All of this, While having a form of the knowledge and of the truth and the law. A form. The Greek word means an outline. A shape but no substance. So you have it down in form but there is no substance because Jesus Christ is the substance of all that the Old Testament was talking about. All of the feasts, all of the sacrifices, even the items in the Tabernacle all pointed to Jesus Christ. So they had this outward expression, but inwardly they are like dead men's bones.
Transcript
We are in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 2. The book of Romans is at the beginning of the teaching section of the New Testament. The historical section, Matthew through Acts, is the historical record of the teaching and ministry of Jesus Christ here on the earth, and the ministry that He continued in history all the way up through to the death of Paul.
But all of Paul’s letters are at the beginning of this teaching section of the New Testament. And the book of Romans is the very first book. It is known down through history as The Constitution of the Christian Faith. All of the Christian doctrines are in the book of Romans. All of the teachings of the Lord are covered in the book of Romans. Remember Paul wrote this book to minister to the Roman mind, just like Mark wrote his gospel. It is written like a legal brief that one would present in a court of law.
The first section that we have been in is chapter 1 verse 18 through chapter 3, The Doctrine of Condemnation. The word itself sounds like destruction. But actually the word condemnation in the Greek is actually a legal term that means a sentence against somebody. A sentence that has been reached in court already. And what Paul is doing is he is presenting to the believers, in God’s court of law he has already sentenced us. Not that He is going to, He already has.
In chapter 1 verse 18 through to the end of the chapter we saw that Paul presented how God reaches the Gentile. It is through creation as God reveals His invisible characteristics and attributes. So that no one has an excuse, which is another judicial or legal term that means without a defense. We do not have a defense. Every Gentile who stands before God will have in their lifetime at one time or another God’s Spirit making them aware of who God is through creation. But then Paul went on to say that there will be those who will understand this enlightenment and they will reject that as being the truth about God, and they will replace God with something else. Something of creation: an animal, a statue, a piece of stone, a piece of wood. A god that we want. A god that we have made up for ourselves. And because of that God will give them over to corruption.
It is like Paul said at the end I Corinthians chapter 3, he says, Anybody that corrupts this temple God will corrupt you. Our bodies are the temple of God’s Spirit. Anybody that corrupts this temple God will give them over to corruption. If they want to reject Him He will give them over to a reprobate mind, which means a mind that rejects the truth. So that after rejecting the truth, once they hear the truth and He gives them over to a reprobate mind, they will continue to reject it.
We will see throughout the book of Romans that even repentance is granted by God. Get to chapter 11, God has granted repentance to the Gentiles. Even repentance is a gift. And so in chapter 2 Paul begins his presentation to the Jewish person. In general the religious person, and specifically, today we are going to get to the Jewish person. Paul says, You, O man, who are judging, you are without excuse. And again, that is without defense. That is a judicial term. Because the Jewish man would stand over and he would see the Gentiles totally involved in corruption and rejecting the truth about God; and the religious man would stand over on the side and judge all these people, with a superior attitude. That if you are religious, and especially if you are Jewish, that you have special relationship with God where you are not going to experience the judgment.
Do you know that Jewish people hold that? The Orthodox Jews hold that to this day? That we are Jewish, we are God’s chosen people, we will never come under judgment. We are assured of going to heaven because were God’s chosen people. And all you heathen, in your ungodly lifestyle because you are not keeping the law, you are the ones who are lost, not us.
Well, the first thing we saw last week, we saw Paul present five things, the basis of which God’s judgment is going to be on everybody.
1) We saw in chapter 2 verse 2 that God’s judgment is going to be according to the truth. The facts. Whether it is Jew or Gentile, straight across the board.
2) Secondly verse 5, according to your hardness and your impenitent heart. It will be the condition of the heart that God will judge.
3) Verse 6, the third principle, according to his works. The conduct, how a person responds to the truth.
4) Verse 7, the fourth principle, consistency. For those who according to endurance. They endure under the good work.
And again the word good is (agathos). Which, in the Bible there are several words for good, (agathos) is always the good of God. When Jesus went about doing good it was not humanitarian good, it was spiritual good. He did whatever was needed for that person’s spiritual good. Even if it meant rebuke and correction to bring them the truth in Christ.
5) And then fifthly, at the end of this string of verses that we took last week, in verse 16, Paul says the fifth principle or basis for God judging is he says, according to my gospel. What a bold thing to say.
