Book of Romans Study
Lesson # 7
Romans 2:20 – 3:4
By Rev. James May
As we continue our study we must remind ourselves that the Apostle Paul is writing to the saints that are at Rome, in an epistle, or letter. As he sits and writes, the Holy Spirit is upon him, speaking to his heart, putting thoughts into his mind and guiding his hands as he writes. Thus, the words that Paul writes are not just the words of a man of God, they are the inspired words of Almighty God.
Paul’s writing contains some very powerful teachings which he hopes will set the groundwork for his planned visit to Rome. Since it will take some time before he will go, it is Paul’s prayer that the words of this letter will begin to impact the beliefs and practices of the church in Rome so that when he arrives, Paul can spend much more time winning souls among the lost than correcting errors in doctrine and wrong attitudes in the church.
How often do we come together with the same hope and prayer? We pray that our hearts and spirits are in tune with the Spirit of the God and that we come together, already on fire for God; already in the Spirit; already under the anointing of the Holy Ghost, so that we don’t have to spend all of our time getting everyone in the right frame of mind for worshipping God, and the right attitude for hearing and accepting the Word that God has for us in the services.
Our prayer and hope is that the Christians in the church are already in the spirit, so that the ministry that goes forth can be centered upon winning the lost who may be present!
So many times we have to spend half of the worship service just getting people to worship. And worship isn’t sitting around on our backside, looking like we’re half asleep! A lot of people, including me, close their eyes in worship because we want to focus only on God, not on the misbehavior of the kids, the disregard of God’s presence in their just sitting there and not joining in, or even in the little things that may be wrong or whatever that will serve only to distract us from truly worshipping. But some who close their eyes are using it only as an excuse to try and catch 40 winks. I know – I’ve been there and done that!
How can we expect a move of God; how can we say we’re hungry for revival; how can we see the blessings of God that come through true worship that is in the Spirit, if we don’t even try to enter in with all our hearts? That’s the worship God desires, and the only kind that he honors! Worship God in your own way, whatever that is as long as it doesn’t bring disorder and confusion! But – Worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth!
It doesn’t hurt to raise your hands, clap in time with the singing and music, move your lips and push air from your lungs across your lips and teeth to make real sounds come out. I know we can all do that because we all do the same thing just to talk. Talk to God in worship and praise! God is not fooled by our pretense at worship. He knows the heart!
I thank the Lord for those who will enter in; for those will just forget about themselves, concentrate on Jesus and worship him. But if there are those who are hindering the move of God by grieving the Holy Spirit, pretending to worship or just ignoring God altogether, then we will never see God really move in our services!
Paul’s letter is addressing the idea of the influence that the converted Jews are having upon the saints at Rome. It seems that there is some “Judaizing” going on!
What does “Judaizing” mean? It means that the Jews, who have accepted Christ, yet not reached the point in their faith where they fully rely on Jesus, but still rely upon the law of Moses as well, are trying their best to persuade the Gentile Christians in Rome that they have to adopt the ways of the law along with their faith in Christ.
Paul’s point in all of this is that the Jews themselves could not, and did not, keep their own law, and here they were trying to teach the Gentiles how to do so. In effect, by trying to get the Gentile Christians to obey the Law of Moses, they were nullifying the power of the blood of Jesus and saying that the blood wasn’t enough. Having Jesus as Lord was great, but they still needed to obey the law too.
That’s what we see happening in so many churches, and in nearly every church organization on the earth. Somehow, law and legalism always manages to come into the church and people are hounded and pounded upon by a preacher that wants them to obey the law and serve Jesus! In so many churches, if you don’t obey what the preacher says, you can be cast aside as though you are lost in sin. It doesn’t matter to them whether you have accepted Christ and rely on his blood, if you don’t obey church rules, you’re out!
So we can see that Paul’s writings to the saints at Rome are just as relevant in the modern church world as they were when he first penned them. In the modern church we find extremes of both end of the religious spectrum. One end says that we can do whatever and be whatever we want because God’s grace is sufficient and nothing we can do will cause us to lose out with God, and the other end says that unless we abide strictly by a set of church rules that we can’t be saved no matter how much faith we have in Jesus.
It’s often hard to find the right path in all of this religious foolishness, but that’s why we are studying the Book of Romans. In Paul’s writings, hopefully, the Holy Spirit will speak to your hearts and you will experience a freedom in Christ that you never knew existed.
There is no condemnation to those who in Christ, to those who are called by His name; to those who are faithful to the call that God has placed upon them. There is freedom in serving the Lord – freedom from sin, freedom from death, freedom from condemnation; freedom to live above sin; freedom to live life and enjoy your salvation without fear of losing it!
We will study it deeper later, but here’s what Paul writes in Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
That’s what Romans is all about! Roman’s gives you your rights and responsibilities as a Born Again Child of God! It’s your scriptural, foundational, constitutional right to be free in Jesus!
