June 1st, 2010-Romans Chapter 2

Romans chapter 2 speaks to God's perfect judgement of man and man's inability to judge others due to his own sin. Only God is perfect and able to judge the hearts of men. It says that on the final day God will judge each man according to his works. Those that are patient in seeking for honor, glory and immortality will receive eternal life and those that are self-centered and obey evil instead of the truth will receive the wrath of God. It also makes the note that every evil human being, Jew or Gentile, will receive wrath and every person who does good, Jew or Gentile, will be blessed. This emphasizes that God is not partial to a certain chosen people any longer. Everyone is on a level playing field. Chapter 1 established that everyone has the knowledge of God. Each person is responsible for his accountability to the Lord.

The chapter goes on to talk about the law and man's responsibility under the law. It isn't the hearers of the law that are made right before God, but the doers of the law. Basically speaking, talk is cheap. Our obedience to the Lord is what matters to him. This passage also says that the law is written on the heart of everyone. Even those that don't have the law are a law to themselves when they work out by nature what the law requires. Man knows by nature not to kill other people, not to take what doesn't belong to him, ect. The passage finishes by recapping the concept: the law is written on the heart of man. This could also be called a man's conscience.

The final part of chapter 2 talks about hypocrisy, specifically someone in the Jewish culture of the time who boasts about how much they know the law and teaches others about it, but doesn't obey the law himself. In that time, the chosen people of God, especially the Jewish religious leaders, were sitting on a high horse. They found their salvation in their adherence to and knowledge of the law of Moses. They were circumcised, they kept the Sabbath and they knew the law by heart. They put all their stock in that. But there was often much hypocrisy in teaching the people and following the law themselves. Not only that, but they focused too much on the external and the ritualistic. They didn't realize that salvation was a matter of the heart. This final passage of chapter 2 addresses this. It says that if an uncircumcised man keeps the law, he is regarded as circumcised and vice versa. In ancient Israel, circumcision was instituted by God as a physical indicator of his spiritually set-apart people. After the new covenant, it was still highly regarded by the Jewish community, but God says in chapter 2 that circumcision is no longer a matter of the external, but the internal: the heart. The chapter ends with verses 27 and 28 stating that "he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God."

This concept shook up the religious community at the time. My lessons to be learned from this chapter are that I need to live consistent with what I know to be true because at the end of my life, God will judge me based on the way I live. The Bible says that if you know the right thing to do and do not do it, it is sin. I have the Bible, God's revealed word, to show me how to live. My job is to follow through and do it. Easier said than done, but the Lord promises to be there every step of the way.