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God’s Righteous Judgment (ch. 2:1-16)     

Here in chapter 2:1 we see the words “no excuse” again.  Paul is now beginning to talk to, and about a different group of people.  In the last chapter Paul was talking about man in general, or the none-religious man who forsook  God.  Now he is narrowing things down to the religious man who claims to know God.  Paul is beginning to prove that even these people are in trouble.  He says that the religious man has “no excuse” as well when he claims to live better than others when in reality he is doing similar things.  The specific religious man that Paul will speak of in this chapter is the Jew. 

In verse 1 Paul also says that when the religious man judges the non-religious man he is condemning himself because the religious man sins just as much as the non-religious man.  It's all about hypocrisy.  You will remember that Jesus scolded the Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy, and that is what Paul is getting at in this section.  You must understand as you read this section that Paul had the Jews in mind. That being said, in today's world, we have a number of types of religious men and women, and what applies to the Jews in this section, applies to them today.

Note the words "judge" and "judgment" in verse 1.  Some men judge others for what they do, but in so doing, they condemn themselves.  It is important to know that it is only when you are doing the same, or a similar, thing that you are judging the other person that you will be condemned.  If you judge someone for a particular sin, and you do not commit that sin, and if you have Biblical motives for your judgment, you will not be condemned, and your judgment is valid.  Many people today say we are not to judge, but that's not so.  We are to judge, but we are to judge righteously as Jesus said in John 7:24.  We are not to judge by mere appearance, as Jesus also said.       

In verse 2 and 3  Paul points out that God can judge because His judgment  is based on truth.  The religious man's judgment is not based on truth, therefore God will judge that man for his lack of good judgment.  Paul states that this man will not escape God's judgment. 

We note in verse 2 that God's judgment "is based on truth". That's His truth, which is, the only real truth.  God does not judge like man.  His judgment is pure, because it is based on the whole and full truth as He understands it, and He understands all things as they really are.  This should show us the importance of trying to understand God's truth.  Truth matters, but in this day n age, many people are forsaking the pursuit of truth.

In verse 4 we see if we make such judgments, like the non-religious man,  we despise the rich kindness of God that should lead us to repentance.   Also in verse 4 we note that God's tolerance, patience,  and kindness leads to repentance.  This means that God gives us lots of time and opportunity to change our minds, and to repent, but there comes a day when His patience will certainly end, and then, it will be too late. 

It has been said that only God's love and kindness can lead someone to repentance, and that may be correct.  Yet at the same time, Paul came to repentance through discipline, as seen in Acts 9.  God struck Paul blind for three days that woke him up for the need to repent.  In the book of Revelation you will note that even in the midst of God's severe judgment, many do not repent.  So, there is most likely a balance here.  In the end, God's love will lead us to repent, but sometimes His discipline gets us to a place where we can see His love.   

We need to understand the word "tolerant" here.  It is not used in the modern sense of the word.  Today tolerance means universal acceptance of every kind of thinking.  We all can think what we want.  We are all right in our own way, but that's not God's idea of tolerance.  Tolerance here is more like patience.  He gives us time to change, but change we must.  It's God's way or no way.  There's only one way to think.  That is not the modern concept of tolerance.  Really, it's just the opposite.          

We need to understand that the religious men that Paul is talking about here are Jews.  He’s in the process of stating that Jews are in the same boat as Gentiles when it comes to sin and separation from God.

Verse 5 states that there will be a day of “ God’s wrath” when He pours out His anger on the wicked.  Until then people are storing up this wrath for every evil deed they do.   It is a form of investing in your future but in a negative sense.  Each wrong thing you do will add to your punishment.

We see the term "the day of God's wrath" in verse 5.  Many liberal people do not believe that God can be angry or show wrath, but that is far from the truth.  You might ask, "when is the day of God's wrath?"  Many Bible teachers believe the day of God's wrath is twofold.  It is the total sum of the Great Tribulation that occurs at the end of this age.  The word "day" in the Bible can be understood as one day, or a number of days.  In this sense, it is understood as many days, when God judges all nations and all people.  Of course, this day will end in one day, when God pronounces judgment and sends some to the Lake of Fire .  This is the great and terrible day of the Lord.        

Verse 6 says that “God will give to each person according to what he has done”. There's two ways of looking at this.  One is for the non-believer.  He will be judged for the things he has done.  There are levels of eternal punishment.  On the other hand, the believer will be rewarded for the good deeds he has done.  The bad deeds will have been wiped out of God's record book.    

The phrase "give to each person according to what he has done."  These words do not express "faith by works".  The whole point to what Paul is making in these first few chapters of Romans is that salvation is by faith, and not by works.  This phrase tells us that beyond faith or unbelief, beyond determining where we will spend eternity, we are rewarded.  For those who are save by faith, we will receive rewards for our good works, that is, if they are performed by faith in Jesus.  If they are merely done in a humanistic way, there is no reward.  On the other hand, those who end up in the Lake of Fire will receive rewards in a negative sense.  Those who find themselves in the Lake of Fire will have varying degrees of punishment, depending on what they have done in this life.   

Verse 7 is a difficult  verse.  There are a couple of ways to look at it.  Way one is to look at this within the context of the whole book of Romans.  This is a point of Biblical interpretation.  The verse says that God will give eternal life to those who do good.  If you take these words alone we loose our teaching on “salvation by faith alone”.  It would become a thing of good works getting us into Heaven.  This verse must be understood in light of what Paul is going to clarify later.  The good works here have to be those good works that are done as a result of your faith.  As Paul mentions in chapter  1 verse 5, “an obedience that comes by faith”.  Good works preceding faith mean nothing.  Good works as a result of your faith will reap an eternal reward for you.

