No. 16. >> The matter of Jew verses Gentile seems to take a prominent place in Paul's discussion about human sinfulness in the early part of Romans. Could you describe some of the issues that were at stake? >>PROFESSOR DAVID I. M. LEWIS: Josh, thank you for that question because this allows me to bring up a matter that perhaps a lot of us Christians of the 21st century don't really think about. In other words, you can see that thus far in his epistle, both in the thematic verse and then as he develops his theme that everybody is under sin, Paul keeps referencing Jew and Gentile. Back in the thematic verse: For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes, both for the Jew and for the Gentile. First for the Jew and then for the Gentile. And then later in Romans 1:18 through 3:20, Paul makes the case that everybody is under sin, both the Jew and the Gentile. And he keeps referencing Jew and Gentile. And this becomes an important theme throughout the book of Romans. That everyone alike, Jew and Gentile, are under sin. And that everybody alike, Jew and Gentile are declared righteous by God, are justified by God, when they believe in Jesus Christ. Now, we take it for granted of course that Jesus is the Savior of the world. That he's the Savior of everybody, Jew and Gentile. And that's because many hundreds, you know, thousands of years have passed since the time of Jesus' death and resurrection. That we just take it for granted that who can be a Christian? Well, anybody of any nationality can be a Christian, can be saved through faith in Jesus. And so we, because we're not in that culture, we fail to see the very radical and even revolutionary things that were taking place in the Christian church at this time. What were some of the issues that Paul keeps mentioning, this Jew and Gentile dichotomy? Well, remember that it was the Jews who were God's people. They were the people of Israel. And if you believe the Old Testament, God had called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He had made out of Jacob and his 12 sons this nation. He called them. He declared them holy. They were his people. He gave them the torah. His Word. He sent the prophets to them. And the promise of the Messiah, the promise of the breaking into the kingdom of God was a promise that was given specifically to the Jewish people. And the Jews had suffered because of their unique status. We know in the Old Testament that when the Syrians and then when the Babylonians oppressed God's people, it was a result of their sinfulness. But at the end of the Babylonian captivity when Israel returned from the exile and when it was restored, the people from the time of the return until the time of Christ, there were many Jews who fought very diligently to live according to the torah, to live openly pious lives. So that what happened in the Old Testament with the destruction of the nation because of their faithlessness and their idolatry, that that would not be repeated. And we know that the Jews actually suffered. When they were under the rule of the Syrians there was actually persecution where Antiochus IV tried to force the worship of Zeus in Jerusalem. This resulted in the Maccabee Revolution. And at this time many faithful Jews were tortured and killed. And in the fight many were killed by the Greeks in this war. And the Jews were actually fighting to resist the world breaking in and destroying their religion and their unique identity as God's people. And so out of this movement we get, you know, the -- some of the classes -- you know the various sects and classes of Judaism that we know from the gospels. For instance, the Pharisees, they were a party mostly of laymen who their whole idea really was to as faithfully as they could live according to the torah, according to the law of God. And that is a good thing to have tried to do. And so in the First Century, the Jewish people had this sense that they were God's people. God had given his torah, his law, to them. He had given his promises to them. The prophets were sent to them. And so the messiah, when he should come, he should come to save them. And all of these things that the Jews did that made them distinct from the Gentiles were important things. Things such as circumcising the male. Things such as not eating the unclean foods. Abstaining from unclean foods. Abstaining from foods that had been sacrificed to a pagan deity. Maintaining the Sabbath and maintaining the various religious festivals. These were distinct markers that set the Jews apart. And the faithful pious Jews were very devoted to these things. These were the things that showed them to be the unique people of God. Now, it's very revolutionary then when Jesus comes and basically says that he has come not to abolish the law of the prophets but to fulfill them. And then when very often his teachings are going to run counter to the interpretation of the Pharisees. And when Jesus in a sense is actually going to replace the law. In Mark Chapter 7 when Jesus declares that all foods are now clean, that the Jews don't need to obey kosher anymore. That basically they can eat unclean foods. They can eat pork now. These are very revolutionary things. And so we shouldn't think that it was such an easy thing for a First Century Jew simply to look at everything they had, the torah, the various customs and practices commanded by God that set them apart as God's people. We shouldn't think that it was just an easy thing for these people just to throw this stuff off and just sort of immediately, you know, act free in the Gospel. This was very much a part of their faith and their life. Now, of course one of the drawbacks to this was that Judaism was infected with a strong sense of legalism when Jesus and the apostles came. We see this reflected in the gospels where very much they believed that it was not any more God's call. And their faith in God's promises that save them. But it really was the obeying of all of these rituals and of all of these laws. Nevertheless, we still need to keep in mind that these things were given to them by God to set them apart. And it was very revolutionary, very radical when Jesus and the apostles came and said these things don't apply anymore. This is really the message of Paul as we're going to see it unpacked in the epistle to the Romans. Paul is going to say that the law does not apply anymore. Circumcision, the Sabbath, eating certain foods. These no longer are the things that make God's people distinct. What makes God's people distinct now is faith in Jesus Christ and then life in the Spirit that we received through baptism. This is now what sets God's people apart. They believe in Jesus. They believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God who has ushered in God's reign. God has acted decisively. He has intervened. But he's done it in this way: But sending his Son to die and to rise again so that salvation may be given to all people. And again, this is a radical concept. Now it's not just the Jews who are being saved by their Messiah, it is Gentiles, too, who on the same basis, on the basis of faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit are now God's people. Remember, this is very radical, very revolutionary for those First Century Jews. And so in a sense we should be able to identify why so many of them would have had trouble getting this. In a sense it could only come to them the same way it could come to a Gentile. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. What is it that could take a Jew whose thinking was so rooted in this old way to believe in Jesus? It would have to take the power of God through his Word, through the Gospel, to bring that person there. The same way to bring a Gentile idolater from that radically Godless way of life and bring him into the locus of God's people. It would still take the power of God through the Gospel. But anyways, this situation that Paul is addressing, many Jews would have still valued the torah. Valued their status as Jews. And Paul in a sense is telling them that: Your status as a Jew is not what is going to make you righteous before God. Yes, God gave you his law. Yes, God sent his prophets to you. He gave you his Word. Nevertheless even in the Old Testament it was always faith in God's Word that was the important thing. Not so much your obeying these rituals. And now what has happened in Jesus is that as we're going to find out in Romans 10, Jesus is the end of the law. He is the end of the law. That Old Testament law no longer literally applies. Now God's people are not those who were circumcised and who eat kosher and who obey the Sabbath and obey certain festivals. They are those who believe in Jesus and who have received the Holy Spirit so that through the Spirit they lead a new life. Paul keeps bringing this up because this was an issue that was probably on many a Jewish Christian's heart. Do those old distinctions matter at all? And in a sense Paul is saying: You as Jews are still a blessed people because God did certain things for you. But in this new age, now that Jesus Christ has come, what matters is faith in Jesus and life in the Holy Spirit that God has given to those who believe in Jesus. And so as we hear Paul go back and forth between about Jew and Gentile, keep in mind especially the great challenge that would have faced any Jewish person in the First Century when they were told by Paul or any other Christian that what matters now is faith in Jesus. Not those old customs you used to live according to. Not even the torah that you received. What matters now is your faith in Jesus. And what God has done through him. It was a very radical and revolutionary concept. And it wasn't an easy thing for any First Century Jew simply to accept without questioning and understanding what exactly was going on.