God Shows No Partiality
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. Romans 2:12
Romans 2:1–16 – Romans: The Righteousness of God
Transfiguration Sunday – February 19, 2023 (am)
For the last three Sundays we’ve been hearing Paul spell out the patterns of sin that result when people suppress the truth of God in expression and confirmation of their unrighteousness. But a shift happens as c.2 opens that’s impossible to miss but also not immediately easy to understand. They clear part is that Paul moves from third person (they and them [1:19-32]) to second (you [2:1ff]). And while there are a few possibilities as to why, the one that suits the context best is that he’s shifting attention from Greeks (Gentiles) to Jews. The challenge arises because he doesn’t immediately make that clear. It’s not until v.17 that we can confirm he actually is addressing the Jews. And even then it’s not absolutely certain that he started addressing them all the way back in v.1. But that really does appear to be the best option here. And it’s likely he’s a bit ambiguous from the start because he didn’t want to turn them off right away. We saw all the way through Acts that the Jews didn’t take criticism too well!
But, that aside, the therefore here (1) suggests that this passage is in some way the result or outcome of what came before it. But if he is moving on to the Jews here, it’s not at all easy to understand how the therefore works. How is it that the Jews have no excuse (1) based on what Paul has just said about the Gentiles? Let’s look into this text and find an answer to that question. And as we do, I believe we’ll hear a sobering word of warning ourselves, for right here and now, today. Let’s explore this passage under two headings.
The Structure and Substance of Paul’s Argument
Under this first heading, we’ll walk through the whole text in three parts, proving to ourselves that it’s not impossible to move through larger chunks of Scripture even in Rom.! But we’re not doing it for that purpose. We’re doing it because this passage is of one piece. Paul’s purpose in this section is to place the Jew in the same category as the Gentile sinner in c.1. He [does that] in… three stages. Vv.1-5 contain the heart of [his] indictment: the [Jews do] the ‘same things’… the Gentiles do and [are] therefore liable to the same judgment. [He then] follows this with two paragraphs in which he departs from his ‘accusation’ (diatribe)… to explain and elaborate [on] the charge [he’s just] made…. [He does it] by showing that God’s impartiality… demands that he should have no favorites but treat every person, whether Jew or Gentile, in the same way (6–11). [And] the [Jews’ receiving] of the… law [doesn’t] make [their] situation… significantly different from that of the Gentile; for it is not having the law, but doing the law that matters before God and, in any case, the Gentiles also have God’s law in a certain sense (12–16) (Moo, 1994 1123).
That’s the structure of Paul’s argument: vv.6-11 then vv.12-16 explain how to understand his charge vv.1-5. So, we’ll put a heading over each of these three paragraphs toward understanding the substance of what he’s saying.
The Indictment of the Godless Gentiles Is Extended to the Self-righteous Jews – 1-5
Here’s our challenging statement; let’s take it as a unit. 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. What thought does therefore tie off? In light of the fact that a new group moves into view here (2:1), it seems best to find the referent all the way back in the topic sentence over this whole section that addresses all people, not just the ones Paul described in c.1. 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. He then proceeds to describe the evil of those whose unrighteousness shows up in their self-idolatry, pursuing gratification in ways that run intentionally contrary to God’s Self-revelation in creation.
Now, he turns his attention to those who judge such debased (1:28) expressions even though they themselves are equally sinful. The first group (1:19-32) proves their sinfulness by living contrary to God’s design of nature even though He says He’s made it plain to them, and even shown it to them (1:19). So, their unrighteousness shows itself in their suppression of God’s truth (1:18) in such a clear way that they are without excuse (1:20). Now this new group shows their unrighteousness by passing judgment on the first group (1), sinful as they themselves are! It’s hard to claim any ignorance of God’s standard when you’re using it to condemn someone else’s practices. And the very same things (1) they’re doing doesn’t likely refer to all of 1:19-32, but particularly to 1:29-31, and perhaps especially 1:29, those first four categorical headings over that lengthy list of sins—all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
So, it’s their knowledge of God’s standard (2) that turns the spotlight back on themselves (3) and exposes their own sinfulness. They mistook the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience (4) with sin as some sort of evidence of their good standing with Him, proving that [they] will escape the judgment of God (3). They’ve entirely missed the point that God’s kindness is meant to lead [them] to repentance! (4) 5 But instead, because of your hard and impenitent heart, Paul writes, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. The Jews are just as much under God’s wrath as the Gentiles. For differing reasons they’re equally without excuse (1).
Now in the next two paragraphs, Paul explains why.
God Shows No Partiality to Jews over Gentiles with regard to His Judgment – 6-11
That’s his main reason: 11 … God shows no partiality. But he begins ramping up toward it in v.6. 6 He will render to each one according to his works. This is an explicit teaching from the Jewish scriptures: Psa.62:12 … [the Lord] will render to a man according to his work. Hos.12:2 … The Lord … will repay him according to his deeds. So, the Jews know the truth of what Paul is stating here. They know that the riches of [God’s] kindness and forbearance and patience (4) is intended not just for their repentance, but as a model for what their repentant life should look like: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. In summary: 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
There’s God’s standard. The Jews have a privileged place with God due to the role He appointed them to play in salvation history—receiving the law and producing Messiah—but it doesn’t change the standard of His righteousness for them. Also, we might be inclined to hear Paul saying here that salvation comes by human effort. 6 He will render to each one according to his works. But that’s jumping ahead in his argument. Here he’s making a different point—an important one, but a preliminary one—he’s explaining why they are under God’s judgment. And he about to explain further.