As we have been studying the first hour in the book of Galatians, Paul says, If anybody preaches any other gospel than that which I have preached, let him be accursed. Either God has blessed us with a way to prove truth and error or Paul is a liar and he did not get his gospel from God at all. I can know. I can go to Paul’s letters, read all through Paul’s letters. You present some kind of new revelation or new doctrine, if he did not teach it it is not from God. As simple as that. Again the excuse I get is, “Well you are limiting God.” No, I am not limiting God. God can do whatever He wants to do. He is limiting us. We are the ones that have vain imaginations. So He has given me, he has given you something in print that says, “If it is not taught in print,” and the inspiration of God has been given to us in print, “if it is not taught, it is not from God.” If it is not taught in His word.
And then here in Romans he says that everyone is going to be judged according to Paul’s gospel. That is pretty bold. Especially as we are learning the first hour going through Galatians that he got his gospel directly from Jesus Christ. And we saw this morning that the Jerusalem Council put their stamp of approval and said “Yep, you did.” So that puts us in a very sticky situation in the body of Christ. If Paul received his gospel from Jesus Christ and if the Jerusalem Council put their stamp of approval on it, and indeed all of his letters are inspired by God, then God has arranged the Scriptures to be a proof text of what is true and what is not. If is not in God’s word, it is not of God. As simple as that.
Some of the new-fangled teachings on prayer, you know, where did the early church teach that? Well, they did not; it is something new, it is new revelation today. Sorry. It might be new revelation but not from God because we have assurances about the things of the Lord.
After presenting these five principles to the religious person in general, but now specifically to the Jew; whether a person is Gentile and not religious or Jewish and religious, both will be judged according to the truth. Whatever the facts are. And as we saw last week Paul says that there is no respect of persons with God. He is not going to say, “Here are the facts and the judgment. You are going to get judged. Oh! you are a Jewish person? You are exempt.” No. Everyone will be judged by the same truth. Everyone will be judged according to Paul’s gospel.
Verse 17 for today, Behold, thou art called a Jew, and you restest (that is, you rest yourself, rely) in the law and you makest thy boast of God. (verse 18) And knowest His will, and you approve the things that are more excellent, while being instructed from out of the law; (verse 19) and you are confident that thou thyself are a guide to the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, (verse 20) an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, who has the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. (verse 21) Thou therefore which teachest another, do you not teach yourself? You that preach a man should not steal, do you steal? (verse 22) You who says a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhorrest (it is the word for the smell of vomit) do you abhor idols, and yet you rob temples? That is the literal translation. (verse 23) You make your boast of the law, you who boast in the law through the breaking of the law, do you dishonour God? (verse 24) For the name of God is blasphemed amongst the Gentiles on account of you, as it has been written.
So now specifically he turns to the Jewish person, the one who is keeping the law. First of all, I want to present to you their position. These are all attitudes of the Hebrew or Jewish person.
First of all, the Jewish position, verse 17. Behold you are called a Jew. The word called in the Greek text is not the normal word for called, it’s the word for named. Behold you are named a Jew. Now the word for Jew or Jewish comes from the word Judah. Most of those who came back from the exile were from the tribe of Judah and when the kingdom was divided the northern part was called Israel, and the southern two tribes were called Judah. Judah means praise. And so out of the word Judah came the word Jewish, and it became the name of the Hebrew people.
So number one, you have been named a Jew. That is supposed have special position with God, if you are Jewish. Well, it is special. In Genesis chapter 12 verse 3 God says, I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curses thee and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. That is everybody, Jew and Gentile alike. As we will see in a moment God’s will was for them to receive their Messiah and preach the gospel to us, originally. But now they say, “I rest in my position for my salvation.”
But you remember in John chapter 8 when the Jewish leadership came to Jesus and accused Him to be under the inspiration of a demon. In John chapter 8 verses 40-44 Jesus says, But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard from God: this Abraham did not do. (verse 41) You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, “We be not born of fornication.” They are making reference to the birth of Christ. He was born to an unwed mother. So you can see what they thought about Him. “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” (verse 42) And Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded out and came from God; neither came I from myself, but He sent me. (the Father) (verse 43) Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear My word. (verse 44) You are of your father the devil.” This is Jewish leadership. “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he dwelt not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” And then He tells them, Do not put your trust in being Abraham’s children.
