And if you would, go ahead and
turn to Romans 2, and we're going to begin at verse 17 this morning,
and I study now. Just kind of maybe put a mark
on that section of Scripture. We're not going to stay there
the whole time. We're going to be looking at
quite a few different Scriptures, but those are the Scriptures
that we're going to major on this morning as we come here. to do our best to preach the
gospel of how God saves a sinner based on Christ alone, not conditioned
on what we do, our works in any way. It's based entirely on the
righteousness that he worked out, Christ alone. And God freely
charges it to all those that come to him by faith, that look
to Christ and that are in that particular state of that oneness
with Christ as the Holy Spirit brings them from darkness to
light as he regenerates them. Now this morning, as we look
back at it as we close out our previous study in Romans, it
was chapter 2, 12 through 16, I think it was, we saw that the
Christ of the gospel will be the judge of the quick and the
dead. And it all will be judged by the Christ as he is represented
in this gospel that I'm telling you about. He is the only righteous
one. There's not but one righteousness.
And that's what he worked out. That's that perfect righteousness.
We're one with him. The righteousness that we have
is that oneness with Christ as God imputes and charges that
righteousness to our account. So anytime we talk about a righteousness,
or in scripture, when it talks about, it says, doeth righteousness,
worketh righteousness, and all these other phrases that you
hear, speaking of that oneness that we have with Christ, the
believer, in his walk, after the new birth, after God has
regenerated it, as he looks to that righteousness that Christ
worked out, We know that the standard of all judgment is Christ
in Acts 1731, and I'll be reading different scriptures. You don't
have to turn there. I'll tell you those that you can turn to,
because I'll be going pretty quick in some of these. Acts 1731 says, Because he hath
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man. by that man being Christ, whom
he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men,
and that he hath raised him from the dead. This proves that the
only way we as sinners can stand before God and be declared righteous
in his sight is to be in Christ, washed in his blood and clothed
in his righteousness. Our best deeds and efforts to
keep the law will not save us or make us righteous before God.
In Romans 3, 19 and 20, it says, Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, saith them that under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore, verse 20, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. Our only hope of salvation
is God's free, sovereign mercy and grace in Christ and Him alone.
As we begin our verse 17 here through the end of chapter 2,
the Jews are mainly Paul's topic as he addresses these Jews. The Apostle Paul addresses the
many privileges that God had granted the nation Israel under
the old covenant that he gave them. He also brings several
charges against them, even against their principal men, which was
their teachers, the scribes and Pharisees. The act of circumcision
is also discussed in these verses. The apostles' view as a whole
is to show that they could not be justified before God by their
obedience to the law of Moses. whether it be the moral law or
the ceremonial law. Paul says, Behold, take notice,
observe, thou art a Jew. Now, as he says this, he says,
Thou art one in name, by nation, and by religion, as he talks
to these Jews. But no name, nor outward religion,
nor mere profession, will justify a sinner before God. Whether
you are a Baptist or whether you are a Methodist, you can
go on and on. Your religion is not going to
save you. You must have a righteousness to stand before this holy God
that we are all going to have to deal with. My lesson here,
the title of my lesson is going to be God's Law and the Jews. Beginning at verse 17 here, Romans
2, we are looking at It says, Behold, thou art called
a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of the law.
Paul now turns his attention to the self-righteous religious
Jews, and he lists all their claims of righteousness by their
works of the law. To be called a Jew, as it says
here in verse 17 of Romans 2, meant to be called a child of
God. to the Jews, that is. They were the nation chosen by
God above all other nations. The reason God chose them as
a nation under that old covenant was to accomplish His purpose
and His promise to save His elect, Jew and Gentile, in sending the
Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world through them.
God's choice of them was in no way due to their goodness nor
their strength as a nation or as a people. Now, the second
part of verse 17 in Romans 2 says that they rested in the law,
or that they were satisfied with their works under the law, as
if they had kept the law enough to be saved or declared righteous
before God by their works. And then it says that they made
their boast of God, or that they boldly claimed that they worshipped
a true God, that they didn't worship idols, that the Gentiles
worshipped, that they were God's children and that God was satisfied
with them and by their works, that he was satisfied with them.
