But if you call yourself a Jew …
(Rom 2:17-24 ESV) 17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth — 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
In this section, Paul bursts the bubble of those Jews who claim moral superiority to the Gentiles. In fact, he accuses them of violating the Ten Commandments despite their superior opportunities due to their having the Torah.
Notice that he picks sins against God’s moral will, not violations of positive commands such as circumcision. He picks the sins that even Gentiles would recognize as wrong.
It’s no coincidence that in Romans 13, he’ll declare that the very same commands are summed up by “love your neighbor.” Paul is actually accusing the Jews of failing to love –plainly showing that their hearts are not circumcised by the Spirit.
Indeed, as Paul explains in Romans 13, “love your neighbor” constitutes fulfillment of the law, that is, keeping the precepts of the law. The law, as thus interpreted by Paul, is thus more about the state of our hearts than our scrupulous adherence to the rules.
And this makes sense given that the prophets speak of the Spirit transforming our hearts —
(Eze 11:19-20 ESV) 19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
(Jer 24:7 ESV) 7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
As we dig more deeply into Paul’s words, in light of the prophets, to keep the law is — of course! — to have a heart re-shaped by God. The test isn’t whether we ultimately obey the rules perfectly but whether our hearts have been re-formed to be a “heart of flesh” and “a heart to know that [God is] the LORD.”
You see, to understand a phrase as seemingly elementary as “keep the precepts of the law” we have to read Romans and the Law in light of the prophets.
And this produces exactly the result anticipated by even extremely conservative commentators.
Gentiles, who do not have the law
(Rom 2:14-16 ESV) 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
“The work of the law is written on their hearts” sounds an awful lot like —
(Jer 31:33 ESV) 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
But Jeremiah is speaking of the new covenant, that is, the church! Is it possible Paul is speaking of saved Gentiles?
If so, then the Gentiles “who … do what the law requires” are the same as the Gentile “who is uncircumcised [but who] keeps the precepts of the law” (Rom 2:26).
But is it fair to say that a Christian Gentile does not “have the law”?
(Rom 2:12-13 ESV) 12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
In v. 12, Paul divides the world into those “without the law” and those “under the law.” Clearly, those “under the law” are Jews and those “without the law” are the Gentiles. And so, in 2:14, when Paul speaks of those who are “without the law,” he simply means the Gentiles — not suggesting that there were no Greeks without a copy of the Torah or that Christian Gentiles never got to read the Old Testament. His point is that the Jews were a privileged race by virtue of having been entrusted with the Scriptures, but that this privilege does not mean you have to be a Jew to be saved.
(Rom 9:4-5 ESV) 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
“By nature”
But doesn’t the modifier “by nature” in Rom 2:14 suggest that Paul is speaking of Gentiles who obey the law “by nature” and hence not by the Spirit?
That’s certainly the meaning suggested by the translation, but it doesn’t really make sense. After all, the nearest use of the same word is in —
(Rom 2:27 ESV) Then he who is physically [= by nature] uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
Thus, “by nature” means “by nature of his race.” Is there anyone who is, by nature of his race, obedient to the law? Of course, not!
(Eph 2:1-3 ESV) And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
It would be quite a dramatic departure from Paul’s theology to suggest that any Gentile is by nature obedient to the law! In fact, he just spent a large portion of chapters 1 and 2 arguing exactly to the contrary.
Thus, N. T. Wright argues that the comma is in the wrong place: “by nature” should be taken as modifying the preceding clause, rendering v 14 —
(Rom 2:14 ESV) 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law by nature, do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
“Who do not have the law by nature” thus closely parallels “he who is [by nature] uncircumcised” in Rom 2:27. This possibility is noted in the NET Bible translation notes:
Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:135–37) take the phrase φύσει (phusei, “by nature”) to go with the preceding “do not have the law,” thus: “the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature,” that is, by virtue of not being born Jewish.
It makes sense, avoids having Paul flatly contradict his words in Ephesians, and fits the flow of Paul’s argument in close parallel with Rom 2:27-29.
Well done…
Jay, take a look at Ezek. 18:31…Is this a taunt by God to Isreal..It’s in between 11:19 and 36:25-27.. It seems like it to me..
We would not condemn or whip a child of our blood for not obeying a command we didn’t give them.
