Bible Study Romans Part 42-Hypocrisy

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “At least I’m not like them,” Romans 2 is about to get uncomfortably personal. We read Paul’s words straight from the King James and then slow down to see what he’s actually doing: turning the spotlight from obvious public sin to the quiet, confident sin of judging. Paul’s opening punch lands on everyone, religious or not, because the standard is not our comparisons. The standard is the judgment of God “according to truth.” 

We walk through why Romans 2 is so focused on judgment, why “God is no respecter of persons,” and why Paul insists that hearing the law is not the same as doing it. We also unpack the tension between outward religion and inward reality, including Paul’s argument that the real issue is a heart changed by God, not a badge, a ritual, or a résumé. Along the way, we read a historical quotation tied to Talmudic tradition to show the kind of spiritual scorekeeping Paul was pushing against and why the Gospel of Righteousness by Faith sounded so offensive. 

Then we bring it into the present. Hypocrisy is not a first-century problem, and religious celebrity culture makes it easier than ever to point fingers while excusing ourselves. To sharpen the point, we connect Romans 2 with Luke 18 and Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, where humility and mercy stand in stark contrast to spiritual pride. If you want a Bible study on Romans 2, Christian hypocrisy, repentance, and the difference between Law and Gospel, this one will challenge you in the best way. 

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Transcript

Why Scripture Matters Here

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Welcome to the program Study in the Chapel. God's Word is supreme in Chapel Ministries. We consider it absolutely essential to a proper relationship with God. We study it, we love it, we rely on it every minute of every day. The following program is an edited recording of the regular Bible studies we hold, and we decided to share these with you in the hope that you too will be able to find inspiration, encouragement, and ultimately salvation through discovering Christ in Scripture. Our intention is to travel all the way through the Bible. It will be a challenging journey, but one that will undoubtedly bring you to a decision. Through this study, you will be faced with either believing or rejecting what God has said to us. It is our intention to provide you with enough knowledge to make an informed decision about God and his word. We strongly encourage you to listen intently and diligently, because though at the moment you may not realize it, these things are truly a matter of life and death. In fact, these are matters of eternal life and eternal death. Never treat what God has said lightly. There is truly nothing more important to you. Now join us as we seek God's will through his inspired word.

Romans 2 Setup And Reading Plan

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A year ago, when we decided to start teaching in the in Paul's letter to the Romans, I don't think we really knew what we were getting ourselves into. This has become, I wouldn't say difficult, but it has been a bit complex. And we are making our way slowly through it. You would think at the end of that fact-filled first chapter, we'd be able to slide easily into the next chapter. Not so. This is going to be another one of those very intricate, very sort of slow-going chapters, but we'll make our way through it. And it's important. Of course, it is always important. We got started on the second chapter last time. The problem is we actually didn't get into the meat of the letter. We had a long introduction as to what we're going to see. As I said, there are a lot of details here, and we have to make sure we're prepared for it. We will be beginning the meat of the second chapter this week as usual. I will read the chapter all the way through first, and then we'll come back and look at each verse one by one. Now get ready because this is going to be another place where we're going to seem a little disorganized. We will be going back and forth. We will be bouncing around quite a bit, going over things more than once. Believe me, it's necessary. As I said, this is a complicated chapter. There's so much here that we need to pay attention to. There is so much here that we have to be, things we have to be sure about. Now let me start reading, but before I do, I always remind you that I read out of the King James. For many of you, it may sound like very difficult language, and indeed it is, because it is old style English. If you get a little bit lost, you can always look up at the screen because we leave the verses up there as we're reading, as we're covering them. But if you have a Bible in front of you and you should have a Bible in front of you, you should have like English Standard Version or NIV, anything like that. It's a little bit easier for you to understand the language. It's just going to sound a little bit different than what I am reciting. So

Romans 2 Read Aloud On Judgment

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here we go, Romans 2.1, reading out of the King James. Therefore, thou art inexcusable. That word, therefore, as we said over and over last week, connects us to the previous chapter, to the things that were being covered in the previous chapter. All of that will come out again as we go through this. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things. Who's he talking to? Just assume it's you and leave it at that. There is plenty in this for you to consider me too. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same thing. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing the goodness of God, leadeth thee to repentance. I don't like the word despise here. It means something different now than when the scholars of the King James put it in here. We'll address that when we come to it. There are better alternatives, but we need to explain Paul's reasoning before any of that will make sense to you, which we will do sometime later. Verse five. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. This is the key verse in this chapter. Who will render to every man according to his deeds? This chapter is talking about judgment and nothing else. Don't be confused. I'll say that about 3,000 more times. Verse 7 to them who by patient continuance in doing and well-doing seek for glory and honor in immortality, eternal life. But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons with God, for as many as have sinned against the law shall perish without the law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Verse 13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these not having not the law are a law unto themselves, which showeth the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean, while accusing or else excusing one another. I realize this is very difficult language. Just hang with me. We will cover these things. We will spend a lot of time unwrapping this very difficult language. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel, behold, thou art called the Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest not thyself. Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. 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 keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision, 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. So

Paul’s Sharp Tone And Purpose

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as you can tell, the tone here in this chapter is decidedly negative. Paul's frustration is apparent and bubbling over. Now he explains to us a little later how much he loves his own people, but he still feels the need to point out their errors and offer correction. His primary concern is for the proliferation of the gospel among them, and no doubt he was experiencing significant headwinds in that effort.

