1. At the end of Romans 1, Paul taught that since God has revealed Himself to all of humanity through His creation, people have no excuse not to acknowledge and worship Him. In this chapter, he challenges people who acknowledge God but don’t obey Him.
What causes people to know God’s commands but not follow them?
John 14:23-24 - Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
I used to interpret this verse as saying we will show our love to Jesus by doing what He says. But that’s not how the verse reads. The proper understanding is that if we love Jesus first, then we will obey. The obedience follows love.
People may acknowledge God but not love Him. And when they don’t love Him, they won’t be motivated to obey Him. Instead, they may get prideful because they know the truth of God but be hypocritical because they don’t love Him enough to act on the truth they know.
Our goal is to love Jesus so much that we want to obey Him.
2. Compare Romans 2:1-3 with Matthew 7:1-5:
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
What do these two passages teach us about judging others?
While we are to discern between right and wrong, we are not to “pass judgment” on anyone in the sense that we condemn them. When we judge someone in this way, we’re raising ourselves above them and acting as if they can never improve. We have found them guilty and sentenced them.
But because we’re all sinners, and God is the only one who has never sinned, He’s the only one who has the right to pass judgment on someone. In fact, He’s the only one whose judgment is accurate. We need to practice humility and not put ourselves in the place of God.
3. In verse 4, Paul tells us that God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience is meant to lead us toward repentance. How does understanding how kind and patient and slow to punish God is lead us to repentance?
First, God doesn’t destroy us and sentence us the moment we sin; He gives us time to repent.
Second, when we realize how much we’ve sinned against such a kind and patient God, it moves us to want to repent and live righteously so that we can please Him.
4. How does remembering God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience toward us help us not to judge others?
If God has been so good to us when we have sinned and do sin, we should be patient with others. Even when they sin, we should be kind, rather than wrathful, to them, hoping they will repent.
5. Verse 7 reads, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” Many Christians get this backward. They think going to Heaven (gaining eternal life) is our goal. According to this verse, eternal life isn’t our goal but our reward. Our goal – what we should be seeking – is glory, honor, and immortality.
Before we go any further with this thought, think about this question: What is the difference between immortality and eternal life?
Immortality is to live forever from your beginning forward. You were born, but you will never die. In the Christian understanding, we know that we will die, but we will not remain dead. We will experience death, but death will not hold us captive.
Eternal life, on the other hand, is to live forever without beginning and without end. It’s to be outside of beginnings and endings completely. Only God is eternal. When He gives us eternal life, it means He will bring us into His state of being: Heaven.
6. What does it mean to seek glory, and honor, and immortality rather than eternal life?
Seeking eternal life seems to be wanting the good life, wanting to rest, wanting all of this striving in life to be over. Seeking glory and honor and a way to defeat death takes being active and striving to be great in this life. It’s active vs. passive. It’s accomplishing vs. waiting for Jesus to do it all.
Don’t get me wrong; Jesus paid for our salvation. But now that we’re members of God’s family, children of the King and co-heirs with Christ, we are not to be passive in this life. We are to actively persist in doing good so that God will give us glory, honor, immortality, and bring us into His life.
Also, notice in verse 10, Paul adds peace to the list of what God will give us.
7. What do verses 12-16 tell us about the fate of those who never heard about the true God?
First, remember in chapter 1 how Paul said no one is without excuse for not acknowledging God. All must understand there is a Divine Creator. But not everyone knows the specifics of what God is like or what He has done for us. They don’t or didn’t have the Scriptures we do.
So, instead of being judged based on whether they worshiped God correctly or trusted Jesus as their savior, God will judge them based on their conscience. Along with creation, this is the second witness He has given to every person. Everyone can experience the evidence of creation and feel the image of God within themselves in the form of their conscience.
We do not know the specifics of how strictly God will judge them, but we read that their thoughts will not completely condemn them; their thoughts will even defend them!
Paul wants us to understand there is hope for those who do not have the Scriptures, just as much as there is stricter judgment for those who do have the Scriptures and don’t follow them.
What to DO after reading this passage
Paul says that if we are seeking glory, honor, and immortality, we need to be persistent in doing good. Spend a moment in prayer asking God to call to mind the good He’s told you to do, then resolve to accomplish it.
How would you summarize verses 17-24?
The gist seems to be “Don’t be a hypocrite.” If you know something is wrong, don’t do it.
Paul’s examples are stealing, committing adultery, robbing the temples of idols. The chances are that you don’t do those things, but maybe you commit a lesser sin related to these major ones. Maybe it’s cheating on your time card at your work, or telling off-color jokes, or watching movies with sex scenes, or investing money in businesses that don’t deal in God-honoring products.
Whatever sin we might commit, we know it’s wrong, and we’re being hypocritical if we continue in it.
What motives might someone have for acting hypocritically?
We don’t want to give up our sin completely
We want to fit in with others
We haven’t yet realized something is wrong
What is the result when unbelievers see us acting hypocritically?
Verse 26 tells us they blaspheme God. Unbelievers do not respect believers who act contrary to their beliefs. This isn’t the result we’re looking for when we do what we know we shouldn’t, but we need to understand that when we claim the name of Christian, we are representing Jesus and His Father to the world. Our sinful and hypocritical actions do not only reflect poorly on us but also on Them.
When we act hypocritically in front of someone, what can we do to redeem the message of Christ in their eyes?
This is actually a great opportunity to show humility and what the Gospel is all about. Admit that you sinned and that the Spirit convicted you of it. Communicate that you’ve repented and that God has forgiven you. Ensure them that you’re going to try harder to live out your faith in a more authentic manner.
If acting hypocritically made them lose respect for you and the God you claim to serve, this is sure to go a long way toward giving them the right idea of what a Christian is and how God deals with us.
Paul was speaking to Jewish Christians in the Roman church in this chapter. Circumcision was the male Jew’s initiation into the Jewish faith. From eight days old onward, he was to be raised observing the covenant his people had with God. What is our initiation into the Christian faith?
We might have a couple of initiations, depending on your understanding and tradition. Perhaps your initiation into the faith was when you said the “Sinners’ Prayer,” or when you were Dedicated, or Baptized, or Confirmed, or took your First Communion. Maybe it was when the Holy Spirit entered you or when you Recommitted your life to Christ.
Does Paul say circumcision has any value?
Circumcision has value if Jewish people keep the Law (verse 25) and as long as it’s not merely outward and physical (verse 28).
There’s nothing wrong with circumcision or our rites of initiation. In many cases, God commands us to observe those sacraments and actions. They can be very meaningful to us and aid in our growth as a Christian.
What takes value away from circumcision and, by extension, our rites of initiation?
Paul says that if Jews break the Law, it’s as if they’re not circumcised (verses 25-27). They can’t be part of the covenant people if they don’t observe the entire covenant. Their one-time rite of initiation means nothing if they don’t follow through with it.
It’s the same with us. Saying a prayer or being baptized or having a spiritual experience will do us no good in the end if we don’t continue in the faith.
What is more important than circumcision?
People who follow the Law but aren’t circumcised are better than those who are circumcised and don’t follow the Law (verse 27). We might say that people who follow Jesus but don’t engage in all the same rites we do are better than people who have gone through all the correct rites but don’t live in obedience.
A change of heart by the Spirit is really what God is looking for (verse 29). When we allow the Spirit to change our hearts, we will want to be obedient.
What to DO after reading this passage
Ask the Spirit to show you in what ways you’re being hypocritical, then ask Him to change your heart on those issues.
Do you have another insight into this passage? Please share below!
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