Romans 2:17-29

 Romans 2:17-29

There was a lot more to being a Jew than a certain genetic heritage and circumcision. Paul points out that being right is not just knowing the right thing and performing the right rituals; it is also a matter of living out those beliefs and living up to what those rituals represent. When a person fails to live up to those high standards, they bring their whole faith system into bad repute. That is what David did, and what Paul refers to with the quote, “The name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you”. David, the anointed and special blessed of God, has an affair with his friend’s wife, then to cover up the pregnancy, murders her husband, and marries his one-night stand. His reputation as a man of God and his behavior as a traitorous murderer resulted in pagans mocking God.

Paul says that the Jews were doing the same thing. Their self-aggrandizement about being God’s chosen and holy people, conflicting with their rotten behavior, resulted in the name of God being viewed with contempt. We sometimes view Jewish people with rose-colored glasses. Their historic connection with God, their suffering over the years, especially by the Nazis, and not wanting to seem anti-Semitic tend to cause us to view Jews sympathetically. However, in the world of Paul’s day, Jews had a well-deserved nasty reputation. Jewish people had received from Rome special privileges that no other group enjoyed, but rather than expressing attitudes of thanks, there was a tendency to act entitled and arrogant. Among Jewish special privileges, they were exempt from offering sacrifices to Caesar or the local gods, from conscription for military service, and from working on the Sabbath or civic duties. They were granted permission to operate their own legal and court systems. Somewhat like Muslims wanting to have Sharia Law in the US. They were allowed to transfer large sums of local money to Jerusalem, on one occasion 20 tons of gold was to be moved from Asia to Jerusalem, which would have crippled local economies.

We might expect this to cause the Jews to become good neighbors and citizens. In fact, they became noted for the opposite. They were noted for their contempt for their neighbors. Tacitus said of them: "Among themselves their honesty is inflexible, their compassion quick to move, but to all other persons they show the hatred of antagonism." Juvenal declared that if a Jew was asked the way to any place, he refused to give any information except to another Jew, and that if anyone was looking for a well from which to drink, he would not lead him to it unless he was circumcised. Their rigidity caused them to hold the pagans with contempt and to be callous toward their needs. As a result, the pagan world was, for the most part, convinced they had no need for the Jews or their God, and because of the Jews, God’s name was blasphemed.

The parallel for us is all too obvious. While we must never compromise our commitment to holy living, we must at the same time live lives marked by grace, kindness, and love. Many times the church and Christians have reputations that do more harm than good for the name and cause of Christ.

“Lord, may my life be marked by loving kindness and holiness. AMEN”