The Talmud Mindset Paul Faced

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Now, let me try and give you an idea of what Paul was up against by reading to you an excerpt grabbed from the Cambridge Commentary on the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. What I am about to read is a quotation that the Cambridge Commentary placed here in this section of Paul's letter, so as a relationship to find out the sorts of things that Paul was doing. This is a quotation from the Talmud. Surely you've heard of the Talmud. The word Talmud in Hebrew means learning, and it is referring to a collection of rabbinic commentaries, traditions, and laws derived from the Old Testament. The Talmud, more or less, is the official interpretation and application of the things written down in the New Testament as they apply to Judaism, meaning the religion of the Jews. It's basically the writings of scholarly rabbis down through the centuries, based, and I have to be careful, but I'm going to say it anyways, based loosely and in many cases very loosely on scripture. And lest you think I'm being overly critical, have listen and judge for yourself. What I'm about to read to you is an expression of, or part of the expression, of the sentiment of the Jewish religious leadership's point of view on certain aspects of their own religion and how it actually relates to Paul's task here in the second chapter of the letter to the Romans. Quote, these are up on your screen as well. Listen to these things closely. I'm not going to give much comment, but I want you to read them closely, listen to them closely if you're listening on our podcast. Quote: Every one of the children of men has merits and sins. If his merits exceed his sins, he is righteous. If his sins exceed his merits, he is wicked. If they be half and half, he is an intermediate person. Circumcision, quote, circumcision is equivalent to all the commandments that are in the law. Quote, the wise men have said that Abraham, our father, sits at the door of hell and does not suffer anyone that is circumcised to be cast into it. Let me just point that one out to you. The tradition among many Jewish leadership, much of Jewish leadership in ancient times used to say that Moses stood at the door of hell, in case you didn't get what he was saying, stood at the door of hell. And if anyone came, a Jew came that was circumcised, who was bound for hell, if he saw that he was circumcised, make sure, made sure he didn't go to hell. That person is saying, if you're circumcised, it doesn't matter. Whatever else you've done, you're not going to go to hell. In other words, if you're a Jew, you don't go to hell. That's exactly what the Talmud is saying. Quote, I know, I know I said I wouldn't comment, but that one I had to. Quote, there's another quote from the Talmud. Amongst all the commandments, there is not one that is equivalent to the study of the law, where is whereas the study of the law is equivalent to all commandments, for study leads to practice. Therefore, study always goes before good deeds. If you study the law, then that's better than good deeds. That's what that's saying. The Jewish religion was so revered among Jews, they thought it trumped everything else. Now, John, why are we going through such things? Well, I want you to have a frame of reference for the mindset of the Jews so you could get a sense of the enormity of Paul's task. Chapter two of the letter to the Romans contains some pretty harsh language. And I think it's important that you realize the sorts of things that brought Paul to this obvious expression of frustration. True, the written Talmud only goes back as far as the 200s A.D., a full century and a half after Paul sent this letter. But trust me, this sort of thing didn't happen overnight. This apostasy had been growing for a thousand years through oral tradition. How dare you say that was apostasy? Listen, anytime anyone strays from scripture, it's apostasy. So Paul has his work cut out for him, as they

