Before leaving the 10th chapter of Romans, there are one or two very important truths which many will miss if they do not look closely. First, Paul contrasts the righteousness of the Jews with the righteousness of God. The Jews' righteousness was derived from their strict observance of the law. In other words, they felt that if they obeyed the technical rules of the law, they would be justified. What is wrong with this? It does nothing to forgive our sins. No one can obey all of the moral and spiritual laws perfectly. We all sin. No matter how obedient I may be, I still need to be forgiven for the
times that I fail, and the law could not do that. No law can.
God's righteousness is not based on man's ability to behave perfectly, nor the exactness with which he keeps his religious rituals. It is based upon the only thing which can forgive sin, and that is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You do not access that shed blood by any acts of obedience, which are always imperfect, but by complete faith in God the justifier, in Jesus Christ the one who made the sacrifice for sin. You don't just obey His commands. You turn your life over to Him.
The second thing to note is that Paul said the Jews were "ignorant" of God's righteousness. But later in this chapter he recounts how completely God had revealed the righteousness He was preparing for them, through the prophets. The conclusion then is that they were "ignorant" because they did not listen, and believe His promise.
I wish this had been only a problem of the historical Jews of Jesus' day, but alas, I am afraid it is a picture of most of us, who claim the name Christian today. Not only do we feel justified because we go to the right church, and get all our
rituals legally correct, but most of our worship and prayer life is confined to the hallowed walls of a church building, and seldom gets into our daily lives.
I saw a church building last night on television which cost $69 million dollars to build. They said it was built with "private donations". I wonder if the ones who donated such a sum felt that they were buying righteousness with their money.
I am not judging them, I am simply saddened that we seem to be substituting earthly forms for the inner righteousness which the humble man of Galilee desired. While in England a few years ago, I talked to a number of people about their ornate cathedrals. I asked how many attended. The answer was usually less than 100. I was told the members come to baptize their children, get married, and be buried.
Read your Bible and you will find no descriptions of ornate buildings for New Testament Christians, nor carefully structured rituals of formal services for the church. Instead, you will find admonitions to be humble, meek, penitent, desiring righteousness, merciful, and peacemaking, as imitators of the Master, and in humble submission to His will in your life. Does not the 10th chapter of Romans also convict us of not listening, and not believing His promises?
If the Jews had a self-imposed ignorance, because they did not choose to hear what God was telling them through the centuries, can we claim to be any better, when we have had the Cross portrayed for us across twenty centuries of time, and we still seek righteousness in the right church, and the right rituals, instead of in a life motivated by faith in Him?
