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Romans 12: That Every Mouth May Be Stopped (Romans 3:9-23)

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Introduction

One difficulty that presents itself while working through a book like Romans in small segments is that it is very hard to find a place to stop . . . becauses Paul frequently doesn’t stop. This week we need to run a little ahead and stop in mid-thought, and next week we will back up in order to be able to finish the thought. And that thought revolves around the connection to being shut up under sin without one thing to say, on the one hand, and God’s intent to justify us fully and freely, on the other hand.

The Text

“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one . . .” (Rom. 3:9-23).

Summary of the Text

Paul has been comparing Gentiles with Jews, and so he now asks if the Jews are better than the Gentiles (v. 9). The astonishing answer is that they are not—he has already proved that Jews and Gentiles are “all under sin” (v. 9). He then launches into a string of quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures that make the point bluntly enough. Verses 10b-11 are from Psalm 14:1-3, Ps. 53:1-3, and cf. Eccles. 7:20. The first part of the next verse (v. 13) is from Psalm 5:9. The second half of that verse (v. 13) is from Psalm 140:3. Verse 14 is Psalm 10:7. The next two verses are from Isaiah 59:7-8. The last component in this string of quotations is Psalm 36:1. The resultant picture is quite grim.

These citations are all from the law, and so Paul quite rightly points that they are directed to those who are in fact under the law (v. 19). The point of doing this is to shut every mouth, Jewish and Gentile mouths alike, and establish the whole world as guilty before God (v. 19). So this is why law is excluded as a way of justification for all men (not just for Jews). No flesh will be justified by law—law simply brings us a knowledge of the problem. The speed limit sign has no control over your gas pedal. But now there is a righteousness of God that the law and prophets testified to, but which is manifested “without the law” (v. 21). This righteousness of God is embodied in the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ (v. 22), and this righteousness of God is “unto all and upon all” that believe (v. 22). There is no difference in their gospels (v. 22) because there is no difference in their plight (v. 23).

Paul Cites the Contexts Also

Note first that for Paul “the law” which shut the Jews up under sin was not limited to the Torah—it included the entire Old Testament. His citations here don’t include anything from the Mosaic books, the Torah proper. He quotes from Psalms and Isaiah, and says that the result is moral instruction from “the law” addressed to Jews “under the law.”

Psalm 14 makes a distinction between the “workers of iniquity” and “my people.” The same in Psalm 53, although the initial judgment is made against all the “children of men.” The hat tip to Ecclesiastes 7:20 says that there is no such thing as a just man on the earth. Psalm 5 makes a distinction between those who do evil and those who put their trust in God. Psalm 140 makes a distinction between the wicked and the afflicted, poor, and righteous. Psalm 10 makes a distinction between the wicked on the one hand and the poor and humble on the other. The passage from Isaiah assumes an apostate and unfaithful Israel. Psalm 36 makes a distinction between the wicked and the “upright in heart.”

Put This Together

The string of citations is directed aimed by Paul at those “under the law,” and he says quite clearly that he is talking about them. This means that the primary application of these citations from the Old Testament are directed against Jews, against members of God’s covenant family. But what are we to do with all the references to the righteous and upright within Israel, standing in contrast to these wicked ones? Does this condemnation not apply to them? Not at all—they are righteous because they accept what Paul says here as being applicable to them. The wicked reject it—that’s how we can tell who they are. Paul makes a clear distinction within Israel between the sons of Sarah and the sons of Hagar. The sons of Sarah are those who admit that they are by nature sons of Hagar. We are (all of us) by nature objects of wrath (Eph. 2:3)

All in the Same Boat

Paul expects us to reason from the Jews to the whole world by extension. If the Jews cannot be justified in this way, then nobody can be. God says these things to the Jews so that every mouth will be stopped, and the whole world will be guilty.

Knowledge of Sin

The law, whether found in the Torah, or cited elsewhere in the Old Testament, or seen in the stars, or found in the conscience of a Gentile, is incapable of bringing a declaration of righteousness. The law, in whatever permutation, is simply a messenger of trouble. It is not a savior. It is not a ladder to heaven. It is not a way of making you better than others. God gave it as a surefire instrument of making you worse (Rom. 3:20;Rom. 5:20). All you good little Christian kids, growing up in a conservative church with strong family values, take note.

