Romans 2
Romans 2
[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan, your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire New Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we are looking at Romans chapter two, and it feels a little bit like a Pivot from what we heard yesterday in Romans one.
So if you stuck around from yesterday and you're like, Oh, geez, this, this chapter made me feel kind of weird. Um, I don't know if this one will make you feel less weird or if it'll just give you even more to think about. Uh, but Paul is slowly building a really important case. And I think he's going to get to a punch here in chapter three, which we'll talk about tomorrow.
Um, but chapter two is very important along the way. It feels like this chapter we said, I said yesterday. That chapter one felt like a tough love kind of chapter and then today feels like, okay, gloves are coming off. Chapter three is going to be like a sucker punch, it feels like. That's kind of the vibe that I'm getting because it's getting more intense as the chapters go on.
[00:01:00] Um, I will say that while I was reading this, it felt like there are just some, some notes for what would seem to be like fake people and some notes for people who are like, On the fence and not sure if it's for them. It there's, there's two prevailing theories. There's two prevailing theories, thoughts, perspectives on chapter two.
Um, a really important understanding for Romans, the entire book is that Paul is addressing essentially Jews and Gentiles in one letter, and probably the Jews had issues with one area of their lives and the Gentiles had another Issue entirely with another entirely different part of their lives. So what he's probably trying to do in the book of Romans is get everybody to one place, uh, and then build on that one place.
So I think in chapter three, he starts to establish that one place and build on it. Uh, but in chapter two, most likely he's continuing to try to create common space here. I really like what you said [00:02:00] about creating like a common place. Like it's, It's helpful to me that he is being so blatantly honest to be like hey, this is where we all are Let's just start from square one and move to like the things that you're dealing with There is no like well, you're feeling this way So maybe we should blah blah blah and this person's you know I'm saying like he's putting everybody on the same page like no There is righteousness and unrighteousness and it can look a lot of different ways, but God requires this period and I really appreciate that So the two possibilities and perspectives on chapter 2 is that he's either explicitly addressing the Jewish people in the audience a lot of the strength of that argument comes from the fact that he uses he uses a lot of explicitly Jewish language like the Second half of the chapter is almost completely about circumcision and uncircumcision which would have been a really big deal to the Jews It could also be that he's trying to just address Moral people, people who do what's right.
Um, but [00:03:00] what the case he's going to build is like, even if you're trying to do what's right, as soon as you do one thing, that's not right, you now come under judgment for not being completely right. So I can, I can see the strength of the moral case. I think there is more strength to the Jewish case. Um, but both arguments kind of serve the same thing.
And I, I do think there's a lot to mine out of this chapter. for us today because we live in a culture in a time in a world where really the prevailing idea is like, just be good. And if you're just good, you'll be good. And that, that is of course, very foolish from a Christian perspective. Um, but there's also some, some things to learn from chapter two that are like, well, Yeah, like just being good is not good enough.
But also not even trying to be good is not good enough either. So there's, there's some clear problems that Paul's pointing out here in chapter 2. Well, and I think what's important, like just to kind of go with that thread that you were talking about in verse 11, actually, I should say even back up a little bit more in verses 9, 10 and [00:04:00] 11.
It, yeah. It basically lays out that there will be distress for every human being who does evil. First the Jew, then the Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good. The Jew first and also the Greek. So like it's saying like everyone's going to be judged and everyone is going like there's all judgment and there's all like grace for the, the wonderful things that you've done, the good, the honor.
Uh, but then it says in verse 11, for God shows no partiality. It's not like One is raised above the other. Like God is going to judge period. Everybody is going to have their moment of judgment. Everybody. It's guaranteed. It will happen to you. Um, and God's not going to be like, well, I knew this guy's uncle and he was pretty nice or like, it's not like your job.
It's not, it's not like your school. It's not like you're like, There's partiality everywhere, honestly. And, and sometimes people are willing to admit it. Sometimes people aren't, uh, God is not like that. God is completely impartial. [00:05:00] He's full of justice and he, because he is just like there is judgment and there is punishment for sin.
What should get your attention here? I'm just going to read this section. Cause it was pretty thought provoking for me. Uh, starting in verse six, and this is referring to God. He will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience and well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
But for those who are self seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good. Amen. The Jew first and also the Greek for God shows no partiality.
So it's a little bit before verse 11 that you just referred to. Um, that's a pretty thought provoking section. Did that get your attention? Well, yeah, cause I noticed nine, 10 and 11, like right before I just stole it. I just stole it from you. No, it's just like, we just talked about that. So yes, that did get my attention as well.
We did. But what [00:06:00] I want to highlight here is that. Or I guess, I guess when you read that, the question could be like, well, I thought we were just saved by faith. Like, it seems what Paul's saying is like, it actually matters what you do. Isn't he teaching that you're saved by works then? Like if all you have to do is believe, why is Paul saying that you're going to actually come under judgment for either doing good things or doing bad things?
How does that even work with what we say? We believe this too, of like what we've heard in the gospels, where it's like, when you have a lamp, you don't just put it under a bowl, right? The light exists, but you don't hide it and keep it to yourself. So it's like the old, the old song we used to sing as little kids with our little fingers.
