ROMANS 2:12-16 "LET'S TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT OURSELVES" #2

Last time, as we considered Romans 2:1-11 our attention was drawn to a very practical matter - the danger of religious hypocrisy – judging others without taking a good look at ourselves. Paul drew attention to the fact that whilst the sins of the gentile world were horrible and despicable, his own people, the Jews, were guilty of doing the same things. They thought that they would get away with that.  They presumed on their special status – the covenant with God.   But Paul shows us that such thinking is folly.  

Mere religion will do us no good. In fact, religious hypocrisy is practical atheism. It mocks God.  

In that context Paul explains in 2:6-10 that God's righteous judgement on Jew and Gentile is going to be "according to their deeds," and not according to their ethnic or religious advantages or disadvantages.  

And then in 2:11 he lays down this principle:  "For there is no partiality/ favouritism  with God." This is something fundamental that we must learn about God. He is the impartial God. He is the God who sees with the all-seeing, all-knowing eye. By virtue of who He is, nothing escapes Him.  

He sees right through a matter.  

He does not consider mere external appearance as we do.  

He is not impressed by people's mere outward adherence to the Christian faith or the Jewish faith etc.  

God judges everything with respect to His Being, in whose image all mankind is created.  

God cares about His place in our thinking, and how that works out in our practice of righteousness, justice and holiness from the heart, 

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” [Micah 6:8]   

  

Now comes the question: How can you say that God judges our deeds impartially, when He has only revealed Himself to the Jews? We know that God had given them His law (special revelation) in which He helps them to understand what He expects of them in terms of knowledge and behaviour. The gentiles however have no such revelation? Hence the often-heard objection: “This is not fair! The gentiles do not have equal access to the knowledge of what God requires, so how can He hold them accountable? What about people that have never heard the gospel – who don’t have access to a Bible? - how can God hold them accountable?    

These are the big questions to which the apostle Paul will now give us an answer.   

  

The first part of his answer is found in 2:12:"all who have sinned without the law [i.e. the gentiles/ nations who don't have the Old Testament Law of Moses] will also perish without the law". Similarly, he says, "all who have sinned under the Law [i.e. the Jews who have the Law of Moses] will be judged by the Law."    

Gentiles will be judged according to the light they have received or rejected.    

Jews will be judged according to the light that they have received or rejected from God's law.  

  

2:13  "For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified." Paul says that the Jews are not considered righteous on account of hearing the law read to them every Sabbath. Likewise, we that call themselves Christians, are not considered righteous simply for having a Bible, or belong to a Bible preaching church.  

The question is not, “How much of the law (or the gospel) did you hear and know “?  

The question will be, “In view of that which you did hear and know, how did that affect your life and obedience to God?"     

 The argument at this point is not whether we can be justified by the works of the law.  

The main argument here is this: Does your profession as a believer   show in your works?    

  

In 2:14-15, Paul revisits the idea from 2:12 about those who sinned without the law (gentiles), stating,  

"For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves, even though they do not have the law." They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them...“.    

This is a remarkable statement, and it deals with the question, “How can God hold the gentiles (who have no revelation of the law) accountable?" What is Paul saying here is - The Gentiles do have a knowledge of the law after all!   

The moral law of God is written on their hearts (2:15).  

It is in their nature! (2:14)   

 
 

Here is an important truth. God has left a testimony in the hearts of all the people He created, whether Jew or Gentile. This is evident in the moral behavior of all humans.   

1. Most people in this world (excluding atheists) acknowledge the existence of a Higher Being. The knowledge of God is corrupted by sin, and it is a distorted view of God. The Bible alone claims to be a truthful testament to God's mind.  

2. Nevertheless, humanity is inherently religious and shares a sense of right and wrong that aligns with the 10 commandments. Our conscience, though affected by the fall, accuses or defends us in various situations.  

With that in mind we can see how Paul comes to a conclusion about the ability of all mankind to 'know of God' and what He requires. He stressed that earlier ...  

