ROMANS UNWRAPPED 28

                                

                                   Religious objections to the judgment of God.
                                                                                                        
                                                                                                Romans 2 v 17- Romans 3 v 8.

So far, in his teaching in Romans, Paul has declared that sin is sin, no matter who commits it, and that all sinners are under the judgment of God.   This is true because God is no respecter of persons.   His argument is clear, all Gentile sinners are under the wrath of God, as are all Jewish sinners.   Paul, being a converted Jew himself, would understand that this would raise some objections in the Jewish mind and in the section we are considering  Romans 2 v 17 - Romans 3 v 8  he answers  what he thinks will be the three main objections to the teaching of the gospel.

1. WE HAVE THE LAW    Romans 2  v  17 - 24
2. WE ARE THE CIRCUMCISION    Romans 2 v 25 - 29 
3. WE ARE GOD'S PEOPLE  under covenant promise    Romans 3 v 1 - 8

Paul, patiently deals with each objection one by one.   This is an aspect of gospel preaching, that is rarely considered, the need to answer objections in the minds of people.   God's gospel is not only true, it is also logical, and so we must be patient to clear the minds of all hearers, of the prejudices they may have, because this message is so fundamental and necessary that all difficulties must be resolved.   So we read of Paul  "opening", and "alleging", and "reasoning", and "persuading"  in various portions of scripture.   This is what Paul is doing here, answering possible objections, clearing away the debris, before starting to build the gospel in their minds.

He comes now to the very heart of the matter

1. Objection 1....... we have the law    Romans 2  v  17 - 24

What do people rely on for their eternal blessing?  Notice the language he uses in this section " you rest in the law,"   "you make your boast in God,"   "you know God's will,"  "you approve things that are more excellent",  "you are confident that you are a guide of others".  This is reaching deep into the mind- set of the religious Jew, who was brought up to believe, and lives to promote, the fact that they are superior to every other class of people in the world.

This was their hope for the future, this they totally relied upon for God's blessing, and in the process had an air of superiority, and an attitude of one- upmanship, a life long belief in their exalted position in the world, so far as God was concerned.

It is a fair question, what do you rely on for eternity, what is your hope beyond this life, because it is only the gospel that gives the proper answer to that.  

So great, was the aura of superiority of the Jewish nation, it had led them to despise others, believing that Gentiles were dogs, uncircumcised, even some considered non-Jews to be "fuel for the fires of hell".   The law that God gave them, and which separated them from other nations, was never intended to engender such pride; on the contrary the law was given to expose the frailties and the sins of the human heart, one of the worst of which was pride.  

This pride was best illustrated in Paul's life, when all his religious upbringing and learning and privilege, led him to such a prejudice against others that he was found " breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord"   Acts 9 v 1.   His religious intolerance led him to prejudicial attitudes and actions against all others, which as he later found out was totally contrary to the law.

Tomorrow d.v. we will look at the details of this wrong perception of Judaism and how their religion totally failed to represent the law of God.   We will see that they had what they considered to be;

a.   A SUPERIOR NATIONAL HERITAGE.
b.   A SUPERIOR RELIGION
c.   THEY WERE SUPERIOR IN THEIR ASSOCIATION
d.   SUPERIOR IN KNOWLEDGE
e.   SUPERIOR IN INTELLECT

...............However sadly INFERIOR in their practice......i.e. inferior to the demands of the law.

We all have to search our hearts to see if we harbour any of the above misconceptions and really challenge ourselves as to whether our practice matches up to our profession.   It is, unfortunately a trait of the human heart to deceive ourselves, to present an image of ourselves that does not match up to reality.   We can kid ourselves, we can kid others, but the all-seeing eye of God will expose the truth.   Better to have it exposed now than at the day of judgement.
Paul is leading up to the fact that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" Romans 3 v 23.