WE, all of the earth, are Gods children and He is our father and very just. Knowing all and being able to look inside a person is an ability way above any ability we can understand so, He will have understanding of each of us we cannot comprehend.
For us to try to say what God will do is like a bug telling its fellow bugs about us humans.
God changes His mind many times to fit His understanding of the situation and we have examples of that in His word.
Why do we not realize those examples we seldom talk about can also be done for us at judgment day?
Lets realize our short commings in this judging and stop doing it and leave that above our ability to God and spend more time doing what we ought to be doing to save ourselves and those we come in contact with as best we can.
Price,
(Eze 18:29-32 ESV) 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”
Some of the Jews had declared God unjust and so refused to obey him, preferring idols who better suited their sense of justice. God’s explaining it where they can understand it: 1. God is just; 2. They are unjust (and so have no business judging God); 3. They are doomed to destruction if they don’t repent; 4. Repentance requires a change of heart.
Such is the danger when we re-imagine God in our own images. In response to an accusation that he is unjust, God insists that the disobedient will die, that God will regret their deaths, but the price of life is a changed heart and obedience.
“Such is the danger when we re-imagine God in our own images. In response to an accusation that he is unjust, God insists that the disobedient will die, that God will regret their deaths, but the price of life is a changed heart and obedience.”
Jay, You can’t get by with teaching it both ways, either we are saved by our works, or we are not. You can’t keep jumping the fence, and be trusted.
metaphor “Jumping the fence” If I have a young bull that insists on eating grass from both sides of the fence , I take him to the sale barn.
“Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!”
>>>
Jay, are you really offering this to us as part of the gospel of Christ? If so, I would have to agree with Laymond. But Ezekiel speaks outside the frame of salvation in Christ, and if taken too literally, the passage is problematic. Create ourselves a new spirit? A new heart? If these things are truly available to us by our own obedience, then we have apparently reverted to being rescued from death by our own works. We who are in Christ are simply not under the fear of death which Ezekiel sets before the Israelites. It is a mistake to spread Ezekiel’s words over too much ground.
If some misguided believers still need evidence that obedience and a changed life are integral to a believer’s life in Christ, so be it. It’s a truth worth reiterating. But I think this passage is a poor reference for that purpose.
Here is the whole chapter in context. 🙂
Ezekiel 18
Guys,
Context, context, context ….
Price asked me whether that passage is a taunt. I gave him my interpretation of the passage — not for today’s readers but for its original readers. How else to answer whether it’s a taunt?
God was demanding repentance. Repentance demands a change of heart. And repentance does not require the presence of the Spirit — not in the sense in which Ezekiel is speaking.
As Price points out, before and after this passage, God promised to give his people a new heart and new spirit — but that wouldn’t happen until Pentecost.
There is, of course, an allusion in Eze 18 to Deut 10:16, but not, in my opinion, a taunt. God really wants them to repent. But it’s not time for God to give his Spirit.
That hardly makes repentance impossible. It just means it will be less complete and more difficult. The Spirit is our Helper, not our dominator.
(Mat 12:41 ESV) 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
The Ninevites repented with no help from the Spirit (and precious little from Jonah), but the Ninevites did not repent to become saved from eternal wrath. They avoided God’s temporal destruction but did not become his children.
In Eze 18, God was threatening the Jews with temporal destruction — via Babylon. Had they repented, God would have saved them from Nebuchadnezzar.
Repentance for converts to Christianity is different but similar. Both require a change of heart and a turning toward God, but Christianity promises a new relationship with God unavailable except through the Spirit. It’s about far more than eternal life.
Finally, God’s call for repentance and obedience is not exactly the same as the call for our repentance which leads to salvation. After all, God was speaking to people who’d been in covenant relationship who were at the point of rebellion and falling away.
If you were counseling a Christian who was deep in sin, engaged in outright idolatry, and begging him to return to God before he falls away irretrievably, would you say anything greatly different from —
(Eze 18:31 ESV) 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?
The biggest difference I see is that you can promise the stumbling Christian God’s help through the Spirit to overcome the deceitfulness of sin. (The Spirit takes on the role of Ezekiel — as a personal indwelling rather than a corporate-only indwelling through the prophets and other leaders.)
But it’s still going to be the Christian’s own act of will to change his direction. The Spirit may call him to repentance — internally and through loving brothers — but like the Jews against whom Babylon was marching, it’s ultimately a choice for the individual to make.
