Romans 2:25-29
Outward Sign But No Inward Reality

Introduction
1. I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God to salvation… (Rom 1:16, 17) You must be lost before you can be saved. Everyone is trying to fill a God-shaped emptiness:
Rebellious 1:18-32…Righteous 2:1-16…Religious 2:17ff You are called a Jew. They have
the Word. They don’t keep it. They have ritual and ceremony, but no Life. (2:25-29)
2. Why should God let you into His heaven? “I am a Southern Baptist.” “I am a member of
your church.”
3. Romans 2:25-29 the Jew, “I have been circumcised” but they had no evidence and no inward reality.

Why should God let you into His heaven?
I. THE SYMBOL OF REALITY 2:25
A. The Profit 25a
1. “I am a Jew. I have the Law. I have been circumcised.” Circumcised was that
small operation on a male Jewish boy at 8 days old.
2. Jews felt they were secure because they were part of God’s chosen people
through circumcision. They believed circumcision somehow secured
salvation.
*Rabbi Menchem commentary of the Book of Moses, Our rabbis have said that
no circumcised man will see hell.
*Another: Circumcision saves from hell.
*The Midrash Tillim says, God swore to Abraham that no one who was
circumcised should be sent to hell.
3. When originally given to Abraham it was a public demonstration or testimony
of his commitment to God. (4:11) This signified that all of his life was
God’s…so also among his descendants.
4. It’s only profitable if you keep the law.
*I am not saved by keeping the law, but keeping the law will follow
salvation…but we are not under the law.
*Believing God’s Word…Obeying God’s Word…Desiring to do God’s will are
evidences of salvation.
B. The Penalty 25b
1. If you are a transgressor of the law…and they were. (22-24)
2. Your circumcision is become uncircumcision. Uncircumcision is the name Jews
used for Gentiles. Lit. Your circumcision has become a foreskin. Jewish law
breakers is just like a Gentile lawbreaker, and the Jews rite of circumcision
counts for nothing.
3. A Jew who continually transgressed God’s law proved that he had no more
saving relationship to God than the pagan Gentile.
4. We have our symbols of reality: attendance, baptism, communion, membership,
catechism. You do not hang apples on a branch and call it an ‘apple tree’.

Why should God let you into His heaven?
II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF REALITY 2:26-27
It’s performance that counts! There is a contrast between the Gentile (uncircumcision)
and the Jew (circumcision): keep the law, fulfill the law/transgress the law.
A. What If 26
1. The Gentile (uncircumcised) fulfill the law…keep the righteousness of the law?
2. What if? Shall not God count (put to his account) him as set apart?
B. What Then 27
1. Uncircumcision…which is by nature. Those who remain in their uncircumcised
state to the Jew was vile.
2. Sat in judgment…Judgment is God’s prerogative alone, but the Gentile’s faithful
obedience will stand as a rebuke to the faithless disobedience of hypocritical
Jews.
3. In Christianity…it’s performance that counts. It doesn’t depend on how much
we talk about religious things, attend church and know all the answers. It’s not
what you claim to have that counts…but what do you actually have?
4. It’s easy to be self-deceived by familiarity with truth or religious affiliation.
God isn’t fooled at all!
*Ezekiel 33:30-32 shows how easily it is for religious people to be deceived.
Verse 30 People talk about going to hear the preaching of the Word. They talk
religious talk. In verse 31 Before you as My people…love from their mouth, but
they are self-consumed! They will not do them. Verse 32 To them You are
nothing but entertainment…they hear words, but will not do them.
*The importance of God’s Word is that it does a work in me. To do so
there must be an attitude of obedience.

Why should God let you into His heaven?
III. THE SUBSTANCE OF REALITY 2:28-29
A. Outwardly 28
1. One is merely outward. Is that which can be observed from the outside.
2. God is never fooled no matter how good the act!
B. Inwardly 29
The heart of the matter (God’s chosen people)
1. Deut. 30:6 The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him with all your heart and with all your soul and live.
2. Jer. 4:4aCircumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart...
*Where Does God Work? Inwardly…in the heart.
*How Does God Work? Circumcision…He cuts away.
*What Way Does God Work? In the spirit (Right Attitude) …not in the letter
(Fulfilling what is merely required).
*Who Do We Try To Impress? Whose praise is not of men, but of God.

God does a work inside out!
What I do flows from what I am!