Study of Romans: Circumcision of the Heart

Having seen the grounds of God’s righteous judgement in Chapter 2, verses 1 to 16, and having established that God does not show favouritism, Paul turns to assessment of Jews about their compliance of the Law.  

Paul takes on the Jew directly here. He shows that despite the privileges bestowed upon them as a race, the Jews have fallen far short of the mark. They are no better than the Gentile. All of them stand guilty before God, both the Jew and the Gentile.

Paul launches the direct attack on Jews in chapter 2 verses 17 to 24.   

Jews boast that they have the Law and have a relationship with God. God has entered into a covenantal relationship with the Jews, the descendants of Abraham. God, who is sovereign, chose to enter into a relationship with the Jews, the vassal people, who will be protected by God, if they will obey Him. Exodus 19:5. God chose the Jews to be His people Deuteronomy 14:2, but this has given only a religious pride in the Jew.

The Jews also boast that they have Moses’ Law, containing the commandments of God, the Pentateuch. But did they obey the Law?

Jews claim that they are instructed in the Law and hence know the will of God and consider only what is superior in the light of such a Law. Paul’s question is, do they really know the will of God and act accordingly? Or is it only a pride in the religious privileges and contempt for others, who are outside the covenantal relationship?

Again, a Jew living abroad, among the non-Jews, considered himself as a guide to the blind and a light to those who are in the dark. Jesus called such people ‘blind guides,’ in Matthew 15:14. Jesus also exclaimed that the Pharisees do not practice what they preach. Matthew 32:3. That was the reality.

The Jews considered a Gentile as foolish and infantile, in need of instruction from a Jew, because they had the Law, the embodiment of knowledge and truth. A non-Jew did not know the right from the wrong and morally inferior to a Jew. Such self-righteousness led to moral pride in a Jew.

Paul then attacks the Jews, asking them, they who teach others, do they not teach themselves? Do they practice what they preach? Do they live up to their own ideals? Paul is exposing the hypocrisy of the Jews.

Paul continues the questioning. The Jews who preach the others not to steal, do they not steal? Were they not robbing the poor? Amos 2:6,7; 8:4,5,6. Do they not steal God Himself, by not paying the tithes and offerings? Malachi 3:8. These were happening in Paul’s time as well.

Jews teach others not to commit adultery, but Paul is asking do they themselves not commit such sins? Jews were living a loose life during the 1^st century AD, during the time of Jesus and Paul. Men were divorcing their wives for flimsy reasons like having burnt the bread.

This was reflected in the Pharisees’ question to Jesus in Matthew 19:3. This led Jesus to lay down the rule that ‘anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness and marries another woman commits adultery.’ Mt.19:9.

Paul continues. Jews say that they abhor idols, but do they not rob the temples? Jews abhor idols, rightly so, but they had no compunction in robbing a temple and looting the gold and silver from that place.

God does not want such defiled items to be brought into his Temple, as clearly written in Deuteronomy 7:25-26. “Do not covet silver and gold on them (images of their gods)… for it is detestable to the Lord your God.” Still a Jew broke this commandment of the Law, just like Achan, who coveted silver and gold at Ai and was destroyed. Joshua 7:20-21.

Paul finally asks the Jew, you who brag so much about the Law, do you not dishonour God by breaking the Law? Jews were always breaking the Law, knowing fully well the written code. Such knowledge did not save them from acting worse than a Gentile.

Such conduct by the Jews, the so-called God’s people, led God’s name being blasphemed among the Gentiles. Paul quotes here from Isaiah 52:5. The dishonour of the Jew reflected his religion. In Ezekiel 36:21 the Lord laments that “I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.”

A holy God who commanded Israel “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy, Leviticus 19:2, complained in Malachi 1:12, Israel profaned his great name. Such was the conduct of a Jew.

Jews were considered by others as disgusting of all races. Their pride, self-righteousness, exhortation of money by way of usury, claims of exclusiveness and privileges - all made them hateful to the others in the society. They were considered unsocial and extortionists. It reflected poorly on their religion.

The Jews judge others who practice such vices, but commit the same sins themselves. Are they any better than the Gentiles, who do not have the Law? Paul says a big ‘No.’

In verses 25, 26 and 27, Paul comments on the most important identification of a Jew, the circumcision. That is the sign of the covenant, which God made with Abraham and his descendants. It became a national sign, an outward manifestation that they belonged to God. That was their passport to heaven, as it indicated that they were Abraham’s children.

Paul’s argument is, if they observed the Law, circumcision is of value, but if they broke it, they are as good or as bad as the uncircumcised. In the same way, if the uncircumcised person kept the requirements of the Law, then they will be regarded as if they were circumcised.

One, who is not circumcised physically, but obeys the Law will condemn the Jew, who has the advantages of a written code and circumcision and yet is a law-breaker.

Here Paul is arguing with the Jews on their own grounds of the written code, the Law and circumcision. In Christ, there is no circumcision or non-circumcision. Colossians 3:11, for ‘Christ is all, and is in all.’ But here Paul is still arguing in the terms of a Jew and not a Christian.

Finally, in verses 28 and 29, Paul concludes that a man is not a Jew outwardly, just because he is circumcised, and that circumcision is not just physical, wrought by the written code, but must be inwardly, and it should be the circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit.

Paul is just reflecting the commandment of Moses in Deuteronomy 10:16, “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” So also, exhorts Jeremiah 4:4, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem…”  

The inner life of thought, desire, motive and mind must be as per the will of God, reflecting inward purity. “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” Galatians 6:15. This is possible only in the New Testament dispensation with the operation of the Holy Spirit to transform a person.

Wasn’t this that the Lord proclaimed in Ezekiel 36:26, 27. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

What the Law had no power to do, the Spirit within us was able to do, enabling us to walk in the ways of the Lord. It was not the written code, but the power of the Holy Spirit, that would empower us to live as the children of God.

Points to ponder:

1.    Do we carry a moral superiority to the others, especially a Hindu, because we know the True Way, Jesus Christ?

2.    Do we live up to the teachings of Jesus Christ?

3.    If divorce and remarriage are considered as adultery, where do we stand?

4.    Do we nail Jesus to the cross again and again by our misconducts?

5.    Are our hearts circumcised with true repentance?

It will do us good to contemplate on these, especially in the light of Paul’s debate about Jewish Law and their adherence to it.

God bless you all.