19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.
2:19
and are confident [convinced] that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
The sixth advantage of the Jew was his missionary prerogative. Verses 19 and 20 give a list of four superiorities the Jews had over Gentiles by virtue of possessing revelation. They were convinced at some point in the past, with the results continuing (perfect tense), that God called them to minister to the Gentiles through instruction because Gentiles did not have revelation.
2:20
an instructor [one who disciplines or corrects] of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form [outline] of [the] knowledge and [the] truth in the law.
The seventh advantage of the Jew was that he understood the scheme of Scripture. The Greek word “form” means embodiment, outline. God did not leave the Jew to conjecture; He gave them special, supernatural revelation. These people understood the scheme of Scripture and inwardly conformed to it. This form befits knowledge of the truth.
The Gentile who does not have the law but honors it is not in a less advantageous place than the Jew who has the law but fails to keep it. In spite of all their privileges, the Jews failed to come to the Messiah as their Savior.
PRINCIPLE:
In spite of the privileges we have as Christians, it is possible to live a vacuous spiritual life.
APPLICATION:
It is natural for us to assume that we are better than others. We point to our education, our experience, and our successes. Self-delusion about our superiority over others will lead to our spiritual destruction. It is possible to know our privileges in Christ but not apply them to our experience.
