Romans 2:17-19

This context (in which this appears) begins back in chapter two. We are going to go back to verse 17 of chapter two; and, in my Bible, it says—as a heading for this paragraph, "The Jews as Guilty as the Gentiles." Now that is an interesting thought!

That is a common assumption of the Jews. You might recall that, in the opening chapters of the book of Matthew, John the Baptist, in chapter 3, said to these people, "Think not that because Abraham is your father. . ." It shows to me that they put a great deal of reliance on their heritage physically, because there was a direct attachment (by genes) all the way back to Abraham. But were they obeying? Were they submissive to God? Were they really keeping His commands?

We could go on here, but I think that is enough to show you that the Jews (though they had the law of God) were not keeping it perfectly. It was God's intention that they do that, but they certainly were not doing that—as even the printers of my Bible saw, and showed in the heading that they put on this paragraph.

So this context is saying just the opposite of what some reach as a conclusion. Yes, the Jews did have an advantage; but, also, they were not taking advantage of it. They were supposed to be the interpreters of the law—of the way—of God; but brethren, they failed miserably in their responsibility.

Romans 2:17-24

Please turn over to Romans 2, verse 17. The Jews were as guilty as the Gentiles for being in darkness, and even though they should have been a light, but they only had the form of knowledge and truth in the law.

The Jews were such hypocrites that they were a cause of blasphemy among the Gentiles, because the Gentiles looked at the Jews as claiming to be God's people, but not living His way of life.

So being a light equates to illumination of knowledge and understanding of truth and much more.

Romans 2:17-24

Let us go to Romans 2:17, where I want you to think of yourself in this context.

We know that Paul was speaking to those Jews who were not yet converted. At least, I hope that they were not yet converted and that they have opportunity yet to repent of those things. But this makes it very plain that God's name is hallowed - or profaned - by our conduct. The third commandment is kept - or broken - by the same. This is the commandment that tests the quality of our witness.