Romans 2:17-29
Guilty of Hypocrisy!
Welcome!
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Would you open your Bibles to...
Mat 15:7 "Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
Mat 15:8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Pray
Intro
√ In our last study together we looked at Paul’s argument in chapter 2 in which he directs his attention to the self-righteous, or moral person.
The person who...
“trusts in themselves that they are righteous.”
Paul shows that they too are guilty before God and in need of a savior because they are guilty:
God judges the standard of Truth
God judges Impartially
God’s standard of judgement is Jesus Christ
√ As we close out chapter 2 Paul brings his final irrefutable argument against the self-righteous person.
They are guilty because they are hypocrites
Ex. Greek plays - an actor!
Ap. Lot’s of application by way of a strong warning to us as Christians that we practice what we preach lest the age-old excuse for not coming to church be found true in our own lives!
“I don’t go to church because it’s full of hypocrites!”
Let’s look at Paul’s argument!
They know the Law (vs. 17-20)
Rom 2:17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God,
Rom 2:18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
Rom 2:19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
Rom 2:20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.
√ Indeed
you are called a Jew
Paul’s statement here in the original language is better understood to read...
“If you call yourself a Jew”
...that is, Paul was addressing those individuals who were truly called “Jews”, and who took great pride in that name believing themselves to be superior to other men.
Two things we must recognize:
Paul was harassed by Jews throughout his ministry - both Jews who had come to faith in Jesus and those who rejected Jesus - these are the men he is addressing.
Paul was able to speak about what these men thought from personal experience - he once was the man whom he describes.
√ Paul now gives us a list of things in which the Jew boasted in, and saw themselves superior, as he compared himself to other men.
1) They relied on the Law; that is they put their confidence in the fact that God gave them the Law.
2) They bragged about their relationship to God; through the Mosaic Covenant.
3) They now God’s will; that is they have an awareness of His desires and plans as revealed in His Word.
4) They approve of Godly behavior; that is to say they express a concern for the spiritual standards that God has established in His Word.
5) They are instructed in the Law; kind of like saying they were raised in church and therefore know the Word of God.
6) Saw themselves in relationship to other men...
Guide to the blind
Light in the darkness
Instructor of the foolish
Teacher of babes (spiritual infants)
Far from being offended by Paul’s list of attitudes held by Jews, they would have been in full agreement!
Remember, Paul knew the mind of the Jew for he himself had given his life to the study of Jewish Law and thought - this was his way of thinking before he met Jesus.
However, the point that Paul was making - and would drive home in the next few sentences was that possession of the Law meant nothing - rather - it was the practice of the Law that counts!
For God is not concerned with what is on the appearance of a man, but with what a person is on the inside. For God looks at the heart!
√ The problem of religion
The Jewish people had a religion of outward action, not inward attitude.
That is to say, they may have been moral on the outside, but what about the heart?
As we saw in our study last week, and as Matthew records in the 23rd chapter of his Gospel, Jesus rebukes those who put on a facade of morality and yet are immoral in their heart.
The key phrase which characterizes this false righteousness is found there in vs. 20...
“having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.”
That is, they had all the form and none of the substance.
Ap. The characteristic of the false Church in the Last Days
2Ti 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Note that Paul’s description of these false-Christians in the Last Days in vs. 1-4 sound just like the religious leaders whom Jesus rebuked!
Brothers - guard your heart and stay close to Jesus!
√ So, the Jew (religious or moral person) - though they appear to be right with God on the outside are guilty and in need of a savior because...
They don’t practice what they preach (vs. 21-25)
Rom 2:21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?
Rom 2:22 You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
Rom 2:23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?
Rom 2:24 For "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.
Rom 2:25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
√ “You, therefore...”
Paul sums up his list of what the Jew believed made them distinct from all other men with a clause...
“You, therefore...”
That is, in light of their own estimation of themselves - Paul now asks them a series of questions:
Do you teach yourself?
Do you steal?
Do you commit adultery?
Do you worship idols?
Paul’s point is that while the Jew told others not to do these things, they were actually guilty of doing them!
They were hypocrites - actors; pretending to have a relationship with God and yet in reality they didn’t know Him!
The honest Jew would have to admit that Paul was right. They couldn’t hide the truth because they recognized that Paul was an insider - a “Jew of the Jews” - a Pharisee himself and blameless according to the outward requirements of the Law.
Ex. The woman caught in adultery - John 8
Not a stone was thrown because the accusers each knew the other was guilty of sin.
The honest religious person, or moral person, recognizes that even if they’ve never actually broken the Law - they’re guilty because they’ve done so in their heart.
Ap. As Christians we must be careful not to judge too harshly those who commit sins that we ourselves have entertained in our thoughts!
Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Ex.
√ Paul now tells us why the hypocrite is guilty before God - because God judges by the heart.
Therefore they’re guilty of the Law (vs. 26-29)
Rom 2:26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
Rom 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;
Rom 2:29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
√ God looks on the heart!
Paul closes his argument against the religious and moral person by reminding them that a person can never be made righteous by simply doing religious activities.
The Jews took great pride in the symbols of their covenant (relationship) with God.
Ex. Circumcision - the sign of the covenant
Dress code
Prayer boxes
Keeping the Sabbath
Paul points out that a person could do all these things and yet if they did not practice personal holiness their symbols of a relationship with God were valueless.
Ex. Marriage - a covenant between two people to love, to cherish, to be faithful to one another as long as they both should live.
Sign of that covenant is a ring.
But, that ring is has no value and no power to hold that marriage together if the person wearing it has not entered into the marriage relationship with their heart!
So, a properly - legally - wedded couple that hates each other and is unfaithful to one another is not as righteous as the couple who not knowing any better just lives together and yet upholds the promises of a true marriage!
Not encouraging anyone to live together! J
√ So then, the Jew who judges the Gentile is guilty before God because although they know what God’s will is and even preach it - live contrary to it.
Worse, the Gentile sees right through their hypocrisy and is driven from God because of it!
Rom 2:23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?
Rom 2:24 For "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.
Application
√ Self examination!
It would be easy to condemn the Jews yet miss the point that as Christians we are often guilty of the very same self-righteous attitude!
While we are confident that our sins have been judged at the Cross (John 5:24)...
...we also recognize that each of us Christians will stand before judgement seat of Christ where our works will be judged (Rom. 14:10-12 & II Cor. 5:10).
Therefore, we must ask ourselves...
Do I judge myself or others? (Romans 2:1-3)
How easy it is to cover up my own failures by criticizing others.
Am I grateful for God’s goodness? (Romans 2:4)
It is not the badness of man but the goodness of God that brings us to repentance; do I take God’s many blessings for granted?
Is my faith proved by my works? (Romans 2:5-11)
Paul was not teaching salvation by works but works that prove salvation. Do I obey God’s truth and persist in holy living? Do I have a hard heart or a tender heart?
Am I hiding behind religion? (Romans 2:12-16 & 25-29)
The Jews boasted of their law, but it could not save them. External rituals do not guarantee internal changes. God searches the heart - what does He see in my heart?
Do I practice what I preach? (Romans 2:17-24)
Do I tell others what is right but then do what is wrong? Do I expect more of others than I do of myself?
God judges honestly and without partiality and no secret is hidden from Him.
Are you prepared?