Romans 2:1-29

Paul and G. K. Chesterton

After reading Romans 1 is it somewhat normal to shake our heads and say, “Yep, that’s the way the world is today. Those people are getting worse and worse. Paul sure nailed those people. I’m glad I’m one of the righteous few standing against all of this bad stuff.” Yep, it’s pretty normal for us to think that...which is why Romans 2 comes next. After giving the rundown of increasing unrighteousness Paul (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) says, “You therefore have no excuse.” I know that he qualifies it by adding, “you who pass judgment on someone else,” but isn’t that exactly what we were just doing? We walked right into that one.

Romans 2 (and other parts of Romans) can be a little confusing. Clearly Paul states that this salvation is by faith “from first to last”; however, in this chapter it sounds almost as if we are saved by our works. Would tend to take two things from this.

First, he is writing primarily to Jews. The Jews were still thinking totally in the context of the old covenant in which works indeed played a major role. It would be reasonable to come from this angle pointing out that even though they had the law they still didn’t fully keep it.

The second thing I draw from here is that God can deal with us however He wants. We may think that it all has to be a certain way with certain rituals and formulas being observed, but what we think really doesn’t count for anything. The Judge of All the Earth will do what is right.

Then there is Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Chesterton was a brilliant English writer from around the turn of the twentieth century. He is widely quoted and rightly so. Paul closes out this chapter by making the point that just because one is born a Jew and has the law and is even circumcised that doesn’t necessarily put them in right standing with God. auPl summed it up this way: “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.”

Bringing all of this into the modern world and into the Christian context Chesterton said it more succinctly: “Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.”