What is a Christian? Who is a Christian? Are you a Christian? A True Christian? What does a true Christian look like? When someone says “I am a Christian,” how can you tell? Or, how can you know whether you are a genuine Christian or not? I am not here to judge, but rather, here to open up the word of God and show how it defines what a true Christian is, so that we can examine ourselves, and see if we follow that standard, or, what steps we can take to meet those requirements and to be sure. In today’s passage, Paul presents a definition of what a true Jew looks like, and we will see that we can extend that same standard to also understand what a true Christian looks like.
We are now in the 2nd half of chapter 2 in Romans, and we are still in the middle of learning that the whole world is guilty of sin and under the wrath of God. From the 2nd half of chapter 1, we see the sins of the Gentiles, who refused to glorify or give thanks to God, and worshiped idols instead. Because of this, their foolish hearts were darkened, and God gave them over to a depraved mind and into every kind of depravity. Now church, let’s be honest here. Have you ever looked at a person, and then said, “I’m glad I’m not like them. I don’t smoke or chew or hang with people that do.” Now – good on you that you don’t, but what’s wrong with this picture is that you’ve judged or condemned someone, but you don’t see your own sin. Paul addresses the self righteous Jew and Gentile in the first part of Ch. 2 – pointing out that, even if you don’t commit obvious outward sins, you still have inward invisible sins, like pride, or envy, or lust.
The point that Paul is trying to make is that all people are guilty of sin – so we have the Gentiles who don’t know God and commit abominable acts. Then we have those who don’t do the outward things, but minimize their sin – this might be Jew or Gentile. Now today, in this passage in the 2nd half of Ch. 2, Paul goes directly to the Jews, who think they are exempt from the wrath of God by virtue of their history and ancestry. Or, perhaps to sum up the different classes of people, you have the 1) people who do bad things, 2) people who think that just not doing bad things will save them, and 3) people who think doing good things will save them. To be clear, doing good things is good, but good works alone are not enough to save, and we’ll see why.
Look at v.17, can we all please read v.17, “Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God.” He is now speaking directly to the Jew. But why? What is so special about the Jew? There is much in every way! They are descendants of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob. God led them specially out of Egypt. He revealed himself to them, the One true God, as their God, and gave them the Law, as passed down from Moses. It is through them, the Messiah came. From the beginnings of their history, they were chosen by God to be his people. From v.18-20, you can see the privileges of being the people who were in possession of the words of God – they would know his will and can discern of the superior way. God appointed them to be a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of little children. Of course – because God’s word is like a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. But the problem was, they became spiritually proud. The Jews thought that salvation was their birthright, that simply by being a descendant of Abraham, they would be saved, and having the word of God gave them a false sense of security.
Pride is dangerous in itself; spiritual pride is even more dangerous. Think about when you’ve ever become over-proud, or over-confident. What happens? You feel like you’re invincible. You feel like you’re above the law. You feel like rules don’t apply to you. I was like this in my 20s – I thought I was smarter than I was, so I ruined relationships with some of my coworkers and bosses. I became competitive with another coworker, who has now gone on to be much more successful than me. I got out of control partying after work in my consulting days, earning a bad reputation among the leadership of my former company. Pride always comes before the fall. Now think about spiritual pride. Imagine for a moment: you become puffed up because you are so specially blessed and gifted. People begin flocking to you, listening to you, doing what you tell them. But then you become less accountable, you like the influence you have over people – and then you begin to think you won’t get in trouble, or you could escape it somehow. This is how many visible leaders, even in this modern age, of well known protestant churches, fell into moral sin and have lost their ministries. Like it was in Paul’s day – God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles when supposed spiritual leaders are exposed for deep moral corruption.
It could happen at a personal level too. We as Bible teachers should be careful to also do what we teach, and even I am not exempt from temptation and responsibility. Paul does say to Timothy in 1 Tim 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.”
The product of spiritual pride is hypocrisy. In v.21-23, Paul exposes the general failings of the teachers of the law. He asks the convicting question, “you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?” He questions, “do you steal, do you commit adultery, do you rob temples, do you break the law?” Now, not every Jew does these things, but the sins that he points out are well known and have been committed on occasion by those who call themselves Jews, which proves his point – that even among God’s chosen people who have his word, sin exists. The worst effect of all of these sins is that God’s name is shamed and spoken ill of.
