Romans 10:2
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For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
For I bear them record--or, "witness," as he well could from his own sad experience. that they have a zeal of--"for" God, but not according to knowledge--(Compare Act 22:3; Act 26:9-11; Gal 1:13-14). He alludes to this well-meaning of his people, notwithstanding their spiritual blindness, not certainly to excuse their rejection of Christ and rage against His saints, but as some ground of hope regarding them. (See Ti1 1:13).
Open source ↗The dissolving of the peculiar church-state of the Jews, and the rejection of that polity by the repealing of their ceremonial law, the vacating of all the institutions of it, the abolishing of their priesthood, the burning of their temple, and the taking away of their place and nation, and in their room the substituting and erecting of a catholic church-state among the Gentile nations, though to us, now that these things have long since been done and completed, they may seem no great matter, yet to those who lived when they were doing, who knew how high the Jews had stood in God's favour, and how deplorable the condition of the Gentile world had been for many ages, it appeared very great and marvellous, and a mystery hard to be understood. The apostle, in this chapter, as in the foregoing and that which follows, is explaining and proving it; but with several very useful digressions, which a little interrupt the thread of his discourse. To two great truths I would reduce this chapter: - I. That there is a great difference between the righteousness of the law, which the unbelieving Jews were wedded to, and the righteousness of faith offered in the gospel (Rom 10:1-11). II. That there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles; but, in point of justification and acceptance with God, the gospel sets them both upon the same level (Rom 10:12 to the end).
Open source ↗10:2 Zeal denotes a passionate and commendable commitment to God and his purposes (see Num 25:6-13). But in Paul’s day Jewish zeal was misdirected because it failed to understand that Jesus Christ is the pinnacle of God’s plan. (For Paul’s own misdirected zeal before his conversion to Christ, see Acts 9:1-2; Gal 1:13-14.)
Open source ↗Cross-references
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When they heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.
Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.
Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
saying, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD!” So he had him ride in his chariot.
Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I am just as zealous for God as any of you here today.