#39. Romans 2:1 – Judgment (Judgment Series Prologue: NOT the Evangel)

Part II: The Conduct of Humanity

Introduction

The soul that is sinning, it shall die.

If you are a Christian, and you believe in Jesus, and presume yourself to be saved already, then I would like to conduct a brief thought exercise, here. Imagine, for a moment, that Christ had not yet been sacrificed on the cross.

Oof. That was brief. It’s too difficult a thought, isn’t it? It’s okay! I get it. The comfort of Christ’s shelter is second to none. His grace is so bright, right? How could I even ask you to imagine such a thing?

Well, I’m not asking you to consider this with a mind to tear you down, but for you to imagine mankind’s spiritual understanding prior to Christ’s blessings. Every gift was relegated to physical realities – they were great blessings, sure! Ale, land, women, fortune… but none of it can last. There’s that one, nagging issue that has always plagued mankind, and it is mortality. To this day, the notion of “becoming immortal” is solely correlated with science fiction and spiritism. Why?

The Just Judgment

The soul that is sinning, it shall die.

This difficult statement is found in the Old Testament. On its surface, such a harsh declaration makes God out to be a hard-ass. The judgment is intense, but, as we observed our actions in relations to the righteousness of God, we readily understand its necessity – especially in light of Paul’s presentation in Romans 1. Irrespective of whether or not we are “good” or “bad” people in this life, the cold fact remains: we are all sinners, and not one of us escapes the death at the end of our lives.

However! There is something special about this judgment, and that’s the fact that it is righteous. If God is good, then He must detest and punish sin. Sure enough, God’s dealings with Israel revolved around this theme again and again. Sometimes, thousands were justly killed on account of human depravity, and necessarily so. No other god can righteously lay claim to taking another’s life as YHWH can, as He is also the only Deity Who can give life as well – naturally making Him the only One, absolutely, able to apprehend and handle Death.

Emotionally, to us, this all feels personal. How could God do this to us? What’s His problem? Dying sucks, and it’s the number one cause of tragedy and sorrow to us in our lives. But closer inspection of the broader story (which is one of the main goals of Paul’s letter to the Romans, summarized in Eph. 1:9-11,) will lead us to realize that, in God’s dealings with man, He has not catered to anyone’s individual situation – out of a righteous necessity. It’s not out of a lack of sympathy (Lam. 3:30-32,) nor is it a disease without purpose (Ecc. 1:13, 3:1-8.) He cannot sacrifice His character, or He simultaneously sacrifices His right to the righteous throne. His words, like ours, would be fallible, as it would be just like any other unjust philosophy.

If He gives up His claim to the universe, then sin wins.

Yet it is this righteous parameter that, in reality, helps us more than anything. When man is finally judged by God, we will find ourselves corrected by a righteous Judge. As men, we spend our entire lives judging each other (including ourselves,) with limited information. Our judgments, like our action, and our emotion, and our disposition, is mortally flawed. We are too shortsighted; we bear external witness, and can only theorize on internal realities. How often do we speak poorly of ourselves daily? How often do we break ourselves, or others, or manipulate ourselves or others? And how many excuses did you just make for yourself as to how or why you don’t do it?

We are unjust. How much of a relief will it be to be judged by One Who knows better – Who knows all, including every force which manipulates your decisions at every second of the day? One Who can do something about the problem, at that! You would be relieved of the self-imposed or unknowledgeable judgments that you or others make!

The Purpose of Romans 2

It is this relational juxtaposition (“man is what God isn’t,” essentially,) which also infests the second chapter of Romans (and chapter three… and four… and more…) The purpose of Romans 2 is to impart the righteous perspective of judgment in preparation for Paul’s evangel. The idea is to present an otherwise insoluble conundrum; man is unjust, and must be put to death for it by the Just.

But Who is just? We can’t presume it’s us, because

The soul that is sinning, it shall die.

So we must recognize that it is God Who is just – no other. Romans 2 demonstrates this by first providing man’s attempt at judgment in light of Romans 1’s facts (Rom. 2:1.) The grounds on which we attempt to judge are shaky and unstable. God has already provided us with the extent of our knowledge apart from Him (Rom. 1:19-20,) and this is evidently no measure by which we can judge. This is followed by God’s response to the actions of the previous chapter (Rom. 2:2,) which unfolds into the rest of the argument. We will broadly consider the argumentative points of Rom. 2:1-16 in a moment, but first, let us again briefly consider the letter to the Romans in relation to the rest of the Bible as a whole.

Like any good book, the Bible becomes far more understandable in light of its plot twist. Without the plot twist, the book remains an obscured mystery. But grasp the plot twist, and suddenly, the movie becomes crystal clear. We see why Ed Norton wasn’t allowed to talk about Tyler Durden to Marla. We see why Bruce Willis had such poor communication with his wife. We see how Kevin Spacey was telling the story. We

Okay, you get it. The plot twist directly contextualizes the purpose of the plot. After carefully considering the first eight chapters of Romans (maybe 11 chapters, depending on who you ask,) the attentive student should have the tools to begin navigating the Hebrew scriptures with the higher unfolding in mind – that is, the goal of the prior texts. Once the first half of Romans is understood, the entire body of work can become clear. As the Bible unfolds, everything becomes clear, and Romans 1-8 is the filter.

This helps us grasp the purpose and place of Romans 2. This part of the letter imparts that key to understanding God’s judgments, and, as we progress through Romans, His judgment will be given a proper place, contextually speaking. The key to His judgments is found in His evangel (Rom. 2:16.) The judgment of God is presented after indignation, but before His evangel. That is, it is a direct effect of indignation (Rom. 2:5,) but it is not God’s final course of action (because of Rom. 3:21.)

