Romans: Man without Excuse: The Certainty of Divine Judgement

I’ve divided Chapter 2 of Romans into five articles to explore over the course of the next five months. They are:

The Certainty of Divine Judgement: vs 1-4
The Credits of Wrath We Accumulate: vs 5-11
The Conscience That Condemns: vs 12-16
The Confidence That Fails: vs 17-24
The Circumcision That Counts: vs 25-29

In Chapter 1, Paul dealt with the “pagan man”, but now Paul deals with the “moral man” in Chapter 2, verses 1-16, and you will note that the mood moves from “they” in Chapter 1 to “thou” in Chapter 2 making his arguments more personal to the reader.

Also note that as we examine these chapters, Paul is arguing that knowledge of God’s law does not provide some blanket protection either from sin or judgement. Nor does the lack of knowledge for the pagan man free him from sin and judgement even though he will not be condemned by the Mosaic Law. Consider the morally upright heathen (not a Bible believer or with knowledge of the Law) whose very behavior indicates that he knows right from wrong inherently, and yet a close examination of his life will reveal that even he with his limited moral knowledge can’t remain pure. We never teach our children to lie, yet they do. They not only lie to hide something they have done, but they even try to deny that they are lying. Why? Is it because they inherently know that lying is simply wrong. Throughout the world and in every culture, everyone knows about lying. Even headhunter cultures that exalted deceit and lying against another tribe had penalties for those who did so within the tribe to other members.

We well also learn that the Jew cannot escape judgement for his greater knowledge of the Law, because that greater knowledge places on him a greater burden to keep the Law which he cannot. Therefore, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Paul also takes up the subject of divine judgement in Chapter 2 by examining seven principles or elements as to how God handles or mete out His judgement. The seven principles that Paul lays out regarding how God deals with judgement are:

According to truth: vs 2-4
According to accumulated guilt: vs 5
According to works: vs 6-10
Without respect of persons vs 11-12
According to actual obedience – not knowledge: vs 13-14
According to the secrets of the heart: vs 15-16
According to one’s profession (reality): vs 17-19

The Certainty of Divine Judgement

Let’s look at just the first four verses this month . . .

Romans 2:1-4: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgement of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

First note that Paul moves from a “them” posture that we saw in Chapter 1 of Romans to a “you” posture as he brings God’s truth to a personally responsible level. No more “they” thinking, but “me” thinking needs to apply here.

As in previous articles, we will examine these four verses a verse at a time.

Verse 1 Notes: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”

The word judge here is krino and does not infer to rightly judge a matter, but to condemn, damn, sue, etc. (Strong’s G2919). So Paul is using a word that points to the already prejudicial heart that has condemned another. Thus, Paul is pointing out that when we condemn another we do so with the following elements involved:

- We have presupposed a moral standard of some kind.
- Here Paul infers not just God’s Law but any moral code we use to condemn another indicates that we do hold to some moral code.
- That that moral code is clear in our minds or we would not be able to judge another.
- That we have also violated that moral code ourselves at one time or another.
- By thus judging another person against that moral code that we ourselves cannot keep, we have also condemned ourselves.

Man is naturally blind (we call them blind spots so as not to be too harsh or blunt about it) to our own failures – sins that others see more readily than we do. These sins have become normal everyday behaviors and, especially as we sear our conscience to them, they appear as normal and, therefore, okay behaviors. We are quick to condemn another’s lie to us but hardly think about or at least justify lying to them. We easily identify an angry man but can’t seem to identify the anger in ourselves. We might get upset when other men lust after our wife but don’t think anything about lusting after other women – except to be sure our wife is not seeing us do it!

Matthew 7:1-3: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”

Know this, we can never be excused before God (outside of Christ) for a violation that we have perceived another has committed, because by condemning another we assent that the moral standard we just used is just and good and, therefore, can be used to measure our own performance.

Please note this very important point. The moment we label a behavior of another (or ourselves) as some infringement against a moral code (God calls them sins, we might call them mistakes, failures, oversights, goof ups, etc.) we are at the same time agreeing with that moral code. For example, when we accuse someone of lying, we automatically agree that lying is bad and unacceptable and, therefore, we have embraced that element of a moral code even if we weren’t aware of doing so. This is what Paul and God through the Holy Spirit are telling us in this verse.

Example:

Luke 19:22: “And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:“

Note: I am not saying that we are never to judge a tree by its fruit. But that we really need to remember that when we do so, we need to make sure we are adhering to the same moral code in our own lives that we use to judge another.

Verse 2 Notes: “But we are sure that the judgement of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.”

God’s Judgement Principle Number 1: According to Truth

According: kata: can be seen as “in proportion to”, against, after the kind we are examining, etc. (Strong’s G2596). He does not judge me against a standard that I did not know, but against that which I did know and, therefore, by default, assent to that it is good once I condemn another against that standard.

Here the word is aletheia (truth) and simply means truth (Strong’s G225). Not a spin truth, not a hidden truth, not a perceived truth, or a half truth, or a layered truth, but absolute truth.

