Romans 2:17-29: "God looks at the Heart"

Paul has been methodically breaking down the Jews confidence in their heritage and their Law. He has shown them that when it comes to salvation they are no more privileged than anyone else, and will not be able to claim anything to save them except Christ. In this next section Paul will continue to work on their understanding of works, heritage, and circumcision. Paul is trying to get them to understand that all these works they are holding to for security, will do them no good when they face God on judgment day.

The first false security that Paul is trying to expose is their heritage. Paul says, "if you bear the name 'Jew'". To get a better understanding of what this word meant to God's chosen people I will borrow from MacArthur's commentary, "The name represented both their racial and religious heritage, and in their own minds it denoted their distinctiveness from all other peoples of the world. . . they wore the name Jew as a badge of great honor and pride . . ." The Jews, however, had lost sight of the great blessings that had been bestowed upon them through God. MacArthur states, "Jews had long since lost sight of the purpose of their unique divine calling, however, which was to be the channel through which 'all the families of the earth shall be blessed'. They had no desire to share their God-given truths and blessings with the rest of the world . . ." The Jews had been given a tremendous privilege and blessing from God, and they eventually took it for granted at the exclusion of all others. MacArthur again, "They viewed them as their right by merit. They believed they were specially blessed not because of God's grace but because of their own goodness." The pride of being chosen by God soon became a huge hindrance for their humbly repenting and turning to Christ. They now felt they were justified by their heritage. A verse to help us understand their thoughts. Matt. 3:7-9 John the Baptist confronts the Pharisees with this warning, "And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." The Jews had suddenly felt that their simply being Jewish gave them salvation, whereas, John here is telling them that it was only because God declared it so that they were Jewish. They believed they had somehow inherently deserved this. John was clearly pointing out God is sovereign and chooses these things, and we are at his mercy.

The Jews not only relied on their heritage, but they also felt they were justified by the Law. Paul says, "and rely upon the Law, and boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law". The Law was any writing of the Old Testament that they had up to that time. All these things sounded good, boasting in God, knowing His will, approving the things that are essential. However, this knowledge was their worst enemy. This knowledge they received in the Law made them prideful for being the chosen race to receive the oracles. This knowledge will also hold them more accountable in the day of judgment. Matt. 23:15, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." MacArthur states, "Self-righteous, presumptuous Jews were satisfied simply to know His will, without obeying it. They knew what God required and what He forbade, what He commanded and what He prohibited, what He approved and what He disapproved, what He rewarded and what He punished. But rather than saving them, that knowledge became a judgment against them, because they refused to live by it and refused to accept the remedy for such failure." Paul had mentioned earlier that those who transgress in the law will be judged by the Law. This very thing they boasted in knowing, was going to eventually be the eternal death of them, because as we will see in the next couple verses they were did not obey them or live by them. Paul's desire is to get them to see their sin and repent. The Jews were so blinded in their sinfulness, that they felt completely justified because they knew the law. However, James 1:22 says, "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was." Paul knew these Jewish people reveled in knowing the Law, but needed a wake up call because they were not obeying the Law. He calls them out, "you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?" Paul is clearly asking rhetorical questions. He would not have mentioned these, if these things were not taking place. These words pierce to each one of our hearts. As a teacher, we are constantly having to instruct on things that we ourselves have not mastered. We know the right thing to do, but don't always do them. To instruct others in these things is often difficult. We must humbly come before them and lay out what God's Word instructs all of us to do, and do everything in our power (and the power the Lord gives us) to obey them in our lives.

Paul is not only telling the Jews that they need to watch their hypocrisy and their behavior for their own sakes, but for the sake of the gospel. He says, "You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you". By relying on their heritage and the Law, the Jews had become prideful and comfortable in their ways. Paul is bringing these sins to light and exhorting them to repent because they are dragging the name of God with it. Nothing is more detrimental to the name of Christ than those who flippantly call themselves one without truly understanding and living it out. Peter tells us in I Peter 2:12, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." As Christians we don't just live in a bubble. The world around us is observing all we say and do, trying to trip us up in our testimonies. We must be sure when we wear the name of Christ we bring honor and glory to His name as Paul spoke of in v.10 of this chapter. Clearly Paul was ashamed of the actions of the Jews as they spoke and taught of God, but did not live it out in their lives, and by doing so brought ridicule and blashpemy to God's name.

The last false security that Paul addresses to the Jews is the rituals. He says, "For indeed circumcision is of value, if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision." What Paul is addressing here is the fact that the Jews had equated circumcision with salvation. Yet another work that must be done in order for them to be saved. Many of the early Christian Jews were mandating that the Gentiles become circumcised in order to be included. MacArthur explains the ritual, "God had instituted circumcision as a mark of His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, declaring that "every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations' (Gen. 17:10-12). . . . No doubt this surgery was symbolic of the sinfulness of man that was passed from generation to generation. The very procreative organ needed to be cleansed of a covering. So man at the very center of his nature is sinful and needs cleansing of the heart." Just as baptism is, circumcision was a symbol of an inward heart change. This was a symbol to God as being obedient to Him and under His Lordship. However, Paul points out that, "if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision". In other words, if you are not obedient and have given your heart to Christ, the circumcision was nothing more than a surgery. In fact, Paul goes so far to tell them, "if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirement of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?" MacArthur explains, "The apostle's point is that the substance of pleasing God is obedience to His will, of which circumcision is but a symbolic reminder. Sincerely keeping the requirement of the Law because it is God's will is of great value, whereas circumcision without obedience is of absolutely no value." These words must have stunned the Jews. Paul was again trying to break down another false crutch they had been trying to stand on. Paul was basically telling them that God looks just as favorably on a circumcised Jew who keeps the Law, as an uncircumcised Gentile that keeps the Law. Paul is by no means mitigating the importance of circumcision, he is merely explaining that this ritual does not save one, as many Jews believed. Paul goes even further in shocking the Jews by saying, "And will not he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?" MacArthur explains, " It is not that such Gentiles will perform the actual judgment, which is God's prerogative alone, but that their faithful obedience will stand as a rebuke to the faithless disobedience of hypocritical Jews."

This whole section is an attempt by Paul to explain that, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly . . .but he is a Jew who is one inwardly." God looks at the heart and none of us should be fooled into thinking that any religious works, heritage, Law or ritual will get us into heaven.