Having the Law Doesn’t Give Any Advantage to Jews if They Don’t Keep It – 12-16
This summarizes the preliminary point Paul’s making. Before he can talk about how people are saved, he has to talk about why they need to be saved, what problem they have that needs to be resolved. And their problem is sin that separates them from God, that places them in under His sentence of death (12). And that problem faces both Jew and Gentile alike. 12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, speaking of the Gentiles who suppress the truth of God revealed in creation (1:19-32), and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law, speaking of the Jews who received God’s standard and display their knowledge of it by appealing to it as they judge the practices of the Gentiles.
So, not only is it impossible to miss that all have sinned, whether under the law or [apart from it] (12), it also becomes clear that 13 … it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. So, just having the law is not enough. You have to obey it!
And that’s true because, as we’ve already seen, God makes His standard known in more than one way. We call it general and special revelation. General revelation is visible to everyone all the time in creation (cf. 1:20). Special revelation is available only to those who look into it—Scripture (OT and NT) and the Person of Jesus Christ. And both communicate God’s presence and power with sufficient [clarity] that all humanity (1:19) is without excuse (1:20; 2:1) before Him. As Paul’s argument continues, we’ll see that there’s no salvation without God’s special revelation in Jesus. But there’s sufficient [clarity] even in general revelation to judge people justly for their rejection of God.
So, there’s been no human being on the planet in all of human history who’s been left without a witness to the presence and power of God! 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
So, Jews have the law and the promises of God. But they need to honor them by humble, repentant [obedience] rather than to idolize them in self-righteous pride if they want to escape the judgment of God (cf. 3). And the Gentiles may have no familiarity with the law of God, but they’re confronted daily with the testimony of His creation and show by their response that they’re not missing that witness. How? Most simply put, if they weren’t the image-bearing creatures living in God’s creation that bears testimony to His presence and power, just as He says it does, then there is no way they would be living ordered, productive, cultured lives like we’re used to here in DuPage County, and like happens really everywhere else around the world.
But that moves us on to heading number two.
The Instruction and Implications of Paul’s Assertion
Let’s divide this heading into two parts.
General Instruction and Implications from This Passage
Straight to the heart of the matter, we often make things far too complicated when trying to figure out how it is that Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires (14). We think Paul is telling us that people can somehow be justified before God just by following their consciences, or something like that. But that misses the point Paul is making by once again jumping ahead in his argument. Here his point is that no one, Jew or Gentile, will escape God’s judgment claiming they didn’t know there was a standard to hit.
As we’ve seen, the Jews appeal to that standard in their judgment of the Gentiles. But the Gentiles expose their awareness of that standard each time they restrain their behavior in a way that they could only have known to do because God has made them aware of His standard, by [writing] the work of the law on their hearts so that their conscience bears witness to it (15). So, when they make moral decisions that show consideration for others, they’re revealing their knowledge of God’s law.
And this isn’t subtle. If we’re descended from animals, then survival of the fittest is the rule of our existence. We see that depicted throughout the animal kingdom. If there’s only food for one of us to eat, then the strong one among us is going to eat it, every time.
So, whenever we limit our actions for the good of another, we’re showing our inherent knowledge of a moral standard that rises above survival of the fittest in favor of something more noble, all the way from meeting another’s need to celebrating another’s victory. Each time we get angry with our neighbor and forgive, or even just talk out the conflict, instead of murdering them or burning down their house or poisoning their dog, we’re revealing our knowledge of a moral standard that rises above survival of the fittest. And we learn here that this standard comes from God.
This is some of the general instruction and implications that we learn from this passage, helping us to understand what it means that the law of God is written on [our] hearts (15).
Special Instruction and Implications from This Passage
Regarding the special instruction and implications from this passage, Paul is focusing in on the guilt of the Jews that has no excuse (1). It develops due to their sense that they enjoy a privileged status with God that insulates them from His judgment. And the problem is, they believe their status is established in His Word! But in reality, they’re holding onto the blessings He’s promised without living the life He’s required. And that’s what’s exposed through their judgment of the Gentiles (1).
That’s also where we need to hear this passage as a warning. The new covenant is different from the old. And one of those differences is that Christ has come and the sins of all who believe have been removed. We’ve been cleansed to walk in newness of life (6:4). And the primary way that shows itself as in a [soft] and [penitent] heart (cf. 5), a heart that looks on it’s neighbor with love and mercy, rather than with judgment (cf. 1).
So, in a similar way to what we see with Israel here, we in the church who profess to saving belief in Jesus and yet view our tragically fallen world (cf. 1:19-32) through bitterly judgmental eyes, there’s genuine reason to doubt whether we’ve truly been saved from God’s judgment.
Conclusion
That’s a warning we going to want to hear! If there’s a chance we could be repeating the failure of Israel here, we’re going to want to know that! Paul wrote, 1Co.10:5 … with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. We want to see and hear and understand this example and seek God for the [soft] and [penitent] heart that displays the love and mercy of God by faith in Jesus Christ and thus stands ready for 16 … that day when, according to [the] gospel, God judges the secrets of [each one’s heart] by Christ Jesus.
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Resources
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NEXT SUNDAY: By the Spirit, Not by the Letter, Romans 2:17–29