John the Baptist when he was out preaching, in introducing Christ as Messiah in Luke chapter 3 verses 7 through 9 it says, When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, “O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy for repentance, and do not think to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham to our father:’ for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” So even from the beginning, even John the Baptist was saying, do not approach this call for repentance and say, “Well, we are from Abraham and so we are exempt.” No you have to bring fruits of repentance too. You must repent in your heart. And Jesus said the same thing.
So Paul says, (verse 17), Behold you are named a Jew. That is your name, that is your title. Secondly, and you rest in the law. That is, you rely on the law, “I have the law.” Thirdly, and you boast in God. Putting these two together, “I am a Jew, and we have been given the law.” Fourthly, and you know His will. The Jews know His will. Messiah was supposed to come and he was to be Jewish. And when Messiah came the Jewish people would then be sent out to proclaim the gospel of Messiah. They knew what God’s will was. Fifthly, and you approve the things that are excellent. The word approve – (dokimadzō), it has to do with putting something to the test to test its true value. For instance they used to take money, you have probably seen people do it before, and bite it with their teeth. And if it was not the real thing you could sink your teeth into it. He says, “You put things to the test to make sure it is according to the law,” because he says, And you test the things that are more excellent while being instructed out of the law. You take the law and you test everything, not like the heathen do. So their position.
Verse 19, pride. Out of pride and there are five more things. And you have persuaded yourself. Notice the little translation. The word confident is the word persuasion. And you have persuaded yourself about these five things.
First of all, that you are guide to the blind. What an attitude to have! Spiritually everybody is blind except me. I am a Jew. I have the law. So I am going to go out and I am going to take the blind, spiritually blind, and I am going to instruct them.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 23 verses 24 to 28, You blind guides. He says, not only do you have this attitude I am going to teach the blind but you are blind too. So, it is a blind guide teaching the blind.
24) You blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and you swallow a camel.
25) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within you are full of extortion and excess.
26) You blind Pharisees, cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
28) Even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto people, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
He is making reference to the time when the pilgrims come in to Jerusalem for the feast and as we studied last week about John hesitating to go into the empty tomb after Jesus rose. Because for a Jewish person to enter into a tomb that a dead person has been in, they are considered unclean for seven days and they cannot participate in the feast. So what they would do is not the tomb so much but the graves on the ground, they would paint the graves white in order to let people know, let the pilgrims know that you are not supposed to walk over that, because that is a grave. So He says, You are like the whited sepulchres. You look good on the outside but inside you are nothing but death and dead bones. So they had pride in themselves. I am a leader of the blind.
Secondly, I am a light to the ones who are in darkness. God prophesied. Isaiah chapter 42 verse 6, I the Lord have called thee (Israel) in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and I will keep you, and I will give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. I am going to use you as a light of the Gentiles.
And like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount as He expounded more on the proper interpretation of the law, Matthew chapter 5 verses 14 through 16. He says, You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So they said, “We are a light to the ones who are in darkness.”
Thirdly he says, We are an instructor of the foolish. The word foolish in Greek literally means without understanding. That would be the Gentiles, or any person that is not raised according to the law is foolish person. So we are instructor of the fools. But the complaint against them is that they are basing all of their confidence and security on what they are doing not who they are. This is all outward appearance.
[Fourthly] He says, And a teacher of babes. That is young children, Jewish children, who need to be instructed according to the law. He says, I will take him, I will instruct him in the law. I am a teacher. I am instructor.
And fifthly all of this, While having a form of the knowledge and of the truth and the law. A form. The Greek word means an outline. A shape but no substance. So you have it down in form but there is no substance because Jesus Christ is the substance of all that the Old Testament was talking about. All of the feasts, all of the sacrifices, even the items in the Tabernacle all pointed to Jesus Christ. So they had this outward expression, but inwardly they are like dead men’s bones.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 23 verse 3, And therefore whatsoever they (the leaders) bid you to observe you are to observe it but not after their works for they say and they do not do. They speak the truth but they do not do it. It goes along our lines of, “Don’t do what I do, but do what I say.” That does not work. He saying to the Jewish person you have to be on the inside but you preach on the outside.
So they had pride. To be chosen to take God’s law and instruct people. But they only had a form of the knowledge of the truth in the law but they did not have the substance. So then he asks five questions.
You who are teaching the other person are you teaching yourself? The challenge to all people in ministry. It is not, “Ooh that is new stuff, I have to share it!” The blessing and curse of it is God is speaking to us first. If you have ever listened to anybody or had the opportunity to teach people from the word of God you know that you are going to get blessed more than anyone. You get to study it all week long. And what a blessing it is. But it is for us first. Again Romans chapter 15 verse 18 is one of my favorite scriptures where Paul says, I will not speak except those things that have been worked out in me. It is not head knowledge. It is head knowledge and a transformed life. So he says, You that teaches another do you teach yourself?
