God’s Faithfulness
1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

3What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? 4Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:”So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”[a]

5But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—”Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved.

Romans 2 was a very in depth discussion about faith and sin, specifically directed at Jews. Paul is great at asking rhetorical questions to draw the reader in. Paul points out that while Jesus was for everyone, the advantage of being Jewish is that the Jews were entrusted with the words of God. Verse 3 talks about how just because some of us lack faith, doesn’t mean that God is not faithful.

Verses 5 through 8 really tackle a question that I find kind of amusing – a sort of immature mentality of “Dude, me looking bad only makes God look so much better!” – but that totally misses the point!!

It seems to be that no matter what our unfaithfulness, God is always faithful and always true.

The Jews and the Law
17Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[b]
25Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the[c] written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

What I love about this particular set of verses is how painstakingly Paul works to tell Jews that lip service is not good enough. Knowing what is right and true and actual actions, should all work together. Unfortunately, this isn’t just a problem for the Jews of Paul’s day – it’s a continuing problem today. People who try to do the right things and say the right things, but unfortunately, their hearts are not in the right places. Or maybe does the reverse work – is it possible that your heart is in the right place, but your actions are not? Either way, for the Jews, circumcision was an outward act of obedience to the laws that God gave them. If you are circumsized, that isn’t the “get out of jail” free card – disobedience is disobedience.

This makes me think of how often I am disobedient. Saying to God, “Well, I flipped a guy off and ran over a dog today, but I went to church on Sunday” does not count. And ok, my life is not that extreme, but the fact of the maatter is, sin is anything that removes me from God and puts road blocks in my relationship with Him. Being a good person and making good decisions is something that I should be doing – it does not count as payment for my other transgressions. There is only ONE act that pays for any and all of my sins, and that is Jesus’ death and rising.

I love when Paul sends it home by saying that being Jewish isn’t a summation of outward signs, but rather indicated by a radical, supernatural imprint on our hearts. The Jews are used as an example, but it could be any of us today who try to skate by in life by doing all the “right” things and not matching it with our hearts, or saying we believe something with our hearts, but not living a life that reflects those beliefs.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Wednesday. Almost to the weekend – yay!

I have been thinking for the past week about puttin my daily Bible reading on my blog. I knew I should do it when my initial reaction was, “What if I don’t post every day?” But the fact of the matter is, that should not be my #1 reason for not posting my Bible reading on my blog. I was also worried that some friends might be put off by this exercise. But really, that’s not a good enough reason not to post this, either.

So today, even though it is a random day in September and not a day generally associated with fresh starts or turning over new leaves, I don’t care. I am going to have a fresh start. Jesus doesn’t care if I start fresh on Tuesday or Thursday – it just matters that I start fresh. So today is the day.

I have been reading Romans prior to starting this post. I am going to start posting from where I am. Please, feel free to comment on these posts if you have questions/comments/things to add. I am not a Bible scholar, just a lowly marketing major. I pray the Holy Spirit will guide these posts and show me what He wants me to see.

Here we go. From the book of Romans 2:

God’s Righteous Judgment
1You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”[a] 7To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism.
12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

OK, so I bit off a lot for the first reading. A few things stood out to me from this initial reading. It seems like Paul (the author of Romans) was trying to separate several issues. The first issue seemed to be that of individuals who felt more than comfortable judging others and condemning their sinning, but never turned the mirror on themselves to discover their own sin. The first issue leads directly into the second issue, which is because individuals judged others and were not repentent (admitting their own sin and turning from it), God is especially angry about it. What you sow is what you will reap, essentially. And God is just and fair in his judgement.

The lines that say, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life,” do strike me as being a little bit confusing initially because salvation does not come through good deeds, but through faith. In the book of James, James addresses faith and deeds, saying that when you have faith, your actions reflect that faith. It seems that the second issue Romans is an extension of the hypocracy of people who say they are Christians, but their actions do not reflect that faith. If anyone reading this has any additional thoughts or insights on that, I’d love to hear it.

The last paragraph addresses a very complicated third issue that I don’t feel particularly trained to get into. My understanding of what Paul is saying is this: if you are not under the law and sin(I think he means Jewish when he says law), then you will be perish apart from the law. If you are under the law (or Jewish?) and sin, you will be judged by the law. In an aside, Paul also mentions that there are gentiles (non-Jews) that follow the law naturally, as the law is written on their hearts.

Maybe it’s not necessarily that there are three separate issues, actually. It seems like Paul is addressing a disagreement among believers in a very systematic way, where the ultimate result is that the only one fit to judge any of us is Jesus, anyway. The application with this seems to be that I shouldn’t judge other people’s shortcomings – that’s Jesus’ job (reminds me of when my parents would say to me, “Emily, who is the parent here?”) – and that I should strive to be repentent for my own sins.