Letter to the Romans -- Chapter 2
After boldly condemning the whole world (with no exceptions) beneath the perfect demands of God’s law, Paul goes on to attack very specifically all those who callously read his words thinking, “Yeah, those horrible sinners and pagans out there, such despicable, wretched, and filthy lives they live; thank God that I am not like those hell-bound sinners.” “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:1-5). Notice Paul’s wording: he does not say “only you who pass judgment and then do those things” (meaning that maybe some judgers are not hypocrites) but instead he says, “for at whatever point you judge…you who pass judgment do the same things”, leaving no room for doubt as he proclaims that every single person who judges is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, guilty of doing the same things of which they pretend to stand judge. No matter how careful and good we think we are, we are always hypocrites in the eyes of God when we pass judgment upon others, even if we happen to think we are “free” from that particular sin. Paul did not proclaim God’s fierce wrath to the world so that self-righteous men and so-called “Christians” could point fingers, but he did it in order that all men might be struck down, crushed, and humbled before God’s law. If we dare think that we do not fall into the all-encompassing list of wickedness that Paul lists in the previous chapter then we are only hardening ourselves before the judgment of God, as Paul clearly declares here. Do we dare think that our arrogance, pride, and judging are any better than the outwardly gross sins of the rest of the world?
God has kindly tolerated our wickedness so far, and therefore we must not have contempt for that mercy. He is calling us to personal, daily repentance before His law. His law is not here to point out the sins of others to us; His law is here to point out to us our wicked and depraved hearts which are in rebellion to our Creator. God shows us His law and wrath so that we may see His subsequent mercy and kindness and be led to repentance, a turning away from our selves towards God’s mercy and grace. But if we dare hold our fellow man up to God’s law, while we ourselves ignore its demands upon us, then we are merely storing up God’s wrath against us for Judgment Day. This is how we will be judged: “God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 2:6-10). These words of Paul sadly bring comfort to blind and self-righteous men who are in reality nothing but the hypocrites that Christ described so well: “You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matthew 23:27-28). These words of Paul (about man receiving judgment for what he has done and deserves) however, are not meant to be comforting but are (very literally!) the final nail in the coffin that God’s law hammers home. Dare we claim in the face of this declaration that we are not self-seeking, selfishly driven men who are only on the lookout for “me”; the very group of men whom Paul declares will receive the wrath of God? If we see our sin and truly see ourselves for what and who we are (and what we have done!) in the light of God’s law then these words of Paul are truly a powerful and debilitating strike that simply echo God’s law as proclaimed throughout the Scriptures. “I Yahweh search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10). “Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 32:19). “He repays a man for what he has done; he brings upon him what his conduct deserves” (Job 34:11). Getting what we deserve and being repaid for what we have done is the worse possible situation for us wretched sinners on Judgment Day.
Paul goes on to further explain how we will be judged on this Judgment Day: “God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares” (Romans 2:11-16). Here we see that even though only some men have been outwardly given God’s law all men still stand beneath God’s judgment. Paul once again addresses the “rest of the world,” who may have never been exposed to and been reached with God’s Word, by declaring that every man has the requirements of the law written on their hearts, as borne witness by their consciences. This law that all men have written on their hearts once again levels the “playing field” across the whole world by leaving all men without excuse. Simply having the law of God and trying in vain to keep it, gets us nowhere, but we must actually fulfill it in totality in order to be righteous and in right standing with God, our just judge. If we blindly do not see that this judgment under the law is fatal then we will eternally suffer and perish with our hardened hearts; but if we do see the truth (that we have done nothing but evil and selfish-wickedness with our lives) then these words will cause us to despair and come to sorrow before God’s law. How can we possibly stand before God’s judgment seat? How can we possibly come before God Almighty with every act, thought, and word of this life exposed before Him?
