Guilty, Vile and Helpless Israel, pt. 4 - E26

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Unchanging Truth, the verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jerod Gilcher, lead pastor of Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. Through the living and active Word of God, the Unchanging Truth exists to encourage your soul, transform your life, and help you trust and treasure Christ as redeemer, savior, and king. Now, opening the scriptures and proclaiming the truth that never changes, here is Dr. Jerod Gilcher.
Dr. Jerod Gilcher: Baptism is this external, outward thing commanded by God. And yet what people do is that they oftentimes attribute to the physical act of baptism a power it doesn't actually possess. Many people think that baptism has this mystical power that somehow enhances their spiritual status, that the act itself makes you pleasing to God, that going into the water unlocks some kind of mystical power, when the reality is, all you're doing is getting a little wet. The physical act itself doesn't do anything, but the deeper reality to which it points means everything. Do you see? It's an outward sign of an inward reality. Baptism is a dramatic reenactment of what happened to your soul when God saved you. It doesn't add any grace, it doesn't cleanse your sin, and it doesn't mean anything if the deeper reality to which it points hasn't happened to you. Do you see? And it's exactly the case with circumcision. And now, to be clear, and this is important to me that you get this, baptism is not the New Testament equivalent to circumcision. That is nowhere in the Bible. But there are some similarities, some parallels. Circumcision was an outward sign of a deeper reality, namely that you belonged to a unique, set-apart people chosen by God. The act itself didn't contain any magical power. It was just a little procedure on a patch of skin smaller than a postage stamp. And just so you know, other nations of the world also did circumcision. But the reality it represented was massive, massive. Think about it like this: baptism is a picture of what has happened to you. Circumcision is a picture of what needed to happen to you, namely surgery on your very soul. That's why Moses said in Deuteronomy 30, verse 6, "Yahweh your God will circumcise your hearts so that you will love Him with all your heart, soul, and strength." The act didn't do anything, but it pointed their hearts to look with faith and trust in the promise of God alone. Does that make sense? So, bumpers. Bumpers. They needed clarification. Paul goes for the throat in verse 25. Circumcision indeed is profitable if you should practice the law. But if you should be a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. And here's the thing you've got to keep in mind here. Back in verses 21 through 24, Paul exposed the hypocrisy of the Jews. Do you remember that? He showed their faith to be a sham. The way they lived brought dishonor to God. Look at verse 24. "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." And yet he knows exactly what they're thinking, because he himself used to think the same way. Sure, Paul, you can accuse us all you want. You can dig up whatever dirt on us you would like, but the fact still remains, we've got immunity. We are the circumcised. We are the offspring of Abraham. We have a guarantee, we have a contract. You of all people should know, Paul, that God has a plan for our people and circumcision is the proof. To which Paul says, you're right. Circumcision does have value if you practice the law. Meaning what? Well, the law was the law of Moses, the Torah, the Pentateuch, the Ten Commandments and beyond. And notice the key word there in verse 25. The key word there is practice. If you practice the law, meaning faithful adherence to all the law's commands. Understand this: keeping the law was not a way to earn a righteous standing. Don't miss this. But keeping the law was an expression of faith. It was proof of your faith in the promises of God. That's the point. In fact, put it like this, and this is really crucial: keeping the law was proof of your faith in the promise of which circumcision was the pointer. Do you see how it all connects? I mean, so what? So what, a rabbi snipped you with scissors when you were eight days old? So what? It doesn't mean a thing if you do not keep the law as an overflow and expression of your faith. I hope that makes sense. And it's the same with us. We can go to church, we can be baptized, we can be raised in a Christian home, we could have prayed the prayer one day, raised a hand, walked an aisle, made some emotional dedication to God one night at a camp. But the words of Christ are jarring and clear: "If you love Me, you will keep My commands." That's the issue here. And the sword cuts the other way. Look at verse 25. Circumcision is profitable if you practice the whole law, but if you should be a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Yikes. You can't say that, Paul. You can't say that. You ever hit a beehive with a baseball bat? That's what Paul just did. If you're a transgressor of the law, Paul says—which in verses 21 through 24, he said that they were—if you're a transgressor of the law, your circumcision by itself doesn't mean squat. It's meaningless. In fact, if you don't have faith in the promise of which circumcision was the pointer, it's