Romans 2: 17-24 and Romans 4: 14-16

Posted : 25 May, 2012 06:38 PM

Romans 2: 17-24 and Romans 4: 14-16



Romans 2 is the chapter which ends with Paul's statement that an outward Jew is not a real Jew, but a real Jew is one who is an inward Jew. He turned the chosen people teaching upside down.



But in Chapter 2 he has more to say which contradicts what is taught in many churches since the theology of John Darby, C.I. Scofield and Lewis S. Chafer took over so many churches.



Romans 2: 17-24 says "Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

18. And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;

19. And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

20. An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

21. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?...Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

24. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written."



Then in Romans 4: 14-16 Paul writes that "For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:

15. Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

16. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,"



"They which are of the law" at the time Paul was writing was physical Israel, the Jews. He is saying if they which rely upon the law for salvation, and don't keep it perfectly, faith is destroyed, and the promise is of no effect. In verse 16 he is saying something he also says, perhaps in a more explicit way, in Galatians 3: 16,18, 22, 27-29, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ....For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise....But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe....For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

29. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."



He is talking here about the transformation of physical Israel to Israel as a spiritual house (I Peter 2: 5) born again in Jesus Christ. They which are are of law had relied upon their obedience to both the moral and ceremonial law for salvation, but they were unable to keep the law perfectly and as Paul says in Romans 9: 31-32 that physical Israel did not attain to the law of righteousness because they sought it not by faith, but by the works of the law, in which they stumbled at that stumbling stone.



They which were of the law under the Old Covenant relied upon their physical, and literal descent from Abraham for salvation. They relied upon physical circumcision, on the temple building and several observances of the ceremonial law as shadows of the substance which was to come as Christ. In the transformation of Israel the shadows were done away with, the physical things were done away with, and in the texts quoted Paul is careful to teach that literal, physical descent from Abraham is no longer the way to salvation, but faith, following the faith of Abraham, is the way under the New Covenant, under Israel transformed into a spiritual house



Paul's teachings here are not taught in this way in the churches under Darby, Scofield and Chafer. The theology of these guys teaches instead that Christians have their identity in the church, which is just an assembly, a meeting, a congregation of Israel as a spiritual house, not a different Body of Christ. The theology of Darby, Scofield and Chafer teaches that Christians in the church must honor the chosen people, who are not the Christians as I Peter 2:9 teaches. Christians in the church are surrogates or proxies for those who remain the chosen people. The church Christians who follow Darby, Scofield and Chafer have an identity problem. In plain language, they are messed up.

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