Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. (New International Version)
There is a reason for every letter the Apostle Paul wrote. In the case of writing to the Church at Rome, that reason was because of prejudice. The Jewish Christians were looking down their noses at the Gentile Christians as inferior believers.
I can understand why. The Jews have a rich history – filled with being God’s covenant people. Abraham, Moses, and David were their physical and spiritual descendants. It was to the ancient Israelites – the Jewish people – that God gave the Law.
The Gentiles, on the other hand, had a history of being far from God – practicing paganism – and, in some instances, embracing religious practices that were directly opposed to God’s Law. In addition, the Jews had been the victims of much Gentile oppression. Antisemitism is not a new thing; it’s been around a very long time.
With Jesus Christ, there were many Jews who embraced him as the Messiah. Even more Gentiles turned from their paganism and adopted Christianity as their religion and way of life. In Rome, they became one church, worshiping together as the one people of God.
As a result, the Jewish believers immediately began viewing their Gentile sisters and brothers with suspicion – especially when the Gentile believers did not jump on the bandwagon of becoming Jewish in order to be Christian. Circumcision, feast days, and Jewish practices were not something the Gentiles adopted.
There was tension between the two groups – which is why Paul wrote to the Roman Church. In today’s New Testament lesson, he specifically addresses the Jewish predilection for viewing the Gentiles as religiously backward and needing the Law.
Pauls’ argument is that the Gentiles already know the Law – albeit in a different way than the Jews were given it. God’s Law is written on every heart, and is hardwired into every human conscience. And, what’s more, the Jews don’t have the high ground when it comes to following and obeying the Law.
One of the unfortunate things that can happen when something becomes familiar, is that the familiarity becomes an excuse to do whatever one wants. Just because someone is outwardly circumcised, never misses a Jewish feast day, and always obeys the Sabbath, does not somehow spiritually inoculate them from being on the bad side of God.
There needs to be congruence between the inner person and the outward rituals. What the Jewish Christians left out of their history was a continual incongruence of belief and behavior. It’s why we have so many books of the prophets in the Old Testament – God calling the people back to integrity of body and soul.
When Gentiles do what is right, just, and good, they are not only demonstrating an obedience to God’s Law, but they are also showing that they are Abraham’s children, too. In arguing this way, Paul is knocking his fellow Jews down a few pegs, while lifting up the Gentiles. By doing this, the Apostle was establishing and proving that the Church is an egalitarian society. Believers in Jesus Christ are the one people of God, equal together without any rank of ethnicity, class, or gender.
Within the Galatian Church, the Gentile Galatian believers actually bought into the superior talk of the Judaizers. That’s why Paul’s words are especially harsh in his letter to the churches of Galatia. He concludes his egalitarian arguments with them by saying:
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29, NIV)
The times may have changed from two–thousand years ago; but what has not changed is that the Church, for whom Christ died, and for which then obliterated any obstacle to disunity and prejudice, remains an egalitarian society of redeemed persons.
There is room for all. Another seat at the Table can always be made.
And therefore, there is no room for any sort of prejudice in the form of favoritism, cronyism, racism, ethnocentrism, classism, ageism, sexism, spiritual terrorism, and any other “ism” that contradicts God’s Law, Christ’s new society, and the Spirit’s work of the heart in treating all humanity with the grace and love which is consistent with people carrying the name “Christian.”
Let us build bridges with others – and not build walls for which Christ has already torn down. And let us do it because we see the inherent worth in the other person, and the desire to uphold God’s Law. Furthermore, let us not promote our own cultural understandings of what we think a Christian is supposed to be, as if it were cardinal doctrine; but instead, let us uphold the actual words and ways of Jesus.
O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior and Prince of Peace: Give us grace to lay aside all prejudicial divisions. Take away all hatred, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly unity and harmony.
We confess before you that there is but one Body and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. Help us, your people, to be of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, faith and love; and may with one mind and one mouth enable us to glorify you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 