The Righteousness of God

The righteousness of God is mentioned twice here (vv. 21, 22). One theologian in the school of thought called the New Perspective on Paul says that this cannot refer to the imputed righteousness of Christ, but rather must refer to the covenant faithful of God the Father keeping His promise to Abraham. But this is a false dichotomy. It must be both. If it were just the latter, then why would Paul have added “without the law” (v. 21). Why would God have to fulfill His promise to Abraham without relying on the law? This is talking about His righteousness becoming ours without us having to keep the law. And then his comment in v. 22 cinches the point. What is the destination of the righteousness of God? It is “unto all and upon all” that believe. What is the mediating mechanism of this righteousness of God’s? It is the faithful obedience (rightousness) of Jesus Christ.

All In the Same Boat

In his Institutes, John Calvin makes a wonderful point about the nature of self-knowledge. He says that we do not know ourselves rightly unless we have grasped two things. The first is the primal greatness of man—what we were created to be, and what we were before the Fall. The second is a knowledge of how great our fall has been. When we learn this, we have learned the first lesson of the gospel—all have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God. This truly humbles us, and prepares the way for us to be lifted up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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Romans 11: Righteous Vengeance (3:5-8)

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Introduction

Paul is walking the world through the meaning of honest confession before God. The unbelieving Gentiles don’t want to honor God as God, or give Him thanks, and so Paul set the grandeur of God right in front of them, as displayed in every created thing. The Jews don’t want God, and so Paul condemns them according to the standards of Torah, the same Torah that they thought they were so pleased with. He is driving to the conclusion of the first part of his letter, which is the sinfulness of every man. But human pride doesn’t want to talk about human sin, and would much rather talk about divine sins. And so Paul takes a moment to swat at the gnat that some call the greatest philosophical problem ever—the problem of evil.

The Text

“But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just” (Rom. 3:5-8)

Summary of the Text

Some men can be counted on to get huffy with this kind of Pauline talk—every man a liar, and so forth. And so they determine that the best defense against the ultimately holy God is a good offense, and they come up with stumpers for the Q&A after the evangelistic presentation. First, they say, if our unrighteousness sets off God’s righteousness, putting it in a good light so to speak, then what must we say? Speaking carnally, is God unrighteous when He takes vengeance (v. 5)? Of course not, Paul says. First, he is speaking “as a man,” that is, carnally and as one of his questioners. That would mean that God couldn’t judge the world (v. 6). And since it is a non-negotiable reality that God will in fact judge the world, the question must be bogus. Philosophy doesn’t judge God’s day of vengeance. God’s day of vengeance judges philosophy, and while He is at it, philosophers also. Paul then repeats the same argument in different words—if my lie glorifies God by setting up a glorious contrast with His truth, then why does He then get to judge me as a sinner (v. 7)? Hmmmm? And some of them have take their incoherence to the next level, which was probably the whole point, slanderously representing Paul as arguing that we should do evil so that God will be glorified (v. 8). Given the way Paul phrases this, this utterly unserious argument is being attributed to him. Those who do this are under a just condemnation (v. 8).

The Calvinistic Straw-man

The apostle Paul had to deal with it, and so there is no real reason why we who have learned from him should not have to deal with it also. The teaching that God is exhaustively sovereign (a teaching that is pervasive in Romans) is a teaching that is easy to twist, caricature, misrepresent and slander. The move is a simple one. You take the teaching, cash out what you believe the logical implications to be, turn white in the face, and then attribute those appalling conclusions to those who hold to the premises that you have just mangled. This is a mistake in argumentation that Paul links to damnation (v. 8). At the same time, Calvinists need to remember the golden rule. If you don’t like it on the receiving end, then don’t like it on the giving end.

Righteous Vengeance

Is God unrighteous when He takes vengeance (v. 5)? Absolutely not, Paul says. Is it up for discussion whether or not God will judge the world (v. 6)? No—Paul does not reason to the conclusion that God will judge all creatures. He does that elsewhere, reasoning from the fact of the resurrection to the conclusion that Jesus will judge (Acts 17:31). But the fact that God in heaven is the judge of all nations is his premise here (v. 6).

