Romans 2:6-11 God s Righteous and Impartial Judgment, pt. 2

Transcription

1 Romans 2:6-11 God s Righteous and Impartial Judgment, pt. 2 At some point in our lives, I think that most of us have been on the receiving end of a biased individual - Perhaps a biased parent - Perhaps a biased employer - Perhaps a biased friend, neighbor, or teacher A biased individual doesn t want to listen to all the facts - This individual simply wants to make a hasty, rash judgment without really hearing you out Throughout the world, there are judges who are biased - They accept brides from others - They are partial to the rich - Therefore, justice isn t served fairly In Romans 2, the apostle Paul is dealing with unbelieving Jews - These Jews thought that God s judgment was partial - Of course, the Jews mistakenly believed that God would take it easy on them in the time of judgment if they had to face the judgment at all But Paul is demolishing the false logic of the Jews - He is showing that the Jews have believed the lie of God s partiality - On the contrary, Paul shows that God s judgment is completely unbiased and impartial Let s read Romans 2:1-11 As we saw last week in Romans 2:1-5, Paul gave us two aspects relating to God s righteous and impartial judgment - God s judgment falls upon those who practice sin (2:1-3) - God s judgment falls upon those who despise repentance (2:4-5) This morning, we continue looking at this subject of God s righteous and impartial judgment - God s judgment falls upon everyone with impartiality (2:6, 11) - God s judgment falls upon believers with reward (2:7, 10) - God s judgment falls upon unbelievers with punishment (2:8, 9) As you see in your notesheet, this passage has a very clear construction known as a chiastic structure - You can see how the truths repeat themselves o A with A o B with B o C with C - The difference is that ABC then reverses its order to CBA Normally, in a chiastic structure, what is in the middle of that construction is in focus - We will test that theory throughout this morning s message 1

2 Paul continues to speak to the unbelieving Jew here in Romans 2 The apostle shows how the Jew has judged the Gentiles for their sin - Yet the Jew is just as guilty himself - Therefore, both of them deserve the punishment and penalty of sin The Jew could not expect to escape the judgment of God - If God judged the Gentile for his sins, then God must judge the Jew for his sins as well - As verse 2 says, "we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things" The unbelieving Jew had also mistakenly interpreted the absence of God s judgment in his life as favor and acceptance from God - In reality, God was merely extending kindness, forbearance, and patience in an effort to lead the Jew to repentance But far from being repentant, the unbelieving Jew had become stubborn and unrepentant - Therefore, the Jew was storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (2:5) The apostle continues with his thought of God s righteous and impartial judgment I. God s judgment falls upon everyone with impartiality (2:6, 11) 6 who WILL RENDER TO EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: In an effort to bolster his support for God s judgment being impartial, the apostle Paul turns to the Old Testament - This would have been extremely important for the Jews Most of your Bibles will have a few cross-references beside this OT citation - Predominantly, Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12 are mentioned Paul is stating truth from the OT to validate that what he is saying is consistent throughout God s Word - Indeed, this same thought is repeated in many NT passages as well 1 But the truth expressed in verse 6 has been misinterpreted - Many erroneously believe that Paul is insinuating some kind of works-based justification As a matter of fact, Romans 2:6-11 have been the source of much confusion - Some have tried to force a merit-based approach to God s judgment But that mentality falls right into the mindset of the unbelieving Jew that Paul is addressing - The Jew thought that God s judgment could be avoided or minimized by his heritage or religious accomplishments As we will see this morning, that is the very last thing that Paul will try to prove - On the contrary, the apostle will show that God s judgment is completely impartial and unbiased 1 Mt 7:21; 16:27; 25:31-46; John 5:28, 29; Rom. 14:12; 1 Cor. 3:12-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; 11:15b; Gal 6:7-9; Eph. 6:8; Col. 3:25; 2 Tim 4:14; 1 Pet 1:17; Rev. 2:23; 20:12; 22:12. 2

