God’s coming judgment
2
📚Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge do the same things. 2:1 By judging others people show they still have some knowledge of right and wrong. And who does not do this? But if a thing is wrong in others it is wrong in ourselves, and by condemning them we condemn ourselves.⚜
2 📚But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who commit such things.
2:2 From here to verse 16 Paul sets forth seven principles of God’s judgment –
It will be based on the actual state of things, not on what people think about it all (v 2).
It will be righteous judgment – based on principles of absolute justice (v 5).
It will be according to what men have actually done (v 6).
It will be without favoritism – it will not matter whether a man is a Jew or a Gentile, white or dark, rich or poor (v 11).
It will be as revealed in the gospel Paul proclaimed (v 16).
It will deal also with the secret acts of men (v 16).
It will be through Jesus Christ (v 16).⚜
3 📚And do you think, O man who judges those who do such things and does the same things, that you will escape the judgment of God?
2:3 In judging others people may think that they are better than those they judge, and that they are worthy to pass judgment on them. This idea is false and dangerous. All will have to stand before the just Judge of the world – Acts 17:31; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11-12.⚜
4 📚Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance 📖?
2:4 How do men show contempt for God’s kindness? By continuing in disobedience and sin, by refusing His gospel and His Son. Compare Matt 22:1-6; Luke 14:16-24; Heb 2:3. See here the purpose of God’s kindness. Note on God’s character at Ex 34:6-7.⚜
5 📚But in accordance with your hardness and unrepentant heart you heap up for yourself wrath for the day of wrath 📖 and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 📚who will give to each person according to his deeds. 7 📚To those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality he will give eternal life.
2:7 Paul is not teaching salvation by works. He never does. See Rom 3:28; 4:5; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5. He is not setting forth the way of salvation here but a principle of God’s judgment. God will judge what all men have actually done (or have not done). See Matt 25:31-46 (note at vs 35,36). Those whom God saves by His grace He changes by His power. They become new creations of God, the children of God (2 Cor 5:17; John 3:3-8). Because this is so, they do good and seek for the glory and honor and immortality God gives.
God will bring such people into the full experience of eternal life with Himself – a life which began when they first trusted Christ (John 3:36; 5:24). This is not a reward for doing good and seeking God. It is a result of the work God has done in them. Those who say they have believed in Christ but do not do what this verse says are self-deceived, and have not experienced God’s salvation. See notes at Matt 5:1; 7:24-27; Jam 2:14-19, 26.⚜
8 📚But to those who are self-seeking 📖 and do not obey the truth, but yield to unrighteousness, he will show anger and wrath. 9 📚Tribulation and anguish will come on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 📚but glory, honour, and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.
2:9-10 This is true “first for the Jew” because the Jews first had God’s Word and Christ’s gospel – Rom 1:16.⚜
11 📚For there is no favoritism with God.
2:11 God will not spare a person because he is a Jew or a Christian and says he is one of God’s people. In fact, such a person has had more opportunity to know the truth, and his judgment will be worse if he does not obey it.⚜
12 📚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.
2:12 By the “law” he means the law God gave through Moses. See Exodus chapter 20. Why should people perish if they did not have God’s revelation in the law? Because they are willful sinners, and they have God’s revelation in nature, and reject the light God gave them – Rom 1:18-20, 28.⚜
13 📚(For not those who hear the Law are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the Law will be declared righteous.
2:13 It is not enough for a person to hear what God’s law says – he must live according to it completely, if he is to be counted righteous by his works. And except the Lord Jesus no person has ever done so – Rom 3:9, 19, 23; Jam 2:10; Ex 19:21-25.⚜
14 📚For when the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, they are a law for themselves, though they do not have the Law. 15 📚They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience 📖 also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing or else defending them.)
2:14-15 Even those who never heard of God’s law given by Moses have knowledge of right and wrong. It is something God has placed in their inner being.⚜
16 📚Thus it will be on the day when God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
The sinful condition of the Jews
17 📚Look, you are called a Jew, and rely on the Law, and make your boast in God,
2:17 The religious and self-righteous Jew was a prime example of those who judged others – v 1; Luke 18:9-12. They thought they could be saved by keeping the law of Moses (John 5:39, 45), and boasted they alone were the people of God – John 8:41.⚜
18 📚and know his will, and approve the things that are superior because you are instructed out of the Law. 19 📚And you are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 📚an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, who have the form of knowledge and of the truth in the Law. 21 📚You, therefore, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 📚You who say that a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 📚You who make your boast in the Law, through breaking the Law do you dishonour God?
2:18-23 Because they had God’s law the Jews thought they were the ones to teach others the truth. However, while teaching others they neglected to teach themselves and broke the very law they taught. The same can be said of many Christians today who have the teachings of the Lord Jesus and give them to others but do not obey them themselves. Observe that all sin (“breaking the law”) dishonors God. Compare Ps 51:4.⚜
24 📚For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
2:24 Paul proves his accusation by referring to the Old Testament which reveals the failure of the Jews – Isa 52:5; Ezek 36:22. Far better not to profess to know God (or Christ) than to call oneself one of His people and bring dishonor on His name by living an evil life.⚜
25 📚For circumcision indeed has its value, if you keep the Law. But if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 📚Therefore if one who is uncircumcised follows the righteousness of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27 📚And will not one who is uncircumcised by nature, if he fulfils the Law, judge you who with the written Law and circumcision transgress the Law?
28 📚For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; 29 📚but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart 📖, by the Spirit, and not by the written Law; his praise is not from men, but from God.
2:25-29 Circumcision was the seal of God’s covenant with the Jews. See note at Gen 17:9-14. Many Jews thought they were God’s people merely because of this physical mark, even if they disobeyed the law. Paul is saying that keeping the law, and the inward state of a person, are far more important than an outward mark on the body. Compare Matt 3:9; 23:25-28; John 8:33-41. Paul’s words about circumcision can apply equally well to baptism or any other ceremony that men perform on others.⚜