A Study of Romans 2:17 – 3:8
Opening: The nation of Israel occupies less than one-fiftieth of one percent of the world’s land surface, and its population is smaller than that of North Carolina. As a modern state, Israel has only been around since 1948. And yet we read about Israel in the headlines of the world’s news media outlets every single day. There is something unique, provocative, and enduring about the Jewish people. And yet, they are sinners like everyone else and they badly need their Messiah. We’ll look at that today as we continue our study in Romans, coming to Romans 2:17 through 3:8. The theme of this passage is that the people of Israel, like so many other people on earth, are religious but lost. as we come to Romans 2:17 – 3:8, where Paul shows that even God’s chosen people—blessed, instructed, and religious—stand guilty before Him without Christ.
Review: So far, we’ve studied the preface of Romans—the first seventeen verses of the book. Here Paul introduces himself and his theme. And we’ve noticed that the first major section of the book goes from Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:20. This section has one driving, dominating message—the whole world is guilty before God. Everyone is facing His wrath. The wrath of God is being revealed, and it will be revealed. That is true for our common culture, which is spiraling downhill as we saw in the last half of Romans 1. That is true for moralists, who mistakenly think they can live relatively good lives—good enough to get to heaven. We saw that in the first half of Romans 2.
Now the apostle Paul is going to shine his accusing light on the Jewish people and build a case that they are as wicked as anyone else. He is saying this because the Jewish people are not like anyone else. God made a covenant with them and only with them. He gave them a series of special privileges and promises. He called them His treasured possession, the people He had chosen for Himself. He called them the apple of His eye, and His beloved bride. They were the sheep of His pasture, and a holy nation. They were in a category all to themselves. But now Paul is going to tear into their assumption of entitlement and prove to them they are just as lost and as sinful and as hopeless as anyone else. This is part of his overall argument that none of us can ever get to Heaven on our own.
George Whitefield used to say that trying to get to Heaven by your own efforts was like trying to climb to the moon on a rope of sand. That is true for the Gentiles, for those who think they are good and moral people, and for the Jews.
Look at Romans 2:17 and following.
If You Call Yourself a Jew
17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
In this passage Paul rehearses ten privileges in which the Jews took pride, but each becomes a liability if it substitutes for faith.
- You call yourself a Jew
- You rely on the law
- You boast in God
- You know His will
- You approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law
- You think of yourself as a guide for the blind
- As a light for those who are in the dark
- As an instructor of the foolish
- As a teacher of little children
- You have in the law the embodiment of truth and knowledge
The apostle Paul sums up how he himself thought of himself before his conversion. But after his conversion, he looked back on his life and realized he had been religious—he had been zealously religious—but he was nevertheless hell-bound and facing the wrath of God. For none of those things gave him the personal perfection needed to have a relationship with the absolutely perfect, pure, and holy God.
So now, Paul issues a series of rhetorical questions, starting in verse 21: You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
We are not sure what Paul has in mind when he talks about the Jews robbing temples. Various commentators offer different suggestions, but that’s a hard phrase to interpret. Overall, however, this passage is very clear. Regardless of the covenant God made with Israel, each and every Jewish person has failed to keep the law. None of them can be saved on the basis of a pure and perfect life.
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
I confess that the subject of circumcision has always been difficult for me to discuss. It is so personal, so medical, and so intimate. Yet God Himself introduced this practice to Abraham in Genesis 17 and later confirmed it in His law at Mount Sinai. In His wisdom, God chose a sign that was deeply personal. It represented the cutting away of uncleanness, and it was placed on the very part of the body through which life is passed from one generation to the next—the means by which the covenant seed would continue and, in time, bring forth the Messiah. What a powerful reminder that God’s promises are both physical and spiritual, woven into the very story of life itself.
But in this passage Paul is saying that even this covenant sign is useless as a means of salvation.
