Friday, December 5, 2014

Romans 2:22

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
Romans 2:22

22 Thou that sayest [lego] a man should [moicheuo] not [me] commit adultery [moicheuo], dost thou commit adultery [moicheuo]? thou that abhorrest [bdelusso] idols [eidolon], dost thou commit sacrilege [hierosuleo]?   KJV-Interlinear

22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?   ESV

Three things listed in this verse, of which most people are guilty of but do not realize it, namely adultery, idols, and sacrilege, are all cheating of one sort or another, and all deal with the focus of ones pattern of life with regard to temporal things rather than on the things of the spiritual life.

All three mark the disobedience of people, who profess spirituality but in fact do not practice it.

Adultery is the intimate cheating on ones spouse.  And also refers to the intimate cheating on God by pursuing the things of this life rather than the intimate studies of Gods word.

Idols are the cheating is the pursuit of things, even secular things or religious substitutions, in place of the correct worship of God through the intimate knowledge and understanding of Bible doctrine.

Sacrilege is the crime of violating sacred things.  And any and all indifference toward Biblical principles, any and all rejection of Gods plan, any and all substitutions of your own spiritual or personal beliefs in place of true and correct spiritual principles, any and all disregard of Gods mandates and so forth, are in effect the commission of crimes against God and truth.

Cheating is not limited to sex or bowing to stones or stealing from a church.  All cheating originates from the soul and the attitude that, you do not need Gods outline for life and prefer your own pattern to live by.

Nearly everything in this world can be used as an example of some spiritual principle.

While wealth and prosperity and happiness are good examples of blessings, so too, crimes and poverty and indifference or even pretense are good examples of spiritual flaws.

And while these things are not the actual spiritual result, they give us worldly examples of what can be good and preferred, as opposed to those things that are not preferable in life.

Never judge people by their circumstances or appearances.  The soul is the place of spiritual reality, not the pocketbook.  Only God can evaluate and judge fairly and correctly.


Likewise, for those who engage in public spiritual fronts, then hypocrisy becomes the big threat to their credibility and impact on people who are naïve.