Cover of a Souls
We have all heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” If the cover of a book looks interesting, chances are someone has their eye on it. Think about it, what is the purpose of a book cover? It’s supposed to visually show what's in the book to make the reader pick it up and buy it. The front cover attracts people to look at the back cover. The back cover educates about what's in the book, and the flap shares about the author. These are all parts of the cover that help “sell” a book. With over 700 million books sold every year in the United States, each book cover must stand out from all the others. The inside of the book needs to be just as good if not better than the cover. If the reader buys the book and doesn’t like it… it's game over. This is similar to how some people think about salvation. Many churchgoers believe that their outward cover of religion is what secures their passage into heaven. But their cover needs to be a reflection of what's on the inside. That's what we’re looking at in this episode of the Grafted Podcast…The Cover of a Soul.
Historical Context:
Once again, Paul is speaking to the flawed theology of Jews in the Roman church. They believed that their salvation was guaranteed due to being born a Jew. To them, circumcision was part of their identity, and they wore it like a badge of honor. Pride invaded their hearts, and they sought after the praise of men rather than God. In their arrogance, they forgot that their circumcision was in response to Abraham’s faith. The outward appearance became more important than their decision to believe in God and follow after him.
We need to remember that Paul himself was both a Jew and a Roman citizen. He was educated not only in scripture but also in the law and culture of the day. What Paul writes from verses 12-27 leads up to the verses we are going to look at in this episode.
In verse 13 he speaks against the thought that because they were Jews, they were automatically righteous before God. Paul told them, “For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight (NLT).” This is a continuation of what Paul talked about from Romans 1:28 through 2:12. The Jews knew what was required by God’s law, but they chose not to live by it. Then they Judged others for doing the same things that they were doing. Because of this, they were going to either suffer God’s wrath or spend eternity with him based on their deeds. In verse 23 he tells them, “You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it (NLT).” He even said that because of the hypocrisy of the jews, the Gentiles denounced God.
Talk about a slap in the face for the Jewish believers! Now let's look at our key verses.
Romans 2:28-29 (ESV)
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Outward Jew
Paul drew a harsh distinction between being a Jew and a true follower of God. Verse 28 talks about the Outward Jew. He says…
“For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. (NLT)”
A person's heritage doesn’t mean that they automatically stand right with God. This is what many of the Jews believed. They thought that they were automatically given salvation because they were born into a Jewish family, and they didn’t need to follow the law. They also believed that their circumcision was a badge that represented their guarantee of Salvation. What Paul was getting at here is that the outward signs of being a Jew are meaningless when it comes to salvation. It didn’t matter that they were born a Jew and went through the ceremonial circumcision or not. Many Jews followed God’s laws while they were in the public eye, but when it came to their hearts, they were not right with God. They had put on an outer cover to show their place as God’s chosen people, but their hearts didn’t match up on the inside.
Paul teaches about this further in Romans 9:8 where he says, “This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” Paul is referring back to the original promise of Abraham that led to the sign of circumcision. Abraham had faith in God and was accepted by God long before he was circumcised. Circumcision came as a sign of the Covenant God had with Abraham because of his faith. The Jews that Paul was talking to forgot about this. Instead, they were dishonoring God by breaking the law, while at the same time they bragged about God’s law in public.
These outward appearances of the Jews did not represent the inner faith of a true believer.
Today, we see this similarly played out all the time with social media. Everyone has their social profiles that make them seem like they have everything together and are living the dream. The outward appearance we see on social media doesn’t show us is the inner turmoil that is going on in a person's life.
The same is true for many churchgoers today. There are a large number of people who put on a Christian persona. They attend church and know christianese. They believe that being born into a Christian home, going to church, or even being baptized is what saves them. In fact, there are some Christian groups that delay baptism until the end of life to make sure all their sins are covered and washed away. They put on a good show with outward appearances for church, but their hearts don't reflect true Christian faith or character. We see this all the time in Spain when we are talking with people. We will ask someone if they are going to church. They will say something like, “Yea, I’m Catholic and attend mass,” but in the same sentence say “I don’t believe.’” They believe that the outward appearance of religion is what will get them into heaven. Many people think that simply having the outward appearance of being a Christian through religion is their ticket to salvation. But this is what Paul was teaching against.
Just like there is a difference between being a Jew and a true follower of God, there is also a difference between calling ourselves a Christian and being a true Disciple of Christ.
Inside
Paul is teaching the Jewish believers in the Roman church about what God looks for in a true believer. God values faith and obedience on the inside more than the outward appearance of circumcision.
Romans 2:29 (ESV)
But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.
