2 September 2012
Geoff Hohneck
Romans 2:17 - 3:8
Like a prosecuting attorney steadily building a case against the sinner, Paul piles up argument upon argument to show his audience why they are in the wrong. In the two previous instances he condemned the Gentiles (who hid the truth) as well as the moralists (who took the moral high ground). Now, in this passage, Paul focuses his attention on the third group of sinners - the religionists. His intention is clear - they need to see that religion isn’t going to save people from sin, neither is it going to rescue them from God’s impending judgment.
Geoff dissects this passage with great precision, bringing to light three basic reasons why religionists, as a group, are also deserving of God’s judgment and punishment. What’s more, if we apply these insights to ourselves, we’ll soon see how our attitudes can be exactly the same as these religionists. Reason why we need to pay careful attention to this message and be on our guard against having the kind of self-righteous attitude that Paul was warning his audience about.