[Romans Study 6-2]
Not Just Hearing But Doing [Romans 2:1-16]
1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
Do You Show Contempt For The Forgiveness And Love of God?
To the ones who regard themselves as more righteous than others and pass judgment thinking that they won’t receive it, Paul ultimately asks: do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience?
God is a God who is rich in kindness, tolerance and patience. These attributes can also be described as “forgiveness” and “love.” Do you show contempt for the beauty of God? Do you ignore God’s forgiveness and love? Paul asks his fellow Jews. Though being forgiven, those who sin again ignore and misuse God’s love.
Those who sin when they know that God will forgive, not just seven times, but up to seventy times seven, are especially guilty. These “believers” sin like Gentiles with the only difference being that the Gentiles do not know that they will be forgiven. In this way, there is no fundamental difference between believers and Gentiles.
So Paul is saying, in effect, “You Jews are simply taking advantage of the great kindness of God.” God is a merciful God. If He punished us every time we sinned with the punishment that we deserved, none of us will be left on Earth. The fact that we are kept from this punishment proves that He has given us another chance.
God even forgives the sin that we commit with our thoughts. Though no one in this world knows what is on our mind, God knows all things yet has still forgiven. The very fact that we can breathe and live today tells us that God has forgiven us and given us a second chance.
Yet many Jews took advantage of this forgiveness as a carte blanche to sin. Paul is saying that God is rather giving them and us today the opportunity to repent and to amend our ways.
The crisis of faith follows when we lose the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord must first be laid as the foundation of our faith. We praise God’s love but receiving that love without holiness is not beautiful. The more intimate our relationship is with God, the more fearful we should be before Him, just as the believers in the early church had. “Fear came upon every soul (KJV); Everyone was filled with awe (NIV)” (Acts 2:43) This fear is different from horror but it is reverence for God’s great love. God is different from us; He knows all our heart; He knows things that we do not know; He remembers things we forget. We may forget after sinning, but He knows all and sees all. God is in a different dimension than we are in. We must not lose fear of this great God.
The apostle Peter says that “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Why is God slow in his judgment? It is not meant to give us another chance to sin but it is a chance to repent so that even one more may be saved. God is giving us a chance to be saved.
Leave The Life of Sin
If we take advantage of God’s kindness and mercy and continue sin, we do not really understand God’s heart. True repentance means that today we reflect on our sin and tomorrow we turn from it.
Regarding the proper Christian attitude in waging war with daily sin, John, in the eighth chapter of his Gospel, illustrated the teaching of Jesus through the common incident of an adulterous woman caught in her crime. Though the Pharisees called for the woman to be stoned according to the law, Jesus declared a new law of forgiveness instead. Rather than condemn us the Lord carries our sin and exhorts us to live the life worthy of being forgiven. “’Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’” (John 8:11)
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
Being Stubborn
“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed,” says Paul. Being stubborn is the problem of believers. Although believers are living a life of mercy and grace, they do not stop sinning because they don’t see their sin but only the sin of their brothers. It is often the case that while hearing a word preached about sin that we regard it as someone else’s but not mine. Instead of looking at others, first we must acknowledge the sin inside ourselves.
Furthermore, even if we may be aware of the existence of our own problems, often we do not try hard to fix them. This is the mark of sinful stubbornness and an unrepentant heart.
“Why should I bother to do something about my sin? God is a God of forgiveness”—This is showing contempt for God’s mercy and love. It is cunning wickedness not to fix our sin because we know of God’s forgiveness.
Generally speaking, there are two responses to forgiveness: we can either continue in our sin or we can be filled with gratitude for this free gift and try to live a life worthy of it. It is one of the most shameful things in the world to use mercy and love’s forgiveness as an excuse to go on sinning. Yet that is what many Jews in Paul’s time were doing and what many Christians today still do. The mercy of God, the love of God, is not meant to make us feel that we can sin and get away with it; it is meant so to break our hearts in love that we will seek never to sin again.
God Asks Not for Knowledge But for Action
God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” (1:6)—this verse tells us of a God who is precise and accurate. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) Those who have received the great love of God must repent and cleanse their hearts. Whether a believer or not, God will judge each person according to their actions.
Having knowledge of what is good is not good in itself, Paul explains. God never asks about knowledge, but He asks for action. Just as Christ himself and his life itself are the truth, what we know about the truth should be practiced into action in our lives. When we say we know the Gospel, it should not mean that we possess only mere knowledge, but it must yield fruit in our lives. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it, if the Gospel is not bearing fruit in you, then you are outside Christ and you are not ready to die and face God in the judgment.
Paul is teaching us the secrets of a healthy and sound faith. If we want to have a beautiful relationship with God, we should be balanced in appreciating both His love and wrath.
Republished with permission from Dr. Christy Tran, the author of “The Epistle to the Romans: Paul’s Love Letter from God.”