“Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?”
Romans 2:21 (NLT)
Paul is showing us that just because you have the law doesn’t mean you’re right with God. The Jews were relying on God’s law for a special relationship with Him, so they boasted that all was well, that everything was right between them and God. They knew God’s instruction and were convinced they were supposed to guide those lost in the darkness.
But then Paul rebukes them. If you’re trying to teach the outsider, why don’t you start by teaching yourself? They told others to follow the Ten Commandments, but broke it themselves. We’re not made right with God just by knowing His instruction. We have to be doers of the Word, not just hearers of it. Their acceptance of the truth in their minds, yet rejection of the truth by their actions, made people around them have no desire to know God.
Doesn’t that sound familiar today? There are lots of Christians who know what the Bible says. We go to church on Sunday and hold the truth over other people’s heads without applying it in our lives. In 2 Timothy, Paul warns believers that people will act religious but reject the power from God that could make them godly. Maybe we’ve met Jesus, but we’re rejecting the Holy Spirit who wants to purify our lives and empower us toward doing good.
That’s the shift we must make today. We can’t just know God’s instruction. We’ve got to allow the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, our Counselor, to help us put the Word of God into practice by yielding to Him. Then our lives will compel others to the gospel before we even share it with our words. The Spirit of holiness can make us holy, as a people, if we’ll each surrender to Him today.