Part II: The Conduct of Humanity
For there is no partiality with God…
God is not partial to the individual creed, sex, class, or
color, of an individual. His judgment is not concerned with national distinction.
He is not concerned with your “Canadian” perspective, your “European” roots,
your “historical” plights. When dealing with you, He measures your heart,
or, as we considered back in The
Three Charges study, the seat of your moral and emotional
intelligence. It is these that need correction, first and foremost –
not your relative situation on the earth.
When Adam ate of the fruit in the
garden of Eden, he was filled with the knowledge of good and evil. Adam
then gave birth to Cain and Abel, who demonstrate a not-so-subtle examination
of the two concepts. Both the Jew and the Greek fundamentally understand
“good” and “evil,” prior to the “Mosaic law,” and there are demonstrations
of this prior to the law’s unveiling (Gen. 6:8, 20:1-6, 50:20.) Man does apprehend
good and evil.
When He judges, Yahweh will be extremely
thorough. Not only will He remain impartial, He will judge against those
who judged in regards to the creed, sex, class, color, nationality, and more. Those
who acted for themselves in a more favorable light because of their culture,
or acted toward others in a less favorable light because of their race, will
face great correction.
In
2025, the greatest example of this is the feigned victimhood culture –
that is, the pre-supposed idea that the poor are automatically more
favorable or modest, or that the rich are automatically spoiled and insensitive,
or that each race’s turbulent history earns them special privilege, or that one’s
proclaimed “gender role” makes them “targeted.” God is not judging the flesh
favorably; any action taken with its dominance or superiority in mind will be humbled.
I
especially look forward to this, existing in America at this time. Every other
week, there’s some new cause to fight for, because this people
are suppressed, or that people are suppressed. The violence and
stubbornness are very real, and the motive typically feigned and unimportant.
The general public of which I am a part does not have all of the information
to make a proper assessment of any situation. We are in no
position to make dominant claims about “how” something should be done, for
we are only given half-truths (whole lies.) The media does not tell us facts,
but interpretations. The government does not explain to us what is
happening, but leaves many, many documents classified, unavailable for the
public to apprehend what its tax dollars are being used for.
This is corrupt enough, but it gets
worse. Instead of balanced discussions about critical issues, we receive
“race” wars. Motivations are demeaned to the appearance of an individual
instead of their thoughts, in special disregard of any facts – of
which, again, we hardly ever receive.
While
it is certainly understandable for one to try to keep track of current affairs,
the harsh reality is that we can’t. It’s impossible, in our present
place. God is not looking at any nation on the planet right now with any
“favor,” and instead proclaims that righteous judgment is necessary, at
present. God will judge these things, correcting them accordingly. All
prejudiced acts of man will face their comeuppance. God is above all of
this. Man’s personal views will be refuted at Judgment Day. The lawlessness that
is being established right now is procured with judgment in mind (2 Thess.
2:11-12.)
It is, truly, not the saint’s place
to get engaged in any of this (1 Cor. 4:5.) I’m not saying this to remove someone’s
general enjoyment of the topic (for many view politics as a sport, or as an
interesting pastime or hobby.) I am, however, saying that, for the good
of the saint, it should always be kept in mind that no resolve from
the government or any social movement is comparable to the true government which
will be unveiled at the end of the seven year tribulation brought about in
Revelation. All governmental powers should be recognized as temporary,
necessary evils which will be contrasted by the millennial kingdom. If
we allow ourselves to be swept away in these poor arguments, we will
find our peace sapped away instantly.
Anyway, Hello
So
we’ve entered the final six verses of this portion of the “Judgment Series.”
Verses 11-16 are complementary to God’s judgment itself, which was justified
and unfolded in the first ten verses. These six verses take the action
of God’s judgment from 2:1-10 and compares it both with human depravity
and human nature. This is where the oscillating “a” and “b” portions of the
letter come into play. Portion “a” defers to Rom. 2:1-10, while “b” dwells on
man’s condition, even to this day.
It
may be briefly asked: why does this portion of Romans 2 exist, and how
does it relate to the argument which began in Romans 1:18? The answer is that,
since we are still in the “judgment” portion, we are seeing how God encompasses
the entire scope of human action. Though it is true that God is impartial to
the flesh’s grandstanding and self-aggrandizing, it is also true that
different people have not received the same opportunity as others. There
are many poor, helpless individuals who live in third world countries.
They have no opportunity to read. They have no ability to learn, and immediate
issues such as hunger and water are so oppressive that it is impossible for
such an ability to take place.
For any who wish for an immediate and
pressing answer from God on a specific matter like this, I point you to
Psalm 82. You may read it for yourself, but in short, God answers to this
problem and practically guarantees the homeless, the slow, the lame, and others
who never had the opportunity to learn a place on the new earth set about in
Revelation 21 and 22. Again, God is being fair here, and in righteous
fairness, one who never had the ability to rise out of their environment
and become acquainted with God would, indeed, be corrected with a new body
on a new earth where such amenities are lavishly imposed upon them.
These people did not choose their poor environment; so also they will
not choose their Edenic environment. Both will be given, and the
contrast is ineffable.
This passage of Romans 2 is not primarily
concerned with this aspect of the issue, though if you carefully consider it,
the problem is resolved here as well, in so many words. By reaffirming that
judgment is “to the Jew first,” Paul is reaffirming a fact that was (and,
among Judaism, still is) often ignored by the pious Jew. There is a
prevailing idea that the Jew is exempt from God’s judgment on the
grounds of their being the chosen nation of God. Yet even a rudimentary
examination of their history reveals that this is the furthest from the
truth. It is, in fact, because they have the law that their judgment is first.
“But,”
you may ask, “Does this not prove that God is partial to the flesh? If
He elects a nation, or even a group of believers in Paul’s evangel, doesn’t He
concede that He is partial to a select few in some way?” This is another
good question, but it is founded on the supposition that the object in
view is the same in both cases. Election does not deny or exempt one
from judgment. It shifts the timing of the judgment, sure (for the
believer in Paul’s evangel, for example, the judgment of the flesh is present,
and serves only as a teacher in faith – 1 Cor. 11:28-32.) But all are
still corrected and matured by God. This means, indeed, that God remains
impartial. His standard of righteousness is not lowered at any point. It is
man who needs to be refined to reach said standard – not God Who
will ever become partial to something beneath it.
Thus we see the matter in a fuller
sense – when God chose Israel, sure, this is favor, but it does not exempt
Israel from an impartial judgment. They are chosen to suit His purpose,
not because they personally achieved some divine feat. God makes
it so clear that their judgment remains impartial, that even
though they are promised a kingdom ruled by their Messiah, misconduct on
their part and ignorance to the divine precepts they have been given will invoke
a dismissal of an individual’s promise (Matt. 24:48-51.) It is because
they are His people that they were given careful discipline first (Amos
3:2.)
Yet
this creates another problem – what of the gentile? If the Jew receives
these laws and is given all this discipline (throughout the duration of the Old
Testament period, say,) then what of the gentile during the same era?
How are they supposed to be judged with the same impartial means? The Jew
can be judged through law, sure, but what of the Greek? If the law is
an apt imposition of righteousness, yet the Greek was never placed under
it, does that give the Greek a free pass to the glory and honor and
incorruption?
With
these questions in mind, we can now see the final stretch of the introduction
to the “judgment” series.
- GerudoKing
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