The Day Of Reckoning Series

Romans 2:1–5. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (ESV)

In the classic book by Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he says that he bases his approach to people-management on the premise that others rarely admit to having done anything wrong and that it is therefore pointless to criticize them. A favorite example from the book is a saying of Al Capone, the Chicago gangland leader who for years was the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s “Public Enemy Number One.” Capone was as sinister as they come, a hardened killer. But he said of himself, “I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them to have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man.” Carnegie’s point, is that people habitually attempt to excuse their wrong behavior. If as hardened a man as Al Capone thought well of himself, how much more do the normal, “morally upright” people of our society think well of themselves! This is why Romans 2 was written. In Romans 1, Paul has shown that the human race has turned away from God in order to pursue its own way and that the horrible things we do and see about us are the result. No one wants to admit that, however. So, instead of acknowledging that what Paul said about the human race is true, most of us make excuses, arguing that although Paul’s description may be true of other people, particularly very debased individuals, it is certainly not true of us. “We know better than that,” we say. “And we act better, too.” In the second chapter of Romans Paul is going to (correct) us of these erroneous ideas. (Boice, J. M. (1991–). Romans: Justification by Faith (Vol. 1, pp. 201–202). Baker Book House.)

No one can understand or appropriate salvation apart from recognizing that they naturally stand guilty and condemned before God, totally unable to bring themselves up to God’s standard of righteousness. In this, no person is exempt. The outwardly moral person who is friendly and charitable but self-satisfied is, in fact, usually harder to reach with the gospel than the reprobate who has hit bottom, recognized their sin, and given up hope. Therefore, after showing the immoral unbeliever their lostness apart from Christ, Paul now proceeds with great force and clarity to show the moralist, that trusts in their good works and not Christ for salvation, that, before God, they are equally guilty and condemned.

In doing so, in Romans 2:1-5, the Apostle Paul presents three principles by which God will judge sinful humanity on The Day of Reckoning. He does so on the basis of: 1) Knowledge (Romans 2:1), 2) Truth (Romans 2:2–3), and 3) Guilt (Romans 2:4–5).

God will judge sinful Humanity on The Day of Reckoning on the basis of:

1) Knowledge (Romans 2:1).

Romans 2: 1. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. (ESV)

Therefore refers to what Paul has just said in the last half of chapter 1, and specifically to the introductory statement: in Romans 1:18-19. 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them (ESV). Typically, people have no trouble agreeing that those who are guilty of “big sins” like murder and rape and treason deserve judgment—even death. However, that God’s wrath should fall on those guilty of such “lesser sins” as envy or arrogance does not seem quite right to most people. (Think of) school-age children who want to justify participation in an activity of which (their parents would) not approve. The children’s most common reasoning is, “But everybody’s doing it.” (That is the answer we parents used to use too—and still do.) “Nobody’s perfect!” “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” Or as the philosopher Heine said in a moment of now-famous cynicism, “God will forgive … it is his trade.” Such thinking suggests that since we are human we are under moral obligation to sin, and that God is under moral obligation to forgive us. Inherent in the common thinking that because everyone is doing it, it is not so bad—as long as we do not commit the “biggies” we will be okay—is the assumption that God does not mean what he says or say what he means. This problem is twofold: first, people do not understand God’s holiness, and, second, we do not understand our own sinfulness (Hughes, R. K. (1991). Romans: righteousness from heaven (pp. 50–52). Crossway Books.)