{"id":1283,"date":"2009-10-13T18:53:25","date_gmt":"2009-10-14T00:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2009-10-13T18:53:25","modified_gmt":"2009-10-14T00:53:25","slug":"romans-229-hes-watching-and-listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-229-hes-watching-and-listening\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 2:29 – He’s Watching and Listening"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 2:29<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

but<\/span> he is<\/span><\/em> a Jew who<\/span> is one<\/span><\/em> inwardly; and circumcision<\/span> is that<\/span><\/em> of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is<\/em> not from men but from God.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

True Christianity is an attitude produced by humble faith.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cinwardly<\/span>\u201d is the Greek word kruptos<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201chidden, concealed, kept in secret, or private.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLetter<\/span>\u201d is translated from gramma<\/span><\/em>, from which we get our English word grammar. It is derived from the word graph\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto write.\u201d Gramma<\/span><\/em> refers to \u201cthat which is written.\u201d Hence, it could refer to a letter of the alphabet, a book, a note, or anything else that is written.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul has just told us that the true spirit of Judaism is not in outward appearance or actions. And we cannot please God by being born into the right family, by having had the correct surgery, or by obeying a set of rules. Rather, he says, it is an inward attitude. We can only please God if we have the right inward attitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul says here that the true Jew is the one who is a Jew inwardly. Remember how the religious leaders of the Jews, the Pharisees, acted? They did everything for show so that people could see how spiritual they were. There are many Christians today whose faith is just the same way. They are the ones who are always parading their Christianity around for all to see, making a show of their good works so that everyone can see what a good Christian they are. And people are probably saying of them, \u201cWow, she sure is a good Christian!\u201d How sad that is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul says that circumcision is of the heart, not in the flesh. It\u2019s an inward attitude, not an outward action. It is in the spirit of the Law that we need to act, not the letter. If we exhibit our Christianity in order to impress the people around us then we will have what we are looking for, the praise of men. But Paul tells us that our goal is not to receive praise from men, but praise from God. <\/span><\/p>\n

Praise from God will only come as a result of a heart that is submitted to Him and committed to doing His will. That may mean that in this life we never receive the recognition that we deserve. If we truly deserve the praise, then we will get it someday, not from men, but from God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Paul said it to the Galatians:<\/span><\/p>\n

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. <\/span>(Galatians 6:7-9<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n

If we do not lose heart we may one day hear: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell done, you good and faithful servant!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Previously we noted that it\u2019s easy to learn the \u201crules\u201d of Christianity. It\u2019s also easy to learn all the right things to say and do so that you appear to be a Christian. Real Christianity is walking by faith with a humble attitude. It\u2019s living your life daily as if God was watching everything you do and hearing everything you say. You know what? He is!<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 2:29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Truth to Learn True Christianity is an attitude produced by humble faith. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cinwardly\u201d is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[543,545,546,547,152,548,121],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-circumcision","tag-heart","tag-inward","tag-letter","tag-praise","tag-private","tag-spirit"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-kH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}