Romans 2: 1 – 16
‘Yes’ - Your Honor
1 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:fn 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
To start off today, I would like to share with you something that really bothers me. If you have ever done this I would ask that you never do it again, especially if it somehow involves me.
From time to time people call or write to me about other people. They want to tell [ I mean report ] on the sins of others. In most cases they want to be anonymous.
If they write and do not put down who they are, I just throw their letter away. If they call and will not identify themselves then I inform them that I am not a Christian police officer, bounty hunter, or judge. I do not go out of my way trying to run down sinners.
Today’s study goes into this matter. A key word that is used is ‘hypocrite’. By definition it means an actor, that is, someone who portrays another character.
I think the biggest offenders of this matter are those people who work/serve full time in ministry. The biggest adversaries our Lord ran into were the religious hypocrites. Turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 23 to see some of these confrontations,
Matthew 23, “1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Our Lord desires that no ‘one’ should perish. Yet, He Is very upset when He deals with those who pretend to represent Him to others and they do not rightly show by their words or actions His Character. Look at Moses, this poor guy is in charge of around 3 million people. On one occasion he blew a gasket and did not represent our Holy God correctly. Just one strike and he was out of going to the Promised Land. Turn with me to the book of Numbers chapter 20 and let’s see what actually happened.
Numbers 20, “1 Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there. 2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 4 Why have you brought up the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” 6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD as He commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. 12 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the LORD, and He was hallowed among them.”
I tell people that in my school days I was an ‘honor’ student. Standing in front of the judge I would respond, ‘Yes your honor, no your honor’
The bottom line is that we are all a fallen race. We are all sinners. We all mess up. We all sin. No one is exempt. This is what Paul is going to deal with in the first part of chapter 2.
Having demonstrated the sinfulness and inexcusability of the majority of mankind, Paul now turns to those who are, as it were, standing listening and nodding their approval. The philosophers had said the same thing as Paul had about the general populace. The judges recognized in what Paul had said what they had found to be true about the people who were brought before them. The Rabbis and Jews, maintaining their confidence in the Law, and seeing themselves as superior because of it, also approved. They would all have nodded their heads in agreement with Paul. But they were all sure that what he had said did not apply to them.
So Paul now turns his attention to them. He speaks to those who see themselves as having responsibility for the behavior of mankind, both Jew and Gentile. There has always been disagreement about whether these early verses in chapter 2 are to be seen as spoken to Gentiles or Jews. That Jews are included is unquestionable because Paul speaks of ‘to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile’. But that phrase equally means that Gentiles are also included. And this is brought out by the fact that Paul carefully avoids using allusions which will pin down who is being spoken to. He is speaking to ‘moral men’ generally. He must thus be seen as having in mind all who looked down their noses at others from a position of supposed superiority.
His argument is quite simple, and it is that those who claim to act as judges of others in the way that these people did, nevertheless regularly indulge in similar sins themselves, something which makes them doubly without excuse in the sight of God. For by judging others they have removed their excuse of ignorance. They have demonstrated by their judgments that they do know what is right and wrong. And yet they still behave wrongly. They must therefore recognize that God shows no favors to His ‘fellow-judges’, and will judge truly. Why, says Paul, if they pass judgment on others, as they do, do they really think that they can themselves expect to escape God’s judgment?
‘For this reason you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judges, for in that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who are judging are practicing the same things.’
‘For this reason’ refers back to the previous argument about the many sins of mankind, and especially to the final verses of chapter 1. He wants his readers to recognize that what he has said there also applies to judges and philosophers, to Rabbis and to Jews, to people who felt themselves superior, or who might claim that they did retain God in their knowledge, and who were therefore prone to judge others. For the truth was that in spite of their superior attitudes they revealed themselves by their behavior to be as guilty of the unrighteousness’s he has described as others. For they themselves did what they condemned in others.
Consequently being a judge or self-appointed adviser was a dangerous position to be in, because it meant that they were passing moral judgments on people, whilst overlooking or ignoring the fact that they themselves were guilty of the same things. By judging others, therefore, they condemned themselves, leaving themselves totally without any excuse. As James in chapter 3 of his letter would have reminded them, ‘be not many teachers knowing that we will receive the greater condemnation, for in many things we all offend’
Note that Paul’s questions are addressed in the singular, as though speaking to one man. But the phrase ‘whoever you are who judges’ brings out that it applies to the many. It has in mind all who pass judgment on others, each addressed personally.
‘And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.’
He then warns them to remember that there is Another Who will judge, Who will judge absolutely fairly and take everything into account. ‘We know.’ It is something recognized by all such judges. Outwardly at least it is the basis on which they all judge. But as the Judge of all He will carry it into effect. He will judge on the basis of the truth, on the basis of what actually is. He is the One Who ‘will by no means clear the guilty’ (Exodus 34.7; Numbers 14.18). As Abraham declared, ‘Will not the Judge of all the world do right?’ (Genesis 18.25). And this judgment will be applied to all who practice such things as have been described, without discrimination. For ‘All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do’ (Hebrews 4.13).
