Romans 10:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"For I bear them witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom 10:2).

This, then, deserves excuse rather than condemnation. If they were rejected not because of their human nature, but because of zeal, it is more just to pity them than to punish them.

But notice how the Apostle wisely both gratified them with his word and exposed the impropriety of their contentiousness.

With what meekness and compassion he speaks to us of those very people who scourged him five times, stoned him, bound him, thirsted for his blood, and daily wished to tear him apart: "For I bear them witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom 10:2).

At first he seems to favor and please the Jews. For when he says of them, "They have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge," he shows that they are more worthy of mercy than punishment. They are zealous, he says, for the law given them by God. Yet they are not zealous according to understanding, for they do not wish to know that the law has ceased and been abolished.

Thus he bears witness to their zeal for God, yet he reproves them as having gone astray. They ought to have marveled at Christ because of what He did as God by nature.

But they said, "It is not for a good work that we want to stone You, but for blasphemy, because You, being a man, make Yourself God" (Jn 10:33), and similar things.

They did not understand the righteousness from God, that is, Christ, or the righteousness through faith in Him.

Thinking that they were defending the law given through Moses, they remained disobedient. They did not seek the Son, who is able to free, who justifies the ungodly, and who by divine economy shortens the scarcely attainable righteousness of the law, so as to deliver from hardship and exhaustion.

I know you as pious, humble, forbearing, and measured, having faith and the fear of God in your heart. Yet feelings are often deceptive. Some people have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. I think one must beware lest this steal into the souls of believing people.

He joined praise with rebuke, as though covering the hook with some bait, so that the benefit of the word might become easy for them to receive.

I know, Paul says, and I bear witness that the Jews waged war against the Gospel out of zeal for God, for he himself had once been one of them. Yet it was a zeal deprived of true knowledge.

What is zeal for God? Zeal for God is a burning desire and a most fervent diligence to keep and defend God's commandments.

Who has zeal not according to knowledge? The one who, through poverty of mind, does not understand the purpose of God's laws. He becomes inflamed to preserve and defend not the lawful ordinances, but what his unenlightened and coarse mind regards as the purpose of God's laws.

Therefore zeal not according to knowledge is zeal that lacks necessary understanding and discernment. It is unreasonable and senseless zeal. The Israelites of that time had such unreasonable zeal, as Paul says: "For I bear them witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge."

"I bear them witness," the Apostle cries here concerning the Hebrews, "that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God," that is, the means of justification offered by God, "and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom 10:1-4).

The Apostle calls Christ the end of the law in every sense. He is the end in the sense of the law's most perfect fulfillment by Christ (Mt 5:17). He is the end as the goal the law had concerning men, a goal attained only through Christ.

In explaining more clearly the Hebrews' error about the manner of justification, the Apostle Paul first expresses his sincere desire for their salvation. He then shows that the Hebrews misunderstood the matter of justification.

They wrongly thought they could be justified by their own works, mostly empty ones. They had abandoned what is higher in the law, mercy and justice. Above all, they had forgotten the goal of the whole law: justification through Christ the Savior.

It is true that the Hebrews, especially the Pharisees and scribes, could find grounds for their conviction about justification through works in the Mosaic law. There it was said, "The man who does them shall live by them" (Lev 18:5).

"I bear witness" means: I do not contradict this; I agree. I say it to their faces and assure all others about them that they have zeal.

There is no need even to prove this. Touch upon the Sabbath, the temple, the feasts, sacrifices, or tithes, and you will see what zeal each of them begins to burn with. Eyes, expression of face, gesture, and word will all speak to you of this zeal.

And this zeal in them is zeal for God. It is for God's work and is zealous according to God, for the law is from God.

Nevertheless, for all that, this zeal is not according to knowledge. They are zealous for the law as being according to God, but not according to the meaning and significance of the law.