17Some of you call yourselves Jews. You trust in the Law and take pride in God. 18By reading the Scriptures you learn how God wants you to behave, and you discover what is right. 19You are sure that you are a guide for the blind and a light for all who are in the dark. 20And since there is knowledge and truth in God's Law, you think you can instruct fools and teach young people.
21But how can you teach others when you refuse to learn? You preach that it is wrong to steal. But do you steal? 22You say people should be faithful in marriage. But are you faithful? You hate idols, yet you rob their temples. 23You take pride in the Law, but you disobey the Law and bring shame to God. 24It is just as the Scriptures tell us, "You have made foreigners say insulting things about God."
25Being circumcised is worthwhile, if you obey the Law. But if you don't obey the Law, you are no better off than people who are not circumcised. 26In fact, if they obey the Law, they are as good as anyone who is circumcised. 27So everyone who obeys the Law, but has never been circumcised, will condemn you. Even though you are circumcised and have the Law, you still don't obey its teachings.
28Just because you live like a Jew and are circumcised doesn't make you a real Jew. 29To be a real Jew you must obey the Law. True circumcision is something that happens deep in your heart, not something done to your body. And besides, you should want praise from God and not from humans.
1What good is it to be a Jew? What good is it to be circumcised? 2It is good in a lot of ways! First of all, God's messages were spoken to the Jews. 3It is true that some of them did not believe the message. But does this mean that God cannot be trusted, just because they did not have faith? 4No, indeed! God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar. The Scriptures say about God,
"Your words will be proven true, and in court you will win your case."
5If our evil deeds show how right God is, then what can we say? Is it wrong for God to become angry and punish us? What a foolish thing to ask. 6But the answer is, "No." Otherwise, how could God judge the world? 7Since your lies bring great honor to God by showing how truthful he is, you may ask why God still says you are a sinner. 8You might as well say, "Let's do something evil, so that something good will come of it!" Some people even claim that we are saying this. But God is fair and will judge them as well.
We say "obey", Paul says πράσσω. It means...
1) to exercise, practise, to be busy with, carry on
2) to accomplish, perform to commit, perpetrate
I'd say our responsibility to the law is a bit more than "obey". We actually have to "accomplish" it.
My sister is a concert pianist. She is "accomplished". That doesn't mean she "plays" the piano. It means she "owns" the piano. She doesn't simply play Mozart. She has "mastered" Mozart. But, that's what Julliard demands of it's graduates.
Then there's me...
And, that's the difference. The Jews "dabbled" with the law like I "dabble" with the piano. Yet, none of those Jews, if they heard me play, would call me a pianist. I wonder why those "dabblers" wanted to take credit for "accomplishing" the law when they didn't? Probably because they'd tried mastering it and it was just too difficult. So, they lowered the bar...thinking God wouldn't notice?
The problem is, God is even tougher than Julliard. If we haven't accomplished the law...if we don't "own" it, we fail. No partial credit. This is pass/fail. Plus...πράσσω is a "present active" verb, which means it never ends. In other words, even if we accomplished the entire law, we'd have to turn around and do it again...and again...forever.
But...the great irony is that when we fail, we prove God is right when He say nobody is righteous. Small solace, but it does give us some insight into where we should turn if we want to fix this dilemma.
Got Jesus?
Live boldly out there today...
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