This is a Blogger Small Group entry in partnership with Run’n Like a Vagabond.
Romans 2:1-5 = Don’t forget where we just came from. The chapters and verses are nice and everything, but Scripture wasn’t originally written that way. So, remember what Paul was talking about just before these verses—people who have completely turned from God and worship either self or some other thing, and are involved in all kinds of vile behavior. Now look at what Paul says to us.
Paul very astutely reminds us that it is God we are dealing with here, and not just one another. We are just as bad, because all sin separates us from God. We go around pointing fingers at all the people who are doing worse things than we, and thereby think we are getting away with it all. (I mean “we” in general terms, as in all of mankind.) I love the way The Message puts verses 3-4, “You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because He’s such a nice God, He’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but He’s not soft. In kindness He takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life change.”
Romans 2:5-11 = From the tenor of this book by Paul, you get the distinct impression it was not being written solely to a group of Christ-followers in Rome, but also to “seekers.” Verse 7 is problematic for some, in that it seems to point toward a works based salvation. However, taking all of Paul’s other writings into context, we begin to see that Paul has a very well-formed philosophy that it is only those who have been redeemed that are capable of doing good.
Verse 9 is also very interesting to me. Think about Paul, and how he sometimes said that he was called to preach the Gospel “to the Jew first, and then to the Greek.” God was crying out to His chosen people, the Jews first, but because they were stiff necked and did not listen, He extended His grace and mercy to the Gentiles as well. It is a very telling thing to me that, when God calls all mankind to account for their rejection of Him, He will bring judgment on “the Jew first and also for the Gentile.” It is no small matter to reject the grace of God when it has been extended.
Romans 2:12-16 =Paul extends the idea of accountability and responsibility here. He mentions that the Gentiles will be judged for turning away, but the Jews already had the Law and still ended up turning away. Living a “lawful” life was no better than the Gentiles’ lives that were in essense “lawless.” The Gentiles, too, are no less accountable. I like The Message here again in verse 14, “When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience.” This is the same argument we make against those who are atheist yet still claim to live by a moral code. Our belief is that, even those who don’t believe in God, still get their moral compass (as small as it may or may not be), from being made in the image of God.
Romans 2:17-20 = How many people in today’s world make the same mistake the Jews did. How many Americans think their ok with God simply because of being born American? How many think their ok just because their parents were “Christian?”
Romans 2:21-29 = Here’s where Paul thesis really gets going. Remember again, that Paul is likely speaking to the most “religious” group of people in the entire world. He obviously has Jews in his letter’s audience, and so he speak to them and warms them against trusting in their religious traditions and following the letter of the Law for a reconciled relationship with God. Other in the audience, the Gentiles, were likely from various backgrounds and religious traditions. Rome was the center of the world, and so it would be safe to think that most of the known religions and cults active during the time were represented among the local populace, or among its visitors. Though his address is specifically pointed mostly at the Jews here, the message is clear. Religion does not, can not, and will not save you.
