Imagine a courtroom scene. That’s the picture in these opening chapters of Romans. The judge is God. The apostle Paul is the interrogator — God’s prose­cuting attorney. The first defendant to be cross-examined by the apostle is the pagan Gentile world (Rom. 1:18-32). The second defendant to be examined is the decent, upright, respectable, moral Gentile (Rom. 2:1-16). With ac­curacy and precision Paul exposes the spiritual and moral guilt of both parties. Such a finding was music in the ears of the religious Jew. You can almost hear them applaud from the gallery. It only confirmed what they had always known! ‘There’s no such thing as a good Gen­tile’. As far as the Jew was concerned, the world was divided in two — into Jews and Gentiles — the ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’. The Jews were God’s chosen people. Gentiles were fodder for hell.

The Jews however are in for a shock. They are now called to the witness box (Rom. 2:17-29). Paul turns the spotlight on them — and conducts a probing cross-examination of their faith and practice. By the end of the examination he will have exposed their misplaced confi­dence and rendered them, too, guilty before God.

As we imagine this courtroom scene, Paul is interacting with an imaginary Jewish representative. He knew how a self-righteous Jew thought, for he had been one himself. Indeed, it may be that Paul is having a debate with him­self. Let’s imagine then that Paul is us­ing the technique of talking with his ‘old self’ in order to get behind the defences of the religious Jew.

1. Paul the Pharisee⤒🔗

Paul lists the assets and advantages of the Jew – things that every Jew was proud of (Rom. 2:17-20). These are:

• The Jew was proud to bear the name ‘Jew’ (it means ‘praise’). They assumed they received praise from God. (2:29b);
   
• The Jew was proud of the fact that they were the custodians of the law; The Jew could boast of his relationship with God: they were God’s special peo­ple’
   
• The Jew could boast he had knowl­edge of God’s will. They had the com­mandments. They had the scriptures. They held the key of knowledge;
   
• The Jew was proud of the fact that no other nation had such privileges.

The apostle then asks a number of pointed and searching questions de­signed to prick their conscience and unmask their hypocrisy (Rom. 2:21-24). ‘Do you practice what you preach? You teach that people should not steal — do you steal? You speak against adultery — do you commit adultery? You are op­posed to idolatry — do you rob temples? You brag about the law — but do you not break it’?

He then draws a damming conclusion (2:24). Instead of the Jews being a wit­ness to the Gentiles, Paul declares that, ‘God is blasphemed among the Gen­tiles because of you’ (quoting from Isaiah). The pagan Gentiles who did business with the Jews were not fooled by the Jew’s devotion to the Law. The Jews had brought the name of God into disrepute. You can imagine many of the Gentiles saying: ‘If that’s the way you do business — I want nothing of your religion!’

Paul proceeds to undermine their mis­placed confidence in circumcision — something which was very precious to them (Rom. 2:25-29). Circumcision had a magical and mystical quality about it. They had come to regard circumcision as a guarantee of God’s favour. They believed that if you were circumcised you were ‘home and hosed’. To quote the Rabbis — ‘God swore to Abraham that no one who was circumcised should be sent to hell.’ It was further taught that, ‘Abraham sits before the gates of hell and does not allow any circumcised Israelite to enter there.’ Paul makes it clear that the true sign of belonging to God is not an outward mark on the physical body, but the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit within — what he means by ‘circumcision of the heart’ (2:29). This must have come as something of a shock to the Jews.

If I have managed to retain your interest so far (and I congratulate if you have) you may be wondering, ‘what’s the rele­vance of this passage for us now’? ‘All this talk about ancient Israel, and the law, and circumcision is hardly riveting stuff! Isn’t this passage only for the historian and for those who like to live in the past?’

I will try to show you that this passage is very relevant to us in the year 2011. This passage is for religious, church­going, Bible-loving people. This pas­sage is for members of the Church. This passage is for people who have a long and proud pedigree. This pas­sage is for people who feel very se­cure and satisfied in their tradition. This passage is for those who per­haps feel a cut above the rest! This passage is for us in the P.C.E.A. This passage could equally apply to the Anglicans or the Catholics or the Bap­tists, or indeed anyone proud of their church.

To see how this passage applies to us, let’s read the passage again. Ex­cept this time we shall replace ‘Presbyterian’ for ‘Jew’, and ‘baptism’ for ‘circumcision’ ... and see the re­sult! This time we meet — not Paul the Pharisee — but Phil the Presbyterian.

2. Phil the Presbyterian←⤒🔗

Meet Phil. He’s a Presbyterian — fourth generation. His forbears were Free Church stock from Scotland. His father and grandfather were both eld­ers in the ‘Kirk’. Phil was baptised by the saintly Rev. Dr. Donald Cameron — who was one time Moderator of the Assembly. He was a great man! (The men today don’t seem to be in the same league!). Phil was baptised in the gown that his mother was bap­tised in. The gown was kept so that Phil’s children were also baptised in it ... Phil still has the Bible presented to him at his baptism that was signed by Dr. Cameron. He also has a ‘big Bi­ble’ in the house that his parents stored and passed down to him. Phil is very regular at church. Sadly, his children no longer attend. Phil has seldom missed a communion and he enjoys singing the ‘old’ psalms. Phil has been Presbyterian all his life — he wouldn’t dream of changing now! As far as he is concerned, there is no other church to compare. The Angli­cans are a mixed bunch — some good, some not so good! The Baptists too are a mixture — used to be better than they are now. As for the Uniting, they have gone off the rails entirely! It’s only in the Presbyterians that you still get a good 40-minute sermon! It’s only the Presbyterians who talk about the Sabbath. You wouldn’t see Phil in the shopping centre on Sunday or cut­ting the grass at home. Indeed, he laments the changes seen in his life­time — he remembers fondly the time when the shops used to be closed on a Sunday.