The one who preaches not to steal, do you steal? It is the word (kleptō). Paul used it in Ephesians chapter 5 to say that if you do not make enough money to support yourself and help another family, you are a kleptomaniac. You are a thief. That puts a lot of pressure on us, does it not? But at least it shows that we cannot sit back and take our ease.
Next he says, The one who is saying not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery?
The one who abhors idols… And again, you are sick over idols, but listen to this. Do you – instead of worshipping idols or committing sacrilege, literally the one Greek word means – do you rob temples? Literally. The word temples is plural.
There is only one incident that all of this applies to for the Jews. Deuteronomy chapter 7 verses 25 and 26 tells us, The graven images of their gods shall you burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Neither shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be a cursed thing like it: but you shall utterly detest it (there is our word sick) and you shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing. And what the Jews would do is come into the pagan temples and they would tear everything out. And they would take the idols and instead of destroying them they would take them home, or they melt them down and take the silver and take the gold. And God called it robbing the temples. But they preached against idol worship.
And the next, You who boasts in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking (or becoming a transgressor of) the law?
Verse 24, For the name of God is being blasphemed on account you among the Gentiles according as it has been written – the quote is from Isaiah chapter 52 verse 5 – “Now therefore, what have I here,” saith the Lord, “that my people is taken away for nothing? They that rule over them make them to howl,” says the Lord; “and my name is continually every day blasphemed.” Spoken against. So he is presenting the case. The Jew who finds himself in a position of being one of God’s chosen people and he has been given the law, and given the responsibility to teach the law – not only to children but to go out and preach the gospel and teach the law to the Gentiles. But just because on the outward they are participating in this type of religious exercise and inwardly they are not changed, they will be lost.
When we finish up this chapter next week that is what he is going to present. That a Jew is not a Jew who is one outwardly, but one who is one inwardly. The circumcision of the heart. A person that is born again of the Spirit of God. It is not religious practice even if it is with the right things. I think that is interesting. You can believe the right things and in ceremony express them outwardly, but if it does not have anything to do with the heart it means nothing.
It is interesting too, as you read the rest of the chapter, verses 28 and 29 of this chapter is also used for some of the false doctrine today. That the church has taken the place of Israel. No we have not. For they say if you are circumcised of heart you are a true Jew. Except that Paul is saying if a Jew is circumcised in his heart he becomes a genuine Jew. He is talking to Jewish people not Gentiles. So if a person is born Jewish, and raised in Judaism, and practices the law, and the culture, and the ceremonies of the Jews, Paul says, “You are still not saved.” Jesus Christ is the substance of the form of all of those things, which you have experienced by circumcision in the flesh, you must experience spiritually by Christ in your heart. Or else it is just ceremony. It does not mean a thing, even if it is the right thing. You are following the law but the law does not change the heart; only Christ does.
So next week, as he is now presented the position and the pride of the Jewish or religious person, we are going to deal with the ceremonies next week. And then what it means to be circumcised of heart. In chapter 3 of the book of Romans he puts both Jew and Gentile together and says, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That is a summary statement. Jew and Gentile alike, it is going to be according to the truth. Are you out there teaching? Do not think that you are teaching other people and you yourself cannot be held responsible. James chapter 3 verse 1 he tells us, Do not be ambitious to become many teachers knowing that you will receive the greater judgment. But the Jewish person thought that they were exempt from the judgment of God because they are the instructor of the law. The teacher. The teller. Yet they themselves have never experienced a circumcised heart.
Next week we will continue the book of Romans. As we become established – and that is why we are studying this book, we are studying all of the doctrines of the Christian faith. How God works with the Gentile: God convicts the Gentile through their conscience. But He convicts the Jew through the law. They are teaching the law but they are not applying the law. When they tell the Gentile, “You are guilty because here is what God’s law says,” God is saying the same thing to you who is presenting it, “You are guilty also.” And the Jews did not believe that. And they would look over at the Gentiles and say, “Look at those pagan, sinful people.” And what a shock to them to have Paul say, “You know how you are pointing the finger over there and saying, ‘Look at those pagans,’ and, ‘They are all going to be lost and doomed into hell’? So are you if you do not repent and receive Christ.”
Let’s close with prayer.
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