The Log In The Eye Is Characterized By Self
To what is Jesus referring, then? In both texts, but perhaps even more clearly in Luke 6:37-42, the log to which Jesus is referring is self-righteousness. And not just self-righteousness as a sin, but self-righteousness as a foundational character quality. Jesus is telling the disciples that before they can help others with their sin, they must first be delivered from their self-righteousness in a fundamental way. In other words, they must be born-again. You could say, then, that the log in this persons eye is un-conversion.
Lukes gospel clearly brings this out.
Judge not, and you will not be judged condemn not, and you will not be condemned forgive, and you will be forgiven give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.
He also told them a parable: Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brothers eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brothers eye.
Two Responses To Hypocrisy
Heres what Paul says about these finger-pointing people who are smug in their own sense of righteousness . Of all the things we could focus on in these verses I want us to see two main things: Two responses of God to hypocrisy.
Therefore you have no excuse, every one of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things, and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
Now all those phrases tell us two things about God. It tells us that God is kind and that God is just. God is kind and God is just. Lets just look for a minute at each of these two attributes of God.
Spiritual Blindness And Religious Hypocrisy
When Jesus refers here to the blind leading the blind, it is likely that he has the spiritual state of the religious leaders in mind. Jesus calls the Pharisees blind five times and uses the phrase blind guide twice in his long rebuke of these religious leaders in Matthew 23 . These accusations of blindness in Matthew are set alongside the classification of hypocrite. In other words, to be a blind guide is to be a religious hypocrite . And to be a religious hypocrite is to be, as weve already noted, someone who is walking in unregenerate religiosity.
In other words, we must follow the New Testament by making a careful distinction between hypocrite as a theological-anthropological category, and hypocrisy as a sin. The former refers to a person who is walking in unregenerate religiosity for the praise of men and who is characterized by inconsistencies between his inward life and outward behavior the latter is a sin of which believers can be guilty, but from which Christians are able to repent .
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The Essence Of The Good News
Paul gives the very center and essence of the good news of Christianity in Romans 1:1617. This is what we bank our lives on. Its the best news in the world for people who know they are sinners, like us, and who want to get right with God, walk in fellowship with him and have eternal life. It says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.
In other words, God has a great desire to save people from sin and death and judgment. And so he acts in history to provide a gospel good news which if anyone will put their trust in it, they will be saved. Paul explains later, in Romans 3:2426, what God has done in history, namely, he sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to live a perfectly righteous life and to die in the place of sinners so that all who trust him could be forgiven for their sins and have the gift of his righteousness and be freed from the fear of death and judgment.
A Distinction Between Hypocrite And Hypocrisy
Born-again Christians, by definition, are not hypocrites. Yes, true believers will wrestle with glory-seeking motives and find that their inward lives do not always match their outward actions. Yet, this is called hypocrisy, a sin Christians are called to put away in the language of 1 Peter 2:1. Nevertheless, Christians are no longer characterized by these inconsistencies or dominated by them.
It was common among the Puritans, for example, to speak of hypocrites who, despite their religious connection with Christianity, were deluded about their inward spiritual condition, having never really tasted of true godliness. Such people possessed the form, but not the power of religion . Biblically and historically, the use of the word hypocrite is used to classify someone who is outwardly religious but inwardly dead in sin.
To put it as plainly as possible: according to the New Testament, if you are a hypocrite, then you are not a Christian. Again, this is not meant to imply that Christians will never be found guilty of hypocrisy. Even the apostle Peter garnered a rebuke from Paul for acting contrary to the truth he professed . But this hypocrisy was not characteristic for Peter, and neither will it be for any true believer.
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We All Need This Gospel
Then all of Romans 1:183:20 is Pauls effort to prove to us that we all need this free gospel. He comes to his conclusion in 3:9, What then? Are we better than they ? Not at all for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. In other words, Pauls aim from 1:18 to 3:9 is to show that both Jewish people, who had all the privileges of Gods attention in redemptive history, and the rest of the world outside Gods special dealings with Israel in the Old Testament, are under the power of sin and are guilty before God.