Dr. John Harvey, in his commentary on Romans, put it like this:
There can be no doubt that Paul himself took pride in being a Jew…. The advantages he lists are intended to be read positively as an acknowledgement of the blessings God has bestowed on Israel. He also recognizes the obligation those blessings placed on Israel…. The problem lies neither with the advantages, which are good, nor with the obligations, which are also good. The problem lies with the Jews’ failure to keep the law and to fulfill their observations. They had correct knowledge of their heritage, but they presumed on that heritage. By doing so they knew what they should do, and by leaving undone what they knew they should do, the advantages and obligations of their heritage condemned them rather than securing their salvation. Paul’s primary purpose and including this paragraph at this point in his letter was to correct Jewish reliance on the law and circumcision as a means of finding a sense of spiritual security and well-being.
Only once in my life did I hear the great preacher, W. A. Criswell, in person. It was in 1982, and I was in Dallas for a convention. My friend, Morris Proctor, and I went to Dr. Criswell’s church. I remember he wore a solid white suit, and all I could recall from the sermon is a single illustration he used. He pointed to a great chandelier hanging from a chain in the ceiling. I went back and researched that sermon, and I listened to a portion of it again—43 years after I first heard it.
Here is what Dr. Criswell said: “We’re not holy, we’re not good, and we’re not righteous. God demands perfection if we are to enter His beautiful and holy city and look upon His face and live. But if we transgress in our lives one time, we have lost and broken that perfection. The apostle James, the Lord’s brother, the pastor of the church at Jerusalem, writes of that in his epistle, If a man keeps the whole law, obeys it perfectly in every part, yet offends in one part, he is guilty of all. He’s broken the perfection. It’s like a chandelier on a chain: you don’t have to break every link for the chandelier to crash to the ground, just break one link and it falls. So with our lives: we can be righteous and holy in every area of our lives but if we sin, we’re under the condemnation of death: The soul that sins shall die.”
The apostle Paul is saying that is true for the Jewish as well as for the Gentile. That is true for the religious person as well as for the pagan and secular person. So what benefit is there to being a Jew? I’m glad you asked. Let’s pass into chapter 3 and look at verse 1: What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.
God gave His Scriptures to the Jewish people, to the descendants of Abraham. All the writers of the Old Testament were Jewish, every one of them. And that is what Paul is referring to here. Some scholars believe Luke was a Gentile, but David Allen and others argue persuasively for his Jewish identity. If Luke was indeed Jewish, then every author of every book in the Bible is Jewish! What a debt we owe them!
The Bible is the most globally translated, multiethnic book in history, yet every line was penned by Jews. Christianity became a predominately Gentile movement, yet it rests entirely on the foundation laid by Jewish prophets, poets, and apostles. Paul said, “To them were entrusted the oracles, the very words of God.”
The Living Bible renders this verse: “Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is not. Do you remember what the book of Psalms says about this? That God’s words will always prove true and right, no matter who questions them?”
Verse 3 says: What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
In other words, the Jews failed and they were the ones who gave us the oracles of God. So does that mean we cannot trust the Scriptures they gave us? No, it doesn’t. Because it is the Word of God and what He says is true even though everyone on earth is a liar. We trust God’s Word, not because the ones who recorded it were perfect, but because the One who gave it is perfect. God is right in whatever He speaks, and He will prevail in whatever He decides.
In verses 5 and 6, Paul presents two questions: 5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!
Paul was confronting some false teaching here. Apparently some were saying, “Our sinfulness makes people more aware of God’s goodness. When they see how bad we are, they will notice how good God is. And the more we sin, the more we give God a chance to show His grace and mercy in forgiving us.”
Here is the way the New Living Translation renders this passage in a simpler way: “But,” some might say, “our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?” (This is merely a human point of view.) 6 Of course not! If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world? 7 “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?” 8 And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned.”
