#55.Romans 2:17-18 - The Jews' Perch

Part II: The Conduct of Humanity

Lo! you are being denominated a Jew, and are resting on law, and are boasting in God, and know the will, and are testing what things are of consequence, being instructed out of the law.

Sometimes, when I’m at work (I am a server at a restaurant,) and the kitchen messes up my table’s order, I like to bring the ticket back to them and go, “Lo!”

There’s no real reason behind this. It just feels so official. “Lo! Fixeth the ticket!”

Anyway, hi. While we have established the important “judgment” parameters, there are a certain group of people who don’t truly believe in them for what they are. No, it’s not the group you might think, either. It’s not babies, it’s not the mentally incapacitated, it’s not even the atheists.

It’s the religious crowd.

Okay, okay, that’s a generalization. Admittedly, it’s not the religious people who have at least skimmed their Bibles. Even they have the sense to admit that they are not exempt from judgment. Many think that they will be rewarded on judgment day (so their piousness is still front and center, believing their actions are righteous in some way,) but for the most part, many admit that they will stand before God at the great white throne.

So, naturally, upon hearing the righteous parameters, the bulk of the religious crew will say, “Hey! I’m special, though! I believe this and this, and I do that and that, so I’m saved! What’s your problem with me?” The answer is found in these next ten verses. The “Jew” in discussion during these verses will finally be directly addressed, and condemned. Their position – that their piousness breeds righteousness – is contemptible and absurd. The Jew (the title, not the bulk of the nation,) is representative of the religious.

I note further that the Jew at least had their oracles to observe; the Christian today was not promised the same things as the Jew back in the OT, and are thus attempting to steal and modify these promises from Israel for their own personal gain. This begets them nothing; if the Jews’ position, even in Paul’s day, was absurd, then the Christian position today is far more absurd. Practically everything we read here may be multiplied tenfold on the current high-mindedness of the world.

Me, Myself and I

As we read back in Romans 2:12, if anyone is found to carry sin, then that person must perish. There is no room for debate on this matter, for such would corrupt the righteous sensibilities of a just God. And oftentimes, the debate is with a view to exonerate the self, or some other perceived group with “less opportunity.” I would like to take a moment and express that all of mankind has no opportunity under sin, so we should stop gerrymandering the race as if redrawing boundaries would make any of us “less” under sin than we were before.

This is, simply, the pessimism of Romans 1:18-3:20. As I’ve said before, this must be conveyed to the masses, or we are operating under an improper backdrop with which to convey the evangel. However, we should not presume that “pessimism” = “bad.” I understand that we often take “negativity” today as inherently evil. This is an assumption on our end. We can observe from God Himself that “negative” emotions – hurt (Gen. 6:6,) sorrow (Eph. 4:30,) anger (Rom. 1:18,) jealousy (Ex. 20:5,) and even hatred (Rom. 9:14, Prov. 6:16) – are not inherently wrong. It is not their existence, but their application which is sorely abused. Unlike Yahweh, Who is seeing and experiencing all of history, mankind has no grounds on which to employ the above emotions, for we do not have a correlative understanding.

It is with this in mind that we must learn that the pessimism Paul conveys of God is not inherently one of “evil” import, but of necessity. In short, do not shy away from the indignation of God. It hurts, sure, but it is right. Is it better to face the indignation of man, who does not know any better and often indicates a preference for wrong, or should we take our true place in creation’s hierarchy, in humility, and recognize the just attitude of our Maker, no matter how depressed He may be?

I say all of this because, as Paul also pointed out in Rom. 2:16, God is not pessimistic with a view to abandon (He is not a Father to walk out and leave His woman married to the government – He is more than man.) He is continually speaking with the anticipation of the following evangel. What does all of this Romans 1-3 nonsense have to do with Jesus Christ, the Image of the invisible God? That will be the only question at the end of this argument.

This evangel is given only by Paul. At no prior point in the Bible could this evangel have been conveyed to you as it will be so fully displayed here. “This is my evangel,” says Paul. The twelve of the Circumcision evangel – that of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23, Acts 1:1-8) – have no claim on Paul’s evangel. If they did, then Paul would be inaccurate to claim a relative ownership of this evangel, rendering all of his works a farce and impertinent to the rest of the Bible. His message is not that of the rest, but above that of the rest (cf. 2 Cor. 12:5-6.) He is severed for the evangel of God – not modifying some pre-existent message (Acts 13:1-2, Rom. 1:1, Gal. 2:7-9.) And, unlike the twelve, Paul forfeits all of his claims to the fleshly distinctions of the Jews (Phil. 3:1-8.) Paul’s message is set apart, a counter-clockwise momentum spinning against the traditional narrative hitherto.

With all of that said, there are some major objections with which our minds become burdened. Some of these objections will be labeled immediately, from Rom. 3:1-8. Others will be sprinkled throughout Paul’s revelation of the evangel itself (Rom. 3:28, 6:1, 15, 7:7.) Still others will be picked up when Paul finally relates the evangel to Israel (Rom. 9:19.) For now, however, we must first explicitly bring them into the fore of this indictment, because they are so hard-headed that they still believe they are absent from it.