Are you going to sing it or not? Nope, definitely not. But that whole premise is like, you don't just keep it to yourself. Like it has to be shared with other people. And if you do, like, how selfish is that? Like, what if Jesus would have kept what he knew about the grace of God? To himself. It would have like radically changed all of humanity.
So Paul is going to lay out that you are 100 percent saved by faith and [00:07:00] God's grace is a free gift that comes to us not because of anything we've done. God just gives it to us and we accept it and we come to faith and we have right standing with God. Paul's also going to teach that when you come to faith and right standing in God, you are saved to do good works.
works. So if you come to faith and you produce absolutely no good works, it's possible that you've never been saved in the first place. And I think that is where there's a lot of There's a lot of, like, a lot of hesitation with that kind of teaching lately. I, like, I've noticed it myself when I've taught in different settings where, like, usually there's people that will latch on to, nope, that's works.
You're saying it's works. I'm not saying it's works. I'm saying you must come to faith. And when you come to authentic saving faith in Jesus, you will produce good works. You're not saved by the good works. The good works are the evidence of the fact. that you have been saved because if you go on to the next section it talks about how if you do have [00:08:00] good works evident in your life but there is no law that you are bound to like coming under the law that is also essentially just it's meaningless like it doesn't hold any value because the second that you do something Sinful, wrong, it essentially just eliminates all of what you've done good before.
So it's interesting how those two tie together because that's like the next section of this chapter. Um, Dietrich Bonhoeffer has an incredible book called the cost of discipleship. And in the cost of discipleship, he talks about cheap grace. And he was writing this book. I, I, I'm actually not a hundred percent sure of the date, but it was, I'm assuming it was like in the thirties or forties.
And what's interesting about what he has to say about cheap grace is that. Basically, the case he's making is, um, when you call people to follow Jesus, but it costs them literally nothing. That's cheap grace. And it's interesting to me that he was worried about that in the 30s and 40s. And cheap grace is now, On [00:09:00] steroids and we need to be really, really, really careful about it.
Um, because sometimes we can unintentionally teach people cheap grace and we're not even trying to do it. So when we say things like raise your hand and pray this prayer, pray after me. Sometimes we can lead people to. Think that they've come to saving faith in Christ, and it could be that they're really trying to profess that they do believe, um, but when there's no accountability along with it to make sure that we're actually checking for good works coming out of that, like we could be putting people in a really dangerous spot, because we could actually just be creating a new school.
Kind of law, a new kind of circumcision. That's really not circumcision at all. And what I mean by that is maybe our new law is raise your hand, pray this prayer and get baptized and you're, you're good. And maybe that's not actually what saves people. Um, maybe what we need to look for is for a person to come to true faith in Christ.
And show with their lives that they have been saved unto good works, that they are [00:10:00] producing good works that are evidence of the faith that they've come to. That's not cheap grace, it's very expensive, because it's hard to live against the way the world teaches us to live. Um, but it could actually help us lead people to more, more mature discipleship.
It's just so sticky, I feel. I, I don't know, the whole thing feels Just really gross because it's then, like, I start going through the whole, well if you are just praying the prayer, getting baptized, but not totally coming under the law, then like, you're just continuing to potentially just live on with that cheap grace and with the idea of like, well, I'm just going to continue to do good works, but if the good works aren't under the, the law of a new and changed life, I don't know.
It just gets really goofy really quick. There's like 50 million scenarios you could go down. And we're not, when you're saying the law, you're not referring to like, we must follow the Old Testament law. No, it's not. It's like under God's law, like his direction through his word for our lives, the silly way that I tried to teach this to [00:11:00] students in the past, and eventually maybe somebody will tell me this is not a very good example and I should stop using it, but it's, it snows in Pennsylvania where we live, it snows and I don't like shoveling snow.
So when there's a lot of snow coming, like if I hear on the radio or I read online that there's a lot of snow coming, I will go outside and I will salt the sidewalk and I'll salt the driveway. And eventually in the spring, there will be dead grass all along the driveway because I had put out so much salt.
And, and why I use that example is I hear something, I believe that it's true and I do something because of it. That's like the whole package. So like, If, if I believe that the guy on the news really, if I believe that snow is going to come, I'll go salt the driveway. If I hear something, I'm like, ah, I don't, I don't think so.
Like, I'm, I'm not gonna do anything about it. So you're not saved by your works. You're definitely not, please don't misunderstand me, but your works are evidence of where your faith lies. And if you're not living a life that's honoring Christ, it's, it's not. [00:12:00] You know, it's fair to say, like, Hey, like, do you actually believe or not?
And, and where's the fruit? And I think Jesus taught that. I think Jesus taught that pretty clearly. Uh, Peter teaches that. Paul teaches that. It's not just some crazy thing that Paul came up with. It's something that's taught clearly throughout the New Testament. So the next part of the chapter really dives into a lot of what I would say would be like kind of like the poking at the Jew or Jewish customs of the time because it really emphasizes the circumcision versus uncircumcision and Ideally, this was like when a male was born They would be circumcised as a sign of their Jewish heritage, but there was also like this, like, I don't know, like it went along with the heritage part, but at the same time it was reflective of the fact that they were like God's people.
