Introduction
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, 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 human being, 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, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” Romans 2:1-4
God’s Righteous Judgment
Paul’s purpose in the first three chapters is to show that both Jews and Gentiles are in sin and in need of the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel is God’s power to save from sin and every soul stands in need of that power.
Paul begins this section to the Jews by reminding them that they have no right to judge the Gentiles when they are so bad themselves, Romans 2:1. They had nothing to plead in their defence when they practised the same evils, Luke 18:10-14.
‘Judgement’, Romans 2:2, includes more than the mere act of judging. It means to pass a sentence on, condemn. God’s judgment is based on truth and is just and right, Romans 2:2, in other words, it’s not based on appearance.
Murray, in his commentary, says the folowing.
‘Since you know the justice of God, as evidenced by the fact that you are judging others, you are without an excuse, because in the very act of judging you have condemned yourself.’
They were actually ‘condemning themselves.’ In other words, if their judgment was good against the Gentiles, it was good against themselves, for they practised the same things, and so, they stood self-condemned, Romans 2:3.
Now the Jews might say, ‘so my judgment is wrong on the Gentiles, but what does that prove?’ Paul answers, ‘Yes, your judgment may be wrong, but God’s is not,’ Romans 2:3.
Paul is asking, ‘do you think you can condemn others for doing exactly what you are doing and still escape the wrath of God?’ Self-evaluation seems to be a hard endeavour for human beings.
We need to be careful that the sins we condemn in others have not taken root in ourselves. It is very easy by our actions to be self-condemned before God.
Remember sin means falling short of God’s standards, His righteousness. Transgressions mean to go somewhere you shouldn’t be.
1. To ‘despise’ means to look down on; hence, to show contempt for, Romans 2:4.
2. ‘Goodness’ means kindness. God had been exceedingly good to the Jews. He has been good toward all, Romans 2:4.
3. ‘Forbearance’ means patience; to bear with.
4. ‘Longsuffering’ means to suffer long with; denotes a delay of punishment, Romans 2:4.
5. ‘Leads you to repentance?’ Romans 2:4. God’s goodness appeals to the best in man and causes him to respond, 1 John 4:19 / 2 Corinthians 7:10. God is good in giving us time to repent, 2 Peter 3:9.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘In the New Testament, repentance is not simply negative. It means turning to a new life in Christ, a life of active service to God. It should not be confused with remorse, which is a deep sorrow for sin but lacks the positive note in repentance.’
The Jews boasted that they were the objects of God’s special favours, but by not repenting, they showed they despised God’s goodness, Romans 2:4. Modern man thinks that the goodness of God will cause God to overlook his wickedness.
How about us? Do we appreciate God’s goodness or despise it? We clearly despise it when we do not repent of our sins.
‘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. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour 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, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism.’ Romans 2:5-11
Paul says they are ‘stubborn’ and ‘unrepentant in their hearts’, Romans 2:5, just as the Jews have been described over and over again throughout the Scriptures and just like many people today. They are ‘storing up wraith against themselves’, Romans 2:5. At the second coming of Christ, all the wicked will be punished with everlasting destruction, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9.
‘Righteous judgment will be revealed’, Romans 2:5, means the fairness and impartiality of God will be manifested. God will judge the world in righteousness, Acts 17:31. The righteous judge will preside, 2 Timothy 4:8.
We can accumulate treasures in heaven by our good works or we accumulate wrath by our evil deeds. And Paul says, ‘God will repay each person according to what they have done’, Romans 2:6 / Psalm 62:12 / Proverbs 24:12.
Our God is a consuming fire, Deuteronomy 4:23-24 / Hebrews 12:25-29, and someday we will stand before Him to be judged. What an awesome thought! The judgment will be on an individual basis. The judgment will be in accord with our works, Revelation 20:12.
