Today’s passage: Romans 2:12-29
Helpful thought:
- Verses 12-15 continue the argument from the preceding passage.
- Whether you have heard the Law or not (Jew or Gentile) all have sinned and know it.
- We are not saved simply by going to the “right” church which holds the right doctrinal positions, just as the Jews were not saved simply because they had heard the Law (Verse 13).
- God does not look at man the way man looks at man. He knows the thoughts and intentions/motives of our hearts. Even what people do that is outwardly the right thing will be discerned rightly by God.
- The Jew who believes they know the Law expertly and have kept it and are teaching others to do the same (To arrive at their level of righteousness) is being a hypocrite and understandably turning people away.
- Except, the people who are turning away from God (The Gentiles blaspheming) are not turning away from God so much as they are turning away from the religion the Jews have exemplified and practiced.
- Circumcision did not save the Jew any more that the act of baptism would save someone today in and of itself.
- Circumcision (And today, baptism) are outward evidences of something that must happen within…of the heart, by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
Questions to consider:
- The Jews who were only Jews outwardly and thought they were righteous in keeping the Law would rightly be called Legalists. What does legalism look like today? What new laws have “Christians” written over the years? When people leave legalistic churches, or when children grow up in legalistic churches and leave when they grow up, what did they actually leave? What faith was it they left? Was it really Christ and His Gospel?
- What is the result, or the fruit, of the New Covenant in Ezekiel 36 (See link above)? When God gives us spiritual birth, what should start happening? How will we begin to change? What will motivate us to pursue righteousness? What place would pride have in the way God works in us?
- Man can circumcise their sons. Man can baptize people. What can’t we do? What is our role in reaching the lost and what is God’s? Therefore, what must be our greatest goal in sharing the Gospel with the lost? Whom do we praise when there is the fruit of repentance?