Romans 2:11-16 - Extensive Elaborating (Judgment Series, Part III)

Part II: The Conduct of Humanity

For there is no partiality with God, for whoever sinned without the law, without law also shall perish, and whoever sinned in law, through law will be judged.

I want to take the verse piece by piece… let’s start with “no partiality with God.” This is a nice summary of the previous few verses, but adds some monumental context to each. If there is no partiality with God, then a “lesser sin” is no smaller in His eyes than a “greater sin.” In other words, pedophilia and murder are on the same plane as gluttony and pride. In our modern context, this may not sound fair by any means, but we’re not searching for fairness; we’re searching for answers.

Hey, you’re learning! That’s right, the way you feel will not change this statement! God chooses, and is impartial in His decisions. Asking nicely for a million dollars during prayer may be funny to God, but does not change His Will. Nothing you own in this life, being rich or poor, changes these facts.

The context here explains that the Greek, in not having the law, will be judged by their acts, but without the law. Paul will break down this idea in a moment. Furthermore, the Jew will be judged in the law, and in their attempts to follow it. How do you think this will fare for them, considering we’re in the midst of establishing that men are not perfect, when the law is God’s standard for perfection?

This verse cannot be used to define “no grace” or God choosing members in Christ. Electing members for Christ’s body is not the same as impartial judgment. Shoot, I’m judged every day, and I’m in Christ’s body! Israel was God’s chosen people, and what, they were never reprimanded or judged by God throughout their entire history?? Observe this verse from Amos 3:2:

“Only you do I know of all the families of the ground; Therefore I shall visit on you all your depravities.”

It is precisely because God singles people out that He subjects them to discipline (which, as we know, is why He uses repentance in His dealings with us – 2 Tim. 2:24-26.) The difference is that believers are aware of this, and unbelievers are not. There is partiality with grace, but not in dealing with sin. Believers still deal with judgment (1 Cor. 11:29,) but this judgment is, by grace, now instead of later (1 Cor. 11:32.)

For not the listeners of the law are just with God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Jews first. Listeners of the law will never amount to God’s Glory, because all they’re doing is listening. “I believe in the Sermon on the Mount!” says today’s average Christian. That’s nice. Do you know what’s better than believing it? Doing it! This does not retcon the previous statement – one that follows law will be judged by law, and only in doing the law will you be justified. No, it’s not a challenge. Sounds so easy, right? But there’s an extra word in here, one of my favorites, that reveals this to be a satirical statement: the word is with. Doers of the law are just with God. If you were to follow the law, you would be perfect – with God (Rom. 3:23.) Hmmmm. It’s enticing, isn’t it? But no, it’s impossible to accomplish (Rom. 3:20.) You cannot do it without completely jumping out of the flesh. So please, for your sake, my sake, and God’s sake, do not try. 

You may be asking, Well, what do I do then, with the problems presented?? Just twiddle my thumbs and wait for death?? Patience, padawan! You’ll receive the silver bullet soon enough!

For whenever they of the nations that have no law, by nature may be doing that which the law demands, these, having no law, are a law to themselves, who are displaying the action of the law written in their hearts…

Here we have a proper explanation for what is called “moral codes.” Everyone has a sense of right and wrong, correct? Most in the “nations” (gentiles, or non-Jewish folk) don’t know the law of Moses, yet most would agree that commandments such as, “Don’t murder, don’t cheat on your wife, don’t steal, and don’t lie” are pretty solid rules of thumb as you go through life. People in different cultures don’t have Mosaic law, but they sure have “don’t murder, don’t cheat on your wife, don’t steal, and don’t lie” in their rulebook. There’s a loyalty to their respective god (see the Romans and Greeks at the time,) and a nasty crack of the whip from any religious deity that is stepped on or ignored. In contrast, God now calmly gives them over to a different owner in their lusts, to be enslaved to another spirit (Rom. 1:23-24.)

All this to say that God is going to judge each person by their moral code – not a moral code that they created, as popularly believed, but that God wrote into their hearts. Their own rules display the action of the law written in their hearts. There are many good people with their own laws written in their hearts, and actions show this. Nonetheless, this is not faith. Paul has already pointed out that those who remain ignorant to God, even without law, will still perish.