This, and the following verses, show that ‘faith alone’ or ‘grace alone’ cannot be true. We are not saved by good deeds, but when we commit our lives fully to God, we want to please Him and do His will. As such, our good deeds are a grateful response to what God has done, not a requirement for earning his grace.
‘Persistent in doing good’, Romans 2:7, means they are persistent in practising good deeds. It becomes a way of life for them. ‘Seeking glory, honour, and immortality’, Romans 2:7, is their goal and objective is high, Philippians 3:14. The phrase ‘eternal life’, Romans 2:7, is at the end of the verse in the original Greek.
In contrast, the ‘self-seeking’, Romans 2:8, those who desire to put themselves forward, have a factious, partisan spirit. This word is found before New Testament times only in Aristotle where it denotes a self-seeking pursuit of political office by unfair means.
Paul exhorts us to not put ourselves forward or to be selfish, Philippians 2:3. James speaks against having self-seeking or self-promoting in our hearts, James 3:14.
Many people seek to serve and please themselves rather than God, Philippians 3:19. A very simple basic of Christianity is to ‘deny self,’ Luke 9:23.
Paul says, ‘the Jews reject the truth’, Romans 2:8, and we know that the truth must be obeyed. They follow evil to the point where they become servants to it. But look at what these people will receive, ‘wrath and anger, trouble and distresses’, Romans 2:9. They will receive outward affliction and inward misery.
‘The Jew first’, Romans 2:9 / Romans 1:16. Why? Because of his abuse of better opportunities. ‘Glory, honour, and peace’, Romans 2:10, refers to the eternal blessings. ‘Who works what is good’, Romans 2:10, this again, shows the importance of works.
Notice Paul says, ‘to the Jew first and also to the Gentiles’, Romans 2:10. In other words, there are no exceptions. The Jews should not have lost sight of the fact that they had been privileged far above the Gentiles.
The words, ‘for God does not show favouritism’, Romans 2:11, again is proof that God renders to every one according to their deeds.
‘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. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.’ Romans 2:12-16
Paul continues to show the Jews that they were no better than the Gentiles. All will be judged by the law under which they live, Romans 2:12.
Whether someone sins outside the Law of Moses, as did the Gentiles, or under the law, as did the Jews, they are still a condemned sinner.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘People will be condemned, not because they have the law or do not have the law, but because they have sinned.’
We do not know much about the law under which the Gentiles lived, but we do know they were under law, for sin is transgression of law, 1 John 3:4. All are under the law of Christ today, Matthew 28:18 / Acts 17:30-31 / 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.
‘Judged by the law’, Romans 2:12, answers the question, ‘by what will those who lived under the law be judged?’ ‘Not the hearers’, Romans 2:13, it is those who hear and do, who are just in the sight of God.
The contrast in Romans 2:13-15, is between those who had the law and did not obey it, and those who did not have the law, that is, the Gentiles, and yet kept its moral precepts.
The words, ‘by nature do,’ Romans 2:13, mean there are fundamental principles of right and wrong inherent in our nature, e.g., we know it is wrong to kill because we don’t want to be killed, it is wrong to steal, because we don’t want to be robbed.
The words, ‘are a law for themselves’, Romans 2:14, explains ‘they had a law written in their hearts’, Romans 2:15. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts rather than tablets of stone. They had learned it by reason and by limited indirect revelation, Romans 2:15.
‘Their consciences also bearing witness,’ Romans 2:15, means that their consciences, testify and in a agreement with the law written in their hearts, 1 John 3:20.
‘Their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them,’ Romans 2:15. Their thoughts, coinciding with their conscience, were either accused or acquitted in accord with the knowledge they had.
Morris, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He is not saying that the law is written on their hearts, as people often say, but that the work of the law, what the law requires of people, is written there.’
The conscience can be a powerful force in helping us to do right, 1 John 3:20. If one continually goes against his conscience, it can become calloused, 1 Timothy 4:2 / Ephesians 4:19.
