Romans 2:25-29 (NIV)
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 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 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.
Paul continues his diatribe on the falsity of Judaism with a surprising, yet utterly logical turn. The fact is, as Paul’s gospel does not deny, God does have a chosen people, a people whom He has called out of the world into His kingdom. But Paul had come to understand that membership in that group is not based on human lineage or genetics, nor is it based on marks made on the flesh, such as circumcision.
In the previous section, Paul pointed out that being Jewish and having access to the law brings with it no inherent advantage in salvation if that person does not actually obey the law that they have access to. Now he moves one step further. Even if you are circumcised, obedient to the ceremonial law of Moses, if you do not obey the moral requirements of the law, God will treat you as if you were uncircumcised. Or, to put it another way, circumcision provides no benefit apart from obedience to God’s moral law.
On the other hand, a person who is not Jewish, who has no claim to the lineage of Abraham and who has not been circumcised, but who lives according to the moral standards of God’s law, such as the gentile Christians, are received by God as one of His chosen people, as truly as if they had been circumcised.
Thus belonging to God’s chosen people is not a matter of outward symbols or rituals, but is a matter of an inward relationship with God Himself. It is not based on circumcision of the flesh, but on circumcision of the heart. It is not a matter of conformity to an outward code of laws and rituals, but of heart transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit, a transformation that results from salvation, forgiveness and justification, and that enables a person to live according to God’s moral standards from the heart. Not merely positional righteousness, but genuine holiness of heart resulting in holiness of actions and attitudes.
These people, saved by faith in Jesus and transformed by the Holy Spirit, are grafted into the olive tree of the chosen people as thoroughly as if they were native to the tree, and they can remain part of God’s people as long as they continue in belief and in relationship with God (Romans 11:17-24). In the same way, if the Jews are willing to lay down their self-sufficiency and their dependence on externals and family lineage, if they are willing to repent, to turn to Jesus for salvation, and to receive the life-giving, life-transforming Holy Spirit into their own hearts, they can be grafted back into the tree as well.
Father, it is really easy to begin trusting in things other than Jesus for our standing with You: family heritage, church attendance and involvement, charitable contributions, political stands, and even religious observances. But if any of those things could save us, Jesus’ death and resurrection would have been completely unnecessary, and instead of the Lamb of God, You could merely have sent another prophet to berate us and encourage us to try harder and to be better. But we ALL, Jew and gentile alike, needed a Savior, not merely a coach; a perfect sacrifice, not merely a model to follow; the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, not merely a few more rules. Thank You for providing all that we really needed in Jesus. Amen.