Paul continues, unrelenting: “Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—” (Romans 2:17-20). Here Paul does a very powerful build up in addressing all those who claimed to be a “Jew” in his day. This address however is just as applicable to those of us who call ourselves a “Christian” and brag about our relationship to God, our superior knowledge, and our role as a guide and light to the blind of the world. So many claim the name of “Christian” (in the same way that many claimed the name of “Jew” in Paul’s day) and use that title as a boast, a way to hold themselves above their fellow man. Paul however has a pointed series of questions for those of us who might dare think we are “special” because we are a “Jew”, a “Christian”, or whatever we might be: “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?” (Romans 2:21-23). Are we practicing what we are preaching? This is a question we must face head-on everyday of our lives. Are we judgmentally holding others to a standard that is different than ourselves? Do we look the other way when we live in our pet sins, all while pouncing eagerly on the sins and struggles of our fellow man? Are we living up to our words, to our titles and claims? The powerful answer to all these questions lies in the Scriptures: “As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’” (Romans 2:24). Thru our hypocrisy and two-faced behavior we cause the name of God Himself to be blasphemed amongst unbelievers. Because we are busy touting our special place before God we are actually vigorously working against Him. Where we should be doing nothing but repenting, we are judging. Where we should be doing nothing but serving, we are quietly and loudly boasting. At no point is there anything within our own self, heart, and flesh that deserves praise and honor. We are only where we are in life because of the immeasurable mercy and grace of God, and yet we constantly turn God’s favor against Him thru our lives of hypocrisy, pushing others away from Him also.
Paul further elaborates on hypocrisy by addressing the concrete fact that the Jews had in the past (and in his day) perverted God’s promise in circumcision and were living in a false sense of circumcision. Men were claiming special status before God because of the outward act of being circumcised, failing to see the truth of what God had established in circumcision. “Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker” (Romans 2:25-27). The Jews ignorantly put circumcision on the shoulders of men thinking it was what we did to become righteous when in fact circumcision has always been on the shoulders of God. Circumcision was a part of the covenant of the law, and therefore one could not separate circumcision from the obedience that God demanded from His people. Basically Paul is saying: if you are going to claim circumcision then you better be prepared to carry out the entire law and demands that the covenant of circumcision includes. In self-righteousness, however, men were clinging to the external and outward work of circumcision alone and failing to see the law and Word of God that made circumcision what it was in God’s eyes. Paul however set them straight reminding them that circumcision in its true form was not at all founded in man but in God and His promise, and thereby it is only real circumcision when it is an act of the Holy Spirit: “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Romans 2:28-29). In the end what matters is whether God’s Spirit comes to our hearts and cuts them deep with His law and then transforms them thru His promises. It is not our external name of “Jew” or “Christian” that matters, what matters is that we are abiding with God in His Word.
God has kindly tolerated our wickedness so far, and therefore we must not have contempt for that mercy. He is calling us to personal, daily repentance before His law. His law is not here to point out the sins of others to us; His law is here to point out to us our wicked and depraved hearts which are in rebellion to our Creator. God shows us His law and wrath so that we may see His subsequent mercy and kindness and be led to repentance, a turning away from our selves towards God’s mercy and grace. But if we dare hold our fellow man up to God’s law, while we ourselves ignore its demands upon us, then we are merely storing up God’s wrath against us for Judgment Day. This is how we will be judged: “God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 2:6-10). These words of Paul sadly bring comfort to blind and self-righteous men who are in reality nothing but the hypocrites that Christ described so well: “You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matthew 23:27-28). These words of Paul (about man receiving judgment for what he has done and deserves) however, are not meant to be comforting but are (very literally!) the final nail in the coffin that God’s law hammers home. Dare we claim in the face of this declaration that we are not self-seeking, selfishly driven men who are only on the lookout for “me”; the very group of men whom Paul declares will receive the wrath of God? If we see our sin and truly see ourselves for what and who we are (and what we have done!) in the light of God’s law then these words of Paul are truly a powerful and debilitating strike that simply echo God’s law as proclaimed throughout the Scriptures. “I Yahweh search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10). “Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 32:19). “He repays a man for what he has done; he brings upon him what his conduct deserves” (Job 34:11). Getting what we deserve and being repaid for what we have done is the worse possible situation for us wretched sinners on Judgment Day.