Romans 2:16, reveals a lot regarding the judgment. A great judgment day is coming when God will judge, God wants a great day of reckoning.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘God therefore will judge all nations according to the use and abuse they have made of this word, whether it was written in the heart, or written on tables of stone.’
‘People’s secrets’, Romans 2:16 means exactly that, God will judge the secrets of people. The hidden sins of passion, dishonesty, insincerity, lusts, ill motives, and character will all be made manifest. How? ‘Through Jesus’, Romans 2:16, God will do it through His Son, 2 Corinthians 5:10
Notice Paul says, ‘My Gospel.’ ‘As my Gospel declares’, Romans 2:16, means the gospel which Paul taught will judge us, Romans 16:25.
The word Gospel is evangelical and is used seventy-five times in the New Testament. The word Gospel is evangelical, the reward for giving the message. The word Gospel literally means good spell, good speech, good news.
The Jews and the Law
‘Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in 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 little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—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 boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’ Romans 2:17-24
Paul continues to prove that all stand guilty before God. In Romans 2:17-20, he mentions eleven things in which the Jews prided themselves.
1. ‘Call themselves a Jew’, Romans 2:17. This was a mark of high distinction to the Jew.
2. ‘Rely on the law,’ Romans 2:17. They rested in it as a ground of safety.
3. ‘Boast in God,’ Romans 2:17. If it is only a boast, it is vain and empty.
4. ‘Know his will’, Romans 2:18. It is not ‘knowing’ that counts, but ‘knowing and doing.’
5. ‘Approve of what is superior’, Romans 2:18. They could distinguish the better things because they had the better light. They also knew of the things the law condemned.
6. ‘Instructed in the law’, Romans 2:18. Most Jews had been taught the law from childhood.
7. ‘Guide to the blind’, Romans 2:19. They were convinced they were teachers and leaders of the spiritually blind.
8. ‘A light’, Romans 2:19. They considered themselves able to lead from darkness to light, from error to truth, and from vice to virtue.
9. ‘Instructor of the foolish’, Romans 2:20. The Jew thought he was a corrector of those void of understanding.
10. ‘Teacher of children’, Romans 2:20. He was a teacher of the young and unlearned, Matthew 5:19-48.
11. ‘The embodiment of knowledge and truth’, Romans 2:20. The law foreshadowed the reality of knowledge and truth.
The law revealed a superior way of life. The Jews, therefore, were teachers and instructors of the more excellent way of that old era. Their problem was that they totally failed to follow the superior law which they had.
Their pride caused them to feel superior to all other peoples, but they were not superior in the way they lived. All this rendered their guilt and condemnation more intense.
We as Christians are the religiously privileged of today. Pride is an ever-present, constant danger. Paul’s condemnation, which follows in the next verses, applies to us if we do not live up to what we know and teach.
In Romans 2:21-24, Paul asks a series of questions for self-examination. When one makes a personal application of his questions, it renders much good.
1. ‘Do you not teach yourself?’ Romans 2:21.
A teacher should be an example of his message. The worst hypocrites are those who continue to teach others, but will not practice what they are teaching. Before we judge or accuse others, we must make a genuine examination of ourselves and see if that sin in any form exists in us.
2. ‘Do you steal?’ Romans 2:21.
To teach against stealing, and then commit that very act, is the height of hypocrisy. The Jews were law violators, trying to teach respect and obedience to the law. Christians are law violators, trying to teach respect and obedience to the Lord.
3. ‘Do you commit adultery?’ Romans 2:22.
Denotes one who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another. It carried the death penalty under the law, Leviticus 20:10 / Deuteronomy 22:23-26.
It is a sin against God, against one’s own marital companion, and one’s own body, 1 Corinthians 6:18. It destroys the sanctity of the home.
4. ‘Do you rob temples?’ Romans 2:22.
