Religious Guilt Based on a Lack of Inner Change...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter in our Bibles where Paul addresses whether or not those who consider themselves religious are guilty of having a problem when it comes to a relationship with God. Yesterday, we saw Paul reveal for us the timeless evidence that we are guilty of living as though we an achieve religious excellence based on the evidence of our actions. We discovered that the religious person who finds themselves riding the roller coaster of pride and despair as a result of their efforts to keep the list of all the things they need to do to be right with God and their failure to keep that list by their selfish and sinful actions that reveals the reality that they are guilty when they try to live life as though they can achieve religious excellence. Paul then continues by revealing a second piece of evidence that proves our guilt when we try to live life as though we can achieve religious excellence in Romans 2:25-29:

For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

Now to understand what the Apostle Paul is trying to communicate here, we first need to understand what circumcision is and its significance to the Jewish people. Circumcision is a surgical procedure that involves removing the foreskin from the male genitals with a surgical knife, or in this case, a knife made of stone. The reason that circumcision was so significant was that circumcision was a covenant sign that identified the Jewish people as being God’s people. Circumcision was an outward sign was done in order to demonstrate an inward commitment and relationship to God.

Paul then takes this outward action that served as identification and explains that this identification was only beneficial if the person who was circumcised also observed and kept the Law. However, if the person who was circumcised violated the Law through selfish rebellion and sin, it was as though that person had never been circumcised. In other words, this outward action by a person that identified someone as being right with God was of no benefit if the person failed to keep the Law that they were identifying with.

In verse 26, Paul contrasts the religious Jewish person with a person who did not keep the Jewish rules when it came to circumcision. Paul explains that “if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision”? But what does that mean? When Paul uses the word regarded here, this word is an accounting term that means to be calculated or looked upon. Paul’s point here is that the person who does not outwardly identify themselves as being religious and therefore right with God, and yet continually keeps the requirements of the Law, will be looked upon or calculated by God as being right with God.

In verse 27, Paul then reveals the reality that we will not be judged by our identification, but our actions. So often religious people are focused on identification. And we judge others by what church or denomination they attend, what music they listen to, what translation of the Bible they read, or how they participate in worship. And while religious people tend to judge by identification, Paul explains that God judges us by a different standard. And it is this standard that provides the second piece of evidence that proves our guilty when we try to live life as though we can achieve religious excellence. And that piece of evidence is that we are guilty based on the evidence of a lack of inner change.

The timeless reality is that all of our attempts to identify with God through religious affiliation and activity does absolutely nothing to address the selfishness and rebellion that plagues our inner condition. If Paul was here today, he might paint this word picture to describe what religious people attempt to do when it comes to identification and activity: You can put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day it is still a pig.

And that is the word picture that Paul paints for us in verses 28-29. For the Jewish person who through the outward act of circumcision attempted to identified themselves as being a part of the Jewish religious system that was right with God, their external act of identification did not result in a right relationship or standing with God. What did result in being identified as having a right standing and relationship with God was something internally, which Paul refers to as a circumcision of the heart. In other words, it is when one’s heart is bent towards God and following God that results in the reality that we are identified as being in right relationship with God.

Paul then explains that this inward, or hidden from sight bending of our heart toward God and following God cannot be achieved by keeping any list or by anything that we do. It is God’s activity, through the power of the Holy Spirit that serves to circumcise our hearts and brings us to the place where we are identified as being in the relationship with God that we were created for.

Paul then explains that while the religious person’s activity results in recognition and approval from men, it does not result in recognition and approval from the One who really matters, which is God. Paul’s point here is that the recognition and approval that comes from God as a result of being in relationship with God only comes as a result of God’s activity in our lives that transforms our hearts.

Maybe you are reading this and you have always looked at your relationship with God through the lens of a “do good be good” mentality.” If I just do good then I will be good with God. If I just attend church and do the right religious activities and keep the list then I will be good with God”. Paul’s point here is that it is not what we do for God that makes us good with God; it is what God does for us that makes us good with God.

Now at about this point, if you consider yourself a religious person, you may be finding that you are pushing back pretty hard right about now. You may find yourself having some serious objections right about now. If you find yourself in that place, or you find your mind racing with questions, I have some good news for you. And that good news is that you are not the first to have such push back and questions. As a matter of fact, as Paul concludes this section of this letter, we see several timeless questions and push backs addressed. We will look at those questions and objections tomorrow.

In the meantime, do you find yourself judging others by their religious identification? And do you think that religious identification results in change or transformation?