It was the, it was the sign of God's covenant. And so it was like the first step of being under the law was to have the males circumcised. So like, I guess the emphasis here is almost that, like, if that work is [00:13:00] done or if that, that sign is performed. That it's almost like this, that same idea with the whole, raise your hand, say the prayer we're done.
There would've been people that believed at this time that just because they were circumcised, that they were sons of Abraham. Mm-Hmm. . And they would be permitted to eternal life in God's kingdom. Mm-Hmm. . Mm-Hmm. . A hundred percent. There would've been people present that believed that. And so when Paul says, well, actually your circumcision is evidence of uncircumcision.
And those who are uncircumcised, they actually live lives that show they are circumcised. Like this is. Incredibly scandalous and very offensive, um, because there are literally people that believe that their salvation is pinned on this sign in their flesh. And Paul's saying like, Hey, no, no outward fleshly sign is going to permit you into God's kingdom.
It's what's going on inside you that's going to permit you into God's kingdom. Those are the last two verses. So 28 and 29 for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is [00:14:00] one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter.
His praise is not from man, but from God. So he's essentially saying, like, don't get caught up in these, like, facade things that are going to, like, give you a ticket to heaven, because the Gentiles, I don't know, they were necessarily, like, As convicted to do those things, and that wasn't keeping them from eternal life with God.
He, he actually says in verse 26, essentially that sometimes Gentiles who don't even know God accidentally follow what he commands. Like, it's like, yeah, people that aren't even circumcised sometimes follow the law because it's written on their hearts. Yeah. Right. Right. So what Paul's teaching here, one, it's not a new thing.
Like when, when, um, when the Jews, you know, in Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus, like when they were called to circumcision, um, It was always meant to be a sign of their faith in God's promise, right? So It was never taught that it was the way in, it was never taught that it was the [00:15:00] way to have right relationship with God and constantly throughout history.
These outward signs become heightened to positions where they don't belong because the call has always been to be, to live lives of faith. Like literally, uh, I think it's Genesis was Genesis 12, like Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, not what he did, what he believed. And because of what he believed, he acted on it and it caused him to be obedient to God.
And I think something to be said as well is that, like, sin has no place here either. Right. And I think that can sometimes get overlooked, like, well, if my heart's in the right place And I'm not worried about, like, all the, the signs or all of the things that would show otherwise. Like, God's word and what he commands is still very prominent as well, so there is no room for sin either.
I definitely think, as we've come off of yesterday's chapter as well, um, just a little bit of contentious things that were in it, like still living a [00:16:00] life of sin while claiming to be a Christian or claiming to be a follower of Christ. There's no room for it. Uh, Paul's going to say in Romans six, what shall we say then?
Are we to continue in sin that grace may be bound by no means. So like, don't take advantage of this. It is real. Like God is gracious and merciful and we can be thankful for that, but don't take advantage of that. Like strive to live a life that honors God. So the, your part here is pretty simple. Um, one it's theological, like understand.
That you are justified by faith. Grace is freely given by God. It's a gift. You can't earn it. But when you do accept Christ as your savior, you should strive to live a life that honors him. And if you're not striving to live a life, that's honors him. You do have grounds to question, like, did I actually come to faith in Christ or not?
Um, and that's why we need discipleship. We need relationship. We need accountability. We need encouragement, all those things. Um, so we, we don't know every single one of you, but it is up to you to determine where you fit on that [00:17:00] spectrum. And one of the things that will help you. I like how Jenny's been highlighting recently.
Like you need solid, good Christian community, good Christian friends that can see how you're living your life and actually Call you out sometimes and encourage you other times and push you closer to honoring Christ. Not because your works will save you, but because your works glorify the God that has saved you.
So we'll be back again tomorrow with Romans chapter three. Uh, we'll see you then. Thanks for joining today's episode of God's plan. Your part. As always, please consider partnering with us as we are a listener supported podcast that we hope to continue to grow with support from listeners just like you.
We've made it super easy to partner with us, and you can support us by following the link in our show notes or our description. You can support us with as little as 3 a month. Every little bit of this helps so much, and we're so thankful for your support. With that in mind, here's today's reading. Romans, chapter 2.
Therefore, you have no excuse, O man. Every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another you condemn [00:18:00] yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?
Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you? But because of your hard and impenitent hearts, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works.
To those who by patience in well doing seek for glory and honor in immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath. There will be tribulation and distress, for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and [00:19:00] also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality.
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. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 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.
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, on that day when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. But if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law and boast in God, and know His will and approve of what is excellent, because you were instructed from the law.
And if [00:20:00] you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teaches others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?
You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, Dishonor God by breaking the law, for as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one [00:21:00] is a Jew who is merely one outwardly.
Nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part. Don't forget you can find us on just about every social media platform.
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Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again [00:22:00] tomorrow.