Romans_ Division

The book of Romans begins with Paul being pretty blunt with both Gentile believers and Jewish believers by reminding them where they both came from.

He proceeds to tell the Gentile believers in chapters 1 that they came from a people who were ungodly because they lived unrighteously before God, their Creator, even though the things of God were there for them to see and should have been understood by them; obviously they could have been understood by them, except that they chose to ignore the things of God that were visible and go their own way instead.

But then Paul turns to the Jewish believers in chapter 2 and tells them that the name of God has been blasphemed among the Gentiles because they, the Jews, taught that the law was to be kept by others, even though they themselves did not keep it – which made them hypocrites and unrighteous, so that their circumcision (the seal of their belonging to God) meant nothing.

"For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision [the Gentiles] keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

And shall not circumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

Nowhere in all of this, nor in the rest of the book of Romans, is the law talked of as being a bad thing. Yet, these believers in the church at Rome allowed the law and man's judgments about the law to be a point of division between them; a division that Paul was attempting to undo by teaching them the truth about the law, i.e., the letter of the law, versus the spirit of the law (Romans 2:29).

In things that are of man, the letter becomes of supreme importance. In things that are of God, the heart is what is important.

Yet, having said that, will our hearts lead us away from obedience to the law, once our hearts learn to love God above all things? Or will we, as David did, delight in God's law all the more because of his love for God and the things of God?

If we study the law, of which there are 613 biblical commands given by God to His people, we will find that there are negative laws ("Thou shalt not..") and there are positive laws ("Thou shalt…"). The law, on the one hand, was a minister of death when someone ignored the laws, whether positive or negative; but it brought blessings when all the law was heeded. In all matters, the law was and is "spiritual" and the law was and is meant to be a blessing and not a burden to us.

The "spirit" is in the law, unless man approaches the law by the "letter" of "works." "Works" can be done in an attempt to earn salvation and establish a righteousness of man's own doing, although that would be a false righteousness not based on truth. But obeying the law can also result in "works" that are NOT about man's attempts to earn salvation, but rather about doing that which makes us a light to the world, revealing to the world the ONE TRUE GOD.

The law is never wrong or bad, but our approach to it can be all of that. It is ALL in our approach. It is ALL about our hearts. And the law is still a "teacher" when men approach it with the wrong hearts. But once the heart is right, the law no longer needs to be our teacher: "Do this, but don't do that.." because we will, by our born-again nature, be performing the positive laws and never doing the negative laws. The law will be confirmed in us, and through our actions. But if we find we are not obeying the law, then our hearts are not yet right. And if we don't know what the law is because we don't spend time studying it, or because we think we are "good" with God by virtue of His "grace" alone and nothing else is required of us, then our hearts are not right.

The law is the character of God and as we abide by the law, with the right heart, we will be the light to the world that God intended for us to be and we will bless God with our actions; just as Jesus was the light, not by breaking the law (He NEVER broke a command of God as given to Moses!), but by abiding by the law and ignoring man's laws instead (do not drink anything alcoholic, do not heal on the Sabbath, etc.)

But today, the law still divides us, and my heart grieves over this as I don't believe we are meant to be divided. We are Gentiles versus Jews; Christians versus Messianic Jews; Old Testament versus New Testament; law versus grace; man's ways versus God's ways.

And the division is being perpetrated by both Gentile believers and Jewish believers.

The Old Testament prophesied about the Jesus (Yeshua) of the New Testament. Is the Old Testament now to be ignored in favor of the New? Or was Jesus a continuation, a fulfilling, of all that the Old declared to be true and forthcoming? Is it all now untrue because it was fulfilled? Is it all to be done away with? Or are we now able to see with our eyes the things that the patriarchs of the past knew already in their hearts and for which they were counted as righteous because by faith they believed, and by faith they fulfilled the law in acts of righteousness? The only thing to be done away with is the curse," the law of sin and death", the principle that says that death must follow sin. THAT is the law that has been done away with, thanks to Jesus.

Still it isn't about us becoming Jewish, although Paul says we are "Jews" if our hearts are circumcised as they should be (Romans 2:29). He didn't say that we are "Christians". And it isn't about Jews become "Christians" either.

It is about all of us becoming ONE in the LORD and obedient to ALL of His Word, rather than picking and choosing a few commandments that are convenient to us, and rather than choosing identifiers for ourselves that will segregate us.

Jewish believers have good reason to not want turn their back on their Jewishness in order to be known as Christians (see next posting!), thus the name Messianic Jews to distinguish them from Christians.

And Gentiles can't easily turn away from using the name of Christ, even if "Christ-ian" was a name given to them in a derogatory manner by unbelieving Greeks.

But for us Gentiles to have turned away from anything Jewish (and we did – see next posting!) was wrong. We were "grafted in" to the olive branch and that olive tree is the Torah and the Prophets (the WORD – JESUS HIMSELF) into which the New Testament saints were privileged to be joined to in the early church….but were ashamed of by the end of the first century.

By the end of the first century, anit-semitism was pervasive in Christianity, and later on, English translators of the Bible persisted in removing anything too Jewish, such as the Hebrew name of Jesus (Iesous in the Greek, but Yeshua in Hebrew). His name was Yeshua, for He was born a Hebrew, so what is wrong with calling Him by His properly given name? Are we Christians turning our backs on Jesus if we call Him Yeshua instead?

Or is it more important that we maintain our identifier as "Christ-ians" by calling Him Jesus only? Is it our name that identifies us, or our actions?

By the same token, must Jewish believers insist that Christians call him by Yeshua, or call them incorrect in their theology? Or are we still clinging to the "letter" versus the "spirit?"

I don't truly know the answers to the questions above. But I think Christian and Messianic dialogue should begin that resolves those questions. This is not an easy division to heal. It will not happen overnight. But at the very least, it should alert us to the many ways in which we perpetuate "bias" and this bias is completely based on man's laws and traditions; the thing that happens when we are not heeding ALL the WORD of GOD.

Bias exists when WE have decided how it should be, and that IS how it will be!!! Because WE are right! And THEY are wrong!

The same mindset persists that created denominations in the first place among Protestants. But neither should anti-Jewishness be prevalent in our Christian mindsets as was handed down to us (in ways heretofore un-noticed by many) by both the "Church Fathers" (Origen, Justin Martyr, the councils of Antioch and Laodicea) and by the "Reformers" (Martin Luther, Calvin).

There is much to be changed, if there is to be TRUE UNITY IN THE WORD OF GOD….

…and it begins here with me.