Grafted-In Ministries

Messianic Jews and the Law, Part 3
By Michael Schiffman

Has Sha’ul (Paul) been misunderstood in Romans 2? A review of verses 12-16.

Paul wrote concerning the law in his epistles. In seeking to understand what he was saying, it is important to understand what he meant when he referred to the law. The question that needs to be answered in reference to the Pauline corpus is whether Paul was teaching that the law had no application for believers after the coming of the Messiah, or was he teaching that certain understandings of the law do not have application for believers in the Messiah? Leon Morris said,

It is easy to misunderstand the place of the law, and it is Paul’s contention that by and large his nation has done just that.(1)

By studying Paul’s teachings it should become clear what he meant by “the law,” and how believers must relate to the torah of God. Paul addresses the issue of the law mainly in his epistles to the Romans, Galatians, First Corinthians, and Ephesians, as well as historical references in the book of Acts. Paul’s teachings about the law were in connection with other issues impacted by how the law was viewed.

In Romans 2, Paul discusses the law in relationship to the issue of justification. In verses 12-16, he says,

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

The context of this passage is the judgment of God. Paul wants it understood that knowing the law is not a restraint against sin. There is a difference between knowing the right thing and doing it. The person who sins under the law is no better off than the person who sins without it. C.E.B. Cranfield has said,

The main point made in this paragraph is that knowledge of the law does not in itself constitute any defense against the judgment of God…While those who have sinned in ignorance of the law will perish even though they did not have the law, those who have sinned knowing the law…will be judged by God according to the standard provided by the law.(2)

Paul is not criticizing the law, but the attitudes of some individuals toward it. He is not saying the law is a bad thing, but that it is insufficient to keep a person from judgment. A central feature of Rabbinic Judaism is the study of torah. Study is important for its own sake in traditional Judaism, making knowledge of the law of prime importance. Rabbi Tarfon said,

…if thou hast studied much torah, much reward will be given thee, for faithful is thy employer in paying thee the reward of thy labor: and know that the grant of reward unto the righteous will be in the thereafter. (3)