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Circumcision
has its advantages! Our working theme of Romans: “The righteousness of God” CHARTING
THE COURSE FOR THIS STUDY: Ø What are the benefits of being a circumcised Jew? Ø The oracles of God and sola scriptura Ø The Apocrypha & the oracles of God WHAT ADVANTAGE HAS THE JEW? IS THERE ANY BENEFIT TO CIRCUMCISION? (Romans
3:1-8) A. Lumping Jews and Gentiles as BOTH being unrighteous raised many questions. ü
What’s the point?! ü
If there is no distinction
between Jews and Gentiles then what advantage has the Jew? ü
What is the advantage of
physical circumcision? ü
What is the value of the
Mosaic Law? ü
Why bother with morality
seeing that we are unrighteous and can’t keep the law? B. Objections that might have been raised to Paul’s teaching: Ø God is righteousness. Ø Paul says that none of us are righteous. Ø Therefore, if God’s righteousness is demonstrated by our unrighteousness and not our righteousness then doesn’t that make God unrighteous? (v.5) Ø God’s righteousness is a good thing. Ø Our unrighteousness demonstrates God’s righteousness Ø Therefore, Paul’s argument means our unrighteousness is a good
thing!? Why not continue in
unrighteousness so that God’s righteousness is demonstrated (vv.5,8)? C. One of the chief benefits of being a circumcised Jew was ____________________________________________ (Romans 3:2; cf. John 5:39). D. Paul taught that Jewish unfaithfulness was ultimately demonstrated in her not believing God’s Word. The Jews on the other hand defined unfaithfulness as lawlessness. 1. The Jews thought that their faithfulness consisted in their obedience to God’s Law. 2. Paul taught that it is not a matter of our obedience/disobedience but Christ’s obedience for our righteousness and His death for our unrighteousness. E. Paul’s quotation of Psalm 51 (Romans 3:4). What is the context of Psalm
51? Ø Numbers 15:31 – ‘Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him Ø 2 Samuel 12:9 – ‘Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? Ø Psalm 51:7 – A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. Why doesn’t God despise all
who have despised His law? THE ORACLES OF GOD AND SOLA SCRIPTURA What was one of the great
benefits of being a physical descendant of Abraham? (v.2) If you were to ask a Roman
Catholic in Luther’s day, “What advantage has a Roman Catholic?” what might
the response have been? What would not have been
emphasized in the Roman Catholic response to “What advantage has a Roman
Catholic?” What would our view of the OT
be had Paul not emphasized the importance of the Jews having been entrusted
with the oracles of God? How does the Apostle Paul emphasize
and apply the importance of the OT in Romans 3:4-18? Does infant baptism have any benefits? THE APOCRYPHA & THE ORACLES OF GOD A. One of the reasons Protestants don’t accept the Apocrypha as Scripture is because the Jews didn’t receive these books as the “oracles of God.” B. The Apocrypha was not officially accepted by Rome until Trent in 1546. C. The Apocrypha has some excellent teaching and provides invaluable insight for the time period between Malachi and John the Baptist. … it is unfortunate that Protestants have totally disregarded the Apocrypha. The Protestant Reformers, while declaring that the apocryphal books were not inspired as God’s revelation, still maintained their value as literature. They provide the closest view we have of the period between Malachi and John the Baptist. Many Reformers believed that, apart from the Scripture, the Apocrypha contains our most important body of literature (R.C. Sproul, Vol. 3: Before the face of God: Book three: A daily guide for living from the Old Testament). |