3 Something we have to keep in mind is the fact that Romans 2:6-11 does not address the subject of salvation (that won t be discussed until 3:21ff) - Romans 2:6-11 addresses the subject of judgment 2 Salvation is consistently taught as being by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone - Not by works Listen to these verses from Romans 3 - Rom 3:20 by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight - Rom 4:5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness Works have no part in obtaining salvation - But they have a key role in our judgment Unbelievers and believers alike will face God s judgment - Yet, these two judgments differ drastically For believers, we will stand before the bema seat of Christ - Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:10, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad The bema seat judgment will apply only for believers, not unbelievers - The bema seat will be a time of reward - Believers are already spared the wrath of God; therefore, this will be a time of rewarding faithfulness For unbelievers, however, there will be a separate judgment called the Great White Throne Judgment - And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15) This judgment for the unbelievers will not be a time of reward - It will be a time of eternal separation as God throws unbelievers into the lake of fire For those believers who were saved during the Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom will be rewarded as well But notice what is consistent throughout the bema seat judgment as well as the great white throne judgment - In both instances, with reference to both believers and unbelievers, the basis for judgment will be works Let me be very clear again - Salvation is never contingent upon our works - But judgment is always based on our works 2 John MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary, Romans 1-8, Alva J. McClain, Romans: The Gospel of God s Grace, 75. 3

4 Throughout the Scriptures, a person s work shows his/her spiritual nature - Jesus Himself taught, you will know them by their fruits (Mt 7:16; 20) God judges faith by the difference it makes in how a person actually lives 4 Good works don t bring an unbeliever to salvation - But good works authenticate and attest to a genuine believer s salvation For a believer, the works are the expression of faith - For an unbeliever, the works are the expression of unbelief 5 Listen to Paul s words in Ephesians 2 - For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them Notice how Paul, in the same passage, addresses these two issues - Works can t save anyone - Salvation is achieved by grace alone through faith alone - But salvation will inevitably produce good works But we must not establish ourselves as the Judge - We don t have all the facts - We don t know a person s heart We can examine the fruit of a person s life - But we don t have the right to pass sentence on a person s spiritual nature Here in Romans 2:6, Paul says that God will render judgment to every man according to his deeds - God s judgment will be intensely personal 6 - Each person will be examined by himself Parent, you can t bear the judgment for your children - Wife, you can t bear the judgment for your husband In verses 7-10, Paul will address two major groups of individuals - Believers in verses 7 and 10 - Unbelievers in verses 8 and 9 Within these four verses, there will be two (2) sets of contrasts - Verses 7-8 contrast how believers and unbelievers seek different things in life o Believers seek glory, honor, and immortality o Unbelievers are self-seeking, disobeying the truth - Verses 9-10 contrast the end result of believers and unbelievers o Believers will gain glory, honor, and peace o Unbelievers will gain tribulation and distress 4 Robert H. Mounce, NAC, Vol 27, Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, Morris,

5 II. God s judgment falls upon believers with reward (2:7, 10) 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; In keeping with the truth that God s judgment is in accordance with a person s works, Paul mentions the believer in verse 7 - In a phrase, the believer is one who is doing good This act of doing good isn t a sporadic activity of the believer s life - Rather, the apostle Paul links this thought with the word perseverance The Greek term here indicates a patient, persevering attitude - It implies an acceptance of what is required of being a follower of Christ Furthermore, the believer is described as one who actively seeks the right things - We might ask, What should a believer s goals and aspirations be? - Paul gives a partial answer here in verse 7 The believer of verse 7 seeks for glory and honor and immortality 7 - glory seeking God s glory and not our own - honor seeking the honor that comes from being a faithful servant - immortality seeking and anticipating the time when we will put off our mortality and put on immortality The summary statement of verse 7 is the thought of eternal life - This is a term of quantity countless years with no end - But unbelievers and believers alike will spend eternity somewhere either in heaven or hell More importantly, this is a term of quality - Believers are described as those who have been made alive - Unbelievers are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1) Eternal life is further described as having fellowship with God through Christ (John 17:3) Believers enjoy eternal life even during this brief time on Earth - They are assured that after physical death or the Rapture, they will be immediately ushered into the presence of Jesus Christ - They will spend eternity in His presence This is the picture of the believer, as portrayed by the apostle Paul - More will be said about the believer in verse 10 But for now, we switch over to discuss the unbeliever in verses This is the heart/middle of the chiastic structure 7 MacArthur,