Why Jews First And Faith Not Law

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say. But why? Why is this going to be so difficult for him? And then the next question, why bother? Why is Paul spending so much time and effort on the Jews? After all, isn't he considered the apostle to the Gentiles? In fact, that's what he calls himself. Well, yes, he is the apostle to the Gentiles, but the Jews could provide a major stumbling block to the forward progress of the gospel. Besides the fact that he loves his own people at this early stage in the development of the church, he really needs to get the Jews on board. It's from their religion that the Messiah comes. It was in Judaism that he was prophesied. And the Jewish people will have, again, at least in this early phase, a tremendous influence on how this thing goes. Not everywhere, of course, but in many places around the Mediterranean, getting buy-in from the Jews will be invaluable. And besides all of that, it was our Lord's wish that his own people receive the gospel. Remember, Paul was contemporary with all of the other 11 apostles that Jesus picked. They heard Jesus say that he wanted the gospel to go to the Jews first. As we said before, the ministry of Jesus was actually exclusively to the Jews. His instructions when he left was that his disciples were to first bring the good news to the lands occupied by the Jews. Here are the words of the resurrected Christ as recorded in Acts chapter 1, verse 8. But ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth. Notice he called the Jewish-occupied lands first. Clearly, the Jews were to be sought out and introduced to the gospel. Paul is being obedient. But here's where the trouble starts. It's not going to be easy. Well, why not? I mean, wasn't Jesus one of them? Wouldn't he? Wouldn't that be a big plus? Wouldn't the Jews naturally want to support a prominent fellow Jew? Well, you would think so. But don't forget, they never liked his message. And he just wasn't what they wanted him to be. They weren't looking for a savior. They don't think they need a savior. They were looking for an enforcer. Jesus had come to bring righteousness to mankind. Well, they thought that might be important for others, but it doesn't mean anything to us. Why should we care about that? They didn't see and still don't see a need for a means by which they can become righteous. They thought they were born righteous. Simply by virtue of the fact that they were born Jews, they assumed that they were already righteous. And wherever they fell short, they assumed their adherence to the law filled in the gap. Well, that is not the message of the gospel, is it? Jesus said that it was through him alone that all gained access to the Father. That's not what they wanted to hear. And they actually considered it blasphemy. At least that's what their leadership told them it was. Why would they need him for that? They were God's chosen people. It was to them that God gave the law with its rules and rituals. Well, Paul made explicitly clear in the first chapter that righteousness does not come from within. Righteousness comes from God. And it isn't based on anything we do. The gospel says a righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Believing in Jesus is what gets you that righteousness and nothing else. Well, the Hebrew mindset did not like that. And they did not like Jesus. They were given the law and they insisted that that was how they could get their righteousness. They could get their righteousness on their own. They didn't need anyone else for that. They figured if they followed the law or if they weren't all they were already righteous, but wherever they needed to make up some sort of shortfall, that the law would come in and fill that for them. Forget the fact that no one had ever been able to follow the law completely, which is the only way the law could save them. Paul's compliance, partial, I said Paul, partial compliance does no good. It's the original all or nothing scenario. But that's not how they saw things. I mean, remember what we just read from the Talmud? They honestly believe it was their religious conviction that the entrance to salvation was dependent on how much of the law they kept, right? We read that. They believe as long as you have more good than bad deeds, then you're righteous. Does that sound familiar? Well, that's where this nonsense came from. And it is nonsense because that's not how the law was presented to them. God didn't say, Well, you know, here's a set of rules. You know, do your best, do whatever you can with it. If if I've seen you've given a good effort, then, you know, we can go ahead and wipe out all the sins that you had before. You can Waltz right into my presence. The rabbis told him that, but God never did. In fact, Jesus Himself once said, For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. That's one of the reasons why they didn't like him. He taught the law differently than their leadership did. They liked their own version of things. As I said, this was not going to be an easy task for Paul. To the Jews, this all sounded so new, so different, so made up. And it's the same way to us today. As I teach these things to people who I know went to church all their lives, they come up to me and said, I've never heard anything like this before. I've always been told, you know, enough good gets you into heaven. Minimize the bad, you don't have any problems. Not at all scriptural. The Jews thought the same thing. That's why we're teaching this the way we are. Listen, we're not zeroed in on the Jews like Paul was. We're talking about something that affects all of us. Paul kept pressing the point and will continue to press the point that the gospel, this righteousness of God through faith was preached of old, that it was one of the messages of the prophets. Leveraging your compliance with the law was not what the message of the Bible had ever been. And by Paul's day, they were just having the most difficult time accepting that. In fact, elsewhere in the New Testament, we even find that some of those who had accepted, some of the Jews that had accepted salvation by faith, actually started migrating back to the law, mainly because outsiders were convincing them that they should. Yet another reason Paul had to show how true and sure and God-given the gospel actually was.

