ROMANS 10
CHARLES E .WHISNANT, AUGUST 18 2013
Sometimes people have a hard time knowing the truth and are with out knowledge of that truth.
Let's look at a few verses
John 8:32, 45; 16:7
John 1:14; 14:6; 17:17; 16:13; 18:37
II Corinthians 11:10 and 11 Thessalonians 2:13
The Lord put a premium on the truth, the knowledge of the truth, man must know the truth. The Divine truth.. the life changing truth, the sin cleansing truth, and the salvation giving truth, the soul transforming truth and the heaven opening tru
The Jews were the seekers of knowledge. The sought to know what was the truth. Rabbi were well trained.
Romans 10:2 OR I TESTIFY(3140) ABOUT THEM THAT THEY HAVE A ZEAL(2205) (heat ardor passion) FOR GOD: marturo gar autois hoti zelon theou echousin
(2Corinthians 8:3; Galatians 4:15; Colossians 4:13) (2Kings 10:16; John 16:2; Acts 21:20,28; 22:3,22; 26:9,10; Galatians 1:14; 4:17,18; Philippians 3:6)
Zeal (2205) (zelos from zeo = to be hot, to boil [from the sound of bubbling water], figuratively to be fervent or show great enthusiasm; was originally a good word which described fervour in advancing a cause or in rendering service. Zelos for example gives us our English word zeal (zealous - filled with intense enthusiasm) which is generally a "good" word which describes eagerness, earnestness, enthusiastic devotion, single-minded allegiance, fervency, eager desire or ardent interest in pursuit of something, but it can take on a negative connotation when it describes a reaction which borders on extreme or fanatical.
Romans 10:2 BUT NOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH KNOWLEDGE: all ou kat epignosin:
(Ro 9:3; 9:31,32; Psalms 14:4; Proverbs 19:2; Isaiah 27:1; 2Corinthians 4:4,6; Philippians 1:9)
But not in accordance with knowledge - The zeal of the Jews was not based on true knowledge. Their zeal was "heat without light".
http://www.studylight.org/
Knowledge (1922) (epignosis from verb epiginosko from epí = upon + ginosko = to know) is a strengthened or intensified form of gnosis and conveys the thought of a more full, larger and thorough knowledge. It also conveys the idea of an intimate and personal relationship than the simple term.
Vine says the verb form epiginosko suggests generally a directive, a more special, recognition of the object known than ginosko.
Tragically, many "religious" people make the same mistake that Israel made. They think that their "religious deeds" will gain them merit with God and will save them, but these very practices (just as they did with the Jews) will actually keep them from being saved by the "true knowledge" of Jesus Christ and the "true knowledge" of how one is credited with the perfect righteousness of Christ. Many of these individuals are obviously sincere and devout and even zealous, but all of their sincerity, devotion and zeal will not save their soul for Paul plainly stated by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight
Psalms 14:4, Provers 19:2; Isaiah 27:1; 23 Corinthians 4:4,6; Philippians 1:9
The Jews knowledge was not based on true knowledge. They had some but not the full knowledge. The sought God in an external way by rules and rites and missed Him.
This term was not "gnosis" but the word "epignosis" i.e. they hand general knowledge but not the fullness of knowledge, a knowledge that allows you to participate in the facts that you can quote.
Epignosis: refers to exact, complete, thought, accurate, experiential knowledge. Not just abstract, intellectual, head knowledge of God, or even facts of God. Such a knowledge of God that you are resting on the knowledg3 of God and of Christ found today in His Word.
Many of you can walk out of this church and can quote the sermon word by word. That is gnosis. But you don't have epignosis until you have a comprehension of how you are to live in light of what you can quote.