1:21  “For although they knew God, they did not honour Him…”  

1:26 “Women exchanged the natural relations for those that are against nature" (i.e. they are going against knowledge);   

1:32 "They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die. People instinctively know what is right, but our warped and sinful hearts are inclined against God and His truth. And even if we do acknowledge truth we do not necessarily practice it.   

 
You see clearly that there are fixed truths and fixed moral standards that you do not make up.  

They are not mere human opinions.   

They come from God. 

They come from outside us.    

God has imprinted truth on human hearts.   

The degree to which we possess that understanding will cause us to be judged. We will be judged by it with great fairness and impartiality.    

  

THIS FORMS THE BASIS OF GOD'S FINAL JUDGEMENT  

  

2:16 "...on that day when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus   

On the strength of man's received knowledge (by the law) or by the intuitive inner knowledge of the law of God, He is able to be their Judge. It follows then that if there is an understanding of law common to humanity, then there must be a common Judge.  

The Bible says that this Judge is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

He has appointed a day (on that day) of universal judgement.  

On that day every man, every woman will appear before the judgement throne.  

Immortal souls from every age will be gathered before the judgement throne.  

On that day an exact judgement will take place in the presence of One who knows the secret of everyone's heart.  

God has the capacity to judge the obvious sins and those that are hidden. The most secret sins will be laid bare.  

So, no one will be without excuse.   

   

SUMMARY    

1. 2:11 There is no partiality with God.  

2. 2:12 God's judgement will be dispensed according to how we respond to the measure of truth that we have access to.   

3. 2:13 Being in possession of the revealed law is of no advantage to the Jew on the judgment day, if not connected to an obedience to the law.    

4. 2: 14-15 The Gentiles who have no copy of the Mosaic law do in fact have that law written on their hearts.  It is reflected in their   global conscience of God   and their global sense of morality. The thought of God is in our DNA.  The wrongness of murder, lying, stealing, adultery, covetousness etc. is universally entrenched in our thinking.  This is what we must grasp: to be human means to have the law of God written on our hearts.   

5. 2:16 A Day of righteous judgement is coming.  

  

The big question now is this:   

How will YOU stand before God's all-seeing eye?   

How will YOU escape God's impartial judgement?  

Who   is going to be YOUR Advocate?   

Let's take a good look at ourselves !

 
Again, we get back to the gospel. To stand before God you will need the gospel.   

And if you have the gospel, then your contribution to the world of truth- suppressing people is to share the gospel, and to pray that God in His mercy would open hearts to see what you can see.  

Amen.  

 

ROMANS 2:1-11 "LET'S TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT OURSELVES #1"

 

The letter to the Romans is about the gospel and why we need the gospel.  Previously we saw in Romans 1:18-32 the terrible outworking of sin in the world. It all begins with the wholesale rejection of the Creator, manifesting in the exchange of Him for the things which He created. This is called idolatry- the substitution of God for lesser glories. This is always at the heart of mankind’s sinful disposition towards the God who has made this world and the Universe. For this reason, God gave mankind up. He handed mankind over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done (1:28). And so, in that first chapter we walked through the gutters of life, and we felt as if we needed a bath afterwards. 

But Paul is not yet done with us. 

He must remind us of the subtlety of sin. 

1. He must remind us that we need to take a good look at ourselves as we judge others. 

2. And He will remind us that our faith will be known by our works,  

...and so we move on to Romans Chapter 2.  

 

1.      TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT YOURSELF  (2:1-5) 

In this chapter Paul directs his focus upon  the Jewish people who take pride in their heritage, being part of God's covenant community – descendants of Abraham, God's chosen people, having received a particular revelation of God (the Old Testament), first through the patriarchs of Israel, then by the giving of the law, and then  by  the mouths  of  the prophets. One might hear the Jews applauding whilst Paul speaks concerning the wrath of God upon the ungodliness of the world. However, Paul rapidly turns the table upon the Jews, and by implication on us, who call ourselves God’s people. 

