Read the passage here.
Who has children who have the bad habit of selective hearing and selective doing? I do. Sometimes I feel like a broken record repeating myself and seeing no action. Sometimes the 4 year old does enough action to think it’s good enough or the other response is to let the excuses fly. Many times, we are 4 year olds spiritually.
The main thrust of this passage is there are those who hear and those who obey. Jesus made reference to this problem. Paul isn’t telling us something Jesus hasn’t already declared. Remember, when studying the writings of Paul, let the words of Jesus validate Paul and not the other way around. Let’s look at the two categories of people.
“Those who hear the law”
Both Jesus and Paul make it clear that there are those who hear the law and have little or no response in thought and lifestyle. These are those who hear the law and scriptures and might even know them, yet, do not live it out in obedience. They think they are living and doing right. Jesus has something to say about this mindset in Matthew 7:21-23. His response to those who say that even though they did all these things in His name, He doesn’t know them! Apparently, there were those who heard, who knew the scriptures and law and there doing was only checking items off a list. Their “doing” was apparently nothing but empty works. Jesus responds by saying He doesn’t know them and tells them “away from me”. The three harshest, scariest, most cutting and condemning words to come out of the mouth of Jesus – “away from me”.
“Those who obey the law”
In Matthew 7:24, Jesus tells us that hearing and doing must go beyond what a preachers tells us to do or what a best selling author writes. It must be practice. As a musician, I must practice everyday lest I become weak in my abilities or my love of playing music diminishes. It must become part of the me. I must identify with it everyday. Why? It’s a difficult discipline. It takes time. It can be physically painful – especially for a guitar player. In order to become better, I must move beyond simple chords and enter the world of J.S. Bach. I must learn to interpret every step of the way and learn what the composer was trying to communicate. But, the craft of music is rewarding upon going through the tough spots. The craft must become a discipline and not just “what I do” or “how I roll”. Jesus says the same about His word. Put it into practice. Everyday, you must identify with what it says. It will be difficult. I must learn what the author – the Holy Spirit – is trying to say. I must interpret based on the author’s intent. In this case, the author is the Holy Spirit. He inspired the human writers. It will be painful, but the rewards are great.
More striking here in Romans 2, is that Paul is letting us know that the ones who are putting it into practice are Gentiles, not the Jews. The Gentiles have no law, but Paul says that “they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts”. This is direct from Jeremiah 31:34. God’s word is spreading. From Jesus walking and teaching to His disciples and followers spreading out across the world. His word is spreading. People are hearing.
I close by asking myself this question, “Do I hear and check it off or do I hear and put it into practice?”
What say you?