This placement is intentional. God uses the background of human irreverence and unrighteousness in Romans 1 to demonstrate His just judgments in Romans 2. To date, no philosophy has been able to reconcile a just standard with just rewards for good acts without sacrificing individuality, or failing to take some aspect of one’s character or work into account – nor is there proof that any man even has the capability of being a righteous judge of his own accord (and in fact, Rom. 1 speaks to the opposite.) Both legally and socially, man has failed to make a perfect, righteous utopia which can remain altruistic in judicial decisions while excusing/fulfilling human imperfection. Human depravity breeds destruction, and civilizations rise and fall.

A righteous God must judge man in light of the facts presented in Romans 1. If He doesn’t, then He dooms us to spend this short existence in sin that He gave us over to (Rom. 1:22, 24, 26, 28,) without ever permanently adjusting our understanding of the matter. We would remain helpless, the majority of us remaining lost under Sin’s ruthless grip. This would make God a cruel monster, for leaving us in the hands of such a vengeful master.

Thankfully, this is not the end of the story.

There is a clear step which God takes after judging an individual, which He unveils in His evangel, on the basis of Christ’s cross. We will simply have to view the evangel in light of its contrast when we reach it, in Romans 3:21-26.

Not the Evangel

The judgment of God is not the evangel of God. The evangel of God will not be unfolded for another 49 verses. The evangel of God reveals the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17.) It is with this righteousness in mind that God’s just judgments become sensible (I even recommend carefully considering Romans 3-4, and then re-reading Romans 2.) The evangel of God accomplishes what God’s judgments do not. The judgment of God is not conciliatory; it is educational. The judgment of God teaches. It does not deliver or deter one from sin. In contrast, God’s judgments, while righteous, cannot be perceived apart from the evangel, for one cannot apprehend righteous acts apart from an apprehension of righteousness itself.

Now, this “judgment of God” discussed in Romans 2:2-16 does not clarify every individual judgment God makes, or how. Paul is not going to launch into a soliloquy about the great white throne; that’s John’s job (Rev. 20:9-15.) Paul is not going to expound upon the judgment of the nations here; that’s Jesus’ job (Matt. 25:31-46.) These and many other details concerning the physical place of judgment, and examples of said judgment, do not concern Paul. He, instead, is concerned about the concept of righteous judgment; not where, or when, but how and why.

We are not reading Romans solely that this truth be made apparent to us. This truth is the underlying foundation of Romans 2, but it is built on the grounds of Romans 1, and progresses to the other 14 (!) chapters. Our inability to self-govern is demonstrative of our lack of righteousness, which is indicative of our inability to judge; if we could pass righteous laws and make righteous decisions, we would, of course, be able to establish that utopia.

…I’m still waiting for a utopia.      

Plan for the Series

This Judgment Series will play out over time. The beginning will first consider the foundation by which we may apprehend the judgment of God – first delineated by Romans 2:1-16. So, we will first consider the entirety of Rom. 2:1-16, verse by verse, in Greek. If you are reading this first portion of the study through this Romans series, you will, of course, see why we would consider the judgment of God at this juncture. Once we have reached verse 16, I will pause the Judgment Series, and continue through Romans. I will then return to judgment when we then use Paul’s letters to apprehend the rest of scripture, so that we may use Paul’s ministry as a lens by which we can apprehend the rest of the text in our present economy.

With that said, I will be citing and using verses which refer to the great white throne, and may briefly exposit on the matter during these sixteen verses. No attempt will be made to prove the position until we reach that point in Revelation, in the overall course of our scripture studies (if I die before I get there, then oh well.)

Romans 2 will express the concept of judgment from a just God. This should color all reference to judgment in every passage of the Bible. Paul’s exposition here is the foundation, and Jesus’ explanations in the four accounts of His life, as well as John’s presentation in Revelation, is the construction. Apart from Paul’s evangel, a believer today should have no claim to apprehending judgment (Rom. 2:16.)

What does this mean? It means that the critical questions that confuse expositors concerning Jesus’ declarations concerning judgment, as well as John’s visions in Revelation, and Peter’s startling proclamations in 2 Pet. 3, and more, are answered, definitively, by Paul. Through him, God argumentatively makes His case for His just judgment: He can see through man’s injustice. He may be spirit, but we are transparent. God does not solely consider the act. “Not as a human sees, does the One, Elohim, see. A human sees the visible appearance, yet Yahweh sees into the heart.”

The Structure of Romans 2

Lastly, we will briefly outline the first 16 verses of the chapter. Rom. 1:32 serves as the beginning of the “Judgment” portion of Romans. 1:32-2:1, in fact, makes God’s judgment known. His judgment for the act is death, and for the word is self-condemnation, Rom. 2:1-3. The facts are then unfolded that this judgment only hoards indignation for the upcoming day of judgment (Rom. 2:4-5.) The following verses then unfold how God will be judging the world on that day – in accord with acts (2:6-10.) God will then demonstrate His impartiality in regards to judgment, how He does not discriminate, judging all within the law, through the law, and those without the law, to death (2:11-13.) At verse 13, God clarifies that human works are only justifiable where there is no misstep – which we assuredly do not measure up to. We will be judged by our conscience and accounts of each other (2:15,) and God will judge them according to Paul’s evangel (2:16.) The figure of association of the good news with His judgment demonstrates for us, scripturally, that the judgment of God is not the evangel of God, but the two concepts are harmonious – in accord with each other.

From this study of Romans 2, we will have the concept of judgment laid out for us. Note that this does not fully detail for us one’s fulfillment of the laws in consideration, though this will be considered at the end of this breakdown. When our study of Paul’s words here are satisfied, we will be able to fully appreciate the difficult, necessary judgment which ended the previous chapter and spurred this consideration at all:

The soul that is sinning, it shall die.

- GerudoKing