What is the potential problem for the Jews of Paul’s day and for us who call ourselves Christians? It is this - a refusal to examine ourselves with regard to those sins that we accuse the pagan world of. There is always the danger of thinking that, because you are a Jew or a Christian, that you are better than others. This text will challenge such thinking. We need a better basis to distinguish ourselves from others. Paul challenges us in the very first verse:    

2:1 “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, everyone of you who judges. For in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same thing.”  Paul takes his own people to task. They do the same things that they condemn the pagan for. Little did they think that by condemning those things in others they were actually  condemning themselves, for they were subtly engaging in the same sin. By way of an immediate application we could think of examples where we condemn the sinful practices of other religions, but where we might essentially be guilty of doing the same thing. We might for instance accuse Hinduism of gross idolatry, because their idols are so-in-your-face! But have we considered our own love of idols - those things by which we substitute the glory of our immortal God (1:23) with our cheap discipleship and lukewarm worship? We easily accuse Islam for its hypocritical, legalistic 5 -times-a–day-prayer routine. It may well be hypocritical.But do we Christians actually take time to pray? And how do we pray? The Muslims posture in prayer is often more biblical than our comfort driven Christianity. We are not commending Islam or Hinduism, but our text begs us to take a good look at ourselves and our Christian church culture. Jesus addresses this matter in Matthew 7:3, 

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye’.”  

Specks need to be removed from our brother’s eye, yes, but before we do that let us check ourselves whether we are not guilty of that which we accuse others of.  

Let’s hear Paul’s argument as he continues …. 

 2:2 “We know that the judgement of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.  Make no mistake! God will judge the heathen religions. We know that when God judges He makes no mistakes. And now again we hear a Jew saying at this point, “Absolutely right Paul!  Look at these gentiles. Look at  their  false  and perverted worship  of a false God ”!  

But Paul responds again in 2:3 “Do you suppose, O man – you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself – that you will escape the judgement of God? “   

Paul pushes us relentlessly into a corner. We can be self-righteous as we compare ourselves to others. We easily see their specks, and we see them rightly – but what if in that process we refuse to deal with the logs in our own eyes? Again, we may rightly condemn Muslims for murderous suicide attacks, but how is it that the Christian church remains mostly silent when our mostly Christian country legalizes and endorses abortion on demand?  By that standard  the so called free part of the world (much of which has a Christian heritage) is murdering more people than the Muslim world with its suicide attacks and attacks on Christians. The truth is, both are wrong and both will incur God’s terrible wrath in time. But, are you hearing Paul when he says, ”so when you, a mere man, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgement?”  Paul destroys the thought that mere adherence to the Christian faith will secure God’s approval.  The Bible teaches consistently that mere profession of faith without works is dead. We’ll get to that in a moment in 2:6, with overtones of  James 2:17.  God desires mercy and justice and the protection of the vulnerable, of which the unborn child surely must be one of the most vulnerable. 

And so Paul continues … 

 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?“ Here the apostle Paul addresses a particular problem for the Jews – the problem of hypocrisy. John the Baptist saw that hypocrisy when he said to the crowds that were coming in droves to be baptized for the  forgiveness of their sins in Luke 3:8, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father. ’For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” 

He knew that they were presuming upon their history. They presumed upon God’s  kindness, forbearance and patience, without being correspondingly committed to God’s standards of holiness. Jesus saw the same thing in John 8:31-32.  Here He challenges the Jews to think whether they are truly Abraham’s children. They hide behind a great religious figure, but they do not exhibit the faith of Abraham. They say that they believe in God, but their lives deny that this is so. In fact, they want to kill Jesus (Jn 8:37). They are ungodly.  In truth they are of their  father, the devil (Jn.8:44).  

Jesus reserved His harshest words for religious hypocrites, who on the one hand live contrary to the law of God (that is sin) whilst talking to others about the goodness and the mercy of God. Hypocrisy is a real problem, and we must constantly examine ourselves in this  regard. Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones says, 

“It is like that experience when you stand in a line to shake hands with a great person, and your turn comes, he takes your hand, but he already looks at the next person.  You would feel in an instant that he despises you. He is not really interested in you. People are like that with God. They see his kindness, forbearance and patience, but they treat it as of small insignificant value.³ 

That is gross religious hypocrisy.  And so, in the span of these  first 4 verses Paul shows us that we are really no better off than the gentiles if we are guilty of religious hypocrisy.  We   too need the gospel, and God help us if we should choose to live in the spirit of 2:5  having ”a hard and impenitent heart”.   The day of wrath will not escape us, even if we have made a profession of faith in baptism (Matt. 7:21-23). 