‘And do you reckon this, O man, who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?’
So let them just think about it. They have set themselves up as judges of others. Do they therefore really think that when they practice such things as they have condemned, they will escape being judged themselves? For God’s judgment will be especially hard on those who judge others and yet do the same things themselves, whether they be judge, philosopher, Pastor. Rabbi or Jew. If they pass judgment on others and yet do these things do they really then reckon that they will escape the judgment of God? That would be to render God unjust.
It is one of the signs of man’s depravity that men whose responsibility it is to maintain law and order, or who have the gift of speaking about the follies of mankind, or who are experts in the Law, can feel that they themselves are exempted from the strictures that they bring on others, even though they might indulge in the same sins. They feel that because they take a high moral tone they will somehow be excused, even though they fall short of what they require of others. One of the failings of the Jews was that they thought that because of their association with Abraham, and because they had the Law, they would be treated differently from others. Paul is saying, ‘no, that is not so’.
‘Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?’
These men themselves do what they condemn in others, and yet somehow they feel that God will do nothing about it. They even argue that God is good and forbearing and longsuffering and will therefore condone their sins, the consequence being that they continue sinning without abatement, thus ‘despising’ His compassion. One Pastor has always used in his reply, ‘I can stand before God for all that I have done without fear.’ So we see that Paul now calls on them not to treat casually ‘the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering’, by taking them for granted and assuming that they will go on forever. They should recognize rather that God is like this, not because He is willing to allow them to carry on freely, but in order to give them a chance to repent. Indeed they should recognize that because they are themselves also guilty of things of which they accuse others, they will all the more be called to account.
In consequence, as a result of recognizing and acknowledging the goodness of God which is giving them a second opportunity, they should be led to repentance. At present God in His rich goodness and longsuffering is being forbearing. Let them then look at His goodness and see that for them it is a call to repentance before it is too late. For one day that forbearance will cease.
The thought is not that they openly and consciously despise God’s goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, but that they despise it in their hearts by neglect, not allowing it to count as important in such a way that it alters the way they live.
Paul is bringing out an important principle here. Men tend to think of the goodness and forbearance of God as something which indicates that they can carry on as they are because God does nothing about it. In fact, many even prosper in all that they do. They see the goodness of God in showing forbearance and longsuffering as guaranteeing that they will not be called to account. Paul is now pointing out that their viewpoint is wrong. The reason for God’s delay is not because He does not care, but because He wants to give man time to repent. We read in the book of Acts chapter 17, “For there is an appointed day coming when God will call all men into judgment.” When God will call into account the secrets of men through Christ Jesus (2.16). One would have thought that the Jews at least would have recognized this from their history. The prophets constantly warned of what would come. Lamentations and the destruction of the Temple was the proof that it did come.
‘But after your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
But rather than repenting their hearts are hard and impenitent. They ignore God’s pleadings and carry on in their old ways. As a result they are treasuring up for themselves wrath, a wrath which will be applied to them in the day of wrath and righteous judgment of God when God will render to every man according to his works. There is something very sad about the thought of a man hoarding up God’s wrath, like a squirrel hoards up nuts, without realizing it. Every day he adds to his sins. And every day the burden of responsibility grows larger, and God’s antipathy towards him increases. Note how the hard and impenitent heart is in total contrast to the goodness, compassion and longsuffering of the God Whom they ignore. It is man who is hard, not God.
But he needs to remember that a day is coming on which every man will have to give account, a day of wrath and of the righteous judgment of God. Then man will be faced up with his sins. Then the wrath that has been hoarded up will be applied. Then God’s righteous judgment will be exacted, and He will render to each according to their works, according to how they have behaved, according to what they have done. What has been done in the dark will be brought to the light, and what has been done in secret will be made known to all. And what is worse, it will come before the attention of a God Who is holy and righteous.
Note the idea of a building up of wrath. Everything that we do is to be seen as helping to build up that wrath, for by our actions we are increasing God’s antipathy against our increasing sinfulness. Unless we repent we are building up within ourselves a mountain of sin and guilt.
‘Who will render to every man according to his works.’
In this verse the thought from verse 5 continues. At the day of wrath and of the righteous judgment of God all will receive according to what they have done, whether good or bad like we read in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 10, ‘because God will render to every man according to his works’. This latter phrase comes directly from the Scriptures, so Paul is saying, ‘let the Jew recognize from his own Scriptures what the principle of judgment will be’, a position confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself described in the Gospel of Matthew 16 verse 27. Then it will not be his relationship with Abraham which will matter. What will matter according to his own Scriptures is what he has done and how he has behaved. All will be treated on the same basis.
