Passage: Romans 14 (ESV Bible Online).

Romans 14 shows that the doctrine of justification has immediate social consequences and demands.  If God has judge people righteous we may not find them unacceptable at the table especially.

It also ties in justification to the entire Levitical system of access and cleanliness.  God had a home and a table and different people had differing degrees of access.  Thus, in a situation that is obviously all about justification, we learn that one’s heart can be “cleansed… by faith” (Acts 15.9).

There is more.  God says that his purpose in calling Paul and sending him to the Gentiles is so “that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”  The New Testament designation of all believers as “saints” may itself be a demonstration of how justification only by faith radically restructures the people of God, both admitting Gentiles and denying any special priesthood within.

The more one reads Romans the more one realizes what a tangle of alien concerns have gone to war against reading the text.  For example:

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

So will not such a Jew–one who is not so merely outwardly but whose circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit–will not such a Jew be justified?  And will not such a Jew keep the law?

Perhaps some assume that the previous verse mandates that “keeping the law” is required in a sinless manner: “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”  But Paul is referring to the sin of unbelief that he began describing in Romans 1.18.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

So in the grand beginning of his practical section, Paul says to worship and not be conformed to the world but to learn God’s will.  How? By being humble.

Not only does he begin this way, but as you read Romans 12-15 16 you find that it is the constant theme in his exhorations.

I shouldn’t be surprised by this.  All those lessons against boasting in Romans 2 and 3 and 11 really mean something.

Postscript: Even winding down on chapter 16 Paul still has the same concern:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

Not sure how important this is, but one wonders where Paul got the idea of circumcision turning into the opposite and vice versa.  Consider this from Joshua 5 after the Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land:

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

So for forty years the priests had officiated and the people had taken part in all the feasts without being circumcised.  Basically, because of their rebellion, Israel as a whole had become uncircumcised.

But if circumcision was done away with, then why wouldn’t the host of non-Israelites who left Egypt with them take part in all aspects of their worship?

And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

So what happens to this large mass of Gentiles?  As far as we know, they are discipled by the Law of Moses so that, when they reach the Promised Land, they are circumcised along with everyone else and grafted into the tribes.  Their uncircumcision has become circumcision.

But there is more, if the Gentiles were made one with Israel due to Israel’s cessation of circumcision, then the trespass of Israel that led to this state is what provided salvation to the Gentiles.  Then, once the fullness of the Gentiles came in, the obedience of them all led to the conquest of the Canaanites.  So the sin of Israel led to salvation for the Gentiles and then the obedience of Israel led to a new creation.

How can they not be?

Here is what I mean: Paul writes,

For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.

So do we have examples of this actually happening?  Before the Law was given (though it related to a law actually repeated by Moses in Deuteronomy):

Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.

And then after the Law is given, Jesus recalls:

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

One notes that the widow was shown to be exemplary in her faith.  Naaman too compares favorably to the king of Israel:

So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

Also Jesus referred to the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba as specifically condemning Jews:

The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

Also we read in Luke 17 of Jesus comparing a Gentile favorably in comparison to Jews:

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

And also this from Matthew 8:

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

In this case, though the centurion was not under the Mosaic Law as such, his behavior toward the people of the Mosaic Covenant gained him a good testimony from the Jews themselves.  In the parallel account in Luke 7 we read,

Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”

So we have several instances of Jews being condemned in comparison to Gentiles.  And what they all have in common is that in no case whatsoever were these Gentiles operating by “general revelation.”  In each case they were responding to special revelation.  I consider this further evidence that Romans 1.18ff is not about how Gentiles are operating in the environment of “natural revelation” but rather how they are acting in the wake of the post-exilic migration of Jews all over the Mediterranean world.  It is also evidence that Romans 2.14 is commonly mistranslated.  It should not be

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

But rather

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law by nature, do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

At the end of Romans 9, Paul writes

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

This might lead readers to think that the issue for Israel was a “method of salvation.”  But it is important to remember that “faith” here is personasl: trust in king Jesus rather than confidence in the sufficiency of the Mosaic Covenant.  The quotation from Isaiah 8.14 and it is, in context, quite obviously about Jesus.  Thus the Apostle Peter writes,

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”

and

“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The Gospels themselves portray Israel’s spiritual problem in this way.  They want a king who affirms their righteousness rather than demanding that they understand their calling to serve the nations.  Jesus himself appeals to Psalm 118.22:

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Notice that the reason for judging Israel was not that they didn’t value good works (“fruit”) but that they didn’t want to produce any because they didn’t believe they needed to do so.  When we come to the decision of the crowd in Jerusalem to reject Jesus, it comes as a choice between Jesus and another “son of the father,” BarAbbas–an insurrectionist and murderer.  Such a patriotic enemy of Rome was far more attractive to the Israelites and they were happy to force Pilate to release him and allow Jesus to be crucified.  The same reason that made Pilate believe Jesus should be released made the Jews believe that Jesus wasn’t worth saving from crucifixion.

After all, didn’t Phineas kill just like Barabbas did? And God had counted Phineas’ act as righteousness, and even made a covenant with him.  So the crowd cried out for the release of Barabbas.  In so doing they were crying out for their independent nation and a sanctuary not under the domination of a Gentile empire.  They were pursuing their covenant status as if the Mosaic Covenant was perpetual.  (In fact, they had even added laws to keep out Gentiles when the Mosaic Law permitted Gentiles to offer sacrifices through the Levites just like all other Israelites.)

But Paul has a far different vision of what Israel’s king was supposed to be like.  Precisely because the God of Israel is the God of the whole world, and the promise to Abraham is that he would inherit the cosmos, the King of Israel has to be the true world emperor, a challenge both to Israelite arrogance and to Caesar:

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”