Therefore thou art inexcusable, O
man, whosoever thou art that judges: for wherein thou judges another, thou
condemns thyself; for thou that judges does the same things.
But we are sure that the judgment of God is
according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou
this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and does the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Or despise thou the riches of his goodness and
forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads thee
to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto
thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God;
Who will render to every man according to his
deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and
honor and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do
not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew
first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honor, and peace, to every man that
works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
There is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned
without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the
law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before
God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having
not the law, are a law unto themselves:
which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else
excusing one another;) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by
Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Behold, thou art called a Jew, and rests in
the law, and makes thy boast of God, And knows his will, and approves the
things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art
confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are
in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form
of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Thou therefore which teaches another,
teach thou not thyself? Thou that preaches a man should not steal, dost thou
steal? Thou that says a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit
adultery? Thou that abhorres idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that make
thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonors thou God? The name of
God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
For circumcision verily profits, if
thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is
made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of
the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by
nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision
dost transgress the law?
For he is not a Jew, which is one
outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he
is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. ROMANS 2
To have a clear picture of what Paul is saying it is
necessary to have a general understanding of who he is addressing. The church
at Rome was not like the churches that received Paul’s other epistles in that
it was not a congregation that had been the result of the apostles own
ministries.
The church at Rome in its early inception would have been
decidedly Jewish and it is likely that gentile’s where welcome but expected to
become proselytes to Judaism. However the expulsion of the Jews from Rome would
have left the church with a new gentile leadership. When the Jews were allowed
to return a few years’ later conflicts arose between those who thought that
life in Messiah was still only within Judaism and those who felt that
conversion to Messiah did not mean conversion to Judaism.
The common result of any disagreement is separation. To what
degree this problem was evident in the church at Rome we are not told; yet Paul
with vigor comes against both Greek thought and Jewish thought. Paul’s
conclusion is that neither way of thinking will fall out to unity with Messiah
and the Father but will drive the one who trust in it into wickedness that will
surpass the pagans of this world.
The Greek thinking, which the romans had long ago
assimilated, was that the physical life is flawed but the thought or spirit is
perfect. This thought that would later become a foundation of the church’s apostasy. In stark contrast the thinking that what a
man did regulated his relationship with God permeated Jewish thought.
Paul concludes both groups to suffer from the same delusion.
Whether the Greek idea that only ignorant people live by the base means of the
physical or the Jewish belief that the knowing of what is contained in
scripture and forcing the body into obedience makes one favored of God; both
thinking’s make one to judge others as somehow secondary or less than oneself.
Paul points out that despite their thinking of being above another they have
the exact same passions and weaknesses as those they judge.
These believers, both Greek and Hebrew, had allowed
themselves to settle into man made thinking. Paul attempts to shake them awake.
The life of a believer is different from that of an
unbeliever. The unbeliever depends on himself to generate that which he has
judged as good. The believer instead depends on Gods life in him to generate
the life that God has judged as good.
The things performed in the body show what is truly done in
the heart. It is for this reason that as a judge of our hearts our Father
approves or disapproves of the actions we carry out.
Paul will turn his focus to the Jews and the law. Paul’s
argument is not against the law but instead against the idea that because one
has learned what is right and holy that such learning makes one righteous. Paul
shows that it is not learning what is right but being what is right that is
evidence of being in a covenant and oneness with God.
An earthly judge may show a respect for a rich man or an
educated man or even a charismatic man, but the heavenly judge of the living
and the dead shows no respect of persons. He judges one thing alone who you
are. If His life is living in you then you are His. If you are your own maker
then you are dead. For it is not about what we have learned or what we have
accomplished but who we are.
Paul spoke in another place of those who were always
learning but never coming to a knowing of God. Jesus himself spoke of those who
would come to him in the last days and proclaim all they had done in His name;
His answer was depart I never knew you.
We are the bride of Messiah and as such we have been made
one with Him. This oneness is not an ideal or a teaching but a trust,
dependence and expectation of living a shared life. It is only as we trust Him
to generate His life in us that we truly can come to know Him. It is this
generation of true life in us that reveals the self-generated life from Adam as
a way which can never be approved by a holy God.