Paul goes on to further explain how we will be judged on this Judgment Day: “God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares” (Romans 2:11-16). Here we see that even though only some men have been outwardly given God’s law all men still stand beneath God’s judgment. Paul once again addresses the “rest of the world,” who may have never been exposed to and been reached with God’s Word, by declaring that every man has the requirements of the law written on their hearts, as borne witness by their consciences. This law that all men have written on their hearts once again levels the “playing field” across the whole world by leaving all men without excuse. Simply having the law of God and trying in vain to keep it, gets us nowhere, but we must actually fulfill it in totality in order to be righteous and in right standing with God, our just judge. If we blindly do not see that this judgment under the law is fatal then we will eternally suffer and perish with our hardened hearts; but if we do see the truth (that we have done nothing but evil and selfish-wickedness with our lives) then these words will cause us to despair and come to sorrow before God’s law. How can we possibly stand before God’s judgment seat? How can we possibly come before God Almighty with every act, thought, and word of this life exposed before Him?
Paul continues, unrelenting: “Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—” (Romans 2:17-20). Here Paul does a very powerful build up in addressing all those who claimed to be a “Jew” in his day. This address however is just as applicable to those of us who call ourselves a “Christian” and brag about our relationship to God, our superior knowledge, and our role as a guide and light to the blind of the world. So many claim the name of “Christian” (in the same way that many claimed the name of “Jew” in Paul’s day) and use that title as a boast, a way to hold themselves above their fellow man. Paul however has a pointed series of questions for those of us who might dare think we are “special” because we are a “Jew”, a “Christian”, or whatever we might be: “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?” (Romans 2:21-23). Are we practicing what we are preaching? This is a question we must face head-on everyday of our lives. Are we judgmentally holding others to a standard that is different than ourselves? Do we look the other way when we live in our pet sins, all while pouncing eagerly on the sins and struggles of our fellow man? Are we living up to our words, to our titles and claims? The powerful answer to all these questions lies in the Scriptures: “As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’” (Romans 2:24). Thru our hypocrisy and two-faced behavior we cause the name of God Himself to be blasphemed amongst unbelievers. Because we are busy touting our special place before God we are actually vigorously working against Him. Where we should be doing nothing but repenting, we are judging. Where we should be doing nothing but serving, we are quietly and loudly boasting. At no point is there anything within our own self, heart, and flesh that deserves praise and honor. We are only where we are in life because of the immeasurable mercy and grace of God, and yet we constantly turn God’s favor against Him thru our lives of hypocrisy, pushing others away from Him also.
Paul further elaborates on hypocrisy by addressing the concrete fact that the Jews had in the past (and in his day) perverted God’s promise in circumcision and were living in a false sense of circumcision. Men were claiming special status before God because of the outward act of being circumcised, failing to see the truth of what God had established in circumcision. “Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker” (Romans 2:25-27). The Jews ignorantly put circumcision on the shoulders of men thinking it was what we did to become righteous when in fact circumcision has always been on the shoulders of God. Circumcision was a part of the covenant of the law, and therefore one could not separate circumcision from the obedience that God demanded from His people. Basically Paul is saying: if you are going to claim circumcision then you better be prepared to carry out the entire law and demands that the covenant of circumcision includes. In self-righteousness, however, men were clinging to the external and outward work of circumcision alone and failing to see the law and Word of God that made circumcision what it was in God’s eyes. Paul however set them straight reminding them that circumcision in its true form was not at all founded in man but in God and His promise, and thereby it is only real circumcision when it is an act of the Holy Spirit: “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Romans 2:28-29). In the end what matters is whether God’s Spirit comes to our hearts and cuts them deep with His law and then transforms them thru His promises. It is not our external name of “Jew” or “Christian” that matters, what matters is that we are abiding with God in His Word.
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