That this principle refers to good works as well as bad works comes out in what follows. But this does not conflict with the idea that righteousness is by faith, for the whole point of God coming to men with His righteousness is that they, having received His righteousness, will begin to be righteous. The point is that no man can be clothed in God’s righteousness without it deeply affecting him. In the end what we become is thus proof of what we really believe.
‘To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life,’
For God will in that day render to those who by patient endurance in well-doing seek for glory (from God) and honor (in God’s eyes) and incorruption, eternal life. In view of the reference to incorruption, ‘glory’ here may have in mind heavenly splendor. But his picture here is of the ideal man whose whole heart is set on well-doing in the expectation of glory and honor from God, and of final incorruption. Such a man lives only to please God. His whole heart is set on God. He never strays from his course for an instant. His only concern is what is good and true and will please God. Such a one will receive eternal life. We notice, of course, that he is a believer, for only a believer would think in these terms. But he is also a dream of what man ought to be. He is the pattern that destroys all our hopes. For there is only One Who has ever truly lived like this from the cradle to the grave, only One Who by doing so has deserved eternal life, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Paul is therefore depicting a life which is outside the range of all but One. He is describing the ‘impossible’. The ones who come nearest to it are Christians who live in the Spirit, but they will be the first to say ‘ sinners, of whom I am chief’ (1 Timothy 1.15).
Take a look again at the word ‘Eternal life.’ That is, the life of the age to come. It is not just speaking of living for ever but of having life more abundantly (John 10.10). In referring to this as a theoretical possibility Paul is following in the footsteps of His Master and ours, for our Holy Lord Jesus also, when asked how a man might receive eternal life, answered, ‘if you would enter into life, keep the commandments’ and listed a number of them in the Gospel of Matthew including ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself’, before making the young man realize that it was a hopeless ideal by calling on him to put it into practice.
In considering all this we must recognize what Paul is doing. He is not outlining the way to eternal life which he expects anyone to strive to achieve, but is building up his case that all men are equally sinful in God’s eyes. On the basis of this what he is describing is to be seen as in fact impossible. All these experienced legalists will immediately acknowledge that such men do not exist. The ones who will come nearest to the ideal are those who, abandoning any hopes in their own works, have received God’s righteousness and salvation.
‘But to those who are factious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation; tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek,’
In contrast to this ideal man are those who are ‘factious’. The basic meaning of the word is to behave like a hireling – that is - those who are governed by selfish ambition. The idea is that such people are in contention with what God requires of them, not wanting to obey the truth, but desiring to obey unrighteousness. Whatever their outward protestation, they want in their hearts to be allowed to practice the things described in 1.28-30. Thus they ‘work evil’. On them will come wrath and indignation, tribulation (affliction) and anguish? The wrath and indignation indicate the positive activity and attitude of God in judgment as He responds in judgment towards man’s sin, the tribulation and anguish indicate the consequence for the accused of the verdict that will follow. What is described is totally in contrast to the ‘eternal life’ notionally to be received in verse 7. And let the Jew not think that he will escape this verdict. For just as the Jews were first in receiving the message of salvation, so will they be first to receive condemnation, because having the Law, theirs is the greater sin. The putting of ‘the Jew first’ serves to confirm that Jews are very much in mind in these verses. And the point is that Jews will not be excluded from the judgment, rather they will be the first to be judged. But the verses also undoubtedly include all who put themselves above the common herd.
‘But glory and honor and peace to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,’
But lest the Jew think that he is prejudiced against them by suggesting that they are first on God’s target list, Paul then points out that the same priority applies to those who work good. For, as he has already demonstrated in verse 7, to every man who works good there will be glory and honor and peace (wellbeing). Thus none who are truly God-like, if such there be, will lose out, and again the Jew takes precedence. But as we shall see, Paul will inexorably ram home his argument in chapter 3 verses 10 through 18 that none achieve this standard, for all have sinned.
‘For there is no respect of persons with God.’
Whether Jew or Greek, judge, philosopher or common man, all will be treated the same. There will be no unjust partiality. The Jew therefore stands in no better case than anyone else, nor does the philosopher. All will be examined on the same basis, without exception. God will not take into account whether they are sons of Abraham, or circumcised, or Sabbath-keeping, or knowledgeable about the Law, or famous for their philosophizing. He will delve down into the inner heart to discover the truth about what they really are, as revealed by the things that they have done or said.
Paul now stresses that all men, as well as the Jews, have a moral code by which they live, and by which they will be judged, and that all will be judged by their own moral code. Thus none will have grounds to complain.
