Prairie View Christian Church Norway, Iowa PastorTeacher Bill Wenstrom www.prairieviewchristian.org

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Prairie View Christian ChurchNorway,
IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.prairievie
wchristian.org
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Wednesday August 29, 2007Romans Romans
217-Three Jewish Privileges Tape 57
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Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 217.
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This evening we will continue with our study of
Romans 2, which contains twelve principles
regarding Gods judgment of mankind.
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This evening we will begin to study the twelfth
and final principle of divine judgment, which is
contained in Romans 217-29, namely, that God
judges according to reality and without regard of
racial background or religious profession.
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The Jews erroneously, presumptuously and
arrogantly thought that they would enter the
kingdom of heaven because of their racial
background as Jews and circumcision as well as
the privileges that God had given to them such as
possessing the Law given to Moses.
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In Romans 217-29, Paul destroys their false
security, which was based upon six privileges God
had given to them
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(1) Security in their Racial Heritage Jew
(Romans 217) (2) Security in Being the
Recipients of the Law Rely upon the Law
(Romans 217)
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(3) Security in their Knowledge of God Obtained
through the Law Boast in God (Romans 217).
(4) Security in their Knowledge of the Will of
God Obtained through the Law Know His will
(Romans 218).
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(5) Security in their Awareness of Spiritual
Essentials that they Obtained through the Law
Approve the things that are essential (Romans
218). (6) Security in Being Instructed out of
the Law Being instructed out of the Law
(Romans 218).
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These privileges did not produce obedience in the
Jews but rather arrogance towards their
relationship with the Gentiles.
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This arrogance was manifested in four pretensions
according to Paul in Romans 219-20.
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A pretension is the laying of a claim to
something, a claim to dignity, importance or
merit.
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In Romans 219-20, the apostle Paul lists four
Jewish pretensions that were in response to the
privileges listed in Romans 217-18
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(1) They believed they were a guide to the
spiritually blind Gentiles Are confident that
you yourselves are a guide to the blind (Romans
219).
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(2) They believed they were a light to the
Gentiles who were in spiritual darkness A light
to those who are in darkness (Romans 219).
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(3) They believed they were instructors of the
foolish Gentiles A corrector of the foolish
(Romans 220).
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(4) They believed they were teachers of the
spiritually immature A teacher of the immature
(Romans 220).
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In Romans 220c, Paul teaches that this arrogance
is based upon having in the Law the embodiment
of knowledge and of the truth.
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This evening we will begin our study of Romans
217-29 by noting Romans 217, in which the
apostle Paul presents the first three privileges
that produced Jewish pride and self-righteousness.

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Lets read Romans 217-29 and then concentrate on
Romans 217.
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Romans 217-29, But if you bear the name Jew
and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know
His will and approve the things that are
essential, being instructed out of the Law,
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and are confident that you yourself are a guide
to the blind, a light to those who are in
darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher
of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment
of knowledge and of the truth,
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you, therefore, who teach another, do you not
teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not
steal, do you steal? You who say that one should
not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You
who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who
boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law,
do you dishonor God?
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For THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE
GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU, just as it is written.
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.
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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?
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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.
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Now, lets look at in detail Romans 217.Romans
217, But if you bear the name Jew and rely
upon the Law and boast in God.
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But is the transitional use of the
post-positive conjunction de (deV), which
introduces a new topic of discussion,
transitioning from Pauls teaching in Romans
211-16 to his teaching concerning the failure of
the Jews to live up to the revelation and
privileges given to them by God in Romans
217-29.
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In Romans 21-38, the apostle Paul addresses the
sin of the Jews and does so in three stages
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(1) Without naming his opponent, but establishes
the principles of divine judgment by which the
Jew is clearly condemned, thus the Jews are as
guilty as the pagan Gentiles and will likewise
receive the wrath of God (Romans 21-16).
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(2) Paul explains how the Law condemns (217-29).
(3) Paul adds a parenthetical response to
possible misconceptions of what he has said
(31-8).
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Therefore, we can see that the first paragraph in
this section that deals with the Jews need for
salvation like the Gentiles is contained in
Romans 21-16 and the conjunction de in Romans
217 introduces a new paragraph and explicitly
addresses the self-righteous unregenerate Jew
explaining to them how the Law condemns them.
