2:21 You therefore who teach another, don't you teach yourself?
You who preach that a man shouldn't steal, do you steal?
2:22 You who say a man shouldn't commit adultery, do you commit adultery?
You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
2:23 You who glory in the law, through your disobedience of the law
do you dishonor God?
2:24 For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,"2:25 For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law,
just as it is written. (Isaiah 52:5; Ezek. 36:22)
2:26 If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law,
won't his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?
2:27 Won't the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the
law,
judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor
of the law?
2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;
2:29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that
of the heart,
in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but
from God.
3:3 For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify
the faithfulness of God?
3:4 May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar.
As it is written, "That you might be justified in your words,3:5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say?
And might prevail when you come into judgment." (Psalm 51:4)
3:7 For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why
am I also still judged as a sinner?
3:8 Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that
we say),
"Let us do evil, that good may come?" Those who say so are justly
condemned.
17 Now you, if you call yourself a Christian; if you rely
on the Bible and brag about your relationship to God;
18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because
you are instructed by the Bible;
19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a
light for those who are in the dark,
20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because
you have in the Bible the embodiment of knowledge and truth--
21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You
who preach against stealing, do you steal?
22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you
commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
23 You who brag about the Bible, do you dishonor God by
disobeying the Bible?
24 As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles
because of you."
25 Baptism has value if you believe in Jesus, but
if you disobey (2Thess 1:8), you have become as though you
had not been baptized.
26 If those who not are baptized believe in Jesus,
will they not be regarded as though they were baptized?
27 The one who is not baptized physically and yet believes
in Jesus will condemn you who, even though you have the written code
and baptism, are an unbeliever.
28 A man is not a Christian if he is only one outwardly,
nor is baptism merely outward and physical.
29 No, a man is a Christian if he is one inwardly; and
baptism
is baptism of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.
Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
Paul speaks to two kinds of sinners. In 1:18-32 he speaks to the Gentile sinners - those whom the Jews looked down upon as purposely deciding to live a sinful lifestyle. But now Paul turns to the self-righteous Jews and points the finger at them too. Often self-righteous Christians point the finger at those other people out there, those other Christians are heretics, or hypocrites living a lifestyle of sin, but often is the case that one can easily turn the finger back on themselves, pointing to their deficiencies.
It is a strange, but interesting phenomenon that people most easily see and are most upset about those characteristics in other people that are weaknesses in themselves, while being blind to the same kind of sins in themselves. Just look at what you complain about in other people. Then examine yourself.
This is particularly the case among the spiritually proud and elite. While quick to judge others, they don't judge themselves. Even among popular historic Christian figures not just among Catholic, but also among Protestants - like Calvin and his cronies killing of Servetus, the murdering of multitudes of anabaptists by the those in Reformed camp like Zwingli who said, "if any presume to re baptize those who were baptized before, they should be drowned;" Or Bullinger (1561), "We condemn the Anabaptists,who deny that newborn infants of the faithful are to be baptized." But just as the self-righteous Jews murdered Christ and thought they were doing God a service, so also such is not an uncommon phenomenon among Christians lacking in true humility to reveal just how corrupt the sinful nature is, even while considering themselves as devoted servants of God.
vs 28,29 Those who have been born of God - the true believers - are the true Jews. Or rather they are what "Jews" in the Bible were meant to represent. For Old Testament Judaism is an allegory of New Testament Christianity. The Old is the shadow, but the New is the reality. The Old is symbolic while the New is the substance. The circumcision of the heart is the devotion of the heart to God. It is also part of the New Covenant promise mentioned in Jeremiah 31:33. However, Paul's point here is not to speak of Christians or the New Covenant at this point, but rather to bring conviction of sin by pointing out God's intention and standard of obedience, which even the religious self-righteous Jews fall far short of.
vs 3:1,2 However, having humiliated such Jews, he doesn't want to "throw out the baby with the bath water". For God invented Judaism. And it has a holy purpose. There were advantages in growing up as a Jew, just as today there is an advantage in growing up in a Christian home. What is the main advantage? The availability of the Bible. In the Bible God defines who He is. Every other definition is idolatrous. He also shows what is man's relationship with God and what does he expect of man. These are great advantages. But they also incur great responsibility. For knowing God's will explicity and deliberately not doing it is a great wrong which incurs the wrath of God and even more so than does the corrupt homosexual Gentile ignorant of God's Word.
vs 3:5-8 "But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness
more clearly, what shall we say?
That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us?" (NIV)
The idea here is that since God's character of righteousness is revealed more clearly as it is contrasted with our unrighteousness, then something good is coming out of our sinfulness. And if that is the case, then why are we punished for doing evil? (This same reasoning also is behind vs 7, but contrasts "truth" and "falseness" rather than righteousness and unrigheousness.)
But good also comes out God's judgment of sin, for it reveals God's justice. And if good comes out of God's wrath, then why are you complaining about it? Furthermore, justice has nothing to do with whether the outcome of an action ultimately resulted in some good. By definition justice simply demands wrath on sin or else it is unjust. And in fact, God's righteousness could not be revealed if there were no wrath on sin.