6 III. God s judgment falls upon unbelievers with punishment (2:8, 9) 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. Keep in mind that there are two contrasts chronicled here in verses Verses Verses 9-10 In verse 7, we began looking at the believer - He is an individual who is focused on glory, honor, and immortality - He is an individual who has eternal life But verse 8 gives the contrasting side to verse 7 - This is a description of the unbeliever The first thing that Paul mentions about the unbeliever is his motives - The Greek word has been given different English translations o selfishly ambitious (NASB) o self-seeking (ESV; NKJV; NIV) o contentious (KJV) Regardless of what version you use, it is easy to see that the unbeliever is not one who is focused on seeking God and the noble virtues found in His Word - The unbeliever is focused on himself - He is self-centered In 2 Timothy 3:2, the apostle Paul lists the sins that will characterize the last days - The very first description is lovers of self Furthermore, the unbeliever is described as one who does not obey the truth - Instead, he seeks to obey unrighteousness Thus far in the epistle of Romans, unbelievers have not had a high view of God s Word - Rom 1:18 unbelievers have suppressed the truth in unrighteousness - Rom 1:25 unbelievers have exchanged the truth of God for the lie - Rom 2:8 unbelievers refuse to obey the truth But Jesus equated God s Word with truth in His high priestly prayer of John 17 (cf. 17:17) - Unbelievers are clearly rejecting God s truth through His Word What a clear picture of the unbeliever is given here in verse 8 - He refuses to obey and submit to the truth - Yet he openly obeys and submits to further unrighteousness Paul has already written in Romans 1:18 that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men - That goes for the unbelieving Gentile and unbelieving Jew Regarding the believer of verse 7, the end result of his life would be eternal life - Regarding the unbeliever of verse 8, the end result of his life would be wrath and indignation 6

7 Far from enjoying eternal life in heaven, the unbeliever will face wrath and indignation for all eternity in hell wrath we have seen this word already in Romans 1:18 - God will unleash His wrath when His patience and tolerance with unbelievers has reached its appointed end - God s final fury will be unleashed on unbelievers indignation this could also be translated as anger - The root idea behind this word is a boiling over - It is the idea of a volcano erupting after pressure has accumulated for a time - On the final day of judgment God s indignation will explode like a consuming fire upon all rebellious mankind 8 In verse 9, Paul further describes the unbeliever There is also a contrast between verses 9 and 10 - Verse 9 continues the thought from verse 8 about the unbeliever - Verse 10 continues the thought from verse 7 about the believer 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, In addition to wrath and indignation, the unbeliever will face tribulation and distress tribulation this word originally came from agriculture - It was used of the process of flailing whereby the grain was separated from the chaff 9 The word came to mean extreme pressure 10 - It was used of the persecution of the early church in the book of Acts - It is used of the crushing of the grapes of wrath during the battle of Armageddon (Rev 14:18-20) distress this terms refers to a narrow place or confinement - The idea here is deep distress or anguish One of the punishments that is handed out to criminals is solitary confinement - Being separated from everyone else is perhaps one of the worst forms of punishment Perhaps this is a neglected aspect of what hell will be like for the unbeliever - Forever suffering, but always alone - Imagine the loneliness, isolation, and confinement that would be produced for eternity in hell 11 The apostle notes that there will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil - Not just for the Gentiles - But also for the Jews 8 MacArthur, Donald Grey Barnhouse, God s Wrath, Vol 1, MacArthur, MacArthur,

8 Paul speaks in broad terms to communicate the universality of God s judgment, for every soul of man who does evil - Paul is contrasting the doing good of the believer in verse 7 with the unbeliever who does evil here in verse 8 But then notice something that Paul does in verses 9 and 10 - There is a direct reference to the phrase, of the Jew first and also of the Greek Once again, the apostle stresses the universal nature of God s judgment - It isn t exclusively toward the Gentiles - It is toward anyone Jew or Gentile who does evil The unbelieving Jew smugly thought that he would be exempt from God s judgment - However, Paul shows us that the Jew would actually be first in line for God s judgment! What did Paul say back in Romans 1:16? - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek God graciously offered salvation first to the Jew, then to the Greek - But God will also judge the Jew first, then the Greek The nation of Israel was privileged to be the first to receive God s revelation - But Paul reminds the Jews that spiritual privilege carries great spiritual responsibility 12 Listen to what God says through the minor prophecy of Amos, You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities (3:2) - Israel was chosen among all the families of the Earth - Of all nations, they should have been faithful to God However, the sad reality is that Israel went astray and disobeyed God - Henceforth, God would punish them because they were more accountable than other nations Verses 8-9 are in the middle of this chiastic structure that you see in your outline sheet - Normally, the focus in a chiasm is this middle section Romans 1:18-3:20 is the first major section of Romans - In this passage, the apostle Paul is highlighting the consequences of sin in the life of unbelievers - Paul is showing why all humanity deserves to be punished and face the wrath of God What do we find here in verses 8-9? - We find yet another reference to the judgment of God upon unbelievers, here described as self-absorbed, disobedient individuals 12 Mounce, 92. 8

