Posted: 9/06/07
BaptistWay Bible Series for September 16
Just not good enough
• Romans 2:17-29
Christ Church, Rockwall
Human beings are by nature ritualistic. Whether private or public, rituals help human beings mark important occasions and rites of passage in our lives. As we seek to find and create meaning, rituals give us the space, time and bodily enactment that help us express what is most important in our lives.
Consider some common individual and communal rituals: decorating a nursery room before the baby is born; a driver’s license test for a 16-year-old; blowing out candles on a birthday cake; giving a ring to propose marriage; singing the national anthem before ball games; graduation ceremonies; Presidential inaugurations; a red-ribbon cutting at the opening of a business; carving the turkey at a family Thanksgiving dinner. These ritual actions honor significant moments in both our personal lives and the wider culture.
People of faith celebrate rituals, too. Rituals are the outward and visible practices that at best reflect the inward and invisible quality of God’s grace. Whether you close your eyes when you pray, say a prayer before a meal, read your Bible before bed or keep a spiritual journal of your daily experiences, these personal rituals are only some of the ways you might practice your faith. They create an opportunity for you to encounter God’s presence and be changed by the experience.
Even as Baptists, with our distinctive commitment to helping others experience a personal relationship with Jesus, we share worship rituals that offer a visible demonstration of our faith. Whether our pastor wears a robe and stole or a button-down and khakis, whether we join the church by walking the aisle or by signing a member covenant; whether we sing traditional hymns set to Bach or contemporary choruses set to rock; whether we celebrate communion by passing the plates of juice and crackers or by dipping a piece of bread into a cup, these actions of worship are meant to express to God what is in our hearts.
Some of us may have been churchgoers most our lives. Some of us may know all the hymns by heart. We might know when to sit and when to stand. Perhaps we’ve memorized all the books of the Bible; maybe we have even read the whole Bible a time or two. We may be able to recall our baptisms and even tell proudly the time, date and place we “got saved.”
External trappings, however, and knowing all the right words to say, are worthless minus the passionate commitment of the heart behind them. Unless how somebody behaves is a reflection of what that somebody professes to believe, it will be difficult for the person to have much credibility to his witness.
This is a problem Paul lays out in his diatribe to the Jew, which begins at 2:17. He takes up the great responsibility that accompanies the privilege of being a Jew. Just because one is born a Jew, has knowledge of the law and has been physically circumcised does not mean one is spiritually circumspect.
He argues that there are those who call themselves Jews who are so self-assured about their relationship to God that they boast about knowing God’s will. They are the self-appointed teachers of righteousness for those who don’t know “the letter of the law” as well as they do. They are the ones who “sat in synagogue” all their lives and who know better than most exactly what the law requires and precisely what the law prohibits.
The problem is that these ones who claim to be the “guiding light” of God don’t practice what they preach. They don’t demand of themselves what they demand of others. Instead, while they preach against stealing, adultery and idolatry, they blaspheme the name of God by practicing these very things.
Though it would be easy to focus on the individual nature of these actions, Paul is prosecuting the whole Jewish people on these points. If God’s plan was to reveal the law of righteousness to the whole world through Israel, how would this even be possible if a person could not tell the difference between a pagan and a Jew?
To be clear, certainly this does not mean all Jews were guilty of saying one thing and doing another. What it does mean is that Israel has no national bragging rights just because they held the title as “God’s chosen people.” God’s choice of Israel to be a light to the nations was a matter of responsibility, not a matter of rights.
Paul suggests such people exploit their privilege of being Jews by living like the law does not apply to them. Their actions betray their words, and according to Paul, the ritual of physical circumcision is regarded as meaningless. Perhaps even more poignant, a person’s very identity as a Jew could be called into question. When one breaks the law, even if they are Jewish, it’s as if they are not even a Jew: For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal” (2:28-29).
These are sharp words. In effect, Paul is saying a Gentile is worthy of being called a Jew even if the person has not been physically circumcised, because the person keeps the law’s requirements. Thus, that person is spiritually circumcised. Paul says that even if a person is not born a Jew, and even if they do not have the physical mark of circumcision, they nonetheless “keep the law,” because it is “a matter of the heart” by the spirit. Paul is radically re-defining the notions of inclusion and exclusion. He will use the following chapters to elaborate on this ever-widening circle of God’s covenant fulfilled in Christ.
Discussion question
• How do Paul’s words to “the Jew” relate to the contemporary situation of the church?
• How might the church better follow its own advice based on Paul’s challenge?
• What are the external “physical markings” of the church that are different than the church’s message?
• At a different level, might Paul’s words have relevance for the political realities/mindset of the United States?
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