Useful Bible Studies > Romans Commentary > chapter 2

People who know God’s law, should teach it to other people

Romans 2:17-20

Paul has just been writing about the people in the many nations that did not know God’s law. Now, he writes about the people in the nation that did know God’s law, the Jews. God did a wonderful thing for that nation when he gave his law to them. The knowledge of God’s law gave them the great responsibility to teach it to the people in other nations. So, God’s special people had this special work to do for God.

Paul describes this responsibility with a series of phrases which were probably very familiar to the Jews. As Jews, they depended on God’s law and they could speak with confidence about their nation’s relationship with God. God’s law had given them knowledge about how God wanted them to live. Therefore, it had taught them the best way to live.

People without God’s law were like blind people, because they needed someone to guide them. They were like people in darkness (Isaiah 9:2); God’s law was like a light that would direct their lives (Psalm 119:105). Without God’s law, people make so many wrong and foolish decisions about their lives; they need someone to correct them. Like little children, they do not even understand what they should do. So, they need someone to teach them.

Even before Christ came, many Jews were trying to teach people from other nations to obey God. It was not easy for those Jews, because many of the people from other nations disliked Jews. However, some people believed, and they began to serve the real God. Probably, most of those people who believed did not become Jews. One of them was Cornelius (Acts 10:1-2). Those people served God, but not as members of the Jewish religion. Many of them later became Christians when they heard the gospel (God’s message about Christ).

Next part: People who teach God’s word, must obey it (Romans 2:21-24)

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