Romans 2:28 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Romans 2:28

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‘For he is not a Jew [meaning praised], which is one outwardly.’ This is very strongly expressed, expressed in a way that reduces the ethnic Jew to nothing, if he does not have faith as Abraham had faith. He is not a Jew at all if his Jewishness goes no further than an outward form, attaining only to the externals of religion. There were countless Jews for whom their religion was purely outward. It was a show; it was a performance; it was an obedience to the ceremonies, beginning for the males with circumcision, and then to worship and sacrifices, but it wasn't in their hearts. They were not sincere with it; they didn't know its meaning, and they weren't interested in it. They had no real relationship with God. To be a Jew is something wonderful in the eyes of heaven, but there is far more to it than just outward conformity. In reality it involves the whole man, for man is more than just what can be seen visibly. He has an invisible part – that is, invisible to his fellow man, but not invisible to God. He who treats his inner being as invisible to God, ends up worshipping a limited God, a God who is blind, and who cannot truly fellowship with man. That invisible part is much more important than the visible part. If being a Jew does not affect the heart and the soul, how has it really changed the man? It is the heart of a man that is the real centre of the person, and the body is just a vessel which carries around this treasure. True religion must affect the heart or else it has done nothing of significance. Although the believing Jew was greatly loved by God, sadly the outward Jew was no more than a temporary actor on God’s stage, who served only to show the blindness of the human heart, and the snares which can trap a man get when he tries to be religious with truly submitting to God.Circumcision too has an inward equivalent, for when the heart is circumcised, the body of the sins of the flesh is put off by the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11). This is the true meaning of the operation in the flesh, and without it you do not have a true Jew. A true Jew is one who follows in Abraham’s footsteps. He can never be content with the externals of religion, but he wants God to search him through and through, and he longs for God’s work within him where he knows he needs change more than anywhere else. It is his heart of sin that he mourns over, and he has learnt by experience that all his own efforts at self-reform are futile and without power. ‘In the spirit, and not in the letter.’ Man performs the operation of circumcision in the flesh but only the Spirit of God can perform the operation of circumcision in the heart. It is a change which God must work through the new birth. It involves repentance, and new life being put within. It is an operation on the mind, the emotions, and the will, which brings about a complete change in perspective: a new willingness to obey God, a hatred of sin, a readiness to begin the work of putting sin to death and being transformed by the renewing of the mind. The same contrast between letter and spirit is found in Romans 7:6 and 2 Corinthians 3:6. Inward circumcision is a change not in the letter, but in the spirit. Letter is shorthand for the law, and spirit is shorthand for the gospel. Without the Spirit of God the obedience rendered to the written law was an external obedience only. The obedience rendered to the gospel is an inner obedience that includes the outward obedience as a bare minimum, but goes far beyond it and affects the motives, the thoughts, the desires, and the whole heart. This spiritual type of obedience and the heartfelt conformity to the law was required of all God’s people in all ages and was seen in Abraham, who was an example to be imitated by every Israelite.‘Whose praise is not of men, but of God.’ Paul is picking up on the meaning of the name ‘Jew’, from Judah, which meant ‘praised’. Men are content with a superficial level of obedience, because they are unable to scrutinise the heart. They may therefore praise one another where God, who sees the motive, refuses to praise.

Application

How dangerous it is to rely on human praise. Some hear such praise and say, ‘My brother in Christ approves me, therefore I am safe.’ Certainly the praise of believers is safer than the praise of unbelievers – which is what Paul has in mind here – but neither are to be relied upon. Rather we should seek the praise of God who alone sees all.

Questions

Is Paul stretching the term Jew? No, he is not saying that this is his own way of looking at the term Jew, but that it is the only way of looking at the term, the only way God ever intended it to be looked at. Many would not accept this because they had to let go of too much in order to embrace this truth – their imagined righteousness and standing with God. But what they were being asked to let go of was not real.

But how can the law which included so many pointers to the work of Christ be called the letter? Because that, in essence, is what it was. It was a covenant that address the external behaviour of man and commanded external rites and ceremonies (2 Corinthians 3:6-7). Of course we know that the law is spiritual and that these external rites were designed to illustrate spiritual realities, but this was a view of things which the unbelieving majority did not have. It is not called the administration of death simply because, in practice, that is what it turned out to be. It is so named because life must come from an entirely different covenant, which was given to Abraham before, but which continued in force throughout the time of the law.

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Romans 2:28 Commentary and Bible Study

The meaning of Romans 2:28 explained