These were the Jews. Now, Romans 2.18 says this, "...and knowest his
will." As he speaks to the Jews, they claim that they knew his
will. "...and approvest the things that are more excellent, being
instructed out of the law." They claim to know God's revealed
will, what God requires, commands, and what pleases God. They claim
that they approved of, as it says here in verse 18, the things
that are more excellent. the things of God that had been
given them exclusively and not to the Gentiles. And all of this
was because they had been instructed out of the law. Now, as Paul
goes into verse 19, beginning of verse 19, it says, "...and
are confident," still talking about the Jews here and their
claim in the law and circumcision, and are confident that thou thyself
are a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has
the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law." Now, these
Jews claim to be religious authorities. They claim to be guides to the
blind, lights in a world of darkness, instructor of the foolish, teacher
of babes, because they had the knowledge of God and his law.
They read and studied the scriptures and were confident in their preaching
and in their witnessing. They thought they were saved,
and they desired the salvation of others. They were sincere, outwardly
moral, dedicated, and missionary-minded. In reality, though, they did
not know the true God and his way of salvation in Christ and
by Christ alone, based on his righteousness alone. Let's look
at some verses here where Christ makes it clear that by the works
of the law, by the works of the law of God, no sinner will be
justified in God's sight, by your deeds of law, by your works
of law. In Matthew 5.20, if you'll turn
there, I might slow down a little bit
and let you all turn to a few more scriptures. Bear with me. For I say unto you, this is Christ
speaking, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the
kingdom of heaven. And this is Christ speaking to
the scribes and the Pharisees. The reason that Christ used the
scribes and the Pharisees as an example is that the Jews looked
to these leaders and believed that if anyone could be saved,
anyone, surely these men would. Christ told them that their righteousness
must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,
though. Christ continues talking to these Jewish leaders in Matthew
23. In Matthew 23, verse 15, it says,
ìWoe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you compass sea
and land to make one proselyte.î They were missionary minded.
ìAnd when he is made, you make him twofold, a child of hell,
than yourselves.î Christ called them blind guides here in Matthew
15, verse 14. It says, let them alone. They
be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
both shall fall in a ditch. Turn also to Matthew 23. Matthew 23, beginning verse 23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you pay tithe in men and anise and cumin and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy,
and faith. These ought you to have done,
and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides which strain
at a net and swallow a camel." Now, I can remember that when
I was reading some of these scriptures years ago in false religion at
that time when God was doing a work in me, I believe. I could envision what Christ
was, when he's talking to these scribes and Pharisees, and when
he talked there about how they appeared outward to men, and
they looked like a well-kept cemetery. I had in my mind a
well-kept cemetery with tombstones around. marble tombstones and
everything, and well-kept grass. And it looked pretty, outwardly
speaking. I know a lot of graves out there
and dead men, but it appeared real nice outwardly. But Christ
told them that what you are is what's on the inside of that
sepulchre, that tombstone. You're like dead men's bones.
And as God does the work in each and every one of his leg, he
brings us to that point that there's nothing good in us. There's nothing that we can do.
There's nothing we can work out to appease this holy God. This
God is holy. And in and of ourselves, we're not any good. That's just
the long and short of it. Well, let me just say this, in
the next few verses we'll see what the majority of the Jews
were doing with God's law. Romans 9.31 says, But Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. They went about the law that
God had given them, the law of righteousness, but they went
about it by their works, by the works of the law. And he told them, he said, have
not attained to the law of righteousness. And he said, wherefore? Why?
And then he said, because they sought it not by faith. They
didn't look to Christ, but as it were, by the works of the
law, by their deeds of law, by what they did, rather than looking
to Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness. He
fulfilled the law, every jot and tittle. He worked out a righteousness,
a perfect righteousness. He obeyed the law perfectly in
every way. And this righteousness that he
worked out, that God sent him to work out, is what we must
have to stand before God. And Scripture tells us that as
we look to Christ, as we look to Christ, the true Christ, the
true God of the Bible, that this is how he saved sinners, by Christ's
righteousness alone, what he did. Now, here in verse 31, we
see that they followed after the law of righteousness, but
they did not attain it because they were not looking to Christ for righteousness,
but looking at their works. Now, the next verse in Romans
10 says, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Verse 4 tells us that Christ
is the end or the fulfillment of the law for righteousness.