Now, let’s continue with chapter two, starting again at verse 20, as Paul continues his instructions to the converted Jews at Rome.
Romans 2:20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
We often presume too much concerning our own knowledge of Christ and His Word. The Bible teaches us that we should learn to “rightly divide”, or “properly understand and interpret”, the Word of God so that we can become qualified to instruct others in the Word.
I have seen many people attempt to become instructors to other people, yet they have very narrow, limited understanding of what they are trying to teach, and it shows. It’s impossible to teach what we don’t know.
If you haven’t spent much time in study and meditation, allowing the heart of God to move upon you and the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, the chances are that you’re really not qualified to even give an opinion, much less teach someone else that you don’t think knows as much as you do.
“Rightly dividing” insinuates hard work, reading, studying, questioning, listening and ever learning, and a realization that there’s always more to learn than what you’ve learned already. Who can ever reach the fullness of the depth of God’s Word? Who can know all of its secrets? So before we go trying to teach someone else, perhaps we need to make perfectly sure that we are qualified to even open our mouths, because those words will be brought forth in the judgment as well.
In the eyes of the Lord, all men are born in foolishness, and sadly, many never grow out of it. “Foolishness is bound in the heart of child”, says the scripture, “but the rod of correction will drive it far from him.” All of us either are, or were, foolish children in God’s eyes. We all have had to face the rod of correction so many times that we can’t count, and yet there is foolishness still.
Each corrective action, every sermon, every trial and test, every work of faith, is included in this process of driving the foolishness from each of us. Some of us learn quickly that foolishness brings pain and hard lessons, so we try to learn the lessons quickly and quit the foolishness. Others among us are truly hard-headed and the rod of correction just has to keep swinging and swinging as God takes us to the wood shed spiritually, time and time and time again! I don’t know about you, but my spiritual backside really gets to aching sometimes as God is lovingly trying to drive the foolishness from me! But don’t get too prideful now, because I’ve seen a lot of you behind that wood shed with me from time to time!
Every human being is born in foolishness because we know not God and are ignorant of who he is and what he desires for us.
And so Paul addresses these Jews, who presumed to know so much more than the Gentiles who were new converts, and tells them that presume too much upon themselves if they think that just being a Jew qualifies them to teach anything in the spiritual realm, to anybody. In fact, these newly converted Jews seemed even less qualified to teach about spiritual matters than anyone else in the church because they were confused by their former teachings of the law and this new experience of grace through Christ Jesus.
In effect, we have newborn babes in Christ, trying to teach other newborn babes in Christ, just because they had heard something about it in the past, even though what they had heard they didn’t even understand.
These Jews at Rome had heard of the law, and perhaps had tried to live by some form of the Law, but they never knew what the Law really meant or why.
It’s like taking a rough sketch of a building and trying to construct the entire thing off of a partial drawing. Something doesn’t always fit.
In the construction of a house, if you’re blueprints are faulty, the whole house will be faulty. It has to be done right, according to the exact design, or you’ll wind up with a big, costly pile of building materials that is unsafe and unusable.
If only the Jews had truly learned, understood and, if they had been able to live by the Law of Moses, what a wonderful house they would have built for the glory of God.
How can we describe the manner in which the Jews had built their religion, even though it was based upon the Law of Moses? They built their kingdoms using their best guess at God’s purpose because they never did understand it’s meaning. They never saw its true purpose. They only saw its provisions by the letter, but they never understood the Spirit behind it. Therefore, the entire Jewish system of worship had a major flaw. It was totally useless for salvation because the Law cannot save. Its sole purpose is to point men to Jesus and many of the Jews just don’t get it.
There was the outward appearance and form of true religion, but nothing was in the heart of it. Yes, the Jews had the Law before the Gentiles, but what did it do for them? It didn’t justify them. It wasn’t possible for them to live by it. No matter how much they could quote it, it did not deliver them from their sin.
Romans 2:21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
If you think you’re called to teach, the first thing you must do is learn the lessons you’re going to teach and apply them to yourself. If you preach and teach the law, then you have to live by that law as the example. Your life is your best method of teaching. People will do what you do more than they will do what you say! Actions speak louder than words every time!
Paul starts with “stealing” because there’s no doubt in his mind that these Jews were guilty of stealing already. Not many people never stolen anything, not even a penny off your mom’s nightstand, or even a minute from your employer, or worst still, tithes, offerings and gifts in your life from the Lord himself? Very few people could escape being guilty of stealing.
But Paul continues to point out the ways that these Jews had broken the very law that they were trying to force others to obey.
Romans 2:22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Paul is referring to both physical and spiritual adultery here. Like the accusers of those who brought the woman to Jesus to be stoned, being caught in the act of adultery, there was not one among these teachers in Rome who could say that they were not guilty of adultery in one form or another. No doubt some had been adulterers after the flesh in their past life and had broken the Law of Moses. No doubt some of them had worshipped idols in their past; idols of money, power, position, or even carved statues; and yet they were trying to teach the Gentiles that they were committing sacrilege by their idol worship.
