Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We unfortunately are not hearing a message that convicts people of their guilt before their Creator. This is how the gospel begins, that man is in need of redemption.

Dustin: When we're little kids, we don't really know right from wrong. But by the time we're five or six, we do know right from wrong. Why? Because we've been taught. That's what we're going to be discussing today concerning the law and how it teaches us to follow God's instructions. We're exploring Paul's epistle from the book of Romans. Rabbi is here with me in the studio today. We're in Romans chapter two, verse 17 today. Rabbi?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Praise the Lord. Good to be with you, Dustin, and God bless you all our listening audience. We're in a section of scripture that is a little hard for me because I feel like a lot of those of you that are listening right now are going to wonder how it's applicable to you. What we find unraveling in Romans two is that Paul is speaking to Jewish people and he's helping them to realize that they're guilty before God because they haven't lived up to the instructions that the Lord gave them.

The reason it's important for all of us to understand this is because it clarifies what the gospel is about. Paul was a preacher of the gospel. Jesus said this gospel must be preached to the ends of the earth and then the end will come. Paul also warned us about other gospels being preached that were not the original apostolic gospel that was given to the church and laid down through Jesus and then delivered once and for all through the apostles.

The gospel that we oftentimes hear today is a gospel that has man at the center of it. Many people are brought to a relationship with Jesus, not to glorify God or not because they feel guilty or contrite about their sin or even convicted of their sin, but they come to God because they're looking to God to make them wealthy or they're looking for God to give them a husband or a wife and all these other values that they're wanting God to bring to them, almost as if God can be reduced to some type of mystical magic genie.

There's nothing wrong, and I encourage people to look to the Lord for a husband or wife and for every other good thing because every good gift comes from the Lord. But we need to understand that the gospel, the foundation of it, is not first about what God can do for us, but it's that we're guilty before the Lord. It's important to realize this because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

As we get into Romans chapter two and three, Paul is going to be speaking about the fact that before you can receive the good news I'm about to share with you, you first have to understand you have a problem. The problem that you have is that you're guilty before your Creator. As you stand before him guilty, he's going to address first Jewish people because they did not live up to the law that they were actually boasting in. Then he's going to turn his attention to the Gentile, that they're guilty before the Lord because even though they didn't have the law, they sinned against the Holy Spirit through their conscience because in their conscience they knew the difference between right and wrong.

Both Jew and Gentile are guilty before the Lord. It's when Paul points out this quagmire that the whole world is in, it's at this point he introduces the solution. With that being said, Dustin, why don't you read for us chapter two of Romans beginning in verse number 17 and continuing through verse 21?

Dustin: But if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God, and know his will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: What Paul is doing here is he is bringing conviction to the Jewish soul. It's interesting he begins by saying you that boast in the law. There's a certain amount of Jewish pride that we have as Jews connected to some type of sense that we're God's first covenant people. God called us his firstborn son. Most of the church recognizes that in some way the Jews are God's chosen people.

There's this sense of pride within the Jewish personality. It's Jewish pride, religious pride, ethnic pride, and intellectual pride. Paul is coming against these things. It's understandable how we as Jewish people could feel a sense of chosenness because we are in some sense God's chosen people. Even when we get to the New Jerusalem, the scripture says that the 12 gates there will be inscribed with the 12 tribes of Israel.

When we get into the book of Romans deeper, Paul says that Gentiles have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel and when Jewish people come to faith it's going to be like life from the dead for the entire church. There is a sense of the chosenness of the Jew. The challenge is that we're as wretched as everybody else. It's not us as Jewish people that make us special; it's God that makes us special.

Apart from him, we're nothing and we're criminal and we're guilty even as the rest. All are guilty and have sinned before the Lord. We as Jewish people need the Messiah and the salvation through him as much as any Gentile because all of us were dead in our transgressions and sins. Paul is trying to bring this to bear upon the Jewish person. You can't be thinking that you're somebody special and not have recognition of how guilty you are and of your need for salvation.

Dustin: If anything here it seems like he's challenging the Jew because they had the law and the Gentiles didn't.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: That's very true. Remember when Jesus said, "If I would not have come and spoken to you, you'd not have sin," which is a mysterious verse but that's exactly the point that you're making.

Dustin: Paul continues here in the 25th verse: "For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the law; but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision."

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Think about this because again this relates to this religious sense of pride, the circumcised, that we are chosen, we're special. Paul said that would make you real special if you kept the covenant that was connected to the circumcision, the Mosaic Covenant. But if you're not keeping the covenant, if you're not keeping the law, your circumcision is not going to save you.

It's kind of what Jesus said in John chapter eight where Jesus was revealing himself and he said, "If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed." They said, "We've never been enslaved to anybody," in John eight, the Jewish people. They were taking pride in their circumcision, in their ethnicity, and their chosenness.