To all those that believe, these Jews did not see Christ in the
scriptures, and they refused to see the reality of the law
of Moses, which was to convict them of sin, to show them what
a sinner they were, and to drive them to Christ for all righteousness
and life. As it states here in Romans 5,
verse 21, if you want to turn there. Moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord." And in Galatians 3 verse 24,
"...wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ,
that we might be justified by faith." by looking to Christ
and his righteousness alone. The law was given to teach them
of Christ. It was to teach them who Christ
was, as they were given all those pictures and all those types
in the Old Covenant, ceremonial law, high priest, tabernacle, what they were required in the
sacrificial system with the lambs that they were to bring to this
high priest without spot of blemish, which is a picture of Christ,
which was to be slain. And that high priest, as that
sinner brought that lamb to that high priest, laid his hand that
that sinner lay in his hand on the head of that lamb, which
was symbolic of his sin being charged and imputed to Christ,
the perfect Lamb of God without spot or blemish. As we go into
Romans 2, chapter 2, verse 21, it reads, I'll read 21 and 22,
Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest, and man
should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest, and man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?" Now, the Jews, in pride, judged
themselves to be better than the Gentiles. And the Gentiles
here would be any other nation at that time, other than a Jew.
whether it be a Greek or you could go on. Now, they judge
in their pride, judge themselves to be better than those Gentiles.
But in reality, by God's standard in judgment, they were no better. And in many ways, they were worse. They claimed that they kept the
law and were righteous by their words. They judged Gentiles to
be sinners and deserving of eternal damnation. This claim and judgment
is the highest Highest hypocrisy we can imagine. Paul tells them
that they were in reality sinners, transgressors of the law, just
like the Gentiles who were not looking to Christ alone. They
were no more deserving of God's favor and blessings than the
Gentiles. They were no more righteous based
on their works than the Gentiles. Paul shows them how they teach
others to keep the law for salvation, but they themselves do not keep
the law and were not qualified to teach others concerning the
law. He lists several sins here in
this verse. He says they teach others not
to steal, but they themselves steal. The Apostle Paul asked
the question at the end of the verse, does thou commit sacrilege? The word sacrilege refers to
bring a temple robber figuratively commit sacrilege, to being a
temple robber. They teach others not to commit
adultery or idolatry, but they themselves are adulterers and
idolaters. They boast in their law-keeping,
but they themselves break the law. Many of them may have imagined
that they were never guilty of any of these sins in an outward
way, by their outward deeds. What me and you could see as
we look at men around and as they walk this earth, certain
people you see that go out and commit adultery, or maybe they
steal, and you can see it. And by looking at them outwardly,
you might not see some of these things, but God looks on the
heart. your thoughts. But the law reaches the heart
and shows that the very thought of sin deserves eternal death. Most religions won't accept that.
In Matthew 5.21.48 talks about that. Now, we are
all sinners and we all have broken the law. In James 2, 10, you
don't have to turn there, but it says, For whosoever shall
keep the law, the whole law, and yet offend in one point is
guilty of all. You say, well, I don't steal,
I don't do all these other things, and you start naming them. But
if you offend in one part, if you commit one sin, you're guilty
of all. And that should shut our mouths
when it comes to our works for salvation. But self-righteous
men, and that's what we all are by nature, will not go there
unless God does a work in their heart. Now, Romans 2, in verse
23 and 24, says, Thou that makest the boast, thou boast of the
law. Through breaking the law dishonest thou God. For the name
of God is blaspheme among the Gentiles through you, as it is
written. Now, Paul is here speaking of
how it is written by the prophets that wherever the Jews journeyed
among the Gentiles that these Jews were so ready to condemn,
these Jews and their conduct and behavior caused the heathen
to mock the name of God. You don't have to turn there,
but if you want to make a note of it, in Ezekiel 36, verse 20-22
is an example. Some of the ways that they blasphemed
the name of God is that they misrepresented God and spoke
wrongly of his glory and of his ways. The Jews taught that the
Gentiles were condemned because they did not keep the law, and
this is true. But they also taught that they
themselves were righteous because they did keep the law, and this
is false. They claimed that the law did
not condemn them because they were descendants of Abraham.
Abraham was their father. They were circumcised and had
the law of Moses. This is the last family. The
true and living God will not and cannot save any sinner based
on such things as you being in the nation of Israel, or you
being a descendant of Abraham, or you being circumcised. You
can put any other thing in the place of circumcision, whether
it be your coming to church, or giving your money, or visiting
the sick, or your faith. Oh, I believe that that makes
the difference. The true and living God will not and cannot
save any sinner based on such things. He is the God who justifies
the ungodly by his grace in the person and finished work of Christ.