This raises  the next question: What proves that we are  true believers?  

 2.      ARE  OUR WORKS  IMPORTANT? (2:6-11) 

 2:6-8 “He (God) will render to each one according to his works  those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, He will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”  

Will God really judge us according to our works? We  are in the  book of Romans – the  great letter  of justification-  by grace  alone , through faith alone,  through Christ alone.   You will be tempted to answer, “No, of course not. Our justification is by faith and not by works“.  That is true. But there is an aspect of our justification that we easily overlook. God does judge us according to our works. That is what 2:6-8 maintains. Are we facing a contradiction here?  No! It is a matter of ordering a number of  aspects  concerning the doctrine of salvation according to  theological  priorities.  

1.  It is true that our entrance into  eternal life cannot  be  not gained  by good works . No one does sufficient good works (Rom.3:23).  

2. We are only ever admitted  into God’s presence  by the imputed righteousness  of Christ  alone - through our faith in Him alone. [Rom.3:28;4:5;5:1;8:33-34]  

3. It is nevertheless  true that good works  are indispensable  and necessary proofs  of our salvation.  “We are not saved by good works, but  we posses a faith that works“.  

How can it be otherwise?  

Can a person claim to be saved and not be  a  changed person?   

This point  is made by James 2:14-26.  And that  kind of  working faith is  expressed in  Romans 2:7 “… those who by patience in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, He will give eternal life…”, and it works  the opposite way in 2:8.  

It is true that saving faith  always changes our lives, because “Christ is in us“ by the power of the Holy Spirit. He helps us to bear fruit and grow in likeness to Jesus. The gospel is not a weak thing in our life. It changes our life. It produces “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26).  So, we “prove our salvation”  in a secondary sense   by  our works.   

In that  sense our works  are  indicators  where we will spend eternity  

• Who will receive eternal life?  Those who by patience seek for glory and honour and immortality . 
• Who will  receive  the wrath and fury of God? Those  who are selfseeking, who do not obey the truth … 

 And so,

In 2:9 & 10   Paul   spells out in graphic terms what will happen  at the last judgement  

• “ There will be  tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek “ 
• “… But glory and honour and peace for everyone who does good,  the Jew first and also the Greek. 

So then, while works do not get us to heaven, they provide proof  of what we  really are. In that sense also  they  are an indication of where we will spend eternity.  Our works form part of  the final Judgement  when Christ comes again  to judge the living and the dead.

That point is  made  at least 20 times in the NT :  e.g.  

·         Romans 14:10-12 

·         2 Cor. 5:10 

·         Rev. 20:12,15 

·     Matt. 25:31-46  (Note the eternal judgement is  made according to our works).  

·         Lk. 10:17,19 

[We must guard against a misunderstanding here:  Even though there will be degrees of reward in heaven, the joy of each person will be full and complete for eternity.] 

So then, the Bible teaches that  eternal life is not  merited  by good deeds but by Christ alone. But the proof before the Judgement throne of God will be your works. They   will either commend you or condemn you. They will speak for you or they will speak against you.  The Lord Jesus Christ the  righteous Judge will either say, ”Well done good and faithful servant – enter into your promised reward“ or He will say  “I never knew you – depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” (Matt 7:23).

CONCLUSION

 1.      This is a soul searching text, inviting  us to take a good look at ourselves in terms of the  lives that we must lead in righteousness, in godly  humility and  in honest self- examination, knowing that  in every judgement that we make must ensure that we are not guilty of the same  thing.

 2.       This text also teaches us that our works matter. Not in the ultimate sense. The thief on the cross had no works to show. 

But they matter in a secondary  manner  by providing proof  that we are who we say we are – Lovers of God the Father. May the Holy Spirit who is present in the preaching of the Word strengthen  us all with  a great resolve  to be what we are called to be – children of God! And may the Lord Jesus find us blameless on the day of His appearing. 

Amen!