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If is the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i),
which introduces a first class conditional
statement, which indicates the assumption of
truth for the sake of argument.
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He conveys the first class condition explicitly
employing the conditional particle ei, if with
the indicative mood of the verb eponomazo
(e)ponomavzw) (ep-on-om-ad-zo), bear the name
in order to introduce the protasis, which appears
in Romans 217-20.
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However, the apodasis appears in Romans 221-23
in the form of five rhetorical questions and is
introduced by the inferential use of the
post-positive conjunction oun (ou_at_n) (oon),
therefore.
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In Romans 217-23, the basic relation that the
protasis has to the apodasis is
evidence-inference.
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The apostle Paul infers in the apodasis of Romans
221-23 that the self-righteous Jew does not live
up to the privileges and responsibilities of
being a Jew, which he presents as evidence in the
protasis in Romans 217-20.
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The idea behind the first class condition in
Romans 217 is not since but rather, if-and
let us assume for the sake of argument, then...
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This would encourage Pauls Jewish audience to
respond and come to the conclusion of the
apodosis since they already agreed with him on
the protasis.
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Therefore, Paul is employing the first class
condition as a tool of persuasion with his Jewish
audience.
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Pauls Jewish audience would totally agree with
his statements in Romans 217-18 in which he
lists six privileges that the Jews received from
God and would give him no argument on.
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They would also agree with his statements in
Romans 219-20 in which he lists the attitude of
superiority that the Jews had towards their
relationship with the Gentiles and they would not
give Paul an argument on these as well.
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However, in Romans 221-23, Paul presents five
rhetorical questions that would expose Jewish
hypocrisy.
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Thus, revealing to the Jews through persuasion
that even though they were a privileged race and
nation, they had not lived up to these privileges
and responsibilities and were therefore, no
better than the Jews whom they thought they were
superior to.
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Romans 217, But if you bear the name Jew and
rely upon the Law and boast in God.
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You is the 2nd person singular personal pronoun
su (suv), which emphasizes that Paul is
addressing the self-righteous Jew in this new
paragraph since in Romans 11-17, Paul uses the
2nd person plural to address the Roman believers
and when referring to the Gentiles he uses the
third person plural, thus through the process of
elimination we know that Paul is speaking to the
Jew.
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Bear the name is the verb eponomazo
(e)ponomavzw) (ep-on-om-ad-zo), which means, to
apply a name to, surname, call by name, to
classify oneself by means of a name.
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Jew is the proper name Ioudaios ( )Ioudaio)
(ee-oo-dah-yos), which refers to those members of
the human race who are descendants racially of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and members of the
nation of Israel and thus, denotes nationality
distinguishing the Jew from the Gentile.
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There are three titles used in Scripture for the
racial descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
(1) Hebraios ( (Ebrai?o) (heb-rah-yos), Hebrew
(2) Ioudaios ( )Ioudaio) (ee-oo-dah-yos), Jew
(3) Israelite (Israhlivth) (is-rah-ale-ee-tace),
Israelite.
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The first title, Hebrew distinguishes a
Hebrew-speaking Jew from a Greek-speaking one and
this is illustrated by Paul when describing his
pre-salvation distinctions in Philippians 35.
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The second title, Jew distinguishes a Jew from
a Gentile and denotes nationality, which Paul
applies here to his audience in Romans 217.
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The third title, Israelite speaks of the fact
that the Jew is a member of a theocracy and is
the heir of the promises given to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob whose name was later changed by the
Lord to Israel (See Romans 111)
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Prior to the first century, the most common terms
used for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob were Hebrew and Israelite.
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However, by the first century, the term Jew had
become the most common designation for the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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Jew is from Judah, (praise) and was one of
the twelve tribes descended from Jacobs son
Judah and was also a designation for the southern
half of Solomons kingdom after his death.
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From the time of the Babylonian captivity, the
whole race bore this title.
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So we see that the first privilege listed by Paul
that the Jews placed their confidence in to gain
them entrance into the kingdom of heaven was
their racial heritage as designated by the term
Jew.