…who are displaying the action of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying together…

Don’t get confused by word usage, here; the human conscience, the instinct that we are given, is not a corrupt framework. The little voice in the back of your head that tells you what’s right and wrong? No, it’s not Jiminy Cricket. The heart is what’s corrupted – our hearts are not bent toward God (Romans 3:11.) That is not a technicality; it’s a statement of fact. We sin because we are mortal, and this cannot be helped. The conscience, then, is the instinct given to us, telling us in the mind what was right and what was wrong.

It must be made clear that the conscience isn’t mentioned too often in Scripture. Paul will have more to say on it in the future, of course; within his writings, he makes it clear that some have a weak conscience (1 Cor. 8:7,) and that some consciences can be cauterized (or, ‘seared,’ or ‘heavily burned’ – 1 Tim. 4:2.) Note that the conscience is introduced in God’s evangel here as a method of testifying – it does not enact. The action of the law occurs in the heart (written by God,) and is announced by the conscience.

…and their reckonings between one another, accusing or defending them, in the day when God will be judging the hidden things of humanity, according to my evangel, through Jesus Christ.

Now, there’s a difference between conscience and intellect. The conscience, if heeded, will tell you the difference between right and wrong, as simply as Pinocchio put it. But intellect is not the same thing – that is man’s reasoning compartment, not a proper moral compass. If your moral compass has been formed by your own reasoning, then congrats, bro! You’ve found yourself lumped right into the category of people Paul is talking about here! Give yourself a round of applause – you’ve discovered your current allotment as a flawed human being.

The conscience is still the focus, moving into this portion of the sentence. The conscience testifies what was written in the heart, and testifies their reasonings, in the day God judges. It is the conscience that is dominant over reasoning, and if this is reversed in a man, you get Breaking Bad.

I’m kidding, you get Hitler. Let’s run all this back so that we aren’t missing anything critical. We now have three proofs that the nations (gentiles) have a knowledge of right and wrong through a moral compass:

1)    Instinct

2)    Conscience

3)    Reasoning

Remember that God is impartial – His judgments are perfect and come with facts, revealing all your hidden deeds. With judgment of your acts, man receives one of two things:

1)    Eonian life

2)    Indignation

With this comes the measurement of judgment, which is the law. You’ll either:

1)    Perish apart from law

2)    Be judged by law

Judgment will occur according to His evangel, that is, that which Paul is laying out clearly here. This topic of judgment is so crucial! Are you beginning to see the pickle that humanity is in? There’s no way out on their own terms, apart from heeding Paul’s evangel! No man can properly defend this truth – even those that claim that “this is just a theory – a game theory – thanks for watching!” do know, internally, that this is a sound argument and there is not one flaw in it thus far. Is it painful? Yes. Is it hard to think about? In many respects. But this is the ultimate psychology course on man, and as painful as it may be, it is also a conclusive realization of our absolute inability in flesh to be perfect, and why this matters to those who say, “oh haha I learned that from watching Se7en!” That’s nice and all, but David Fincher doesn’t explain the larger context for what’s going on right now, while God, through Paul, is.

This goes for everyone, myself included. I’m not perfect, either… try to live my life according to Scripture, rest in peace, all that good stuff, but I get tripped up by little things, too. It happens. The conscience is a built-in human record, then, of everything we’ve done and every mishap we’ve had. Each conscience is individual, but on the day of the Judgment of God, everything will be revealed.

I like his final statement: according to Paul’s evangel (which is God’s evangel, Rom. 1:2,) through Jesus Christ, will the world be judged. Even many in Christ like to disregard this understanding of judgment, but it is pointed out here – it will happen and are the definitive context through which ‘judgment’ should be viewed. Judgment is not taking up the entire evangel (and in fact, after this chapter the concept will be sidelined for pretty much the rest of the letter.) God will judge through Christ, the Mediator which this evangel is concerned about, Who is seated at the right Hand of God (Ro. 8:34). That’s a nice hint for part of the reward for faith-obedience, but we’re not quite there yet.