people you teach. You think you’re helping blind people. You think you are a light for those in the dark. You think you can make foolish people wise. You act like you’re teaching little children. You think that the law gives you all knowledge and truth. You claim to teach others, but you don’t even teach yourself! You preach against stealing. But you steal! You say that people should not commit adultery. But you commit adultery! You hate statues of gods. But you rob temples! You brag about the law. But when you break it, you rob God of his honor! It is written, “The Gentiles say evil things against God’s name because of you.” (Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:22)
Circumcision has value if you obey the law. But if you break the law, it is just as if you hadn’t been circumcised. And sometimes those who aren’t circumcised do what the law requires. Won’t God accept them as if they had been circumcised? Many are not circumcised physically, but they obey the law. They will prove that you are guilty. You are breaking the law, even though you have the written law and are circumcised.
A person is not a Jew if they are a Jew only on the outside. And circumcision is more than just something done to the outside of a man’s body. No, a person is a Jew only if they are a Jew on the inside. And true circumcision means that the heart has been circumcised by the Holy Spirit. The person whose heart has been circumcised does more than obey the written law. The praise that matters for that kind of person does not come from other people. It comes from God.
Romans 3:1-8
God Is Faithful
Is there any advantage in being a Jew? Is there any value in being circumcised? There is great value in every way! First of all, the Jews have been given the very words of God.
What if some Jews were not faithful? Will the fact that they weren’t faithful keep God from being faithful? Not at all! God is true, even if every human being is a liar. It is written,
“You are right when you sentence me.
You are fair when you judge me.” (Psalm 51:4)
Doesn’t the fact that we are wrong prove more clearly that God is right? Then what can we say? Can we say that God is not fair when he brings his anger down on us? As you can tell, I am just using human ways of thinking. God is certainly fair! If he weren’t, how could he judge the world? Someone might argue, “When I lie, it becomes clearer that God is truthful. It makes his glory shine more brightly. Why then does he find me guilty of sin?” Why not say, “Let’s do evil things so that good things will happen”? Some people actually lie by reporting that this is what we say. They are the ones who will rightly be found guilty.
