Day 1 Does the Law Give Jews an Advantage?

Does the Law Give Jews an Advantage?

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous Romans 2:12,13

In the preceding verses Paul has established that God’s judgement will be righteous (2:6-8: according to what we have done), and impartial (2:9-11: showing no favouritism so it is equal for Jews and Gentiles). Paul’s thinking naturally turns now to the law, the requirements God imposed on the Jews at Sinai. The law was given to Israel alone and Israel alone was responsible to keep it. But doesn’t this put the Jews in a completely different place to Gentiles? They’ve had privileges and blessings from God that Gentiles haven’t? And isn’t the law of Moses pre-eminent amongst these? Paul will now explain why the Jews’ having the law has not given them an advantage over the Gentiles.

His argument will be two fold;

(1) it is doing, not possessing the law that counts

(2) even Gentiles have “law” in a certain sense.

‘All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law’ (2:12). Jews and Gentiles are in the same category when it comes to sin and death. Paul’s two parallel statements begin with ‘all who sin.’ The tense is aorist meaning literally ‘all who sinned.’ Paul is summing up their life of sin from the perspective of the last day. His point is that all who sinned ‘will also perish’ and ‘will be judged’ (exactly the same meaning) irrespective of whether they are Jew or Gentile (whether they have the law or not). All who have sinned ‘apart from the law, [Gentiles], will also perish apart from the law’ (2:12). They will not be judged by a standard they have never known. They will perish because of their sin and not because they didn’t know the law.

Similarly, all who sinned ‘under the law [Jews] will be judged by the law’ (2:12). They too will be judged by the standard they’ve known. God’s judgement will be even-handed. The way people have sinned (either knowing or not knowing the law) will be the way they are judged. “The ground of judgement is their works; the rule of judgement is their knowledge” (Charles Hodge). ‘For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous’ (2:13).This is a hypothetical statement because no one has or can ever fully obey the law (3:20). Paul is emphasising that the law itself could never guarantee the Jews any kind of immunity from judgement (as many believed in Paul’s own day). What matters, Paul argues, is obedience, not simply possession. This teaching was not new to Paul. The rabbis had said the same thing.

Paul will go on in the verses that follow to explain how this principle outworked with Gentiles.

There is an application for Christians here. Those who know Scripture the best should be the best at accepting those who don’t. Too often we are anything but. Being protective of truth doesn’t mean we have to be cold and indifferent to those who see things differently. Such behaviour denies the life-changing impact of the gospel.

Grow in genuine, inclusive love as you grow in your knowledge of the Bible. The more we know the scriptures, the more we should know Christ and become increasingly like Him.

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