Paul makes the switch from talking about outward appearances to what God sees on the inside of people…the heart. The Jew that is right with God in their heart is the true Jew. Peter also teaches about this in 1 Peter 3 when he is talking about how wives and husbands are to treat each other. The people of the church are the “bride” of Christ, which makes Christ the head of the church.
1 Peter 3:3-4
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
God doesn’t want his church, his bride, to be an just outward sign. Not at all! God wants his church to be right with him in their heart. When the heart is right with God, so are the outward appearances. That is what Paul was referring to as circumcision being a matter of the heart.
Just like circumcision was a sign and a seal of the covenant God made with Abraham, Circumcision of the heart is a sign of a true believer's genuine loyalty and obedience to God. Paul is referring to the prophecy to the people of Judah in Jeremiah 4:4 that says,
Jeremiah 4:4
“Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O man of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
Being a true believer isn’t a matter of following a religious structure, or just “doing” the law like many of the Jews believed. For Paul, being a true believer is a matter of becoming a new creation through faith in Jesus. Circumcision of the heart happens as a true believer allows the Holy Spirit to change them. This leads to the believer separating themselves from the world and dedicating their life to God. This is what the Baptism of a true believer is all about. Baptism represents that the believer has accepted Christ, made the decision to die to the world, and raised to a new life in Christ. It is the outward expression of an inner change of the believer's heart.
Praise
The Jews Paul was talking to looked for the approval of people. They wanted others to see what they were doing in public and applause them for it. Paul tells them that this is the wrong place to seek approval.
Romans 2:29b (ESV)
His praise is not from man but from God.
As believers' hearts are changed through the leading of the Holy Spirit, and they have devoted their lives to following God, something else happens. They start seeking approval from God. Paul teaches both the Corinthians and the Thessalonians about this.
2 Corinthians 10:18 (NLT)
When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 (NLT)
For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.
Seeking the approval of God is what Paul wanted the believers in the Roman Church to do. When people seek after the approval of others they are upside down in their theology and faith. But when people seek after the approval of God, they may not be popular with others, but they will be right with God. Which is way more important.
Application
How does this apply to us today since many of us aren’t Jewish believers?
If we rephrase this verse for us today it might read more like this:
Romans 2:28-29 (Adam’s modern paraphrase)
For you are not a true Christian because you were born into a Christian family, or because you have gone through the ceremonies of confirmation or baptism. No, a true Christian is one whose heart is right with God. And true baptism represents not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it shows a change of heart that has been produced by the Holy Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.
Going to church and practicing religion is not what makes us christians.
When I was a teenager, I attended the United Methodist Church. When I was 17 years old that meant that it was time for me to go through Confirmation. For the Methodist Church, Confirmation marks the first time a baptized Christian publicly "confirms" their intention to be a professing member of the local congregation. For me this was several weeks of classes with my pastor. I learned about church history, sacraments of the church, special days and seasons, and about church doctrine. Basically I learned what it meant to be a Methodist.
When this class was over, there was a special service for me and others who attended the class. We were presented to the church. Our pastor asked us questions like, “Do you renounce evil?”, and “do you commit to Jesus Christ?” to which we all answered “I do.” Then I was baptized by sprinkling. Then the church accepted all of us who took the class as members of the Church.
For me, this was simply just something that everyone who went to the church did. It was part of the act of religion. Going through all of this did not mean that I was a true Christian. My heart wasn’t in it at all. People who looked at me saw my outward appearance, my cover of religion, but they didn’t know what was inside my heart. It was 3 years later, when I was 20, that I had a true change of heart to follow Jesus and was baptized by immersion.
I believe that classes like the confirmation class I went through are very important. I believe that as Christians we need to know about the things that are learned in these classes. But just because we go to these classes and learn these things does not mean that we are true Christians. What makes us true Christians is based on our confession of faith, and our new heart that shows the work of Jesus in our lives as we become doers of God’s Word. If we were books, our outer covers accurately represent the pages of our inner hearts.
In God’s eyes we are an open book. He sees all the secrets in our hearts and lives. He isn’t impressed with how religious we are, but he looks to see if our hearts have truly been changed by the Holy Spirit. If your life was a book on the shelf at your local bookstore, and God was browsing the shelves, would your cover represent the story of a changed heart that He wants to read?
Growth Point Questions:
If your life was a book, would your outer cover match the story written on inner pages?”
Did you grow up in a religious environment? What was that experience like? Was it good or bad?
When was your heart circumcised, and what was your life like before and after you became a new creation?
How can other people tell that God’s Word is written on our hearts?
What is the defining characteristic of a true Christian?