This means to commit sacrilege. To rob a temple was considered sacrilege among the ancients. The thought is, ‘do you abhor or hate idols, yet rob temples of idols?’ In other words, ‘do you abhor idols, but carry off idols to serve them?’
Morris, in his commentary, says the folowing.
‘Clearly some people held that a Jew might well make profits from dishonest practices connected with idolatry, and Paul may well have had this in mind.’
5. ‘Do you dishonour God by breaking the law?’ ‘Boast in the law’. Romans 2:23.
The Jews regarded the law as a mark of his peculiar favour. They boasted in the fact that they had the law, and were lovers and teachers of it.
They ‘dishonoured God by breaking it’, Romans 2:23. This shows clearly that we dishonour God when we break His law. Breaking a law is to dishonour the one who gave it. And so, to commit sin is to dishonour God.
The Jews claimed Jehovah exclusively as their God, and since the Jews were corrupt in life, it caused the Jews to speak disrespectfully of their God. And so, they not only caused their own ruin but were injurious to others.
Paul writes, ‘as it is written’, Romans 2:24 / Ezekiel 36:20 / Ezekiel 36:22, and quotes Isaiah 52:5. The full verse says the following. ‘And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD. ‘For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,” declares the LORD. ‘And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.’
It is much easier to advise others on how to live than living godly ourselves. It is easier to say the right words than to allow them to take root in our lives. We need to make sure that our actions match our words. When we disobey God, we dishonour Him and cause people to speak disrespectfully of Him.
What do people think about God by watching our lives? Do they think God is a wonderful Being who changes people for the better or do they think God is a Being who is weak and produces evil in people?
‘Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, 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
Circumcision was first given to Abraham as a sign of the covenant, Genesis 17:11-14. Circumcision was later made part of the law, Exodus 12:48-49. Circumcision was simply a sign of the covenant.
Man’s part of the covenant was that he would keep the law, Galatians 3:10. And so, circumcision was worthless unless they kept the agreement (requirement) of the covenant, Romans 2:25 / Deuteronomy 10:16.
‘If you break the law, it’s as though you had not been circumcised’. As one could keep the law and not be circumcised, so one could be circumcised and not keep the law.
When one did not keep the law, he would be no better than un-circumcision which was precisely the case with these Jews, Romans 2:26. None but Jews had been commanded to be circumcised. None but Jews, therefore, violated the law when they were not circumcised.
‘The requirements of the law’, refers to those moral precepts of the law. His moral, upright life was exactly what the law required. Paul’s purpose is not primarily to justify the Gentile but to condemn the Jew because of his wickedness.
The Gentile’s conduct, fulfilling the law by his right living, condemned the Jewish transgressor, Romans 2:27, just as Noah by his obedience condemned the world, Hebrews 11:7.
‘A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.’ Romans 2:28-29
The right living Gentile is under consideration here, but the same is true of Christians. The New Testament system works on its subjects from within rather than from without.
God wants inward trust instead of outward claims, a true heart instead of a hypocritical ceremony, Romans 2:28.
‘Circumcision of the heart’, Romans 2:29. God wants us to remove everything from our hearts that is contrary to His will, that competes with sincere devotion, and that hinders obedience.
‘Not by the written code’, Romans 2:29, in other words not in accord with the external written law of the Old Testament regarding circumcision.
‘Person’s praise is not from other people, but from God’, Romans 2:29. The true Jew seeks to please God not man. When both his attitude and practice are right, God is pleased with him, John 4:24.
Summary
Even though the Jews had all their superior advantages, they had not lived up to the revelation they had received. They professed to be teachers, guides, and leaders, but they were guilty of the very things they condemned in the Gentiles.
They stood condemned by the very law which they taught. The conclusion is evident, the Jews had sinned and stood equally with the Gentiles in need of the Gospel.
In Romans 1:18-32, Paul said that the Gentiles are scum. In Romans 2, he says so are the Jews and we enter Romans 3, Paul is going to remind them that all have sinned.