Like Paul the Pharisee, Phil also has a great heritage. He started life with many advantages. He was born into a Christian home; he was baptised; he attended Sunday school; he learned the Shorter Catechism; he was taught the Bible; he heard the gospel from an early age; he was part of a good church. These are all very great privi­leges. But never think that any of these things make you a Christian, any more than being born in a garage makes you a car. You can be a Presbyterian and not a Christian. You can be a Christian and not a Presbyterian.  (Though I think myself it’s best to be both)!

There are some things about Phil that ring alarm bells:

The first is his use (or lack of use) of the Bible. Despite owning a number of Bibles — it doesn’t seem to do much for him. He only reads the Bible occasion­ally. It doesn’t search him or convict him as Psalm 139 describes. It doesn’t challenge him or even distress him. What the psalmist says in Psalm 119; ‘How I love your law ... My heart trem­bles at it,’ is something foreign. Phil is quite satisfied with what he hears in church.

I once read the Diary of a Bible (it could have been Phil’s).

Jan. 15 - Been resting for a week. A few nights after the first of the year my owner opened me, but no more. An­other New Year’s resolution gone wrong.

Feb. 3 - Owner picked me up and rushed off to church.

Feb. 13 - Cleaning day — dusted and put back in my place.

April 2 - Busy day. Owner had to pre­sent the lesson at church — quickly looked up a lot of references.

May 20 - Baby born. They wrote his name on one of my pages.

July 1 - Packed in a suitcase — off for vacation.

July 20 - Still in the suitcase. Almost everything else taken out.

July 25 - Home again. Quite a journey, though I don’t see why I went.

Aug. 16 - Cleaned again and put in prominent place — the minister to be here for dinner.

Oct. 20 - Owner wrote Grandma’s death in my family record. Left his pair of glasses between my pages.

Dec. 31 - Owner just found his glasses. Wonder if he’ll make any resolutions about me for the New Year?

If your Bible could talk — what kind of story would it tell?

The second alarming thing about Phil is that his practice doesn’t match his profession. He doesn’t walk the talk! He is constantly running other people down; he hates Muslims and Catholics; he is known to have a short fuse; and thinks nothing of leav­ing work early, or taking a ‘sickie’ when he has other things he wants to do. Those at work see through Phil and have no respect for him or his church. Phil loves watching T.V. In fact, the TV hardly cools down! His favourite pro­grammes include ‘Desperate House­wives’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ Phil is a bag of contradictions.

Another alarming thing about Phil is that he thinks he is OK with God because he is a church member, has been baptised and takes com­munion. As far as Phil is concerned, it’s his passport to heaven. Phil says, ‘I have a deep faith. I thank God for my parents bringing me up a good Chris­tian and I rely on my faith. You have to believe in something — it’s very impor­tant.’

Poor Phil. He, like Paul the Pharisee, fails the test: he too is under the judge­ment of God. He misunderstands the nature of true religion. Churchianity is not Christianity. As one writer puts it, ‘Religion is a failure: the plain fact is that religious activity cannot save you. Candles and confessions; invocations and incense; wine and wafers; services and sacraments; sprinkling and sacri­fices — none of them can remove sin or reconcile you to God.’

There are too many people today who are religious but not regenerate. They have a church but not Christ, they have ritual but not redemption. Phil’s religion is a failure. What then is true religion? Where have Paul and Phil gone wrong? What is it that makes a Chris­tian?

God requires a genuine, inward, secret work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, whether we are Jew or Gentile; whether we are Paul or Phil (see Psalm 51:10 and John 3:3, 5). The apostle writes, ‘real circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit.’ (Rom. 2:29). Jesus said, ‘You must be born again!’ If we are to receive praise and favour from God, we must be born of the Spirit of God.

3. Chris the Christian (Rom. 2:29)←⤒🔗

Meet Chris. He is a Christian. He has entered into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ (just as the apostle did when he met Jesus on the Damascus road). He has been born again and has become a member of the church.

Though Chris had been baptised as a child, he knew that it didn’t save him. He knew that he must ‘improve’ his baptism. He knew that he must do something about it. He knew he was not right with God. He knew he needed the cleansing and the prom­ises that baptism pointed to. He knew he needed the genuine faith of his parents. So Chris faced up to it; and did what he knew had to be done. He got down on his knees and prayed these words;

Dear God, I know that I have sinned against you and am not worthy to be accepted by you. I am guilty of rebelling against you and ignoring you. I need your forgiveness. Thank you for Jesus. I believe that Jesus came to save me and give me new life. Please forgive and change me that I may live with you forever. Amen.

The Lord heard his prayer! Chris’ life was changed — inside out! His family noticed the change, his mates saw the change and at work Chris’ dedication re­sulted in promotion. His employers don’t want to lose him. Chris is a good witness at work — and he has invited a couple to come with him to the next guest service in church. That’s the kind of life that receives praise from God. It’s only by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and seeking to life a life worthy of our profession that brings any pleasure to God. (Oh, and by the way, Chris is also a Presbyterian.)