No Boasting In The Law Series

2:17.

“Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law and make your boast in God,”

Following the authorized text and its Greek, that word “indeed” probably doesn’t fit. The word is an interjection used to show surprise and is most often translated “look” or “see”. Old English would be “behold.” As in, “Hey, Romans, take a look at this.” And perhaps he is now picking up from verse 12, where he left off before that parenthetical section:

“you are going to be judged by the law, but look at this, my Jewish friend, you are resting on the law to save you!”

They call you a “Jew”. Ever since the Babylonian captivity, that name had surfaced as the identifier of Israel. It’s a good name. Comes down from Judah. The fourth son of Jacob/Israel. Israel is still the name of the nation. Jacob’s family is called after Jacob’s new name. But this term Jew stuck.

Judah. “Celebrated.” “Praised.” Genesis 49:8, Jacob in the Spirit makes a play on words here when he prophesies,

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“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise…” Judah is promised the scepter. His family will produce the true kings of Israel. Judah will produce David and Hezekiah and Josiah… and Jesus, the truly celebrated one, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Oh, it’s a good name, Jew.

But the Jews, by and large, missed out on the blessing that their very name prophesied. They were called “praised”. And who was praising them, honoring them above all the nations of the earth? God Himself. Why? For His own purposes. Why does God choose anyone? His own purposes.

But the Jews began taking that name, that promise, that praise, and applying it to themselves, and praising one another, and resting in the fact that the Law was given to them, boasting that this God loved them and no one else, because they were so wonderful. Why would God call us if we weren’t the finest people on earth?

Notice the fine line of difference here. We stand back and say, there has never been a nation like Israel. How blessed, how praised. But because of God’s choice. They began to say, we are a great nation because we were so special in God’s eyes that He had to choose us. What else could He do when He saw us?

What a horrible and damning misunderstanding. I read to you from their Law, the book of Deuteronomy chapter 9:4 and following, Moses speaking,

“Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast out [nations before you], ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you… for you are a stiff- necked people… from the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord…” He goes on to list all the evils they have already committed… and they are

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still in the wilderness! They went on to out-do the pagans in their idolatry in the new land God gave them. They went on further, to crucify the Son of God.

So you are resting in your law? Boasting in your God? Hoping that the name “Jew” will cover you?

Doesn’t this attitude remind you of people you know (I hope not you, yourself) who rest in the name Christian or Calvin or Pentecostal or any of a number of names people hide behind in our own day? Some are resting in their baptism as a child. Their church membership. Their friendship with other Christians. Their good works.

There is no rest in anything short of what Jesus did for you. Rest in Him.

2:18

“…and know His will…”

Like us, they know what God wants. Written messages from prophets, and in our case, apostles of God. They and we cannot claim ignorance. “What about those who never heard?” Better question, what about those who have heard, and who know so much? What about those who memorized entire books of the Bible? We know His will. Are we resting in that knowledge or have we asked God to make that word come alive in actions? Knowing is not enough.

“…and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law…”

They knew the book so well that they could even “rightly divide” it. They could tell which things were most important, which things were of lesser importance. Jesus tested His Pharisee accusers and sometimes they came out well:

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Actually, one day they tested His knowledge of the Scriptures. (By the way, we are not knocking learning and knowledge, only saying it cannot be enough. One must do what he knows.)