Anything other than to shed blood and impute it righteousness,
and that impute it simply means it was charged. You didn't have
anything to do with working out that righteousness. It was charged
to your account. But this righteousness of Christ
Anybody that teaches anything else as far as being saved by
their works or any of these other things, they're blasphemers and
they're hypocrites. Now, in verse 25 of Romans 2,
it says, for circumcision, we'll go into what he's talking about
the Jews and circumcision. For circumcision is barely profited
if thou keep the law. But if thou be a breaker of the
law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Now, circumcision
connected them with Abraham. They saw it as a physical sign
of salvation because they were circumcised, and they boasted
in their circumcision. In Acts 15.1, it says this, And
certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and
said, and these were these Jews that came down. taught the men
and said, except ye be circumcised after the man of Moses, you cannot
be saved. Now that's pretty clear that
they were depending on that circumcision to save them or either having
some part in their salvation. Paul exposes the reality here. Circumcision had no power to
save any person. Once again, God requires perfection.
He is holy and can require no less. Galatians 5.3 says, For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he
is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect
to you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. In other
words, you think that God justifies you by your law, by keeping the
law, by your works of the law. It says you are fallen from grace,
which just simply means you never did believe that it was grace
alone, by Christ alone. When Paul writes, but if thou
be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision,
what is it to be a breaker of the law? Simply speaking, it
is to ignore God's promise of salvation conditioned completely
on Christ and his righteousness alone. which is what these Jews
were doing. It is also what multitudes are
doing today when they look at something that they do or that
they are unable to do to gain eternal life. They should have
seen in the practice of circumcision that there was nothing good in
them, in their flesh. And it should have caused them
to look to Christ, the perfect Lamb of God without spot of blemish.
By thinking that circumcision profited them in some way, they
were actually proving that they were uncircumcised in heart and
that they did not believe the promise of God that God gave
to Abraham of a salvation by Christ alone. In other words,
it just proved that they had not been regenerated by God. They had not been born again.
Now, before we go into verse 26, I'd like to ask a question, and
that is, what is the purpose of the law? Was it given in order
for sinners to try to keep for salvation? God says that by the
works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight or
before him. No, friends, the purpose of the
law is to bring a sinner in guilty before God and cause the sinner
to flee to Christ alone for righteousness and justification. It never was
given. to keep for eternal life or for salvation. Now, as I said
to begin this message, I want to make clear that there is not
but one righteousness, and that's that perfect righteousness that
Christ worked out. By him, that's the only righteousness
that God will accept. Now, when you hear some of these
other terms, doeth righteousness, worketh righteousness, is simply
speaking of that sinner that centers oneness with Christ as
he, through the new birth, has been regenerated and brought
to Christ alone for salvation, as he looks to Christ alone for
salvation. In verse 26 here in chapter 2,
it says, Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep or observe the righteousness
of the law, Speaking of the Gentiles that were uncircumcised, shall
not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? What is it
to keep or observe the righteousness of the law? It is to look to
Christ for all salvation. It is to see that Christ kept
the law perfectly and that God has imputed and charged Christ's
righteousness to your account and you are righteous in him.
It is the same thing that is spoken of in Acts 10.35, but
in every nation, it says here, in Acts 10.35, but in every nation,
he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with
him. Y'all turn to Romans 8, verse
1, back a little bit. Beginning with verse 1, it says,
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh." In verse 4, "...that the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. If an uncircumcised Gentile keep
the righteousness of the law, or if the righteousness of the
law is fulfilled in him, that is, his hope is in God's promise
to save him based on Christ's righteousness alone, and that
salvation was not conditioned on him in any way, this uncircumcised
Gentile would give evidence and be considered in reality what
circumcision symbolizes, a true child of God and justified in
God's sight. Paul shows that perfect righteousness
is to only be found in Christ and his righteousness alone.