as if your circumcision was uncircumcision. Meaning, you're no closer to God than the pagans you condemn. You're outside the covenant. The promises of God do not apply to you because you show by the way you live you don't actually believe the promise. Do you see? That's the dynamic here. In other words, your life of sin shows that you don't actually believe. And the same is true for us. If we live a life of sin and indifference to God, it shows that we don't actually believe. Our faith isn't real. Communion, baptism, serving in the church, membership in the church, by itself, it doesn't mean squat. But if it flows from a heart of dependent faith that reveals itself in obedience to the word, then that's what God is after. The question is, is that the kind of faith that you possess? Imperfect though it is, and flawed though it be, do you nevertheless see your faith in Christ overflowing in ever-increasing adherence to the word of Christ? That's the question that you have to grapple with. And this the Jews did not possess. So Paul hits the other side of the beehive. Look at verse 26. "If the uncircumcised man should practice the righteous ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?" Man, that is offensive. And that is risky. You can't say that, Paul. I mean, I know it's just a hypothetical conversation, but Paul has had this conversation for real. And when he did, at many times, almost darn near cost him his life. Look what he says: "If the uncircumcised man should practice the righteous ordinances of the law, which proves that his faith is real, won't it be as if he were circumcised?" Meaning, if he actually has faith in the promises of God, whether he's circumcised or not, isn't that exactly the point of circumcision in the first place? That circumcision would point you to faith in the promise of God? Won't he be regarded just as if he were circumcised? It's kind of a crazy question, but the answer is yes. That is exactly the point. Circumcision was to point you to trust alone in the promise of God, and if you have that faith without being circumcised, then God would regard you as a fully equal heir in the kingdom to come at the end of the age. That's the point. And the point is clarity. The point is precision. It's bumpers in the gutters. Listen very carefully. External outward acts, even ones that God commands, they don't merit anything from God, and they only have value when they flow from a heart of dependent faith. And here it is: faith that demonstrates itself in a life transformed by sovereign grace. Does that make sense? That's what Paul's after. That's the clarification. That's what Paul's teaching here. And that's a lesson we really need to hear. We so easily measure our maturity by externals, don't we? Even our salvation we measure by externals, while ignoring inner heart affections. Because we do some things and we had an emotional experience once, or we were raised in a Christian home, or we are members of a church, or we made some kind of dedication or rededication and then another rededication—because we did that, then surely that is proof that our faith is authentic. And it is not proof, necessarily. We forget one of the most important lessons in life. 1 Samuel 16:7, "Man looks at the outward appearance, the Lord looks at the heart." Is this the kind of faith that you possess? A heart of dependent faith that shows itself in a life transformed by sovereign grace? It's okay to examine your lives. It's more than okay to ask the question: What is it that I am truly, actually trusting in? For the Jews, it was their circumcision. And so he hits the beehive again in verse 27. In fact, he takes it to the next level. Look what he says: "The one who is physically uncircumcised, who keeps the law, will judge you who through the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law." Paul, you can't say that. You can't say it. Not to legalistic Jews, anyway. Because what did he say? Look at the text. The man who is physically uncircumcised, the Gentile, if he keeps the law as an expression of his faith, at the end of the age, he will condemn the Jews who did not have faith. That's what he's saying. I think the point is their lives will be evidence, incriminating evidence, because they had the faith the Jews did not, thus proving that their circumcision was worthless in the end. That's what Paul means when he says through the letter and circumcision you are a transgressor of the law. In other words, it's just external to you. It's just an outward procedure. It's just this ritual to you, this outward external thing. It doesn't mean anything to you. You're missing the heart reality to which it points. And what you should have had is not faith in the act itself, but in the promise of God. You missed the point of circumcision. You missed the point of being a Jew. Look at verse 28: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward in the flesh. But the Jew is one who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God." Do you see what he's saying? It was never about your ethnic status as Jews, as if that was the point. And circumcision, it was never about some little medical procedure, as if that had the power to cleanse your soul. Rather, that always pointed to the heart, like the miracle of new birth and regeneration. Being born again from the inside out, whose praise and glory comes