Way two is as follows.  Paul is beginning to make the point that the only way to eternal reward is by doing good works all the time.  The only way to Heaven and salvation is by being perfect in goodness.  We will learn that this is not possible with man and that God has made a provision for us to receive Salvation another way.  Paul will point out in later chapters that it is only by Jesus' good work on the cross that enables us to enter into salvation.

We see that it is those who "persistently" seek "glory, honor, and immortality" will receive eternal life.  We note that there is a persistence involved, as you see in the life of Paul.  Many obstacles were placed in front of Paul, that would stop most from doing God's will.  Paul persisted in spite of these good works.  Note also the words, "glory, honor, and immortality".   Paul is speaking of godly glory and honour, not human glory or honor, and that is backed up by the word "immortality".  Only God gives immortality.    

In verse 8 we see those who “are self seeking and reject the truth”.  They are recipients of "God's anger and wrath".   Note here that God's anger and wrath are listed as two separate things, and that is because they are two separate things.  We can understand anger in the ordinary sense of anger.  But when it comes to wrath, wrath is not anger.  Wrath, in Biblical terms is an uncontrollable outburst of anger.  Wrath is an explosion of anger that can no longer be held back, but must vent itself.  This is what God's wrath is all about.  The day will come when He will no longer hold back.  His anger will explode on all those who reject the truth. 

In verses 9 and 10 Paul states that for those who reject the truth there will be a day of great distress.  I believe that day begins in the Great Tribulation at the end of this age and ends in the Lake of Fire . Note the words "great distress".  These are words that are often used in the New Testament to refer to the Great Tribulation. 

Yet on the other hand, those who seek to do good based on faith will be rewarded.  They will be rewarded in the next life, and as many Prophetic Futurists believe, they will be rewarded by escaping God's wrath in the Great Tribulation via a pre-tribulation rapture. 

Paul uses the words "to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile".  This is a basic principle of Scripture.  Since God called Abraham to be the father of the great nation of Israel , Israel has always been special to God, and always will be, even into the next life.   There is a list of priorities with God.  First come the Jews, then come the Gentiles.  Jesus came to the earth to first save the Jews, and then to save the Gentiles.  This principle can be seen in many ways throughout the Bible.        

Paul speaks in verse 11 Paul says that God does not show favoritism.  I think those of us who have grown up in church circles and have lived “relatively” good lives can easily feel that God may think better of us than others.  God does not show favouritism to anyone, not even to us.  I'm convinced that most people, including Christians think more highly of themselves than they should

Paul says in verse 12 that all who sin without the law will be punished.  That means Gentiles will be punished, even when they don't have the law.  I believe that the law spoken of here is the Law of Moses that was given to the Jews.  Paul then goes on to say that all who sin who have the law, will be judged by the law.  We can thus assume that these sinners, which would be Jews, will be punished just as the Gentiles are.  This is what Paul is saying.  He is saying that the Jews are in the same boat when it comes to punishment for sin as the Gentiles are.

In verse 13 Paul states the reason why both Jew and Gentile will be punished for their sin.  He says that simply having the law, or knowing the law, means nothing.  Obedience to the law makes one righteous.  The Jews had the  law, but for the most part did not obey it. So, in reality, it was like they really didn't have the law, because they ignore it.  Paul says that only those who obey the law are righteous.  We will see later that this is an impossibility.  No one can obey God's law, therefore we all deserve punishment.  Paul does not say that here.  He will later.  The point that Paul is making here is that righteousness comes by obey the law.  He is building his case here for righteousness by faith.  

In verses 14 and 15 Paul states that it is possible for Gentiles who don't have the law to actually obey parts of it.  He does not say that they can obey it all.  I say that because Paul says, "by nature things that are required by the law'.  He is saying that some Gentiles by their very nature can obey "things", that's parts of the law, not necessarily all the law.  So it is clear that Gentiles can obey parts of the law, and they don't even know they are because they don't have the law to know.  Paul then says that they, the  Gentiles, "are a law for themselves".  That simply means that some Gentiles who don't have the law, are a law, because its built into them by nature. 

Those who have the law built into them by nature, can't have the whole law.  There is too much to the Law of Moses to be built into someone.  Yet when it comes to the Ten Commandments, that might well be another thing.  Some Gentiles could possibly have the Ten Commandments built into their very nature.  For example, whether one knows "do not kill" as a command of God or not, most, if not all, by nature knows it is wrong to kill someone. 

Verse 16 ends this section.  It begins with "this will happen'>  What will happen?  What is Paul talking about that "will happen"?  He is talking about the judgment of God that will take place at the end of this age.  He got a bit sidetracked in the last couple of verses, so the word "this" refers back to the judgment spoken of earlier in this section. 

Note that God will judge the "thoughts of man".  Judgment is more than about works and actions.  God gets right to the heart of the matter, and that is our thoughts.  We may not kill someone, but we may think that we'd like to.  God will judge that thought.  Paul makes this statement because he is in the process of explaining that all of us are worthy of damnation and punishment.  No one has ever had a perfect thought life.  We're all condemned in they sight of God.