Paul's purpose, in his letter to the Romans, is to contend with Jewish believers ("the weak", 15:1) who see their righteousness confirmed and progressed by obedience to the law. So, in this passage Paul sets out to establish the fact that no one is righteous before God on the basis of their submission to the law of God. Yet, there are those, Gentile believers, who have never received the law as a birthright like the Jews, who are not only justified apart from the law and are therefore treated as if they were law-abiders, but who actually apply the demands of the law in their life. Paul then goes on to exposes the hypocrisy of those Jewish believers who stand under the law, but don't keep the law. Then finally, Paul points out that the supposed advantage of circumcision is lost for those who fail to obey the law. Their loss is compared with their Gentile brothers who possess a spiritual circumcision and are praised by God as the righteous ones.

v12-13. Up to this point in his letter, Paul has established the universality of sin, the consequence of which is the impartial judgment of God. Paul now introduces the role of the law of Moses. Due to sin, all are judged, irrespective of whether they are under the law of Moses or not. Those believers who submit to the law on the assumption that obedience secures their standing before God, or somehow advances their standing, are condemned by the law, for to be right before God demands complete obedience to the law.

v14-16. On the other hand, those believers who rest on God's grace through faith are not only "declared righteous" without the law, but actually apply (imperfectly) its requirements in their day to day life, and this because they are prompted by the indwelling compelling of the Spirit - a law within their heart. This law within, as with the Mosaic law, condemns as well as praises, thus forcing them into the presence of God to recognize again that their standing is by grace through faith and not works of the law.

v17-24. Paul shows the Jewish believers in Rome that when tested by the law of Moses they are found to be law-breakers. They may be proud that they have the law as a birthright of the old covenant, a blessing and sign of God's favour toward them, yet, in the end they dishonor God by breaking the law. By doing this they prove that they are sinners, without personal righteousness before God, and therefore under his condemnation. They may think that they have an advantage over Gentile believers through their submission to the law, which is why they seek to impose Mosaic law on their Gentile brothers. Yet, the advantage only exists where the law is obeyed, and the reality is all sin and fall short of the glory of God. In fact, Jewish hypocrisy blasphemes God's name among the wider Gentile community. So, the presumed advantage of the law is actually a disadvantage.

v25-29. The Jewish believers in Rome may think that circumcision will advantage them before God, even exempt them from condemnation. Yet, circumcision is only an advantage where the law is obeyed. In reality, an uncircumcised believer, striving to live out their faith, is treated by God as if they were circumcised. They are blessed, while the circumcised person is condemned. God looks at the inward person, at the heart; he does not define his children on the basis of Jewish ancestry, but on the basis of their personal relationship with him. Circumcision performed on the flesh in submission to the "written code" is not the circumcision God is interested in. He looks for the "circumcision of the heart", a spiritual renewal within. Such a person receives God's "praise".

Israel's special vocation was to promote the glory of God's name throughout the world by demonstrating what it meant to live as a community under God's law. Paul makes use of Isaiah 52:5 to illustrate that the behavior of some of the Jewish brethren in the church of Rome actually reviles God's name rather than brings praise to it.

A common statement by the unchurched is that the church if full of hypocrites. In response churchies will often reply, "you can still come and join us, one extra won't make much difference." Hypocrisy is seen as saying one thing, but doing another. The church is often seen to take a high moral stand on social issues, but then to soften that stand for its own advantage. (eg. the protection of pederasts in the ranks).

Recently, I was taking a Bible class when a teenager asked me a question about an issue I knew very little about. She asked whether it wasn't hypocritical for the church to take a stand against the liquor trade, but then to change church law to allow a particular church to lease some property for a licensed restaurant. I said I was under the impression that church law prohibited the sale of alcohol on church property, and I thought that was that. In the end, she was right. We had changed the law for commercial reasons. Principles were set aside for financial gain. A young student had observed our hypocrisy and so God's name was blasphemed.

In my particular diocese we have an interesting rule on the remarriage of divorcees. With the bishop's permission, an attending member can gain permission to remarry, but a nominal "CofE" (Church of England) is refused. Now, how is that for hypocrisy? The Roman practice of annulling the former marriage leaves a similar taste in the mouth of the onlooker.

The truth is that the law-bound become lawless and then use the sins of others to hid their own sin. Such hypocrisy blasphemes God's name. We are reminded again that only under God's grace do we become gracious and worthy of his praise.

1. Identify other examples of hypocrisy in the church and discuss.

2. Should the church be seen to promote social morality, or grace? discuss.