It seems to me that these verses from Romans 2:17 to 3:8 are rather dense. It seems to me that Paul could have been a bit simpler. But I am wrong in that, because it wasn’t simply Paul speaking, but the Holy Spirit, who was inspiring every word. So let me summarize this section. Paul had already told us that the pagan society around us was in a downward spiral. That was the last half of chapter 1. He told us that people who think they are better and possess a higher morality are also evil to the core. That’s the first half of chapter 2. Then he specifically addresses his Jewish brothers and sisters.
They thought that had an inside track with God because of the Old Testament covenants He made with them. But yet, they also disobeyed the law and broke the Ten Commandments. They had the signs and seals of Judaism, such as circumcision, but that outward sign did not guarantee inward purity. Being Jewish was highly advantageous, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the wrath of God.
So Paul wraps up his argument with verse 9: What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
Like so many people today, they were religious, but lost.
Conclusion
Let me tell you about someone else like that. John Wesley grew up in the home of an Anglican minister and lived a life that looked as holy as anyone could imagine. He fasted twice a week, prayed for hours a day, studied Scripture diligently, and even became a missionary to the American colonies. If ever a man seemed righteous by his religion, it was Wesley.
But on the voyage home, after failing miserably to bring revival to Georgia, he met a group of Moravian believers whose calm faith in Christ unsettled him. They had peace—he had effort. They had joy—he had rules. Later, on May 24, 1738, in a meeting on Aldersgate Street in London, Wesley listened as someone read Martin Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans.
He wrote in his journal: “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine.”
That night the man who was arguably the most religious in England finally became a redeemed man. His story reminds us that knowing the law, quoting the Bible, or serving in the church cannot save us. Only Christ can.
Billy Graham wrote, “The hardest people to reach with the gospel are not the bad people. They already know they need to be saved. It’s the good people, the church members, who have just enough religion to keep them from coming to Christ.”
I’m going to end with this true story. It was told to a British believer and writer named John Williams by a successful Christian businessman whose family history included this account of his great, great grandparents. The grandparents were named Pierre and Maria, and they lived in France during the time of King Louis XIV. Pierre and Maria were French Huguenots, or Protestants, which were badly persecuted.
One day a group of French soldiers burst into the simple cottage of Pierre and Maria to confiscate their copy of the Bible. The soldiers tore the house upside down looking for the Bible; they went upstairs and downstairs, down into the cellar, and into the little shack where Pierre kept his fishing gear. The soldiers were very angry when they could not find where Pierre and Marie had hidden their Bible they said we’ll be back and you will not escape.
After the soldiers left, Pierre and Maria and their two boys put the house back together, but they knew their days were numbered. Pierre was a fisherman, and they lived near the coast In Brittany. One evening, the family slipped out of their house and got aboard Pierre’s fishing boat. They were wrapped in warm clothing. Marie had brought a supply of food including loaves of bread. The sea was calm and they crossed the English Channel to England where they hoped to find freedom. Late afternoon on the next day the four weary pilgrims stepped ashore on a deserted beach somewhere in the South of England. They soon found a warm welcome, because other Huguenots had gone before them. Pierre resumed his fishing business and the boys grew up in England.
But what about their Bible. Where was it? Why could the soldiers not find it? Because Maria had a habit of taking that precious book, wrapping it in protective paper, and baking it inside her loaves of bread. They kept the Bible hidden inside the baked bread. To them the habit of breaking bread was literally the way they fed their souls on the bread of life. And this is the message of God’s full, total, complete cleansing of all of our sin by the blood of Jesus.
By the way, I did some research on that story. At the Huguenot Museum in Rochester, England, there is an exhibit of a Bible that was baked in a loaf of bread to conceal it. I’ve seen a picture of it. There is scorching and water damage visible on the paper edges, but the precious message of the Bible is safe and sound.
Charles Spurgeon said, “I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need.”
Martin Luther reportedly said, “When I look at myself, I don’t see how I can be saved. When I look at Jesus Christ, I don’t see how I can be lost.”
And so we say, “Just as I am—without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me.”
Next week, we’ll move from the bad new to the good news as we make our way through the glorious third chapter of Romans.