Hypocrisy Then And Now

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Now, as chapter two opens, Paul is functionally shifting his focus. Now, the fascinating thing about this letter is that throughout we can see Paul anticipating the response he's sure to receive to the things he covers, to the things he has to say. He anticipates and answers. And that starts to happen right here. At the end of chapter one, as you remember, Paul lays out a long list of sins that God's wrath is revealed against from heaven. We talked about all that already. And Paul must have known, or at least predicted, that the Jews in the audience were just sitting back there, smirking as they glanced over at their fellow churchgoers who were of the Gentile persuasion. He knew that as he went over each one, they were just, you know, kind of shaking their heads, you know, rolling their eyes, tisk-tisking that crowd, that smugly thinking they themselves were fine because they were God's people and that's all they needed to protect them. Again, our little excerpt from the Talmud made that point very clear. So he, so as he has done various times in this letter, Paul has an answer for them. Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the same things. You're sitting back here with your enthusiastic, self-righteous amen to every item on the list, thinking you're too far above any of that. Paul says, whatever you're judging of others, whenever you're damning the heathen, you're actually damning yourself as well because you're just as guilty of those things as they are. And this is partially why I don't like saying this is for them and that is for the others, because there's no exclusivity when it comes to being a hypocrite. I remember back in the 80s, I guess it was, when moralist televangelist Jimmy Swaggart had the tables turned on him. Most of you probably don't remember that, but I sure do. Week after week, he would point at the camera and tell people to get right with God, or they'd suffer eternal damnation. And as soon as the cameras faded to black, apparently off he went to some seedy hotel somewhere to spend a little me time with hookers. It's a common problem. The finger-pointing crowd never thinks the rules apply to them, or that they're just too smart to get caught, or that their particular practice of the sin isn't really sin. It's just a little indiscretion. And you know, I really hate to say it, but the more religious someone is, the more susceptible they are. They think they're too close to God to be accused of anything. They're Teflon because they're God's servant. And we're plagued with this sort of thing in our day because, like no other time in history, we're in the midst of pulpit celebrityism. Jimmy Swaggard was one of the earliest of these aberrations. Slick, often very talented, almost always men, but not exclusively. I'm thinking of Joyce Myers, these dynamic personalities leading these vast congregations, faces splashed all over the television, raking in millions, all the while telling you how to live, judging your walk with God from in front of the camera, telling you that you lack faith because you're only sending in 10% of your income. Hey, how dare you selfishly keep enough to pay the rent? You're letting Satan manipulate you into being only a tither. These gigantic personalities who become powerful and therefore opening themselves up to the increased attacks by Satan. And sometimes the attacks achieve their goal. By the sheer power of their personality, they become the driving force of the moral decision making of millions. Surely you know what I'm talking about. They sit around those cheesy studio setups, sitting on good old mid-century American furniture surrounded by wholesome country-themed decor. You grab a newspaper, read a headline about some Hollywood star getting caught up in a scandal, you know, shaking their heads, you know, disapprovalingly. Can you believe that crowd? Then they'll tell you some sweet story about an old lady in their congregation who's just so worried about the state of our country. More head shaking, more downward looks, you know, with a combination of righteous indignation and holy disgust. More stories, this time about the good old boy senator from Texas and how he's a big fan of the show and how he's gonna do his ding dang best to get all the libs out of the Congress. Now the gazes are upward, smatterings of amens rise up, a few praise Jesus' sprinkled in there. All the while, scandal after scandal going on backstage. This is no different than in Paul's day or our Lord's day, when the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin would gather in each other's homes and swap moral perfection stories and sweetly and politely condemn the poor young mother who has to work nights in the tavern to feed her children. They'll comment about all the Gentiles passing through town and how disgusting they are. No one's safe while those people are around. You know, I saw one just the other day using the most awful language. Our Lord shared a story that illustrates this better than anyone else can. I'm coming against hypocrisy. This is what we're talking about. This is the hypocrisy of the Jews. This is the hypocrisy of so many fundamental Christians, judging and hating and casting stones at people, all the while committing the same sins.

Luke 18 And The Humble Sinner

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Quickly switch over to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that were righteous and despised others. This one has a target on it. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Same target as Paul has here in Romans. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing far off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Get it through your head. Jesus hates hypocrisy. He came to save everyone. He knows that all humans are sinners. He knows it all too well. And it would appear that he has a particular disgust for the crowd who proudly walks around all pious, because he knows no man on earth, except himself, of course, could boast of a morally clean life. For some reason, just as it is in our own time, the biggest offenders were the religious leaders. When Jesus came against hypocrisy, he was coming against those who were the most religious. They substitute their religion for a good, clean heart. They feel like as long as I'm adhering to religion, then I can do what I want. This is what Paul is talking about in this second chapter, and you know it applies to us too. Then, as now, the religious leader crowd walks around passing moral judgment as if they're in a position to do so, as if anyone could be in a position to do so. Jesus even coined a phrase that could not have been more appropriate. One time he referred to the leading Jewish men as whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones. He may have been speaking about the Pharisees and the scribes of his own day, but that description sure fit Jimmy Swaggard in 1988. He was one of the most influential preachers in all the world, all the while full of dead men's bones and uncleanness. Let me say it again. This is why I don't like to dwell on the who is this section of scripture for question. It's for all of us. It's all for all of us. It may not have been directly addressed to us, but I guarantee you, if it made it into this book, God wants you to pay attention. Well,

Closing And Ministry Support

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we have we have to stop somewhere. Let's call it a night and we'll pick it up right there next time. See you then.

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