Denominated

I stress, first and foremost, that the Jew is considered a “denomination,” here. The Greek word is eponomazo, “ON-NAME.” This is its only appearance in the New Testament. It refers to an additional title – “on” – not an inherent quality. Thus we see that this is representative of a titled group. This further tracks with the history of Israel, where the first – Abram – is labeled a Jew by title, not by inherent quality.

The Jew, of course, has been given special designation in God’s eyes, being the chosen nation. They are given a seat at the head of the national table. However, the Jew mistakenly believes that they earned a seat at that table, and that they are given the law with the ability to follow it – when neither principle there is given by God. Instead of thanking God for their seat at the table, they are practically the most guilty of the charges given in Rom. 1:18-23 – they have detained the truth in injustice, they do not glorify God as God, being vain in their reasonings, and all the while, they allege themselves to be wise.

These propositions are stated in clearer terms at this time. Specifically, we see three large points in the above verse – boasting in God, knowing the will, and testing what things are of consequence – and think, “Hey! These are pretty good!” And indeed, these are good! So good, in fact, that they will find their parallel in Paul’s evangel – boasting, knowing, and testing all have their correlative place in Romans 3:21-8:30. If this were all Paul had to say, then it would be important to exempt the Jew from the prior indictment! But alas, given Paul’s conclusion (Rom. 2:21-24,) the Jews have, in fact, failed miserably to actually effect any of those three large points.

This is especially notable in a few ways. For the above verse (2:17,) we see that those three large points are bookended by the word “law.” They rest on law, and are instructed out of law. The problem, then, is not the boasting, knowing, and testing, but the foundation on which they have attempted to do so, as if they were capable of actually effecting the law.

This is important, and ties back into Paul’s statement in Romans 2:13. The Jew fervently believes that they are fulfilling the law, and to this day are even attempting to “force” the promised blessings into fruition by taking control of the promised land as oppressively as they have. But this will only provoke the indignation of God – not His respect. The Jews (or the nation-state of false Israel, more accurately) are severely misguided in this regard.

Resting on Law

What does it mean to “rest” on law? From the Jewish perspective, this means to herald the law and honor its precepts. While this is a good theory in practice, in truth, the Jews overplayed their hands the moment such a concept was introduced to them. They were told by Yahweh, in Ex. 19:5, that

If you shall hearken, yea hearken to My voice and observe My covenant then you will become Mine, a special possession, above all of the peoples, for Mine is all the earth.

In response, the newfound nation replied, in 19:8–

Now all the people responded together and said: All that Yahweh speaks we shall do.

This brilliant response was followed immediately by the failure to do what Yahweh spoke. They worshipped a new cow-god concocted by the fashionable Levites. You would think, at this point, that they might have gotten the hint, humbled themselves, and recognized that they would be unable to fulfill a righteous law.

You would think.

Alas, no. To this very day, the Jews still believed – from Mt. Sinai to Paul’s evangel, and even to this very day – that they were capable of following the law. By “resting on law,” it is meant that they believed themselves responsible for fulfilling the law, able to fulfill the law, and thus could comfortably perch on the law.

They believed it to be their salvation. They expected law to carry them to the finish line; by following it, they lived! They merely supposed that they could do it. In truth, the law serves no such purpose. It is the standard for human righteousness. It promises life to those who follow it – not salvation from sin, but the expected life of a righteous individual. To follow it meant that all of their actions would be justified. No mortal can do this, in this flesh, as demonstrated by the Old Testament history. The Jews are, in fact, so confused on this point, that they have admitted extra-biblical writings into their teachings, to skirt around the law, or at least attempt to make it “manageable” (code for “make exceptions wherever the law was too hard to follow.”)

To “rest on law” leads the same direction as the Jews themselves. In the Christian community today, this is doubly problematic. Most churches proclaim that you “must follow law,” or “try your hardest to follow law anyway.” Yet Paul’s message does not place one in the Mosaic law; it operates “apart from law” (Rom. 3:21.) The poor, unknowing Christian today is so caught up in this emotional attachment to the law, that they miss arguments such as Paul makes – you don’t want to be caught under law. It only brings more severe judgment to those who know it, and brings greater indignation for knowingly refusing Paul’s following evangel, which is the only silver bullet to such a predicament. To be brought under law today is even more problematic, as Paul has already summarized through this argument (and OT writers have demonstrated, verifying this argument,) that it is impossible to follow law in this flesh, while sin operates in us. It will not justify you – it will condemn you.

Thus the Christian will receive nothing; they have less than the Jews did. They will not receive the promised millennial kingdom, for it was not promised to them. They will further not receive a place on the new earth, for blasphemy does not promise God’s grace, but His correction. The Jews are bad enough – their position brings dishonor to God (Rom. 2:23.) Worse still, it has brought the nations (represented nowadays by Christendom) into the same blasphemy (Rom. 2:24.) This sorry state of affairs stems from the detestable attempts at self-justification from the sinner, and will only bring death and condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7-9.)

- GerudoKing