In my humble biblical opinion, Paul’s Jewish audience is a little warm with him. He threw them a kidney punch when he said that it is not the hearers of the law who are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. (Romans 2:13)
And to make matters worse, he said one is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. (Romans 2:28-29)
But as we learned in Acts, Paul frequently faced opposition to his teaching. So, he utilizes that experience to proactively address three potential objections.
We will tackle the first one today and the other two on Wednesday and Thursday.
Objection 1 – What’s The Point Of Being A Jew? Why Get Circumcised?
Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? (Romans 3:1)
What is the benefit of being a Jew? If the Father loves Jews and Gentiles alike, then what is the advantage of being a Jew? If circumcision does not secure our covenant relationship with the Lord, why should we get circumcised and obey these extremely restrictive laws?
Some of us NT Christians would put it this way.
• What is the benefit of attending church if church attendance does not save me?
• What is the benefit of tithing if tithing does not protect me from financial woes?
• What is the benefit of being a Christian if it does not prevent me from going through trials and tribulations?
• What is the benefit of being a Christian if I can still die from some life-threatening disease like cancer?
My brothers and sisters, our relationship with the Father through Jesus SHOULD NOT BE TRANSACTIONAL. Slow down. Let’s read that again. Our relationship with the Lord SHOULD NOT BE TRANSACTIONAL. We are not Christians merely for the benefits. Our walk with Him is not a tool for living our best life now.
But unfortunately, this benefits-first mindset has relegated so many of us to erratic peaks and valley-style relationships with the Lord.
There is a story of a businessman whose job required constant travel. Initially, when he left, his son would walk around the house crying. He missed his father.
When the father would come home, he would try to explain where he had been, but his son was too young to understand. So, he started bringing him a gift home from every trip and used it as an object lesson.
Well, one day, he came home, and his son met him at the door with great delight. But instead of hugging his father, he starts looking around. Where is the gift? He does not see it. So he makes a beeline for his father’s bag, opens it, and, to the son’s dismay - no gift.
Frustrated, the son walks away without hugging or playing with his father. Instead, he is crying because he did not receive a gift.
For the son, the father’s return home had become transactional. Not an opportunity to reunite with his father. But a chance to receive a gift.
Let’s not allow our relationship with the Lord to become transactional. We have the opportunity to be in a relationship with the Almighty One, who created us for fellowship with Him. (1 Corinthians 1:9)
Let’s not ruin it by making it all about what He can do for us. Nor can we allow rather the Father answers our prayer to define our value in His eyes. We are not special to Him because He blessed us. We are special because He created us to be special. (Genesis 1:31 , Psalm 139:14)
And I believe that is what Paul is trying to get his Jewish audience to see. Regardless of their ability to keep the law or their self-righteous view of circumcision, they are still and will always be special to Yahweh.
For they were entrusted with the actual words of God. (Romans 3:1-2) Out of all the people groups in the world, Yahweh expressed His love for them and His desire to be in relationship with them by giving them the cheat code for being in a covenant relationship with Him.
In the same manner, He thinks enough of you and I to give us the fulfillment of His standard for righteousness in Jesus the Christ. Therefore, let’s love Him for who He is and what He has done for us, with the understanding that the blessings of God should not define our relationship with Him.