It makes me laugh to look and see how my notes change from week to week. These are not near as "smart." I felt like i was writing like i talk...just like i do in my blog. I think i will appreciate that later on. It makes me feel more real in my study of God's word. maybe i'm just crazy.
Romans 2:12-29
April 4-9, 2010
12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
· We’ll be judged by what we know about the law! The judgment comes from what was revealed to us. We will be held in context on judgment day. We’ll be held accountable for the response to the knowledge that we were given.
· All=everyone.
13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
· Those who have no evidence of sanctification in their lives were never justified. Sanctification is the process of being more like Christ, therefore those under the work of sanctification are doers, they have heard the law, worked out the law, and have been justified.
· The doers are the ones who are righteous. Justification is the time that God calls us righteous.
14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
· The gentiles are not judged by the written law because they did not have it. God has written the law on our hearts. We have an “inner knowing” of what God requires, and that He exists. When we do good moral things because it is who we are, we are displaying that “law written on our hearts” but we credit it to ourselves...becoming laws to ourselves. Our conscience is not to be taken advantage of. We are able to silence it, but it gives us our sense of right and wrong...to an extent. It is what makes us feel guilty, even if we do not know Christ in a personal relationship.
16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
· The Day of Judgment.
· The gospel of Jesus Christ…the gospel that Paul preached.
· He judges those hidden things. The things that NOBODY knows. Isn’t that just dandy!?!?! Seems to refer more to the motives behind the actions.
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
· God lays out the advantages of the Jews. He has given them His law. They are to demonstrate it for the gentiles.
· Descendants of Abraham and Isaac.
· Jew: comes from Judah: praise
· Through his passage, and the following verses, Paul lays out how the Jews are not exempt from God’s judgment. They are chosen…but not exempt.
21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
· The main problem of the Jews! They didn’t obey! They knew everything they needed to know to be a rockstar Christian, but they didn’t live it. They did not observe the true intent of the law.
· Just a simple list of what they taught, yet didn’t even live themselves.
· Robbing temples probably had to do with pretty much destroying temples. They were full of things that could be sold for money, but the Jews were known for trashing them. They were serious about not having idols.
23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
· The Jews did not set an example for the gentiles. They led the gentiles away from the God that the Jews claimed to serve because their lives did not make sense.
· They dishonored God because they were known as His people.
· SO RELEVANT to today. I feel like I am constantly hearing this: “if you don’t act like a Christian, don’t call yourself one, because it makes the real Christians look bad”…apparently that saying has been along longer than I expected.
· Isaiah 52:5
25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
· Physical circumcision doesn’t make you a Christian. It’s only to remind you of your covenant with Christ. Jews were confused.
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
· We need the spirit now. Being a Jew and circumcision are matters of the heart. The letter cannot transform anyone. We now need to be stripped of our old ways, and live a new way…circumcision of the heart.
· It’s a God-centered life that makes gives us a covenant with Christ…this was a shocker for the Jews.
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