“For no one 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. (Romans 2:28-29)
Romans 1 and 2 lay out the reality that both Jews and Gentiles are guilty before God because of sin. As we will read tomorrow in Romans 3, everyone is guilty; no one is righteous. The Gentiles who have not had the Law will be judged by God based upon what knowledge of the truth they have had and yet have not performed. For instance I spoke with someone recently who did not grow up in church and had never heard the 10 Commandments. And yet, as I spoke with her, she admitted that it is wrong to steal and to lie and to disobey parents — all part of the law and also all things she admitted she had done in her life. She knew it was wrong but did those things anyway. Were she to die today and go before the judgement seat of God who shows no partiality (Romans 2:11) but judges everyone with complete truth and fairness, she would be condemned as guilty for having known what was right and yet not done what was right.
Likewise the Jew (and by extension the church person) who has had the law and yet has not kept the law, will also be shown guilty before God who plays no favorites. There is no favored status before God; he is totally even-handed. We neither get to plead ignorance, nor do we get to plead “close enough” by saying that our good deeds out-weighed our bad deeds. Likewise, no one will be found innocent because of race (“But I was born a Jew), nor familial affiliation (“I was born into a Christian family/”My parents are Christians”), nor because of outward ceremony (“I was circumcised”/”I was baptized”).
At the end of Romans 2(verse 28-29), Paul redefines what it means to be a Jew (an authentic member of God’s covenant people). There are four things he lays out:
- The essence of being a true Jew (who may indeed be ethnically a Gentile) is not something outward and visible but inward and invisible.
- The true circumcision (the mark of belonging to God’s people) is in the heart not the flesh.
- This circumcision is effected by the Holy Spirit not the law.
- This circumcision wins the approval of God rather than people.
People are comfortable with what is outward, visible, material and superficial. What matters to God is a deep, inward, secret work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
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