Paul then mentions another privilege the Jews had, which was also something they put false confidence in for salvation – and that is circumcision. Can we look at v.25, and read it, “Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.” All the way back in Genesis 17, to the foundation of the history of the Jews – God made a covenant with Abraham. It was a promise that he will be the father of many nations, that he would be Abraham’s God and the God of all his descendants after him, that it would be an everlasting covenant. The sign of this covenant was circumcision – that all males among him, and descended from him must be circumcised. Any male that is not would be cut off. Circumcision was the primary way of distinguishing God’s people from any other.
From that point, up to Paul’s day, and even today, circumcision is a very important rite. The Jewish Christians even tried to force Gentile Christians to undergo circumcision when they converted. So Paul acknowledges that there’s value in it – but there’s an if. There’s an if. There’s only value in circumcision if you observe the law. Paul continues in v.25-27 that even though a Jew is physically circumcised, if they break the law, they will be regarded as if they were not circumcised. And if a Gentile Christian, who is not physically circumcised, but keeps the law’s requirements, will be recognized like one who is circumcised. He will be treated as a Jew, while the lawbreaker will be judged as an uncircumcised Gentile.
We learn two things here: 1) physical sacraments (Traditions), are a blessing only if combined with law-keeping – but they do not guarantee salvation, and 2) just as Jews and Gentiles are both guilty of sin, they are both equally able to be saved. In our day today, there are some Christians who believe that when you get baptized, you will automatically be saved, and you don’t need to do anything else. Baptism is a blessing that can help strengthen and encourage your faith. It is a public declaration and proclamation of your faith, but the physical act itself does not guarantee you will be saved. It’s not the physical baptism that saves you, but the spiritual.
So along those same lines – it’s not the physical act of circumcision that saves, but the spiritual. Can we all please read v.28-29, “A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.” The true identity of a Jew is not just someone who was physically descended from Jacob, it’s someone who was made into a spiritual Jew through the spiritual circumcision of the heart. A true Jew is a child of God, and a recipient of the eternal covenant God gave to Abraham. And in fact, a true Jew and a true Christian are one and the same, for Christ, and his circumcision, has made us all one. Eph 2:11-18 describe this exactly, saying that “uncircumcised” Gentiles have been brought into citizenship with Israel through the blood of Christ – for his purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.
This circumcision is done, not by human hands, but by the Holy Spirit. It was promised a long time ago, when Moses wrote in Deut 30:6, “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” Here you see that the only way to keep the law, to love God with all our hearts, is to first be circumcised by God.
Paul has shown here that even the Jews that have the law and circumcision, and try to keep it by their own abilities will fail – and that they too, like the Gentiles, need a remedy that can come only from above. We all need the cure that is found only in Christ. Tradition cannot save us. Works will not save us. Only by faith in this gospel, by believing in Christ, only by faith will righteousness be credited to our account. Listen to what Paul wrote in Col 2:9-15, “For in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Chris, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
The circumcision of the heart is what transforms someone into a true Jew, or a true Christian. No matter if you are a Jew, Gentile, male or female, your heart needs to be circumcised. This is what the circumcision of the heart practically looks like:
- It is spiritual
- It is not done by human hands, but by God’s hands
- It happens by faith, not by any works
- It is like a full heart transplant; it is the complete renewal of our inner soul; you are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!
- It is a sign, a mark of God’s covenant
- You are included in the promise of God to be your God, and you will be his people
- It is a sign that you belong to God, and that you are a child of God
- It is a sign that you are now dedicated to God, consecrated, set apart for him
- It is a cutting off of the flesh, spiritually
- You have a new heart, and a new master
- Set your mind on what the Spirit desires instead of setting your mind on what the flesh desires
- Put to death the misdeeds of the body, serve God in the Spirit
- Produces love for God
- Producing thanksgiving, peace, joy
- Results in love for others
- Results in praise from God, and gives glory to God
The word for Jew comes from the name Judah, which means “praise”. The true Christian and true Jew lives with a circumcised heart that his humble, thankful, joyful, patient, faithful and loving, and receives praise from God.