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The use of this term Jew expresses the Jews
self-righteousness and arrogant pride and
attitude of superiority over the Gentile nations.
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The Jews thought arrogantly and presumptuously
that their racial background would provide them
security from receiving eternal condemnation.
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John the Baptist addressed the self-righteous
attitude of the Jew who thought their racial
background and relationship to Abraham would
guarantee their entrance into the kingdom of
heaven (Matthew 35-9).
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The Lord Jesus Christ also addressed this
self-righteous attitude of the Jews (Matthew
811-12 John 834-45).
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Romans 217, But if you bear the name Jew and
rely upon the Law and boast in God.
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Rely upon is the verb epanapauo (e)panapauvw)
(ep-an-ah-pow-om-i), which means that the Jew
rested upon the Law meaning he relied upon the
Law of Moses to provide him with a secure
standing before God.
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The Law is the noun nomos (novmo) (nom-os),
which is a reference to the Mosaic Law.
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It is important to understand the attitude of the
Jews in the first century in that before the Fall
of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the three pillars of
Jewish society were the following (1) Land (2)
Law (3) Temple.
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The Jews put undo emphasis upon these three
things.
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So we see that the second privilege listed by
Paul that the Jews placed their confidence in and
thought would get them automatically into the
kingdom of heaven was that they were the
recipients of the Law.
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They erroneously and arrogantly and
presumptuously thought that being the possessors
of the Mosaic Law would give them security
against Gods righteous judgment and eternal
condemnation.
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Boast in is the verb kauchaomai (kauxavomai)
(kow-khah-om-i), which means, to express an
unusually high degree of confidence in someone or
something being exceptionally noteworthy, thus,
to boast.
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In Romans 217, the verb kauchaomai is used
intransitively and in the deponent middle voice
with the prepositional phrase en theo, in God.
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The verb kauchaomai is used to express the Jews
unusually high degree of confidence in their
unique relationship with God based on the
covenant promises made to their forefathers
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their being the
recipients of the Law through Moses.
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The word refers to the Jew priding himself in his
relationship to God based on the Abrahamic,
Palestinian, Davidic, New and Mosaic Covenants
and is used to express the Jews total and
absolute confidence in and dependence upon his
relationship with God.
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The Jews thought erroneously and arrogantly and
presumptuously that their relationship with God,
which was established through the covenant
promises made to their forefathers, Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob would provide them security from
eternal condemnation.
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C.E.B. Cranfield commenting on this Jewish
boasting in their relationship with God, writes,
to boast or glory in God is a thoroughly good
thing, if it is the sort of boasting in Him,
which truly gives Him the glory,
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a truly humble boasting in His goodness and
mercy but it is an altogether different matter,
if it is the sort, which is a self-centered
boasting in Him as a basis for ones own
self-importance. (Romans, A Shorter Commentary,
page 55)
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The object of the self-righteous Jews boasting
is identified for us by the apostle Paul with a
prepositional phrase, which is composed of the
preposition en (e)n), in and the dative
masculine singular form of the noun theos
(qeov), God.
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The preposition en is a marker of association
and thus denotes the unique covenant relationship
to God that the Jew claimed, which was based upon
the covenant promises made to the patriarchs as
well as their possession of the Mosaic Law.
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The noun theos, God is a reference to the
Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit.
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The figure of metonymy applies to the noun
meaning that God is put for a relationship with
Him.
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The noun theos is a dative of association
indicating that the self-righteous Jew claims to
possess an association or relationship with
God through the covenant promises made to the
patriarchs and their possession of the Mosaic
Law.
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So we see that the third privilege listed by Paul
that the Jews erroneously assumed would get them
automatically into the kingdom of heaven and
protect them from eternal condemnation was that
they were given a covenant relationship with God
by virtue of the promises that God gave to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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They erroneously, arrogantly, and presumptuously
thought that because their forefathers received
covenant promises from God that this would
provide them with security and protect them from
eternal condemnation.
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They arrogantly assumed that this covenant
relationship was based upon the merits of the
patriarchs and their own merits as their racial
descendants, when in reality it was based upon
Gods grace, love and faithfulness.
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