Romans Chapter 2 Verses 9-29 - Messages In Romans - All Are Weighed Equally In God’s Balance Even The Jew (Part 6) Series

ROMANS CHAPTER 2 VERSES 9-29 - MESSAGES IN ROMANS - ALL ARE WEIGHED EQUALLY IN GOD’S BALANCE EVEN THE JEW (PART 6)

PART [A]. THERE IS NO FAVOURITISM WITH GOD AND HIS ASSESSMENT IS JUST

{{Romans 2:9 “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,

Romans 2:10 but glory and honour and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek

Romans 2:11 for there is no partiality with God.”}}

Paul is now beginning to draw all that he has been saying to a conclusion before bringing the whole world in guilty before God in Chapter 3. Last time we looked at the two states in verses 7 and 8. There are only two states in scripture and there are no grey areas. There is good and bad; righteousness and wickedness; saved and lost; in God or not in God; heaven and hell; and so many more one could list.

Paul continues this contrast he used in verses 7 and 8 but he reverses the order. You remember in verse 7 it was the righteous ones mentioned first; now it is the wicked mentioned first. What about those who are evil? How do they fare? Well when you look at the world, they are doing very well in most cases. In these days the very wicked people are in politics and leadership legislating for wickedness at an alarming rate.

It can be a distressing thing for Christians to see the advance of evil and the seemingly happy position of those who practise wickedness. That problem is not new. Asaph wrote a Psalm expressing a problem he had with the position of wicked people that had almost caused his foot to slip and then would be his defeat. He said this of them – {{Psalm 73:3-9 “for I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked for there are no pains in their death and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace. The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue parades through the earth.”}}

If he had continued along that track then he would have been in all sorts of trouble, and even wondered about his own life when he said this – {{Psalm 73:13 “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence,”}} but then he reached a critical point in his life – {{Psalm 73:16-17 “When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived their end.”}}

That was the TRUE perspective. When his eyes were on the Lord, then all was made clear. When his perspective was correct he confidently could say this – {{Psalm 73:18-22 “Surely You set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form. When my heart was embittered, and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant. I was like a beast before You.”}}

In this evil world, evil men prosper but what is a blink of an eye compared with eternity? The end of the wicked is a tragic and lost conclusion in hell and then the lake of fire. There is no middle ground. Paul says it very clearly without using the terms I did. These people who do evil will have tribulation (trouble) and distress. They will have great anguish. Wickedness may triumph over goodness in our world but we look beyond this present life.

To end verse 9 Paul then introduces the division between Jew and Gentile. The Jew always comes first because the Jews had greater privileges as the rest of this chapter declares. In the long run, it matters not if one is a Jew or non-Jew. All who do evil fall under the condemnation of God. One will not be able to claim special opportunities when it comes to judgement. Some think because they have been to a church they are accepted; some think they will be fine because their parents were Christians. It will make no difference. The soul that sins will die and that means every single person (physically) and the unsaved (spiritual death; the second death).

PART [B]. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

Let us see the next verse. {{Romans 2:10 “but glory and honour and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”}} What this verse says is not true in the world, for many Christians do not have that as their position but are persecuted with more and more tortured and killed. These great heavenly blessings are ours on account. Christians do not have glory or honour in a wicked world but these are pledged to us in the next life. In both verses 9 and 10, the eternal state is what is being described.