Dustin: It makes me think about people today that go to church. When I went to church on Easter Sunday, there was so many people at church. It was like double the normal amount of people there. These people, because they come to church on Easter Sunday, they think they're a Christian and they think they're following God. This is exactly what Paul is discussing here, saying circumcision or just coming to church on Sunday once a year for Easter is not enough. You've got to have a genuine relationship with God.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: That's a great example. Let's continue on here in the 26th verse.

Dustin: "So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?"

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Basically what Paul is saying here is not that Gentiles are better than Jews because they're keeping the law internally and Jews aren't. What Paul is simply saying here is that what the Lord is looking for is what's actually going on in the inner man. Paul is going to get to Gentiles as well. It's not that Gentiles are keeping the law inside, but Paul is just pointing out here that what God is looking for is the inner sanctification of the soul and the human heart.

Dustin: And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the law and the circumcision are a transgressor of the law? For it is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I just want to clarify here because I think a lot of people have misunderstood this. Paul is not saying to the Jews here, "You're not the real ones, the Gentiles are," because they're keeping the law. That's not the point. Unfortunately, some people read that and they develop a hostility towards Jews thinking they're the chosen ones.

But that's not what's going on here because Paul is going to address the Gentile next. He's going to say you're guilty before the Lord. He's just coming against Jewish pride and them feeling superior to the Gentile, but next, Paul is going to get to the Gentile and say you're guilty too. The whole world is guilty before God. That's the point.

Dustin: Thank you for tuning in today to Discovering The Jewish Jesus. We'll continue our conversation on Romans in just a minute. But in the meantime, did you know that you can explore our content and teachings from Rabbi Schneider on our website? Just visit DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. There you'll have access to a treasure trove of resources including articles, videos, and study materials tailored to deepen your spiritual journey. Once again, you'll find these resources online at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com.

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Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Let's just continue as Paul rolls out the carpet of the introduction of the gospel in chapter three. He begins by saying, "Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God."

Paul begins to say that I'm sharing that the Jew is guilty before God for not living up to the commandment. But Paul is saying there's still something very sacred about their covenant relationship with the Lord, which is evidenced because God gave them the oracles. The Ten Commandments came to the world through Jewish people. The whole Hebrew Bible was written by Jewish people. The New Testament was written by Jewish people. The Jew has been entrusted with the oracles of God.

Even though they've been guilty and even though they have not lived up to their calling through not keeping the law, we still need to respect the fact that God has a special covenant love towards them. This is why Paul says next, "What then? If some of them did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?"

We look at Jewish people and we see that there's a lot of problems, but this does not mean that we forsake them and say that the church has replaced them or that God no longer loves them or they no longer have a plan. In the outpouring and forward motion of the ultimate return of Jesus, they're still right in the center of God's redemptive plan and we need to respect that.

Dustin: It's really beautiful what God is doing, bringing Jews and Gentiles together, and especially through ministries like Discovering The Jewish Jesus where you being Jewish and actually helping a lot of people, Jew and Gentile, to understand the Jewish roots of Christianity. This is really important.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Amen. We're going to switch gears here in just a minute. But before we switch gears to a new concept, let's just finish out the concept that we're in. I'm going to have you read for us Paul's conclusion to all this that begins in the tenth verse of Romans chapter three. This is Paul summing up his whole argument right now that the whole world should be standing before the Lord in fear and trembling looking for salvation and forgiveness.

Dustin: Romans 3:10: "As it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: It keeps centering us back to the crucial message of the gospel. I said this, I just want to say it again, that we unfortunately today are not hearing a message that convicts people of their guilt before their Creator. This is how the gospel begins. I think we need to really remember this. The gospel begins by Paul pointing out that man is in need of redemption.

Dustin: How does this affect us today, Rabbi? We live in such a society that where we don't point out flaws and we post on social media all the good things and the good parts and we're always trying to build people up, don't tear them down and things like this. But how should this affect us in our thinking?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We're only sanctified as we recognize our guilt. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John said that, but think about this. If we confess, there's first of all an awareness of sin, a submission to God's truth, a confession of sin, and a looking to the Lord to cleanse us from it.

One of the reasons this is so critical as it relates to our experience with our Creator is we cannot walk in fellowship with our Creator without being sanctified. Paul said without holiness no man shall see the Lord. There's a holiness that simply comes as a free gift to us because of what Jesus has done, but there's an experiential holiness as well that comes as we're sanctified and transformed and conformed to the image of God's Son, which is God's ultimate purpose for our life.

If we don't have an awareness of sin and an awareness of guilt, we're not going to look to the Lord, we're not going to confess so that he would cleanse us and deliver us so that our life would become more and more like him. This speaks to what I call the law of similarity. You might have a pet cat. You might love your cat, but you don't know what's going on in your cat's mind. You don't really have fellowship with your cat. You might think you do, but you don't. It's a different creature because you're not like your cat. You are two completely different species. You can never really know each other.

