09 Sep Paul Footsteps #248

It should be apparent from Rom.2:21-23 that hypocrisy comes naturally to us all. Have you ever heard the statement that we often dislike in others what we are ourselves? Their problem, Paul notes, was not their message but that they didn’t live up to it, they said one thing yet did another. “They don’t practice what they teach,” Jesus said. (Matt.23:3, NLT).

The prophets of old rebuked extortion (Ezek.22:12), dishonest scales (Amos.8:5), withholding tithes and offerings (Mal.3:8-09), and a multitude of other social problems brought on by the hypocrisy of the advocates of the law. Jesus censured the money changers for making the church a den of thieves (Matt.21:13), and for cheating widows (Mark.12:40).

Paul’s examples in vs21-23 were pointed. He brought the series of questions to a conclusion by inferring that those who bragged about the law really didn’t obey it. In that, he suggests, they dishonoured God (v23). Once again, according to Paul’s argument, the Jews stood under the condemnation of God.

The atheist Friedrich Nietzsche once proclaimed that the best argument against Christianity is Christians. Ghandi made a similar statement about the difference between the teachings of Jesus and his followers in India. People who advocate a high ideal, but don’t live up to it, turn others away. The ultimate difficulty is that personal hypocrisy reflects on the God whom the person claims to be serving. (NB v24). The hypocrisy problem wasn’t new and it is not over today either.

God desires His people to fully live for Him. There is nothing wrong with God’s law. In Rom.7:12 Paul freely admits that it is “holy”, “just” and “good.” The problem is not the law but in those who pride themselves in it while not living up to its precepts.

The apostle has been careful to point out in Romans that possessing the law does not make people superior. There is something else, something beyond the law, that we need. And that something is what Paul is driving toward step by step in Romans 2. It is found in Jesus, who provides the answer to all our needs through His death, resurrection and work on our behalf.