Paul’s words cut to the heart of the matter to say that they were law breakers, guilty of the same things that they were trying to teach the Gentiles not to do.
Romans 2:23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Is it not dishonoring to God to brag about your self-righteousness in knowing the law, when you are breaking that very law that you say you know?
Romans 2:24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
Paul really hammers the Jews this time. Not only are they not qualified to teach, and not only do they break the very law they brag about being so knowledgeable of; but their whole nation has been an embarrassment and a source of ridicule of the God of Israel because of the sinful actions of the Jews.
Romans 2:25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
What was the reason for the circumcision of the Jews? God ordered it, but why?
It was ordered by God, to Abraham, as a sign of God’s Covenant Promise with Abraham that out of Abraham would come forth a nation that was chosen and separated unto the Lord. That covenant would only be fulfilled if Abraham’s seed would remain faithful to the Lord, and their sign of faithfulness in the flesh would be the act of circumcision.
So it all meant that they must remain a separated people, separated from the world and joined by faith unto God, walking in obedience to God’s Law.
So then, if the Jews broke the Law of God, then the covenant would be null and void, and the sign of circumcision would be meaningless, as though it had never been done.
Romans 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
Now, by reverse reasoning, if people keep the law of God, shall not the Covenant of God be renewed with those who do? Therefore, even if there is never a circumcision in the flesh, there is a circumcision in the spirit, and his obedience to the Law of God will be counted on his behalf as walking in the Covenant of God and he is then counted as a part of the circumcision.
Romans 2:27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Here again is what Paul is saying. There are those in the world who are born in sin and have not been given the Law of Moses to be circumcised, yet they have come to Christ, who fulfilled the Law on their behalf. These former Gentiles, the uncircumcised, now live by the Law of God through Jesus Christ, and they are now more qualified to judge the Jews, because of the Spirit of Christ that lives in them.
The Jews who did not obey the law, even though they knew the law, and had been circumcised would be judged by the very people they were condemning, because the saints will serve as kings and priests over the people of the earth during the Millennial Reign of Christ. Even today, the church stands as the judge against the sin that is in the earth. We judge the sin, pray for the sinner, including the Jews who are without Christ, and leave the results of it all to God’s will.
Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Romans 2:29 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.
Can you see why the Jews hated Christianity, and many still do today? Paul is teaching that uncircumcised, but Born Again Gentiles, are more of a Jew than the Jews themselves because being a Jew, in the eyes of God, means that you are faithful in keeping yourself separated from the world, and you are faithful in allowing the Law of God to reign in your heart and life.
The Covenant of God with men is fulfilled, not by trying to live by the letter of the law, but by allowing our hearts to be changed, and walking by the Spirit. We do not live faithful to God to receive the praises of men; but to be approved by God!
Romans 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
After seeming to totally destroy the pride of the Jews for being Jews, Paul now reverses his course to tell them that being a Jew really does give them an edge on the things of God above the Gentiles.
What is that edge? What does the Jew have that no Gentile had before coming to Jesus?
Romans 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
The blessings that God poured out upon Israel and the Jews is beyond measure. They were the most blessed nation on earth. They were given God’s covenant relationship before anyone else. Unto the Jews was committed the Covenant of God with Abraham! Unto the Jews, the Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments of God were first given. Unto the Jews, even Jesus Christ, the Messiah, went first to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. The Jews had it all, while the Gentiles yet languished in spiritual darkness and worship of false gods.
Yes, the Jews have had, and still have some advantage in their knowledge of and relationship to God in some ways. No nation on earth has God’s promise of protection and salvation like the Jews, even in their lost condition.
Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Yes, Israel fell into sin and rebellion! Yes, they disobeyed the law and faced correction over and over! Yes, many refused to believe in the coming of Jesus their Messiah! But did any of their faults and failures negate the covenant of God? No – the covenant made with Abraham is still in effect; and the covenant of the New Testament is still in effect for the Jew as well. All of their rebellion did not nullify God’s covenants.
Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Paul says that we should never believe that the Truth of God’s Word, and the promises of His Covenants, could ever be changed or nullified by the lack of faith and obedience in man, whether Jew or Gentile.
God’s word is Truth! God is faithful to fulfill his covenants! God never fails to fulfill that which he has promised to do!
Man will lie, cheat, steal, become vain and prideful; full of faults and failures, but God cannot and will not fail! God is faithful and just and will always find a way, seek out and bless that man who will be faithful to him. And through that man who is faithful, God’s covenants will be fulfilled.
When the course of history is done, and the judgment comes, God’s Word will be fulfilled! His covenant will still stand forever! In the judgment, in the final analysis, after all is finished, God is still God, and his plan will be finished.
God will be glorified, just and faithful to those who will be a part of his family of their own free will to the end.
