Romans 2:18
18 And [kai] knowest [ginosko] his will [thelema], and [kai] approvest [dokimazo] the
things that are more excellent [diaphero],
being instructed [katecheo] out of [ek] the law [nomos]; KJV-Interlinear
18 and
know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from
the law; ESV
Paul continues his rebuke of the local Jews, as he
continues his list of the various things that they held to be not only their
own, but the things that they held to be at their advantage over other cultures,
namely all gentiles.
We saw in the previous verse, that they held their
identity as Jews, as above the identity of others. That they possessed the custody of the Law,
written by Moses, a law that other cultures and races did not possess.
Now, they boast that they know the will of God, having
the scriptures, which are the word of God, and therefore they have an advantage
over others, by knowing exactly what God wants and expects.
And approve, means to be able to test a thing, as one
tests metals by means of fire in order to gain their purity and correctness of their
essence. And the scriptures allow anyone
and everyone to test them, in order to see if the scriptures stand up to all
tests that the world might bring against them.
So, the Jews were in a position to test Gods word, whereas others could
not.
More excellent, means things that differ from others. And certainly the entire content of the Mosaic
Law is different from anything else that exists in the world and in all of
human history.
The Law had all sorts of rituals for both instruction
and learning the will of God and of learning of His plan for ones spiritual life. Other cultures had similar rituals, but they
were frauds and abused rituals and were poor imitations of the Law at best.
Being instructed, means exactly that. God taught the Jews through the scriptures. The principle purpose of the scriptures is to
teach of God, of His plan, of His purpose and so forth. And this all came directly from God, for all
of the scriptures are God inspired or God breathed.
Therefore there are four more privileges that God gave
to the Jews, that were not given to the gentiles. And yet we have already learned from Paul
that the gentiles were able to figure out things of God, even without these
advantages, while the Jews possessed these advantages and still failed.
And in boasting of their privilege, they exaggerate their
failure even more.
Now, one more thought.
If the gentiles had no such advantages, and yet are
able to figure things out through their own conscious effort, and the Jews had
these advantages and could not, who then had the real advantage? Who then was the weaker culture?