Why such a long section to persuade us that we are sinners? Do we really doubt it? Well, yes, we do. We suppress the truth because it is so uncomfortable. We may be willing to make some general concessions that we are not perfect, since nobody is perfect. But not many people are willing to admit that deep down inside they are really flawed and proud and selfish and rebellious, and therefore separated from God and in need of what the Bible calls salvation.
The impact of Romans on the church and the world has simply been unparalleled.
Why Study Romans So Deeply
1. Romans is the best summary of the Christian gospel in all the Bible.
2. The author, the apostle Paul, saw Christ after his resurrection from the dead and was commissioned by him to be his authoritative spokesman .
The word apostle means one who is sent by another as his authoritative representative. In other words, if this is true, Romans is not just the words of a man, but the word of Christ that he revealed to Paul, and through him to us. But is it true?
3. Paul knows this will be doubted, and so he points people to how radically he opposed Christianity as a Pharisee before Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road.
Pauls persecution of Christians was widely known. Then he argues that the best explanation for his radical reversal from a persecutor to a defender of this very faith is that Christ appeared to him and made him his apostle. He tells these things to hostile people who can check them out.
4. Pauls calling and status as an apostle is confirmed by the other eyewitnesses of the resurrection, so that he is not a mere renegade making unsupported claims about his private experiences.
He presented himself and his message to the other apostles, especially Peter, James, and John, who gave him the right hand of fellowship when they saw the evidences of Christs apostleship in his life .
5. On top of this, Paul spent the rest of his life suffering extraordinary persecution and hardship for the truth of what he once had tried to wipe out .
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Lesson : The Damnable Sin Of Self
Waiting for his first orthodontist appointment, a 12-year-old boy was a bit nervous. He was completing a patient questionnaire and apparently had high hopes of winning the dentists favor. In the space marked Hobbies he wrote, Swimming and flossing . That humorous story reflects how we all want to portray ourselves to others as better than we really are. We all want to make a good impression!
But when we do that, were forgetting something important, namely, that all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do . God knows the very thoughts and intentions of our hearts . Someday we will stand before Him to give an account of our lives. So we must judge our sins on the thought level. And especially we must be on guard against the damnable sin of self-righteousness.
In Romans 1:18-32, Paul indicts the Gentiles for their many sins: idolatry, sexual immorality, homosexuality, and a long list of destructive relational sins. Being a Jew and a former Pharisee, Paul knew that his fellow Jews would be sitting on the sidelines, cheering him on: Give it to those pagan sinners, Paul! They smugly would be thinking, Thank God that Im not like those awful Gentile sinners .
If you do not repent of your self-righteous hypocrisy, you are storing up wrath for the day of judgment.
Hypocrite In The New Testament
The Greek word translated hypocrite in the New Testament was used in the first century to refer to actors who used masks in their different roles on stage. Who they were in their true personhood was disguised by a mask that could be exchanged for another mask when the script called for it. Hypocrites, spiritually speaking, are those whose outward life does not match their inward lifewho they really are.
More specifically, a hypocrite is one who actively seeks to appear righteous to otherswith words, deeds, and religious activityfor the sake of mans praise . Hypocrites are characterized by this incongruence between their inward and outward life , between their affections and their actions , and they are dominated by their desire for mans praise . In other words, a hypocrite is a person who is walking in unregenerate, self-righteous religiosity.
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Bible Verses About Self Righteousness Nature Of
although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the Law, a Pharisee as to zeal, a persecutor of the church as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
Who can say, I have cleansed my heart,I am pure from my sin?
And Ephraim said, Surely I have become rich,I have found wealth for myself In all my labors they will find in meNo iniquity, which would be sin.
All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight,But the Lord weighs the motives.
Also on your skirts is foundThe lifeblood of the innocent poor You did not find them breaking in.But in spite of all these things,Yet you said, I am innocent Surely His anger is turned away from me.Behold, I will enter into judgment with youBecause you say, I have not sinned.
Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you.
Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, Thus says the Lord God,Because your heart is lifted upAnd you have said, I am a god,I sit in the seat of godsIn the heart of the seas Yet you are a man and not God,Although you make your heart like the heart of God
Bible Verses About Self
Although self-righteousness is not specifically stated in the Bible, there are verses about pride, hypocrisy, and being a lover of self that express exactly what self-righteousness looks like in people. Here are some verses to consider about self-righteousness:
1 John 4:20 – If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
Matthew 6:1 – Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
– He answered and said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Romans 10:3 – For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
Galatians 6:3 – For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
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I Warning To The Self
Now, as Paul has been expounding this, opening it up, he does something here that you will find he does consistently in Romans, and that is to anticipate arguments against what he’s saying. And one of the arguments he’s anticipating is that, “Yeah, that’s fine for them, but that’s not me. That doesn’t describe me. I’m better than that. I don’t need that.” And if anything, they’re saying, “Right on, Paul. Preach it, Paul. Glad to hear it.” And so, they’re urging Paul on to proclaim the judgement of God and the wrath of God against all that category of sinners there.
Essence of hypocrisy: judging in others what you excuse in yourself
And what’s so interesting is that the very phenomenon that’s going on when you’re talking to somebody and talking to them and they’re saying, “I don’t want to go to church. It’s full of a bunch of hypocrites.” What are they doing? They’re judging people, aren’t they? They’re judging people and they’re saying, “I’m better than that. I’m not going to go to that place ’cause I’m better than that. I’m not going to be a self-righteous hypocrite.” What are they doing? Being hypocrites. So what I’ve done now is I just invite them to come, say, “You should come too and you could be cured of the same hypocrisy. We all have it. We all judge other people and excuse sin in ourselves.” It hasn’t worked too much yet but I’m praying that at some point, someone will come.
Concluding Prayer For Humility
Living in a world that celebrates putting yourself first can make it hard to not carry a self-righteous attitude around with us. However, as we have learned, self-righteousness never pays and always results in Gods disappointment over our actions.
Humility is what we should seek every day, humbly thanking God for the gifts He has given us that we dont deserve or have earned, and spreading that love and grace to those around us.
As we conclude, here is a prayer of humility to keep in mind as you go about your day:
Heavenly Father,
We thank You so much for the sacrifice of Your son, Jesus, so we could be freed from the bondage of sin and set on a new path as part of Your wonderful plan. We pray today that we walk with humility in everything that we do and with everyone we interact with, knowing that we are following in the footsteps of our humble Savior. We pray that all self-righteousness we encounter, from either ourselves or from others, will be stopped instantly as we come to You in humility. Let us not forget what You have done for us and the love You give us when we are at our worst, but think we are at our best.
In Jesuss name, I pray,
Amen.
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Iii Gods Kindness Is Purposeful: Leading You To Repentance
He does not treat us as our sins deserve. And God’s kindness is purposeful. It leads you in a direction, it leads you toward repentance. Now what is repentance? Repentance is a changing of the mind, a changing of the thinking. It’s a new way of thinking about yourself and about sin and about God. It’s a deep understanding that Romans 1 relates to you too. You’re in there, that’s you. And not only that, repentance involves hating sin. And not only that, but it involves turning away from it, and turning to Jesus Christ, who alone can save you from sin. That’s repentance. And that’s what time is for. That’s what these seconds are for. They’re ticking by, ticking by. And the time is for repentance and for nothing else. It’s for repentance.
But someday the time runs out. In due time their foot will slip and judgment comes. There is therefore folks a day of salvation. Today is one of them, did you notice that, today is one of them. Second Corinthians 6:2, “I tell you now is the time of God’s favor. Today is the day of salvation.” Take advantage of it. I’m preaching to you directly on the patience, and the kindness and the tolerance of God. Leading you to repentance, to turning away from sin and turning to God in faith. But some people stubbornly resist day after day.