not from men, but comes from God. And that is the bumper in the gutter that is so badly needed. External rituals are worthless without heart reality. I mean, you could take verses 28 and 29, substitute "Jew" for "Christian", "circumcision" for "baptism", and you feel exactly what he's after. Look at the text again: "For the Christian is not one who is one outwardly, nor is baptism outward in the flesh. But the Christian is one who is inward, and baptism is of the heart, by the Spirit, not through mere external act, whose praise is not from men, but comes from God." Do you see? It's not that what we do doesn't matter, but that what we do is an expression of faith that trusts alone in the sovereign grace of God. That's the point. Clarification number two. Number two: Their calling is still good. And when I say their, I mean the Jews. Their calling is still good, God is still faithful, sin is still bad. That's the clarification, that's the bumper. Their calling is still good, God is still faithful, and sin is still bad. This is still directed to the hypothetical Jew. And just so you know, I really like hard texts in the Bible. I love hard texts in the Bible. I really enjoy texts that make you squirm and fight and wrestle and sweat and dig because the treasure they contain is so worth it in the end. And just so you know, it is universally agreed upon almost by every commentator and scholar of Romans that the text you're about to see is the entire hardest text in the whole letter, if not even the New Testament. And it is tough. I mean, Peter was exactly right. There are some things hard to understand in Paul. And yet, I don't want you to be intimidated. I don't want you to—okay, you know what? He said it's going to be hard, it's going to be challenging, I'm going to throw in the intellectual towel here. Don't do that. I beg you do not do that because hard though it may be, I don't think it's unclear. In fact, it's extremely relevant to your lives. In fact, here's the reason why the text you're about to see is so hard. You ready? I think this will help us. Imagine that you are an eyewitness to a debate between two people. An intense, heated debate between two people in which one side misunderstands the other. And imagine if you were watching this debate unfold and you were writing down word-for-word the exchange of dialogue. What would that dialogue sound like? There would be interruptions, there would be changes of subject, there would be half-finished sentences, and it would be all very passionate. That's exactly what Romans 3:1-8 is. No wonder the text is so tricky. So keep that in mind as we go through this. That's why it feels the way it does. And again, the whole point of everything that Paul's about to say is that it's a clarification. It's a bumper in the gutter. I mean, Paul has said a lot of things that could be misconstrued by the Jews, and they did misconstrue them. I mean, they think—they think Paul said God is done with the people of Israel. That's what they think he said. They think Paul took the entire Old Testament, crumpled it up with the law and the covenants and circumcision and all the promises to Israel, and said all of it is worthless. But that is not what Paul said at all. And so he has to clarify, which he does in three parts, and they're in your notes. Part one: Their calling is still good. Their calling is still good. Look at verses 1 and 2: "What therefore is the advantage of the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision? It's great in every respect." Stop right there. You can tell, I hope, that verse 1 is a complaint. It's the complaint of the Jewish opponent. He doesn't like what Paul just said, or he doesn't like what he thinks Paul just said. And what does he think that Paul just said? Look at verse 1. What does he think Paul just said? The Jews have no advantages. Circumcision is worthless. Look at his question: "What then is the advantage of the Jew? What is the profit of circumcision?" Question: What does he think Paul's answer to that is? None. There is no advantage in being a Jew. Circumcision has no profit. That's what the Jew thinks Paul thinks. And to be fair, chapter 2 kind of sounded that way. Paul has labored to prove that the Jews are just as guilty as the nations, right? That they too were slaves of sin in need of a redeemer. Being a Jew doesn't save you, circumcision doesn't make you righteous. And the opponent, flustered and angry, lashes out and says, "Well, what was the point of all that?" "Our history, the deliverance at the Exodus, the giving of the law, the covenants, if we are under sin just like the Gentiles, then what was the point of all that? Why drag us through the ceremonies and the rituals and the sacrifices? What was even the point? According to you, Paul, according to you, all of it was worthless." And Paul says, "That's not true, and that's not what I said." Look at verse 2. What are the advantages of a Jew? They are great in every respect. See his clarification? "For on the one hand, they were entrusted with the oracles of God." Do you see it? Paul's saying, "No, no. That's not what I said. In every possible way, being a Jew was advantageous and profitable. You were chosen by God, you were adopted by God, you had covenants with God, you were chosen to be His channel of blessing to the ends of the earth." How much more advantageous can you get?