9 Having discussed the unbeliever in 2:8-9, Paul now repeats crucial information regarding the believer in verse but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. As Paul returns to discuss the believer of verse 10, he picks up some concepts from verse 7 that he has already used - In verse 7, Paul portrayed the believer as seeking glory, honor, and immortality - In verse 10, the believer will be given glory, honor, and peace We note that the immortality of verse 7 is exchanged for peace in verse 10 - Perhaps Paul implied that these two terms are synonymous with one another A similar statement occurs in both verses 9 and 10 - In verse 9, every soul of man who does evil - In verse 10, every man who does good The contrast could not be more clear - The believer is he who practices the good throughout his lifetime - The unbeliever is he who practices evil throughout his lifetime Let s keep in mind that it is impossible for the believer to produce the kind of good works that is focus here in this passage - Like salvation, the good works are made possible only through the grace of God as the Holy Spirit empowers the believer The only way for an individual to manifest these good works is to possess the righteousness of Christ 13 - Trusting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior - Possessing the Holy Spirit as resident Teacher and Comforter - Obeying the Word of God Paul ends in the same manner that he began this section in verse 6 - Both verse 6 and verse 11 issue forth the same truth of God s impartiality in judgment 11 For there is no partiality with God. In verse 6, Paul quoted an OT citation to prove his point about God s impartiality in judgment - Here in verse 11, he makes a summary statement to the same effect We have noted the chiastic structure that runs throughout this section of Romans 2: Verses 6 and 11 align themselves in this structure - They both indicate the same spiritual truth The unbelieving Jew has had his worldview challenged by Paul - No longer can the Jew rely upon his heritage or spiritual accomplishments to gain him favor with God or exemption from judgment - On the contrary, the unbelieving Jew has come to realize that God is perfectly righteous and just to punish all sinners both Jews and Greeks 13 MacArthur,

10 This truth of God s impartial judgment is repeated many times throughout the NT 14 - After Peter was given the heavenly vision of the sheet from heaven, he responded, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality (Acts 10:34) - Peter also mentioned in his first epistle, And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth (1 Pet 1:17) - Paul mentions this truth on several occasions (Eph 6:9; Col 3:25) - The apostle James also mentions the truth of God s impartial judgment (2:9) I am not sure if you have ever seen the picture of Lady Justice 15 - She is pictured in near proximity to many courtrooms Lady Justice has a sword in one hand, depicting the power of the Law - In the other hand, she has a set of scales, to denote fairness But many times, Lady Justice is blindfolded - This was to prevent any bias or prejustice on the part of justice - If she couldn t see the person being tried, there would be less of a chance that her judgment would be biased But God doesn t need to have His eyes closed - His eyes are open to the truth - His judgment is unbiased, fair, and powerful This is certainly a truth that we need to believe this morning - None of us is exempt from God s judgment - No one can claim to have a get out of judgment card On the contrary, we will all face God s judgment - The question becomes, Will I face God at the bema seat judgment or the Great White Throne Judgment? The way in which we live does make a difference - Your life shows your priorities, goals, and direction - More importantly, your life shows what you are seeking during your time on Earth The believer is one whose mind is focused on God and eternal matters - The unbeliever is one whose mind is focused on self and temporal matters Not only is this a truth that we need to embrace - It is a truth that we need to proclaim All around us are unbelievers who have a warped view of God s judgment - They think that God will cut them some slack on judgment day because o They have tried to keep the Ten Commandments o They have given time or resources to charitable organizations o They have not killed anyone 14 W.H. Griffith-Thomas, St. Paul s Epistle to the Romans,

11 Unbelievers will try and redefine what fairness means to them - Instead, we need to call unbelievers to repentance - Unbelievers must come to accept the truth from God s perspective; consequently, they must reject their own self-conceived and self-deceived notions God s judgment is coming - Are you prepared to meet your Maker? 11