This relates in some respect to God and you and I knowing each other because we only know him truly in a deep way of fellowship and partnership as we become like him. The church is the bride of Christ. We need to be convicted of sin and then be cleansed and transformed in order to be able to enter into this deep communion and this bridal paradise that the Lord's called us into.

People are looking for happiness but there is no happiness outside of relationship. The ultimate relationship is our relationship with the Lord. Without an understanding of sin and an awareness of it and a cleansing of it, we'll never enter into this relationship. This is why the gospel is good news because it helps us to realize our problem and then offers a solution to the problem.

Dustin: Ultimately what I'm hearing is we can't skip over repenting. We can't miss the fact that we've sinned. We've got to confess to keep a right standing with God.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: What you just said just puts an exclamation mark on all that we've said up to this point because the Kingdom of God was introduced to the world through John the Baptist. John the Baptist's first words were, "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand." The first words of Jesus were, "Repent."

He wasn't a motivational speaker. He didn't say, "Gather at the mountain and I'm going to teach you the laws of success and principles for getting rich." That wasn't the first. The first words were repent and let your repentance be in accordance with true fruit of righteousness.

Dustin: That's powerful. This is what Paul's doing. He's taking us through just like Jesus, just like John the Baptist, saying repent. What comes next, Rabbi?

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The next thing that comes, I love it, is a verse that helps us to understand our Judeo-roots. Paul says in the 21st verse of Romans three, "But now apart from the law." There's a different method that God is going to bring his gift. Paul says, "Now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, having been witnessed by the law and the prophets." Most of our listeners right now have probably not really considered what this verse is saying. Let's listen to it again. Why don't you read that for us, Dustin?

Dustin: But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: The Lord is saying that God's righteousness, and his righteousness is his faithfulness to do what he said he was going to do. God said to Abraham, "Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed and the righteous shall live by faith." The righteousness of God has been revealed from heaven. Paul says "apart from the law."

In other words, God's righteousness, the way that he did what he said he was going to do, was not by saving people through the law. It's apart from the law. It is salvation through his Son and this was witnessed, it was spoken of, through the law and the prophets. This is why Jesus took his disciples on a journey after he'd been raised from the dead as they were walking on the road to Emmaus and he brought them through the law and the prophets and showed them everything in the law and the prophets that was about him.

God's righteousness has been revealed from heaven not by saving people through the law; no, it was apart from the law. It was by saving people in his Son through simple repentance, turning to him and believing in him.

Dustin: So in the Old Testament, Jesus was always there. It was always pointing to him.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeah. Why don't you read that next verse from it because that basically keeps on going in that direction?

Dustin: Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction, for all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Amen. Baruch Hashem. I hope all of you are enjoying this today. I feel joy. I don't know why I feel joy. I just love God's word. I love his truth and his truth strengthens us. When we get strong, we'll be happy. I want to thank you for tuning in and letting me feed you today along with Dustin. God's word as we break bread together.

I do want to ask you as I close today, if you're being blessed by the ministry, would you lift your heart to the Lord and just say, "Father God, I believe in this ministry," that is if you do, of course. Just say, "Lord, I know that I'm called to support financially those ministries that are in the earth preaching your truth according to your word and to support those ministries that are feeding me."

I'm asking you to pray at the same time. But the truth is that God's word instructs us to support those that are going out for the sake of the truth and those ministries that are feeding us. If Discovering The Jewish Jesus, if Dustin and I are helping you today and strengthening you today and you'd like us to be able to continue to do what we're doing, would you please just open up your heart and just say, "Holy Spirit, would you let me support this ministry?"

Ask him how to do that, what amount, and just go forward and be obedient. God's always going to reward us for our love and sacrifice to him.

Dustin: Amen. And if God is calling you to support Discovering The Jewish Jesus with a gift of any amount, would you go online right now and give? You'll find us at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com or if it's easier for you give us a call at 800-777-7835.

Now I'd like to talk with you about the shofar. When I hear a shofar being blown, I'm reminded that God is still calling his people to wake up, to return to him and listen. It's a reminder of why this ministry exists and because of friends like you, that call is still going out to hearts all around the world through these teachings. I want to ask you, if you would like to help us continue to spread the word of God to the world through this ministry, would you prayerfully consider becoming a monthly partner today?

When you do, we'll send you your very own shofar that you can blow as a reminder. It comes straight from Israel. Your support truly makes a difference. So give today by becoming a monthly partner at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com. Now here's Rabbi with the Aaronic blessing.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Blessings trump curses and in the book of Numbers chapter six, we find the Aaronic blessing that God commanded Moses' brother Aaron, the high priest, to speak over the children of Israel. There's power in blessing, beloved ones. So take part in receiving Father's blessing upon your life today.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved ones, his peace. God bless you and shalom.

Dustin: This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering The Jewish Jesus. I'm Dustin Roberts. Be sure to come back again tomorrow when Rabbi Schneider and I continue the study in the book of Romans. That's Friday on Discovering The Jewish Jesus.