Inward Obsession

Romans 2:12-29

Verse 12: I wouldn’t say that this verse is encouraging, but I also wouldn’t say that it is discouraging either. I think that it is saying that if a person is not exposed to the law then that person has no reason to be held accountable to something that he/she did not know anything about. So God will judge everyone, but He is going to be just about it by judging people based on what they know.

Verse 13: this verse is very straightforward. It is basically the message that Christ tried to tell all of the major religious people back in His day. Just because you know everything about the Bible does not mean that you belong to the One who put it all together. It is important to read and study God’s word, it is the only way a believer will grow the most efficiently. But it is even more important to be a doer of the word because it is the only way people will be able to see Jesus and find out about Jesus. By doing what the Bible says, the Gospel can be spread! I feel like many Christians are extremely content in their walks with Christ; Especially in America. No one really faces any sort of danger here so the faith of American believers is not tested to what they would consider a serious degree much.  Many just got to church on Sunday, and if they are really dedicated they’ll show up on Wednesday Nights! But then, after they walk out of the building, they never open up the book they were just studying corporately. Yes, God does want us to get together and worship and learn together, it makes our lives more fun and rewarding, not to mention the edification is great! However, God is a personal God and wants to know us on an intimate and personal level. This is why it is important to study the word and really listen to what God wants to tell you. And if you’re really listening to what He is saying through His word, then you’ll do whatever it is He is telling you to do; mainly because the Spirit will be leading you to do so and you’ll have the desire to do so. Also, Paul uses the term righteous in this verse. We can only become righteous through sanctification which comes from conforming to the image of Christ. How do we learn to conform to the image of Christ? Through the word of God! This is what Paul is trying to hit at, that in order to please God and be declared righteous in HIS sight is to conform to the image of His son.

Verse 14: back in biblical times, the Gentiles did not have the written law of the OT because they were not God’s chosen people. But what Paul points out here is the basic moral code that every human being is born with. Everyone knows that murder and stealing is wrong. It is just something we automatically know because we don’t want anyone to do it to us so it must be wrong to do it to others right? That’s the thought process for the Gentiles. So Paul is saying that the moral code of the Gentiles is what could be used at the law for them, since they didn’t have the law of the OT like the Jews did.

Verse 15: everyone has a conscience. We’re born with it. It is the little voice inside our heads that tells us when we should or should not do something. Now, since becoming a believer I have often wondered if the Holy Spirit takes over the role of the conscience because now the voice in my head sounds more like something God would be whispering in my ear rather than my gut. What Paul is saying here is that the law was written on their hearts because it is what their consciences went by. But this verse also shows how our mind can “play tricks on us” and how our hearts are deceitful. He says that “their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” what he means I think is that our conscience is focused on the person itself and what will be best for the wants of the person rather than the needs of the person. It is concerned with whatever will provide instant gratification and making sure that it is provided indeed. And because of that way of doing things the conscience may tell the person it lives in or whatever you want to call it, that it is okay to do certain things, when if it were to look at God’s word, it would not be okay to do those things.

Verse 16: Paul is just reaffirming that judgment day is on its way! And that God is basically going to judge us and may use Christ and His life as the answer key or what He will compare every humans’ life to.

Verses 17-24: Paul really hits the Jewish people hard here. He really digs deep into the fact that just because your ancestors had a good relationship with God does not necessarily mean that you as an individual human being have an intimate relationship with God. The Jews had “careless confidence” in their knowledge of the law instead of their obedience to the law. What Paul is saying about the Jews I this passage kind of remind me of the “holier than thou” people in Christianity today. They know all about the sin in everyone else’s life and is willing 100% to point it out but they have no idea about the sin in their own lives or if they do notice it, they make up some excuse so that they don’t look as sinful as the rest of the people. This is a big problem. What we as believers today can learn from this in your face message Paul is sending is that we need to know the law, but we also need to put it into practice for ourselves. We need to teach ourselves the law so that we can know how to live lives that glorify God. Once we are living a life to please God and conform to the image of Christ then we can, if needed, help educate those younger in the faith about God’s law and how to succeed in obedience to the law. Paul asks very hard, personal questions to the Jews, I think that we need to ask ourselves these questions when sometimes we may get caught up in a phase of self-righteousness which is very easy to do when you are surrounded by other believers and serving in ministry. It’s easy to get caught up in what you are doing for the Gospel publicly but you’re not paying attention to what you are having to battle with personally. And our God is a personal God so He is more concerned with how you’re doing on the personal side rather than what you are doing on the public side, because if you on the personal side isn’t all groovy then it’s going to be hard to make you on the public side completely focused on God and the task He has called you to.

Verses 25-27: Paul is using a Jewish tradition or trademark to discuss how just because your momma knows Jesus does not mean that you know Jesus. Kind of like what he was saying in the previous passage except this time he uses a stronger and concrete example. Paul is saying that “yes, you may be a Jew due to circumcision, but if you break God’s law it is as if you had never been circumcised.” Paul is really trying to reveal to the Jews that they don’t know everything and that they need to pursue Christ and obey Him rather than just memorize His law and what He wants them to do, but actually walk the walk that they are talking up. For us today and for people all around the world, living a true Christian life is different and a bigger struggle than just telling people you’re a Christian.

Verses 28-29: Paul is bringing up now how you have the have it on the inside in order for it to be completely real and solid. Just like how a Jew needs to be circumcised, a believer needs to have a heart cleaning in order to be a real child of God. Paul is continuing to address that outward profession may not be the real inward obsession. You may profess to love Jesus on the outside, but are you obsessed with what He did for you on in the inside? That is the question that we need to keep in mind as believers, “what is our inward obsession?”