Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
The verse describes those who are called Jews and called by God's name, who rest in the law and make their boast of God. It means professing to know God's will and to approve excellent things because instructed out of the law. It means being confident of being a guide of the blind, a light to those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish and a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and of truth in the law.
In its setting, professed Jews boasted in their religion and piety while looking down on Gentiles as sinners. Yet the wise men whom they regarded as heathen stood higher in God's sight than these professed worshipers. Even the guardians of Scripture showed no sympathy for their earnest questions.
Those who claimed Jewish standing and relied on the law while bragging about God had perverted God's law. Even the most zealous supporters of the law were themselves breaking it. Such profession and religious knowledge are worthless without doing the law. The principles of the law express God's character, and God requires fulfillment rather than mere acknowledgment of its authority, for not hearers but doers will be justified. Great light and privilege bring responsibility to obey.
The responsibility to live what is taught means one who teaches another must first teach himself. He must not steal while teaching against stealing, must not commit adultery, must not commit sacrilege, and must not break the law while boasting of the law. One who preaches modesty and self-denial must not cherish idols of dress, pride and self-gratification in small as well as large matters. Breaking the law while boasting of it dishonors God. It causes God's name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles and among those who do not know Him.
Outward identity and circumcision do not suffice for righteousness. Outward circumcision profits only if the law is kept and becomes uncircumcision when the law is broken. Uncircumcision that keeps the righteousness of the law is counted as circumcision and will judge the transgressor. A true Jew is one inwardly, with circumcision of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is from God and not from people. This inward reality is shown when the law treasured in the heart governs the speech.
In response to this perversion and lawbreaking, Christ came to keep every part of God's law, including the precepts and ceremonies given through Moses. At the same time He came to bring transformation and make all things new. Applied to believers and especially to those living amid the perils of the last days, the verse forbids numbering Israel, putting human measurement on ministering brethren, reading the heart, excluding brethren, and claiming superior holiness. Instead it calls for self-examination rather than measuring fellow believers. It calls for zeal according to knowledge, with outward appearance testifying to the inward working of the heart, and with truth received in the heart transforming mind, heart and character into a modest, unselfish, missionary life.
The verse describes those who are called Jews and called by God's name, who rest in the law and make their boast of God. It means professing to know God's will and to approve excellent things because instructed out of the law. It means being confident of being a guide of the blind, a light to those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish and a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and of truth in the law.
In its setting, professed Jews boasted in their religion and piety while looking down on Gentiles as sinners. Yet the wise men whom they regarded as heathen stood higher in God's sight than these professed worshipers. Even the guardians of Scripture showed no sympathy for their earnest questions.
Those who claimed Jewish standing and relied on the law while bragging about God had perverted God's law. Even the most zealous supporters of the law were themselves breaking it. Such profession and religious knowledge are worthless without doing the law. The principles of the law express God's character, and God requires fulfillment rather than mere acknowledgment of its authority, for not hearers but doers will be justified. Great light and privilege bring responsibility to obey.
The responsibility to live what is taught means one who teaches another must first teach himself. He must not steal while teaching against stealing, must not commit adultery, must not commit sacrilege, and must not break the law while boasting of the law. One who preaches modesty and self-denial must not cherish idols of dress, pride and self-gratification in small as well as large matters. Breaking the law while boasting of it dishonors God. It causes God's name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles and among those who do not know Him.
Outward identity and circumcision do not suffice for righteousness. Outward circumcision profits only if the law is kept and becomes uncircumcision when the law is broken. Uncircumcision that keeps the righteousness of the law is counted as circumcision and will judge the transgressor. A true Jew is one inwardly, with circumcision of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is from God and not from people. This inward reality is shown when the law treasured in the heart governs the speech.
In response to this perversion and lawbreaking, Christ came to keep every part of God's law, including the precepts and ceremonies given through Moses. At the same time He came to bring transformation and make all things new. Applied to believers and especially to those living amid the perils of the last days, the verse forbids numbering Israel, putting human measurement on ministering brethren, reading the heart, excluding brethren, and claiming superior holiness. Instead it calls for self-examination rather than measuring fellow believers. It calls for zeal according to knowledge, with outward appearance testifying to the inward working of the heart, and with truth received in the heart transforming mind, heart and character into a modest, unselfish, missionary life.