Romans 2:1

God's eternal, intrinsic righteousness is the theme Paul was developing in the latter part of Romans 1 and in the first 16 verses of this chapter, that part in chapter 1 being concerned with God's righteousness in dealing with Gentiles, and the first 16 verses here referring to another class of persons, the non-Christian Jews. God's inclusion of Israel, along with the entire race of man, and his judgment of all of them, Jews and Gentiles alike, as sinners, Paul justified in the first 16 verses of this chapter, the Jews also being included in the universal condemnation, not exclusively upon the premise of their rejection of Christ, although that was enough, but also upon the basis of their negative and inadequate response to God's revelation in the Old Testament.

The Jews had held, theoretically, to the teachings of the Old Testament, but had not obeyed it, and were just as excessively sinful as the Gentiles, and were here declared by Paul to have been guilty "of the same things" (Romans 2:1), a reference to the catalogue of 21 grievous sins of the reprobate Gentiles he had just recorded in Romans 2:28-32. The Jews had actually caused God's name to be blasphemed (Romans 2:24); and yet, despite their abominable conduct, the Jews imagined that they would be exempted from God's wrath, on the grounds of their being the children of Abraham, having the true revelation from God in the form of the Old Testament, and of holding to the covenant of circumcision. Obviously, no such exemption of Jewish sinners (or any others) could be reconciled with any concept of a just God; and, therefore, in these first 16 verses, Paul laid down a list of ten particulars, or principles, upon which God's judgment of all people will be based.

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PRINCIPLES OF GOD'S ETERNAL JUDGMENT

I. People are self-condemned when they practice what they condemn in others (Romans 2:1).

II. God's judgment will be according to the truth of the word of God, that is, his revealed word in the Bible (Romans 2:2).

III. God's goodness to sinful people does not indicate approval of their sins but longsuffering in hope of their repentance (Romans 2:4).

IV. God's judgment of man will be according to their works (Romans 2:6).

V. God requires obedience of man and will punish disobedience (Romans 2:8).

VI. Greater privilege only entails greater responsibility (Romans 2:9-10).

VII. God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11).

VIII. Judgment will be according to the light people have (Romans 2:14-15).

IX. Judgment will be according to the New Testament (Romans 2:16).

X. It will be through Jesus Christ, now constituted judge of all, and according to his word (Romans 2:16).MONO>LINES>

The error found in a number of commentaries which would interpret these 16 verses as a castigation of "self-righteous Christians" requires a little deeper exploration into the question of just who was addressed by Paul here. We cannot agree with Lenski who imagined that the subject of these verses (Romans 2:1-16) is "the self-convicted moralist,"[1] because a careful reading of this passage shows that the people under consideration were not "moral" in any sense. There can be no reasonable doubt that the typical unbelieving Jew was the focus of Paul's attention in this place. John Locke was certain that "By these words, Paul meant the Jews";[2] and Murray logically defended that conviction thus:

(1) The propensity to judge the Gentiles for their religious and moral perversity was peculiarly characteristic of the Jew. Hence, the address, "O man, whosoever thou art that judgest" identifies the Jew by means of his national characteristic.

(2) The person being addressed is the participant of "the riches of his (God's) goodness and forbearance and longsuffering," which would indicate the riches of special grace such as the Jew's enjoyed in the covenant privilege.

(3) The argument of the apostle is to the effect that special privilege or advantage does not exempt from the judgment of God (Romans 2:3,6-11). The relevance to the Jew is apparent because this was an outstanding abuse of privilege on their part that, as the children of Abraham, they expected an indulgence not shared by others (Matthew 3:8-9; Luke 3:8; John 8:23,29,53; Galatians 2:15). Furthermore the priority accorded the Jew (in these very verses) in judgment (Romans 2:9) and in glory (Romans 2:10) indicates that the special privilege is that enjoyed by the Jew.

(4) The express address to the Jew (Romans 2:17) would be rather abrupt if now for the first time the Jew is directly in view, whereas if the Jew is the person in view in the preceding verses, then the more express identification in Romans 2:17 is natural.[3]

This complete, logical, and conclusive argument of Murray has been included here to foil the eagerness of commentators to apply all of these first 16 verses to their favorite whipping boy, "the conceited Christian who thinks he belongs to the true church"! The bias of all such writers is implicit in the truth which cannot logically be denied, that no "Christians" of any description whatsoever were under Paul's consideration in these verses.

[1] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1963), p. 128.

[2] John Locke, Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul (Boston: 1832), p. 262.

[3] John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), vol. I, p. 55.

Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practice the same things. (Romans 2:1)

Thou art without excuse ... is the same condemnation Paul hurled at the Gentile (Romans 1:20), and here it is applied likewise to the Jew, "O man," as used in this passage, being more fully identified as bearing "the name of a Jew" (Romans 2:17), and as having the characteristic of judging other people.

Thou dost practice the same things ... is a reference to the long list of abominations catalogued as the shame of the Gentiles in the last chapter (Romans 2:28-32); and those persons here addressed are condemned as guilty of "the same things." This is absolutely unreconcilable with such a view as Lenski's:

They have reformed, they see all this horrible wickedness of men, they turn against it, do it seriously, the Jewish moralist even with God's own perfect law, and they deem this the way of escape for themselves as well as for others.[4]

Absolutely no! The people here mentioned were non-Christian Jews who had refused to accept the Saviour, had projected their hatred of Christianity into the second generation, and at that very moment were intent on hunting Paul down and killing him, and who were declared by this apostle a little later in this very chapter to have been profaners of sacred things (Romans 2:22), thieves (Romans 2:21), adulterers (Romans 2:22), impenitent and hardhearted (Romans 2:5). Paul was affirming here that God's conclusion of Jews under sin was upon exactly the same basis of his having so included the Gentiles, that is, upon the basis of their wickedness. They certainly had not reformed and seriously turned away from wickedness.

The question of why, under the circumstances of their wickedness, Paul should have addressed any words at all to them is answered by the fact of the great influence those evil men were having upon Christians, especially those of Jewish background. No one besides Paul could have so appreciated the fact and power of that influence as did he; for he had been brought up a Pharisee, and was a noble Pharisee himself; and no person of that day could have better understood the Jewish syndrome than he. Paul was here concerned with destroying the hope of any person who ever thought or thinks that justification can ever come from anything except acceptance of and obedience to the gospel.

Wherein thou judgest another ... It was the peculiar guilt of those persons here spoken of that, despite their wickedness, they imagined themselves to have been the heirs of eternal life because of descent from Abraham, membership in the chosen race, circumcision, etc. Having so long experienced God's goodness and mercy, they had come to suppose themselves entitled to it, and assumed that they would be saved regardless of their conduct. Yet, strangely enough, their own sins did not prevent them from looking upon those identical actions, when visible in others, as reprehensible and damnable. To any person, especially those of Jewish heritage, in the first century, this false sanctuary of the Jewish people (false because: (1) they had not lived up to its holy requirements, and (2) because when Christ came, the old covenant itself had been abrogated) was indeed a temptation, for it advocated a cheap and easy salvation unrelated to any requirements of righteous living. The same temptation exists today when people think to be saved through membership in some group, or the acceptance of some theological doctrine, as for example, salvation by faith alone, or because they have been baptized, or because they attend church, or partake of the Lord's supper - or upon any grounds whatever apart from obedient faith in Christ's teaching and that holiness invariably identified with membership in the body of Christ.

Thou condemnest thyself ... Here is the first of the ten principles of eternal judgment outlined by Paul in this passage. The well-known position of the adherent to Jewish privilege as the basis of hope was something like this: "Oh yes, of course, we deplore such sins as you mention; but you cannot put us in the class with that riff-raff, for we are the children of Abraham, heirs of the promises of God to the patriarchs, and members of the chosen people. God always looks after us; and we shall be judged upon the basis of who we are, rather than upon what we do!" If it be thought that this is too strong a statement of their views, the Jewish writings themselves fully corroborate the attitude thus attributed to them. For example, in the book of Akedath Jizehak (fol. 54, Colossians 2), it is taught that: "Abraham sits before the gate of hell, and does not allow that any circumcised Israelite should enter there."[5] So strong was the feeling on circumcision that Paul devoted a special section to it a little later. A whole generation earlier, John the Baptist had warned the Jews against trusting in any such thoughts (Matthew 3:8), but his warning had not been taken to heart. Paul proceeded to refute this type of spiritual arrogance by outlining the true basis upon which God's judgment rests; and the very first of ten principles laid down is:

I. People are self-condemned when they practice what they condemn in others.

This proposition, like all the others Paul outlined, is corroborated and backed up by the other sacred writers. Thus, "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things" (1 John 3:20).

Before leaving this first verse, an explanation of Paul's style should be noted. As Greathouse observed:

Paul is here addressing his readers in the ancient diatribe style. Throughout the epistle, it will be easier to follow his argument if we imagine the apostle face to face with a heckler who interrupts his argument from time to time with an objection, which Paul then proceeds to answer, first rebuking with a "God forbid!" (Perish the thought) and then demolishing with a reasoned answer.[6]

[4] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 129.

[5] Charles Hodge, Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), p. 63.

[6] William M. Greathouse (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1968), p. 60.