Romans 10:1-3: "Seeking Self Righteousness"

Paul will show to us in this section that zeal and passion about something does not make it true. He will show us that we must be passionate and zealous towards truth otherwise we are just fooling ourselves. Jesus so often spoke of truth and the importance of it. We are told that Jesus Himself was "full of grace and truth" (John1:14). In John 8:31-32, "Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'". Jesus also said that, "everyone who is of the truth hears My voice" (John 18:37). It is clear that we must pursue truth. The bible makes it clear that there is absolute truth. In other words, there is one way, there is a right and a wrong, it is not subjective, instead all is held in the light of the objective word. In fact Jesus Himself said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life . .no one comes to the father, but through Me" (John 14:6). That's about as absolute as you get. Therefore, in our pursuit of knowledge we must hold it up in the light of the word to make sure it is truth.

Paul again reiterates his love for his brethren in the beginning of this section, which is always done before he is to rebuke them. Paul shows an amazing balance of zeal for the truth with love for his lost people. He begins, "Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation". MacArthur writes, "Paul did not have a cold and indifferent acquiescence to God's sovereign election. He had a compelling, heartfelt longing to bring his physical kinsmen to Christ". We can truly see through Paul's writing his love for the lost. Salvation for his brethren was his "heart's desire", their understanding of Jesus as Messiah was his "prayer to God". Paul truly did believe God to answer his prayer and understood His ability to save all Israel. This heart for the lost could be seen in Christ as He prayed on the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34), and in Stephen while being stoned, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" (Acts 7:60). We should check our hearts and see what our reaction to those who reject the truth. Is it prayerful love towards their salvation, or selfish hatred towards their foolishness?

Paul now draws from his experience of the past in which he lived as a Pharisee. He writes, "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God". Paul had lived his whole life breathing murderous threats towards Christians, in what he felt was a zeal for God. Paul admits, "For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions" (Gal. 1:13-14). And it was these "ancestral traditions" which had taken the place of God's Word and lead Israel to seek self righteousness. The problem with the "zeal for God" that Israel had was that it was "not in accordance with knowledge". MacArthur writes, "The Jews had a certain degree or kind of knowledge (gnosis), an intellectual awareness of the outward demands of God's law. But they did not have the discerning spiritual knowledge (epignosis) that comes only from a saving relationship to God. They had the kind of superficial religious knowledge that causes pride and arrogance (I Cor. 8:1), but not the godly knowledge that both comes from and produces humility and holiness". We can see that this blindness left the Jews in a terrible state: believing they had a zeal for God when in fact it was misplaced zeal for their own self-righteousness.

Paul expands on his previous statement that the Jews were not pursuing truth. He writes, "For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God". MacArthur explains, "Israel's rejection by God was not due to arbitrary divine election, as though He had withheld His grace from His chosen people. The entire Jewish Scriptures are a testimony to God's calling Israel to Himself. He called her over and over again - through the law, the prophets, and the other sacred writings. Of all people on earth, Israel was entrusted with the very oracles of God (Rom. 3:2). She was therefore uniquely responsible for her rejection by God, who made every effort to bring her to Himself". Israel had clearly been given the tools to understand God' righteousness, however, they sought "to establish their own". Israel had prided it itself in having the oracles of God. However, over time, rabbinical traditions started to take precedence over scripture, many of them even going against scripture or lowering God's standard to earthly standards. Because they had been entrusted with the Holy Scriptures and they were God's entrusted nation, "they thought the many rabbinical traditions they had substituted for God's Word were perfectly acceptable to Him. Not only were they willingly ignorant of God's righteousness, but they also had no understanding of their own unrighteousness. They thought they were more holy and righteous that they were and therefore fully believed that any deficit in their own merit could be met by their own good works - measured by their own standard of righteousness". Israel's problem was they sought their own solution to sin through creating man made rules that could be kept through the law, rather than seeking God and His righteousness. Paul had addressed this earlier in Rom. 1:21,25, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened . . . For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie". Because of God's perfect and holy standard that was not attainable, instead of looking to God in faith, they looked to themselves to create their own salvation through works and "did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God".

To sum up, MacArthur writes, "The Jews of Paul's day were not much different than most people of any day, including our own. Because men think God is less holy than He is and that they are more holy than they are, they believe they can achieve acceptance with Him. They measure both God and themselves by human standards of right and wrong and are deceived in both regards".