And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
Being instructed out of the law gives knowledge of God's will and the ability to approve and distinguish the things that are more excellent. The verse describes one who is called a Jew and rests in the law and makes boast of God. Such a one is 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 the truth in the law. This is God's professed people with great light and great opportunities, line upon line and precept upon precept.
The principles of the law are an expression of the character of God. Only when the law is treasured in the heart and truth is received inwardly does it transform mind and character, with speech and outward appearance giving evidence of the inward working. Mere knowledge is only having the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law and acknowledging the authority of the law. It is a privilege but does not make a person right with God, since not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified, which requires zeal according to knowledge and being doers of the Word, whose requirements God expects to be fulfilled.
One who teaches another must teach himself and apply the law to himself rather than merely know or teach it. He must not steal or commit adultery or commit sacrilege while preaching against them, since through breaking the law he dishonors God and causes the name of God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles. That instruction had been perverted by the Jewish teachers, so that even the most zealous advocates of the law were themselves breaking it. They cherished idols in dress and pride and in small as well as large matters that separate them from God, teaching another without teaching themselves. The priests' pride in religion and piety while dismissing the wise men as heathen shows that knowing the sacred teachings does not by itself produce sympathy or true spiritual discernment, and the wise men stand higher in God's sight.
Circumcision profits only if the law is kept, and breaking the law turns circumcision into uncircumcision, while uncircumcision keeping the righteousness of the law is counted for circumcision and judges the transgressor. One is not a Jew who is one outwardly but who is one inwardly, with circumcision of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. Christ came to fulfill every letter of God's law and to keep even the precepts and ceremonies of the Mosaic institutions, while at the same time bringing transformation and making all things new. Such knowledge gives no right to number Israel, to put human measurement upon ministering brethren, or to read the heart, since the one found fault with may be more righteous before God. For those living amid the perils of the last days this calls for carefulness in measuring a brother, taking heed to self, and putting no occasion of stumbling in a brother's way.
Being instructed out of the law gives knowledge of God's will and the ability to approve and distinguish the things that are more excellent. The verse describes one who is called a Jew and rests in the law and makes boast of God. Such a one is 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 the truth in the law. This is God's professed people with great light and great opportunities, line upon line and precept upon precept.
The principles of the law are an expression of the character of God. Only when the law is treasured in the heart and truth is received inwardly does it transform mind and character, with speech and outward appearance giving evidence of the inward working. Mere knowledge is only having the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law and acknowledging the authority of the law. It is a privilege but does not make a person right with God, since not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified, which requires zeal according to knowledge and being doers of the Word, whose requirements God expects to be fulfilled.
One who teaches another must teach himself and apply the law to himself rather than merely know or teach it. He must not steal or commit adultery or commit sacrilege while preaching against them, since through breaking the law he dishonors God and causes the name of God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles. That instruction had been perverted by the Jewish teachers, so that even the most zealous advocates of the law were themselves breaking it. They cherished idols in dress and pride and in small as well as large matters that separate them from God, teaching another without teaching themselves. The priests' pride in religion and piety while dismissing the wise men as heathen shows that knowing the sacred teachings does not by itself produce sympathy or true spiritual discernment, and the wise men stand higher in God's sight.
Circumcision profits only if the law is kept, and breaking the law turns circumcision into uncircumcision, while uncircumcision keeping the righteousness of the law is counted for circumcision and judges the transgressor. One is not a Jew who is one outwardly but who is one inwardly, with circumcision of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. Christ came to fulfill every letter of God's law and to keep even the precepts and ceremonies of the Mosaic institutions, while at the same time bringing transformation and making all things new. Such knowledge gives no right to number Israel, to put human measurement upon ministering brethren, or to read the heart, since the one found fault with may be more righteous before God. For those living amid the perils of the last days this calls for carefulness in measuring a brother, taking heed to self, and putting no occasion of stumbling in a brother's way.