Was the Holy Spirit completely inactive in those OT days? That seems like what you are implying Jay. See 1 Peter 1:10-12. The Holy Spirit has been mightily at work since the beginning. Granted, not in the same way He is now, living in believers, but none the less He was not inactive in the OT times.
Jay, I am reminded of this scripture.
(Acts 2:39 NIV) The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
(Acts 2:40 NIV) With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
(Acts 2:41 NIV) Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
(Acts 2:42 NIV) They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
It seems to me that many on this blog would see this action as a work. Was God not the author of this requirement? What do you suppose was the destiny of those that did not follow these instructions? Do the scriptures identify what their destiny would be if they did not follow the instructions? Men see this action as a work, but God see’s it differently. The spirit did not perform these actions for the individuals. After this initial event the spirit is still not totally responsible, the human part of man is responsible for some actions pertaining to it’s salvation. So men still struggle with the identification of what is work and what is not. Could it be that whatever a man does that he doesn’t classify as work, God does not classify as earning salvation? Some men do what I would consider as work, hunting, fishing, camping and etc: and count it as relaxing and pleasurable, come back to what they consider work refreshed. I wonder, is there a record in the scriptures that identifies what the apostles and writers of the scriptures counted as work? Did they count their actions work or enjoyment?
I don’t know if this will add in any way to the discussion, I may misunderstand what the issue is. To me good works can in no way save us from the effects of past sins. That is karma, to do more good than evil before you die and receive a good afterlife, or next life. In Christ we turn from our life to His life. His life unlike mine or the going theology of the day is the life I put faith in. His intent as I understand it is to have us all like Himself which in turn is like God. Not a bad desire as I see it. Our reason for being here is to bring glory to God by being like God. God has offered a chance for redemption from straying from that path so then why continue in sin which is death or separation from God. Live the life that is offered. Paul is saying either you have faith that this Jesus is the Life you desperately need or you are still a pagan looking to enter into some sort of transaction with a god that values external devotion. The works are just signs of what is inside not some deposit in a after life retirement program.
As a matter of fact I don’t see the controversy here, in what Paul said in Gal. and in Rom.
It seems to me Paul said both Jews and Gentiles are sinners, just not in the same way.
And if we are to depend on Jesus for our salvation, we need to come together as followers of Christ.
Seems to me he said “get over yourself, things are a-changing”
1Ti 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: [so do].
15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, ( there is that old “BAD” word “WORK” again. seems to pop up a lot. )
Thanks, Jay. That claryfied the open question I spotted in it.
Alexander
aBasnar,
I know you know this, but many readers may not realize that there is no punctuation in NT Greek. The commas and period are all choices made by translators. Greek grammar is such that normally the punctuation is not necessary, but occasionally, an ambiguity arises.
Larry asked,
Pretty much. In other words, if I feed the poor because I love them and because I want to honor God, that’s not a work because it wasn’t done to earn salvation. But if I feed the poor out of fear of damnation, shaking in fear that a failure to be good enough will send me straight to hell, then my motivation is selfish and not one of love for God and man — and I’m indeed trying to earn my way into heaven.
You can see that those who teach a works-based Christianity find it necessary to teach a fearsome God and to make our salvation uncertain, so that we’ll serve out of fear — presuming that fear is the most powerful motivator — a huge misunderstanding of both God and man.
And so, yes, the NT writers write of their own and Jesus’ labors as being about joy rather than work —
(Phi 2:17-18 ESV) 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
(Heb 12:2 ESV) 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
(Joh 15:11 ESV) 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
(Act 13:52-1 ESV) 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
(Rom 14:17-18 ESV) 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Royce,
Of the Holy Spirit was active during the time of Jeremiah. Jeremiah himself was filled with the Spirit. But as 1 Peter 1:10-12 says, the Spirit was active through the prophets. The Israelites did not, as a whole, enjoy a personal indwelling. The Spirit had not yet been poured out on all God’s children.
In OT times, a few men and women had the Spirit — the judges, the prophets, Saul (for a while), David, Solomon, some artisans, etc. Thus, God’s primary mode of dwelling among the Jews was the Temple (and before then, the Tabernacle) and a handful of Spirit-filled prophets.
Did God act among the people by other means? Certainly. He even calls Nebuchadnezzar his “servant” (Jer 25:9), that is, his agent of wrath. God is not limited to working through Spirit-filled people.
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