Acts 3:17; Luke 19:44, Isaiah 5:13, Hosea 4:6; I Timothy 1, Romans 2:17-19
do not know the right way zeal is not based on knowledge misdirected knowledge it is not a passion based on knowledge not according to a full and accurate knowledge Jesus Christ came into the world, as I pointed out in the beginning, to reveal truth. But Israel was ignorant of that truth. Now Israel's ignorance becomes the theme of this chapter. And that little phrase at the end of verse 2, "Not according to knowledge," that little phrase at the beginning of verse 3, "They being ignorant," indicate to us the theme of what Paul's going to talk about. Israel was called "the God-intoxicated people." John 2:17 and Acts 21:20 and 22:3
In chapter 9 we were introduced to the unbelief of Israel, weren't we? We were introduced. Because here's Paul presenting the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Christ, person and work. And as he presents that people are going to say, well if it's so true and if it's from God why didn't the Jews, God's people, believe it? And so he has to answer that and that's why he writes 9, 10 and 11, to show how it is that the Jews have rejected.
Now in talking about their unbelief in chapter 9 he emphasized the fact that they were unbelieving because of the sovereign elective choice of God. In other words, God didn't choose them all. And so the issue of chapter 9 is an issue of election. It is an issue of sovereign choice.
But the issue of chapter 10 is an issue of unbelief. And I want you never to forget that you always have both of those things. If you have salvation, you have the sovereign election of God and you have the faith of an individual.
If you have the loss of...the lack of salvation, the loss of hope in Christ, it is because you have sovereign choice, that's chapter 9, and because you have unbelief. You could think of it along the line of concurrence which is a word that you may have heard used. It's sort of like an airplane taking off, two things are necessary for an airplane to take off...thrust and lift. If you have lift without thrust, you don't get off. If you have thrust without lift, you don't get off. You have to have thrust with lift.
The same thing is true and it's a weak illustration if you push it too far, but both things must occur simultaneously in concurrence, the election of God and the belief of an individual. Or the rejection of God and the unbelief. And that's why Paul brings chapter 10 in to show the balance, lest we think that God made choices independent of the choices that men made. So Paul wants to demonstrate then the willful unbelief, the willful ignorance of Israel.
Now what is holiness? Hard to define. We'll come at it a couple of ways. Holiness is self-generated and self-affirmed purity. To say it another way, holiness is not to live up to the standard, holiness is to be the standard. God is the standard, absolute perfection, absolutely flawless, absolutely without flaw, without sin, without error of any kind.
Even His name is holy, Psalm 103 verse 1, "But Thou art holy, O Thou who inhabitest the praises of Israel," says Psalm 22:3. Psalm 99:5 says, "Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at His footstool for He is holy." And God, it says in Psalm 47:8 sits on the throne of His holiness. And in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 the angels cry, "Holy, holy, holy." God is holy. He does not conform to a standard, He is the standard. The standard conforms to Him. He does not keep someone else's rules, He is the living rule. He has a holiness that is ascending beyond any conception of men. And the stupidity of these kinds of attitudes projected by the Apostle Paul here from the people of Israel that they could attain to the righteousness of God only shows that they had reduced God to one of their own.
There are no degrees in God's holiness. There can't be degrees in perfection. And God's holiness, I think, is best seen in His hatred of sin. He has total perfection, therefore He has total hatred toward that which is imperfect. He is totally holy so He totally hates anything that's unholy.
Psalm 11:7 says, "For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness." That simply means what's right, what's holy, what's without sin, without flaw, without error. So God's holiness is seen in righteousness. Because God is holy, because He's perfectly pure, He wills, He thinks, He feels, He says and He does what is right, and that's righteousness. So they're so inextricably connected that you can't really separate them. He is so perfect that all that He thinks and feels and does is perfect, it's righteous. Some theologians have put it this way, for those of you who like theological terms, "Righteousness is transitive holiness, it is manifest holiness."
It means that because He's perfect He always does what is perfectly right. Righteousness is not arbitrary, it is not alterable or changeable. He is always perfectly righteous, totally pure, without any sin. Now any man who thinks he can attain to that level is an absolute fool and is living under a sad tragic illusion.
In Psalm 71:19 it says this, "Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high who hast done great things. O God, who is like Thee?" And what's the answer? Nobody. "Thy righteousness is very high."
Further, back in the Psalms and I think it's Psalm 48, could be wrong on this, but...yes, verse 10, "According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise to the ends of the earth, Thy right hand is full of righteousness." As if God holds all righteousness. In that long Psalm 119 verse 142, "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness." And these kinds of things are all through the Psalms, very high, eternal, complete righteousness.
