Romans 2:18-20 - If you are ....

2:18,19

The Jews were proud of the Law. They knew God’s will. Why did they know it? Because God had told them! They had a knowledge and some understanding of what was really true, so they were able to tell what was “excellent” or “superior”, or so they thought. They saw themselves as a light for the blind. They had better knowledge than the pagan nations around them, and so could teach these peoples a better way, and would avoid their inferior practices.

Soon Paul is going to go on the attack and severely criticise them, but there is something we can learn here first. With our current mindsets we would join in criticising the Jews here, but our problem is that we are not confident enough in the Bible, in what God has revealed to us. We do have light that the world does not have, and we need to shine the light upon the world. In fact the Old Testament tells us to be a light to which the nations will come (Is 60:1-3), and Jesus tells us to do the same (Matt 5:14-16).

2:20

The Law has the embodiment of knowledge and truth. Now since Paul is speaking rhetorically here this could be said in a mocking manner since he is criticising the Jew. However, knowing what we do of Paul and his attitude to the Law this cannot be so. Moreover, it is the hypothetical Jew’s attitude to himself and his own righteousness that is under attack here, not the Law itself. The Law does actually contain knowledge and truth, the problem was that the Jews misunderstood it. They thought the Law was it, they thought the Law was the means by which men would become righteous. In fact, the Law was pointing towards the means of salvation, towards Christ. Paul will say something about this later in Romans, and expounded most clearly on this point in Galatians chapters 3 and 4.

We need to recognise the high place that the Law has. Jesus said He did not come to do away with the Law but to fulfil it. So how are we to treat the Law. Well, as a rough guide we can consider it as moral, social and ceremonial. The sacrificial system and other ceremonial aspects do not apply to us. They are still important though, and their importance lies in their pointing towards Jesus, towards His sacrificial death upon the cross. The moral law still applies and has always applied, and if you look carefully at the Law you will be amazed how “liberal” it is. Some things, like the food laws, do not apply and were given to distinguish Israel from other nations.