God is the only lawful possessor of wrath, and no man may step in as His deputy without God’s express teaching in Scripture. In the book of Romans alone, God’s wrath is clearly displayed (1:18; 2:5; 2:8; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19; 13:4-5), His judgments are just and sure (1:32; 2:2-3; 2:5; 5: 16-18; 14:10 ), and His vengeance is honored (3:5; 12:19). But here is the problem. Man is in the dock, and man therefore wants (desperately wants) God to be in the dock. But think about it for just a moment. If man is to be judged by God, where does the standard for judgment come from? From God’s holy, infinite, and entirely righteous character. If God is to be judged by man, where does the standard for judgment come from? And how incoherent is that? “Who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay . . .? (Rom. 9:20-21). Our problem with all of this—Hell, damnation, wrath, judgment, or vengeance is not that it all just “too unjust.” Don’t we know our hearts any better than that? Our problem with God’s judgment is not the potential for grave injustice, to guarded against by us (!) and policed by us (!), but rather its much more frightening prospect of real justice.

Grace Is Not a Lowered Bar

Knowing this about God’s righteous character is not a set-up for theological paranoia. Those who understand it all that way do not understand it. High views of the triune God’s righteousness will lead directly to higher views of His grace and mercy. We now have “peace with God”(5:1). There is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus (8:1).

In this book of Romans, Paul’s quesrioners are worldly men, and they do theology like a cheeky sophomore. And one of the most natural worldly tendencies out there is the attempt to magnify God’s grace by minimizing His holiness and consequent wrath. But doing that will not give you the faith once delivered, but rather a pile of mush. It is that impulse that drives every form of theological liberalism, including the forms of it that are rampant in the evangelical world today.

Lowering the bar to shouts of “grace” will only have the result of trying to make God’s kindness to us something that He owes us, rather than as something that overflows from the good counsel of His will and very nature of His being. He doesn’t owe us a blessed thing. He doesn’t owe us forgiveness, or cleansing, or salvation, or a place in heaven. He doesn’t even owe us a participant ribbon. He gives us all these things, but not because we are entitled to them. There is no entitlement here, only free grace.

I emphasized the word triune a short while ago. If there is no God, or there are many gods, there is no such thing as justice. If God is a solitary Being, a unitarian god, then we are all crushed under the weight of something called justice. Men who beat their wives worship that kind of god. But our triune God, the living God, is the only one who can rule a universe in which mercy and truth may kiss each other (Ps. 85:10).

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Romans 10: Let God Be True (3:1-4)

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Introduction

We learned from the end of chapter two that not all Jews are Jews, along with the corollary that not all Christians are Christians. But keeping up with the apostle can be a strenuous effort sometimes, and we now learn in the first part of chapter three that the Jews who are not really Jews are nevertheless . . . Jews. And the same goes double for Christians.

The Text

“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged” (Rom. 3:1-4)

Summary of the Text

Chapter two concludes with Paul offering the definition of the true Jew, the inward Jew. But now, without missing a beat, he returns to the conventional use of the word Jew. It is as though he is asking that if a bunch of Jews aren’t really Jewish, then what good does it do them being Jewish? We would say, having thought we got his point, “well, no good at all.” But what does he say? “Much every way” (v. 2). The chief reason there is profit in external circumcision (the kind of Jewishness he is talking about now) is that the externally circumcised were entrusted with the oracles of God, the Scriptures (v. 2). Some did not believe, and Paul responds to that with a so what? Can the unbelief of covenant members undo the covenant? No way (v. 3). Their unbelief cannot make “the faith of God” without effect. One important question here is whether this is subjective (God’s faith, or perhaps faithfulness) or objective (the faith that God established, i.e. the Christian faith). But in any case, can a Europe filled with baptized infidels undo the glorious truth proclaimed in baptism? Not a bit of it, and God forbid. Every last covenant member could be a skunk, and God remains true (v. 4). Our task is not to conform the sacrament to the behavior of people, but rather to conform the people to the nature of the sacrament. And then Paul quotes Psalm 51:4, to powerful effect (v. 4).

Begin With Paul’s Conclusion

The first thing to note is that Psalm 51 was composed after David had received the rebuke of Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba. That was the occasion. What is the psalm about? It is about true confession, internal cleansing, and the comparative value of the externals in God’s sight. David pleads for cleansing and forgiveness (vv. 1-2). He confesses his sin honestly and in the right direction, so that God would be justified when He speaks, clear when He judges, and might conquer when He is judged (vv. 3-4). David, a covenant member, was conceived in iniquity (v. 5). God wanted David to possess truth in the inward parts (v. 6). For that to happen, God must do the cleansing and restoring (vv. 7-12). After this, and only because of this, teaching the transgressors and sinners can occur (v. 13). God is rightly praised when men are truly forgiven (vv. 14-15). God wants sacrifices in the heart, not on the altar (vv. 16-17). God is invited to build His city (v. 18), and after that He will be pleased with the external sacrifices (v. 19). The distinction between an outward Jew and an inward one was, again, gleaned from the Old Testament. Heart circumcision was required in the Old Testament, as we saw last week, and here we see God’s rejection of mere external conformity to His sacrificial law.

