RIGHTEOUSNESS AND THE LAW
There is much confusion within Judaism and Christianity about the source of righteousness. The belief in both religions is that obedience to the letter of the law is what they need to do to be right with God. For Jews, that means they obey the six hundred and thirteen commandments which they call mitzvah or mitzvot in the plural form. For Christians, righteousness basically means obeying the Ten Commandments plus a few other sacraments such as baptism, confirmation and communion which are inferred from New Testament scriptures. In addition to these, Christians will vary a little to a lot on the liturgies, music and worship rituals practiced in each denomination and church.
The odd thing about the mitzvah, sacraments and worship rituals is that they vary from a little to a lot from church to church, denomination to denomination and religious movement to religious movement. Since the rules by which churches, denominations and movements are always codified by governing religious bodies, each set of rules is in effect a written law that directs and controls the activities of the members of each body.
STUDY TIP: See Religious Laws for more about written laws.
Each religious body represents to its members and to the world that its laws are the correct interpretation of God’s laws. But, because these religious laws do not agree with one another, it is impossible to say that any one of them accurately represents God’s laws. There is nothing about any religious law written by one group is more valid than the religious laws written by any other group. What people choose to believe depends entirely on human judgment and preferences and on the written and speaking skills of religious leaders. That is why God says that we should not trust man to teach us about God. God wants his people to listen to his voice only spoken by his spirit directly or through true prophets.
People who do not listen to God’s voice effectively limit their knowledge of God to the knowledge that false prophets have about God. Therefore, people who love God and want to obey his commandments will listen to his voice.
All religionists sincerely want to be obedient, so they faithfully do their best to obey the literal written Bible says as it has been interpreted by generations of religious leaders. The problem with this practice is that God does not want anyone to obey the literal law or humans who teach obedience to the literal law. What he wants is that his people hear and obey his voice — not the voices of false prophets.
The problem is that every religious law written by men conflicts with God’s spiritual laws that are written on the hearts of people by the Spirit. We know this from the following scripture:
Romans 2:12-16 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. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
COMMENTARY: This is perhaps one of the most confusing scriptures in the Bible. All the references to the law sound like double-talk where it is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Nevertheless, we can sort it all out by carefully reconsidering the various ways that God uses the term “law” as we mentioned above: With these understandings of the various ways that God uses the term “law,” we can now begin to understand Romans 2:12-16.
Romans 2:17-25 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely upon the law and boast of your relation to God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed in the law, 19 and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth– 21 you then who teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 25 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
COMMENTARY: These verses compare Religious Laws with God’s Spiritual Laws. Religious laws are written by men in books, and God’s spiritual laws are written on the hearts of men. For clarification of which laws are religious and which are spiritual, religious laws in the scripture are identified with this color text, and spiritual laws are identified with this color text.
God describes the two kinds of laws in terms of Two Covenants Old/First Covenant and New Covenant, and compares them as Pure Religion and Defiled Religion.
Romans 2:17-25 gives several examples to show that people who obey religious laws actually break his spiritual laws. He uses circumcision and uncircumcision to make the point that obedience to man’s laws about circumcision (a symbolic reference to all of man’s laws) has the same spiritual value as man’s laws about uncircumcision. In effect, this scripture says that, in God’s eyes, obedience to man’s religious laws has the same value as disobedience to his spiritual laws which he otherwise calls sin. Put another way, righteous with respect to man’s religious laws is considered by God to be unrighteousness with respect to his spiritual laws.