There are many other scriptures that speak of doeth righteousness
and worketh righteousness and don't have time to go into all
these as I started looking. It's just a lot of scriptures. I believe that this is what these
scriptures are saying. I know that by nature we automatically
go to work salvation when we hear these words, keep, do, worketh. But God is not telling us to
do or work for our righteousness. He is simply saying to look to
Christ for righteousness and eternal life. And by doing this,
you give evidence that you are keeping or observing the righteousness
of the Lord. Once again, Romans 8.4, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. We don't look
at anything that we do to gain or maintain salvation, anything
that we do in the flesh, anything that we do down here. We walk
in the Spirit. We walk in a state of looking
to Christ alone for salvation, what he accomplished on the And
that alone, that is what it is to walk in the Spirit and not
in the flesh. Romans 2 verse 27, and shall
not uncircumcision, which is by nature, speaking of the Gentiles
again, an uncircumcision, if it fulfill the law, Judge Z,
who by the letter and the circumcision does transgress the law. Now,
when Paul speaks of uncircumcision, He is speaking of those Gentiles
specifically, that do not look to circumcision or something
done by them to gain righteousness and eternal life. The question
then comes, what is it that fulfilled the law? Well, we know that the
only one that ever kept the law perfectly and fulfilled every
jot and tittle of the law was Christ. But spiritually speaking,
as it relates to God's elect after regeneration, once again,
8.4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. To fulfill
the law is to look to the only one that ever accomplished and
made an end or fulfilled the law, which was Christ. If a Gentile
who is naturally uncircumcised fulfills the righteousness of
the law, that is, comes to faith and repentance and looks to Christ
as his only hope of salvation, his very existence would pass
judgment on the Jew who is circumcised outwardly, according to the letter
of the law, but who inwardly breaks the law by trusting in
himself, or some deed done by him, circumcision, or anything
else that you can put in that place, any kind of works done
in the flesh. The phrase Judge Zee, there in
verse 27, is explained in Matthew 12.41. In Matthew 12.41 it speaks
of Nineveh. speaks of Jonas. The men of Nineveh
shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn
it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold,
a greater than Jonas is here." As we look at what happened there
in Nineveh where Jonas preached the gospel to them, we see that
the result was that they repented. This is always the result when
God opens the heart of his elect and brings them to faith and
repentance. Once again, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. So what I believe this scripture
is saying is this, that you have an uncircumcised Gentile whom
God has, through his law, performed his good work, and this Gentile
who has been brought to faith and repentance. to the new birth
and sees how that Christ has made an end or fulfilled the
law for righteousness and that Christ has fulfilled every jot
and tittle of the law. And after he has been brought
to this knowledge, brought from darkness to light, this uncircumcised
Gentile will rise up in judgment against the circumcised Jew who
did not keep the righteousness of the law by looking to Christ
for all of salvation. But he chose to continue going
about to establish the righteousness of his own. Now, beginning at
verse 28 of chapter 2 and 28 and 29, here's what Paul closes out this
chapter with. He says, For he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is
outwardly, outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly, And circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit,
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God. Paul sets the whole matter in order here. He says, For he
is not a Jew, which is one outward, which is, he is not a true spiritual
child of God, just because he is a physical descendant of Abraham. Now, Romans 9, verse 6 through
8, It says, Not as though the word of God had taken none effect,
for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. When it says in verse
29, But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, this refers to the new birth, the spiritual
circumcision of the heart, wherein a sinner is given life from Christ
by the Holy Spirit. He is convicted of sin and brought
to Christ for all of righteousness. He sees that there is no hope
in what he does. Here in verse 29, the original
translation of heart is broken heart. In Psalms 34, verse 18,
it says, The Lord is nigh unto you that are of a broken heart,
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Let's look at a couple
of scriptures to see what true circumcision is all about. Go
ahead and turn to Philippians 3, if you would. Philippians
3, verse 3. True circumcision speaks of a
broken heart. a heart that has been convinced
that there is nothing that I can do to gain God's favor as it
relates to salvation. I am convinced that all of salvation
must be based entirely on what Christ accomplished in his life
and in his death on the cross, his righteousness alone. God
alone must perform the circumcision of the heart as the Holy Spirit
comes to God's elect and a new birth. Now, here in Philippians
3, In verse 3, it says, "...for we are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have no confidence in the flesh." We have no confidence
in anything that we do or anything that we are unable to do to gain
eternal life. In Philippians 3, beginning in
verse 7, right up a little bit, it says, "...but what things
were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ." Yet, Atlas,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith." The true child
of God knows that his best efforts to keep the law, not even physical
circumcision, can make him righteous or holy before this God that
we're talking about, this holy God. He knows that Christ is
his righteousness and his holiness before God. Galatians 6, verse
14, and this is one verse that we're all familiar with, But
God forbid that I should glory, God forbid that I should look
to anything, anything done by me, or glory in anything done
by me, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only look
to Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this root, peace be on them and mercy upon
the Israel of God." This is true heart circumcision by the Holy
Spirit and not a physical right by the letter of the law. This
is a miraculous inward heart change, not an outward right
commanded by the law. The one who is circumcised in
heart will not have praise of men who glory in the flesh like
those Jews who would glory in their circumcision. But the true
circumcision and the true Jew would give praises to God and
not to men. He would give praises to the
true and living God who receives and accepts the sinner who comes
to him for mercy by Christ and Christ alone and by his righteousness
alone.