A Brief Aside

Paul says here that the chief value of institutional Jewry was the fact that they possessed (and transmitted to us) the oracles of God, the Scriptures (v. 2). He echos this same thing again later in an expanded list—they had the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship of God, the promises, the fathers, and the privilege of being the people of the Christ (9:4-5). But here in chapter three, he places possession of the Scriptures in the chief place—and we can see a number of the blessings named in chapter nine as subsumed under that.

That being the case, then why has the Church today relinquished control of the Scriptures, the full corpus of the oracles of God, turning them over to an alliance of big business and textual critics in the academy? Whose idea was that? And why do we persist in acting like it was a good one?

Let God Be True

Paul sets up a parallel between vv. three and four. In verse three the two elements are “unbelief” and the “faith of God.” In verse four they are “every man a liar” and “God true.” We should therefore understand unbelief being equivalent to man lying, and the faith of God as the equivalent to God being true. And when Paul caps it off with his citation Psalm 51, the whole thing should come into focus. God being true despite the sinfulness and lies of covenant members does not primarily mean that God wins “the argument” (although He does always win the arugment). It means that despite our sinfulness and uncanny ability to get everything wrong, He will still win the world. Remember how Psalm 51 ends—with pure worship in the world, pure internally and externally both. The result of God remaining true to David despite David being untrue to God is that transgressors are taught and sinners are converted.

Honest Confession

God does not need our bright and shiny righteousness in order to advance His kingdom. What He wants is for us to acknowledge what we are by nature, which is iniquitous from conception (Ps. 51:5). He wants us to acknowledge what we are by choice and action—which is transgressors in need of forgiveness (Ps. 51:1-2). Remember that Paul is quoting this psalm after Romans 1 placed all the unbelieving Gentiles under the condemnation of sin, and Romans 2 placed all the unbelieving Jews under the condemnation of sin. He is writing this on the threshold of his point in Romans 3, which is that Gentiles and Jews are in the same terrible fix. David, one of the greatest covenant kings in the history of God’s covenant people, confessed that he was conceived in sin, and that the amniotic fluid in which he was formed was the fluid of iniquity. So stop trying to protect God’s reputation by hiding your sin. He doesn’t care. Christ died for sinners, and God is reconciled. We should therefore stop trying to win the “I-didn’t-have-to-be-forgiven-for-as-much-as-you-did” contest.

I Acknowledge

True confession means acknowledging what your sin actually was, and doing so with complete honesty before God (1 John 1:9), and it also means acknowledging the true identity of the one insulted by the sin. David says “against three, thee only, have I sinned.” Mark that. David was guilty of adultery, disloyalty to a faithful subordinate, then murder, and then a political cover-up and scandal. Lots of other people were involved, but against “thee only have I sinned.” But take heart—all sin is aimed at God, seeking to topple Him from His throne. But He is true, even if you are full of lies. You might as well come quietly . . . cleansing awaits.

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Romans 9: The Absolute Necessity of the New Birth (2:25-29)

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Introduction

We left off with St. Paul’s observation that the Gentiles blasphemed God’s name because of the behavior of God’s people. In this passage, he goes on to show the root cause of the discrepancy between the holy name by which God’s people were called, and unholy lives which disgraced that calling. The root cause was the lack of personal regeneration. As Jesus told Nicodemus, a man must be born again. To take the larger argument of Romans, not all Israel are Israel. We may (and we must) extend this to say that not all Christians are Christians.

The Text

“For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom. 2:25-29)

Summary of the Text

What good is circumcision? Who needs it? Paul says that circumcision does profit a Jew, if he keeps the rest of the law (v. 25). Circumcision is obedience to the Torah at the doorway (Dt. 11:20), but if disobedience is pervasive through the rest of the house, then God treats the sign of allegiance at the doorway as though it were the opposite (v. 25). And what happens when you flip this around? If an uncircumcised person keeps the righteousness of the moral law (remember, he is not keeping Torah because he is uncircumcised), then won’t God place him in the ranks of the honorary circumcised (v. 26)? Not only so, but the uncircumcised in this position will be in a position to judge the person who “by letter” and “by circumcision” transgresses the law (v. 27). This person could either be the pagan Gentiles of v. 14, or the baptized Gentiles in the church at Rome—Paul’s argument works either way. Why does it work this way? Paul then says that a man is not a true Jew who is simply one outwardly, and that true circumcision is not a matter of what is done to the flesh (v. 28). A true Jew is a Jew on the inside, and true circumcision is a matter of the heart and spirit, not the letter (v. 29) The praise for such a man is not from men, but from God (v. 29).

