Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God, if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”(NIV)

My second child and only daughter has started driving. She seems entirely too young, and I’m not really okay with it, but here we are. It was quite amusing when she was studying for the permit test because she would read me practice questions from the passenger seat that I did not know the answer to, and yet I’ve been driving for 27 years. “Mom, which way do you turn your tires when you park on a hill?” Shoot, I always forget even though I know there’s a correct way. “Mom, how many feet should you park away from a fire hydrant?” Um, a lot? “Mom, what’s the speed limit in a school zone?” As fast as you can reasonably go if you’ve determined there aren’t cops parked nearby?  

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Yeah, I know that isn’t right (or safe), but there’s so much we try to get away with that isn’t following the letter of the traffic laws. Imagine for a moment if I actually knew all the driving laws by heart and recited them to my children, but didn’t follow them myself. It would be setting a poor example for them and either teaching them that they didn’t have to follow them or that I’m a huge hypocrite (see: mom driving while texting even after explicitly teaching not to do this). Just knowing the laws doesn’t help you at all while driving if you don’t adhere to them. And shaming others for not following the laws that you don’t even follow yourself is even worse.  

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Many of the Jews in the early church fell into that trap of thinking that knowing the law was enough to save you – you didn’t really have to adhere to the laws. Kinda like me telling my daughter how fast to drive in the school zones and then speeding through myself. In his letter to the Roman churches, the apostle Paul calls out their hypocrisy. They thought that being Jewish, knowing the law that was initially delivered from God by Moses, and being circumcised was enough to save them. Essentially, they were setting a horrible example for the Gentiles when their outward behavior didn’t match what they were saying not to do. In verse 24 of chapter 2, which quotes an Old Testament passage, Paul reminds them that Gentiles were blaspheming (speaking irreverently about God) because the actions of the Jewish people didn’t match up with the laws in which they claimed to believe. Knowing the law, even obeying all of God’s laws perfectly, won’t save you. We know that salvation is found only in Jesus. The law of God can help guide us, but it can’t save us.

In driving we usually want a shortcut, a way to save time and miles. I got a ticket recently for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. It was at an intersection I pass through almost every morning, and over time I’d morphed from stopping to slowing way down and checking for cars and then turning. Even after the ticket, my son still catches me doing this. I know the rule is to fully stop, but it seems faster and easier not to. I think we also do this with God’s laws: We know we aren’t supposed to lie, but we want to make ourselves look better, so we twist the truth. We also mistakenly think if we can have the appearance of being good, like my slow roll through a stop sign, that it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Paul was calling believers to a higher standard than just trying to look good with all their knowledge of the rules. They needed to live lives that looked like Jesus, to grow in holiness and to point people to the only One who can save.

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Are there areas of your life where you are merely paying lip-service to God's standard of holiness? Maybe today spend some time in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal if you are in fact “driving” (living) the way in which the “DMV handbook” (Bible) instructs.  

God, please help us to only boast in you alone. Free us from legalism and hypocrisy so that we will follow you with authenticity and humility, that we may love like Jesus in all that we say and do. We confess that we’ve relied on religion to save us. We have mistakenly believed that we can follow all the rules and be good enough to be saved. Remind us that it is in Christ alone that we find salvation, and you call us to proclaim as such to the watching world. In your mighty name we pray, Amen.