July 20. Romans 2. Reese Holland

Repentance, Not Rule Following?

Jews in the 1st century were schooled from a young age in the scripture, called to be set apart, living in a way considered abnormal and strange to the Gentiles around them. In this environment, the law was one of the defining features of Jewish living. When the scriptures become, simply, just part of how you live, it is easy for the law to lose its purpose, definition, and meaning. It can simply become rules that you follow because of your culture. This appears to be one of the many things that Paul is pointing out in Romans 2. In verse 3 he makes a statement that cuts deep:

“Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?”

Paul points out that our knowledge of “the law” is useless, unless it leads to true repentance. It is easy to sit from a place of knowledge and scoff at those who lack it, but that very knowledge is “storing up wrath” unless it leads to a repentant heart and changed mind.

Paul ties things together later on in this section in verses 15 and 16 when he points out that we will be judged not according to the law, but rather by the gospel and Christ Jesus.

If judgement day was scriptural exam, many of us would do fairly well on that exam. But God’s judgement revolves around the gospel. The gospel isn’t about knowing, but rather about love an repentance. God desires to have the hearts of his children. Those very children are the ones that are driven to action. As verse 24 alludes to, is God blasphemed among the non-Christians because of us? Are we whitewashed tombs? The appearance of godliness without substance will drive people further away from God. Our love and our changed lives are what attract people to God. This is among the reasons the church continued to grow despite massive persecution in its infancy. So let us be people of repent action instead of bloated vessels of knowledge!