Torah and the Righteousness of the Law

The distinction between the Torah and what might be called the essence of the law is a very important one if we are to understand Romans. We have noted it before and we have to make a note of it again here. Paul clearly distinguishes between formal law-keeping and essential law-keeping—but this is not possible if we say that his only interest has to do with the relationship of the old Torah and the new gospel. Paul insists here that an uncircumcised person by nature can nevertheless keep the essential law, what he identifies as the “righteousness of the law.”

Counted or Reckoned

A similar thing must be said about a very crucial word here, one that is essential to a right understanding of Romans. It occurs in our passage here, and that word is logidzomai. It is the kind of word that is remarkably flexible—it was rendered as “thinkest” in 2:3, but it occurs here as “counted” (2:26). Elsewhere in Romans it is translated as “reckon” (4:4), “account” (8:36), or most famously “impute” (4:6). We will muddy everything if we understand this word as any kind of infusion. We will not do a great deal with this now, but it will be very important later—so mark this spot.

Outward and Inward

Sin creates rebellious dualisms. God created us so that our spirit, soul, and body would all live in harmonious union. But rebellion against Him fractured this harmony, and made it possible for an individual to be one man on the outside and a completely different man on the inside. This was not what we were created for, but our sin made hypocrisy possible. But that is not our concern in this message now—the basic problem of hypocrisy was addressed earlier.

Here is a different problem. Some Christians, discovering that there ought not to be this inside/outside divide, have falsely concluded that there is no such thing as an inside/outside divide. But this is saying, ultimately, that hypocrisy is impossible. However, Paul is blunt here. He knew men who were Jews on the outside, but he did not consider them to be Jews on the inside. What needed to occur in order for them to be Jews on the inside? Paul says that it amounted to heart circumcision, in the spirit and not in the letter (v. 29). As it was, their outside testified against their inside (v. 27). By the letter and by their circumcision they transgressed.

A Quick Caution

This is the great contribution of historic evangelicalism—teaching the absolute necessity of the new birth. Do not confuse this with the accretions of pop evangelicalism, or certain traditions within evangelicalism, which seeks to put that new birth in a can, prepackaging it for the upcoming revival meetings, prescribing just what it looks like in every instance—going forward, signing the card, that kind of thing. But the Spirit moves as He pleases. Reformation and revival is not a commodity.

How Does It All Translate?

Does this warning at the end of Romans 2 translate over to Christians? Can we say that “he is not a Christian who is one outwardly, neither is baptism that which is outward in the flesh”? Can we say he is a Christian who is “one inwardly,” and baptism is “of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” Of course we can, and we must.

Paul here is spelling out the root causes of the great Jewish failure. The Jews hadnot kept the law in truth, even though they were circumcised—precisely because they had not obeyed the law by receiving the circumcision of the heart (Dt. 10:16;30: 6; Jer. 4:4). This doctrine of the new birth is not an innovation of Paul’s—God required it in the Old Testament times as well. And Paul elsewhere tells the covenanted Christians that they were capable of failing in just the same way that the Jews had (Rom. 11: 20-21;1 Cor. 10: 6), and for the same reasons (2 Cor. 13:5). A brief glance at church history shows us the wisdom of this warning, as well as a moment’s reflection on our own circumstances. A man, if he wants to see the kingdom of God, must be born again. Is this your desire? Then look to Christ—Christ on the cross, Christ in heaven, Christ in the Word, Christ in the water, Christ in the bread and wine. But always this is looking through, not staring at.

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Romans 8: The Genesis of Hypocrisy (2:17-24)

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Introduction

We have already seen in the first chapter that the unbelieving Gentile world is without excuse in their rebellion against God. We have also seen (in this second chapter of Romans) that believing Gentiles are not in the same position. And here in this passage, we come to the point of emphasis, which is that the Jews are also under sin, and in need of a Savior.

The Text

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? /Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?/ Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written” (Rom. 2:17-24).