We can easily see the fallen nature of man clearly in the life of innocent children. Without knowing how to tell a lie, without ever being taught how to do so, there will come a time in every child’s life where they will wish to hide the truth from their authorities (or friends, or siblings, etc.) and will tell a mistruth or half the truth or some fabricated story even if they don’t know to label it a lie. Their conscience has become slightly seared as they have chosen to hide facts for their own perceived self-preservation. This is the nature of fallen mankind. When they do this, they know what the truth is, they know that they should tell the truth but choose to fabricate an alternative truth (a lie).

When God judges, He does so against the background of absolute truth (even the truth of that small first time lying child). God looks on the heart and knows the truth about your motives. He sees the actions taken, the thoughts that led up to the actions taken. He knows the consequences as a result of your actions, good or bad, and the long time damages like a seared conscience. He knows what rationalization you used to perform the action even if you seem a bit foggy about it after you took the steps. This is further explained by God in the Book of James:

James 1:13-18: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Fathers of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

This principles has two edges:

- One: God will judge according to absolute truth.
- Two: He will judge each man by the truth that each man holds and still cannot keep.

We cannot escape the truth that God will rightly judge every man “justly” (and not fairly as we tend to see things through our corrupt hearts). And He will do so based on the truth that they themselves hold and have undoubtedly violated. He will not judge me using some heathen man’s standards nor the heathen by my standards (which hopefully are aligned with God’s).

Verse 3 Notes: “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?”

We know that without Christ we are condemned already. Here is one of the arguments as to why: Why do we think that we can get away with sin when we have condemned others for the same sin we ourselves have committed?

Note that Paul has zeroed in on the very personal “Oh man”. Paul is pointing his finger at you and me, not a vague “them – those folks over there”, but directly at the reader.

Man without Christ is living as in a death chamber of self-righteousness, self-love, self-flattery, excuses, self-justifications and is generally blind to his realm or state before a holy and righteous God who sees and knows all truth. We create, as it were, our own virtual reality with false perceptions on how things are as we have framed them to our liking, BUT God sees through those false realities to the absolute truth and judges us accordingly.

Paul simply makes it clear – if you judge another by some measure, you will be judged by that measure, and you will not (and don’t expect to) escape the same wrath, punishment, judgement that you have wished/heaped on another.

Note: the only escape from judgement that we all deserve is faith in Jesus Christ and in His redemptive work on the cross of Calvary. Jesus paid for our sins and offers us forgiveness and eternal life and, thus, the only way to escape the judgement we rightly deserve.

Verse 4 Notes: “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

God is known for His longsuffering and forbearance towards sinners: “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” He is willing to wait patiently for a lost sinner even enduring their sins and corruption until that day when they bow the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and have all of their sins forgiven and washed away by the precious blood of His Son.

God’s pattern appears to be one of degrees: goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering when responding to both our sin and our ingratitude towards His goodness. We are so quick to forget God when He doesn’t smack us with lightning as judgement for our sin. We sin and, when judgement doesn’t fall immediately, we think God either didn’t notice, didn’t care, or decided to “wink” at our sin. So, we fool ourselves into performing that sin again and again. What is really happening is that God is being patient and longsuffering regarding your sin in order to bring you into a state where you see your own vileness and cry out to Him in repentance.

We forget that His reason for His patience is to allow us time and events that will bring us to repentance.

But, the natural tendency of man is to ignore the patience of God (because of the lack of immediate judgement), thus, despising God’s goodness which He has designed, not to extend a rap sheet as long as your arm, but to ultimately bring you to shame and repentance.

Look at the reverse of this point:

If God were quick to judge sin, man would certainly fear Him, but the unregenerate heart would not naturally choose Him, but instead, shake their collective fists towards God and curse Him.

If God were quick to judge and punish sin, would any of us ever make it out of adolescences?

Here Paul is warning that by taking God’s longsuffering for granted and, thus, ignoring His goal of bringing man to repentance and reconciliation to Him, man bears a greater danger of judgement when the proverbial bill does finally come due. So, the question is simple. Will I have to pay that bill when it comes due (at my death), or will it already be paid by Christ (from His work on the cross on my behalf)?

Some Takeaways for Us as Believers:

1. God’s divine judgement is certain – there is no escape if we do not repent.

2. Each man will be judged against the standard that they hold and not that of another for God judges based on truth. God judges each individual and not groups and expects us to understand the personal relationship that this entails.

3. As believers in Christ, our sins have been placed squarely on the person of Jesus Christ. At the cross, He was judged by God the Father as if you and I were on that cross. Me by my standards, you by your standards. Thus, was He judged, in effect, by all the standards of every born-again believer. Therefore, consider the shame, ignominy, disgrace, humiliation, suffering, separation that Jesus went through for us – for you and for me and for all who believe.

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe

References

Strong, J. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. Meyers, R. (2005). e-Sword. [computer software] . Franklin, TN: Equipping Ministries Foundation. (Original work published 1539)

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