‘For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law,’
The principle is simple. All will be judged on the basis of whether they have sinned or not. Those who are Gentiles and have sinned outside the Law of Moses will perish outside the Law of Moses. They will be judged by the light that they have. But they will still be found guilty and punished. They will still necessarily perish because they have sinned. Similarly those who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law. They too will be found guilty and will perish.
‘For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified,’
And this is because the question is not whether men have been willing to hear and listen to the Law being read out, thus being ‘hearers of the Law’, and have nodded their approval. That makes no man in the right before God. (Many Jews foolishly thought that it did, as indeed do some nominal Christians with regards to the Bible). What matters is whether they are ‘doers of the Law’ in other words are those who have done what the Law says. In mind here may be Leviticus 18.5, ‘you will keep my statutes and my judgments, which of a man DO he will live in them’, and Deuteronomy 27.26, ‘cursed be he who confirms not the words of this Law to DO them’. So it will only be the ‘doers of the Law’ who will be seen as ‘in the right’. They alone can and will be judged as righteous. The principle of needing to ‘do the Law’ was therefore acknowledged by many contemporary Jews. But they still failed to do it.
I watch a lot. In our church many people come to the services. What is sad, is that many join in worship, hear the Scriptures and then leave and do what they know is sinful. It is like they have done their ‘holy day of obligation’.
So Paul points out that having the Law and hearing it read does not put people right in the sight of God. Many Jews assumed that it did. They thought that somehow it put them in a better position. Surely God would take into account the fact that they trusted in His Law? Paul rather, therefore, underlines the fact that what is important is actually being a DOER of the Law. He is saying, ‘What is the use of trusting in it if you do not obey it?’
Of course, as Paul will bring out later, that is the problem. No one has ever actually succeeded in a full ‘doing’ of the Law. He had made the attempt himself and had failed. Thus these words condemn all men and women as sinners. All are exposed as coming short of being ‘doers of the Law’ as James explains in chapter 2 of his book. For as James would elsewhere remind us, we only have to come short on one point in order to be deemed a Law-breaker and therefore as guilty of breaking the whole Law.
‘For when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness with it, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them,’
Paul’s flow of argument suddenly comes to a halt as he recognizes that someone will therefore object, ‘but if the Gentiles are not under the Law (verse 12), how can they be judged by the Law (verse 13)?’ So he now explains how that is so.
These two verses are to be seen as in parenthesis. They interrupt the flow of the narrative in order to explain how the Gentiles could be judged by law (verse 13) when they were without law verse 12. Why, says Paul, they do have law, for you will notice that the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, thus demonstrating that they have the equivalent in themselves, that they are following their own inner law, a law to which their conscience bears witness. Such people are a law to themselves. For by their moral actions and behavior they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, and their conscience bears witness with it. This is demonstrated by the fact that they are constantly arguing the moral case for things, sometimes approving of them and sometimes disapproving. Sometimes accusing and sometimes excusing. In other words they demonstrate a moral dimension in their lives in which both positive and negative positions can be arrived at, showing that some kind of law is at work.
A conscience is a evaluator given to us by Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High. It is like the little wooden fence along on a mountainous road. It will not keep you from going over the cliff but will keep you from danger by staying away.
‘In the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.’
This verse continues the thought in verse 13 where it is not the hearers of the Law who are to be seen as just in the eyes of God, but the doers of the Law, who, if they fulfill the Law perfectly, will be counted as in the right. We may then ask, ‘when will such a judgment take place?’ And Paul now tells us. It will be in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, in accordance with Paul’s Gospel, which is the Gospel of God (1.1), the Gospel of His Son (1.9). Note the emphasis on the fact that in that day nothing will remain hidden. All men’s deepest secrets, their hidden things, will be brought into the light, and men will be judged by them. What was done in the darkness will be revealed by the light. Man may look at the outward appearance, but God will look at the heart. They will be known as what they really are.
We note also that this is the first mention of The Lord Jesus Christ since Paul’s argument began in chapter 1 verse 16. All the emphasis has been on ‘God’, for Paul has been facing both Jew and Gentile up with his arguments on the basis of what they know and accept. Now, however, his readers are suddenly faced up with the reality that, according to Paul’s Gospel, God’s judgment on men will be in the hands of The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son Who had lived among them but was also declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead (1.2). Having lived among men, and having endured as a man, He is seen as perfectly fitted to judge. This is fully in accord with what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught that God has committed all judgment to His Son described in the Gospel of John 5, “24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”
In teaching some college classes, I would sit down in the student area. When the class would start I would get up and go to the front. I love to see the surprise in the faces of others. Can you imagine not surprise but shock, in finally hearing and seeing that their ‘Judge’ Is no other than our Lord Jesus Christ who people have rejected - very scary my friends. This does not have to happen to you dear people. Right now get right with God’s Holy Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Ask Him to forgive you of all your sins. He will you know. And then you can look forward to an ‘innocent’ verdict.