Summary of the Text

Paul begins by naming the Jew explicitly—you are called a Jew (v. 17). Not only does he call himself a Jew, but he also rests in the law (v. 17), and makes his boast in God (v. 17). What is this but the great Reformation principle of soli Deo gloria? The Pharisee who insulted the publican in his Temple prayer did the same—”I thank thee, God . . .” Not only so, but this Jew knows the will of God, and knows it because he is instructed by God from the law. As a result, he approves excellent things (v. 18). As a result, this Jew is confident that he has the ability to teach—he is a guide to the blind (v. 19), a light for those in the dark (v. 19), an instructor of the foolish (v. 20), a teacher of babies (v. 20), as someone who has the right form of knowledge and truth in the law (v. 20). Very good, Paul says, but let’s start somewhere else.

Those who teach must first teach themselves, and moreover, those who expect others to learn the lessons must learn the lessons themselves first (v. 21). It doesn’t count if you teach yourself first, but the pupil is stupid. If you preach against stealing, do you steal (v. 21)? If you say not to commit adultery, how’s it going in your life (v. 22)? If you abhor idols, and good for you, do you commit sacrilege yourself (v. 22)? The word literally here is temple-robber, and Paul is exonerated of a similar charge at Ephesus (Acts 19:37). There had apparently been some shenanighans that the Roman Christians would have known about. You boast in the law but you in fact dishonor God through your breaking of the law (v. 23). Because of you Jews, Paul says, the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God (v. 24). Not only so, but you have been doing this for a long time—long enough for both Isaiah and Ezekiel to have noticed it (Is. 52:5; Ez. 36;22).

Look at the Verbs First

The orthodoxy is heavy on teaching. knowing, and approving. But notice how Paul then uses the verbs—teach, preach, say, abhor, and boast. You teach the right, you preach the right, you say the right, you abhor God’s rivals, and you boast in Him alone. Yes, but what do you do? Don’t hide behind the creeds and confessions.

What Does Hypocrisy Accomplish?

Paul objects to the fact that the hypocrisy of the Jews has providedunbelieving Gentiles with some cheap entertainment. But there is a common mistake here that we make, and Paul shows us how to avoid it. The hypocrisy of God’s people does not create a valid excuse or defense for the unbeliever. Take the most obnoxious televangelist you can construct in your imagination, the randiest pope in church history, and the smarmiest Scripture-twister ever, and everything they ever said or did is shouted down by one sunrise, one midnight at sea, or five minutes of contemplating the complexities of a single cell. The unbeliever is always without excuse (Rom. 1:20).

The plain fact is that God hates hypocrisy, and He will judge it at the last day (Is. 9:17; Matt. 6:2; 22:18). What sense does it make to oppose the living God, who alone will judge the hypocrites, and to do so because you disapprove of hypocrites? If you hate the behavior of certain people on a particular team, then why do you go join that team. Blasphemers “because of hypocrisy” and the hypocrites themselves will both be thrown into the lake of fire, and if God goes in alphabetical order, those who pretended to hate hypocrisy in their blasphemies will have to go first.

The Snare of Hypocrisy

When we get to the point of denunciation, it is not hard to condemn hypocrisy as Paul does here, and to use a canoe paddle on it. But why and how is hypocrisy a snare that works so easily? It is among the most contemptible of sins—we all hate it—so why do so many fall into it? What contributes to the “set up”? Remember that Paul expects the Gentiles Christians to learn the lessons that the unbelieving Jews failed to learn (Rom. 11:20).

Rain doesn’t fall from a clear, blue sky, and hypocrisy doesn’t “come from nowhere” either.

We are pious and unwilling to mock holy things . . . the way God does (Jer. 7 );
We bask in the reflected glory of things that God actually praises (Rom. 2:18);
We are afraid of blowback (Jn. 7:13; 9:22);
We are careless of the fact that big hypocrises grow from little hypocrisies (Ps. 19: 12-13);
We refuse to make our own deep motivations an object of serious contemplation (2 Cor. 13: 5);
We don’t understand the mimetic nature of human motivation and behavioral contagion (Jas. 4:5-6);
We judge others by their actions, but we want to be judged by our intentions ( );
We say that we need to protect the reputation and feelings of others ( );
We say that mere possession of the truth works as a talisman (Jas. 2:14);
We rest in external privileges, instead of improving them (Rom. 11:22);
We stare at Scripture as though it were a mural, instead of through Scripture as a window (Jn. 5: 39);
And we don’t understand what God is actually like (Ps. 16:11)

 

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