Without Excuse: Principles of God's Judgment

Principles of God's Judgment, Part 4a and Part 4b

Romans 2:11-16

INTRODUCTION

A. God's Impartiality Described

Romans 2:11 says, "There is no respect of persons with God." That means God is impartial. He doesn't look at the person, but at his conduct to see if it is righteous or unrighteous. The issue is not whether a person is poor or rich, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, educated or uneducated, wise or foolish. God's sentence is based strictly on character as manifested by our deeds. He is impartial and cannot be bribed.

The phrase "respect of persons" is one word in the Greek text. It is a combination of the words translated "face" and "receive." Paul was saying that God doesn't receive a person's face. First Samuel 16:7 says, "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." God is not partial. Partiality is the sin of judging outward circumstances and not inward merit. To have respect for a person's appearance is to rule in favor of what you see on the surface rather than what you know to be true in the heart. Only an evil judge would so violate justice. God cannot and will not do that.

B. God's Impartiality Defended

1. Acts 10:34--Peter said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons."

2. Galatians 2:6--"God accepteth no man's person."

3. Galatians 6:7-8--"Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

4. Ephesians 6:9--"Ye masters, do the same things unto [your servants], forbearing threatening, knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him." The same phrase is used in Colossians 3:25 and 1 Peter 1:17.

REVIEW

I. KNOWLEDGE (v. 1)

II. TRUTH (vv. 2-3)

III. GUILT (vv. 4-5)

IV. DEEDS (vv. 6-10)

LESSON

V. IMPARTIALITY (vv. 11-15)

A. The General Principle (v. 11)

"There is no respect of persons with God."

God judges men by knowledge, truth, guilt, and deeds, and He does so absolutely without favoring anyone. His judgment is based only on the subjective reality of a person's faith in Christ and the objective confirmation of that faith in his works.

God is fair. He doesn't favor people, nor does He hold them as responsible for the little they know compared with those who know much. He deals fairly with everyone according to the light or knowledge they have.

B. The Specific Issues (vv. 12-15)

That raises this question: Does God judge everyone the same? No.

1. Two groups (v. 12)

"As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law."

If you didn't have exposure to God's revelation, you'll be judged as one who didn't. If you did, you'll be judged as one who did. God will be utterly and absolutely fair. In the final eternal judgment, God will show His equity and impartiality by dealing with men according to the light they possessed.

a) Those without the law

(1) Their description

These are Gentiles who don't have the law of God--the Mosaic law. Paul didn't mean they are without any law--that they have no sense of right and wrong. They are without special revelation--the written Scripture. Will God judge them when they never had the law? Yes, but will judge them as those who never had the law.

(2) Their destiny

(a) The definition

Paul said that people without the law will "perish" (Gk., apollumi, "to destroy" or "put to death"). Apollumi is used of eternal death in Matthew 10:28 and Luke 4:34. It doesn't mean annihilation--an unconscious existence. When something is apollumi, it is ruined so that it no longer can serve its intended purpose. All people were created to bring glory to God and have fellowship with Him. When people don't come to God, they are ruined for His intended purpose.

That truth is best illustrated in Revelation. In speaking of the doom of the Antichrist, John said, "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition [a form of apollumi]" (Rev. 17:8). Verse 11 repeats the same thought. Twice John said that the beast will go into destruction. Revelation 19:20 tells us what that destruction is: "[The beast was] cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Apollumi did not mean that the beast went out of existence; it meant he was sent into a living judgment. Revelation 20:10 informs us that he is still conscious there a thousand years later.

I bring this issue up because some people claim Romans 2:12 teaches that unbelieving people who've never heard God's Word simply go out of existence. That is not what Paul was teaching. Rather they are ruined for their intended purpose.

(b) The degree

Paul said they will perish "without law" (v. 12). That means their ruin will be commensurate with their lack of knowledge--it will not be as severe as it will for those who had exposure to Scripture. Nonetheless they will still perish. They will find themselves in hell, only to a lesser degree than those who had the law.

(3) Their defiance

Verse 12 tells us why those without the law will perish: "as many as have sinned without law." Although they didn't have the law of God, they sinned, and "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). Man sins even though he doesn't have the written law of God. Within him resides a sin principle: he chooses a lifetime and a lifestyle of sinfulness. Scripture is not a precondition for sin--people will sin without it. They are guilty of sin against God and must be punished because they have no savior.

b) Those with the law

Romans 2:12 introduces us to group two: "As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law." That refers to those who received the specially revealed Word of God from the law, the prophets, and the holy writings--the people of Israel and anyone attached to them who knew the truth of God. Today it refers to people who go to church and are exposed to the truth in a Christian environment. They will be judged according to the greater light and privilege they've received. Jesus pronounced woe on the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum because Jesus performed miracles there and they didn't repent. He concluded that the day of judgment will be more tolerable for Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom than for them (Matt. 11:21-24). Why? Because they knew much more so they would bear more responsibility.

Those who have the law will be judged by the law in the final judgment. God is fair. The hottest hell is reserved for those who knew the most yet rejected it. That is why it is a fearful thing to be an apostate--to know the truth and constantly turn your back on it. You would be better off never to have known the law than to know it and turn your back on it. God is fair to judge accordingly those with and without the law.

2. Two reactions (vv. 13-15)

a) The doers of the law are justified (v. 13)

"Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."

Paul went a step further in his argument, apparently realizing that the Jew might disagree with his argument, saying, "We have been the guardians of the law and the agents God has used to reveal the law. We have written, rewritten, and preserved it. We should have the higher honor, not the greater condemnation. We who have possessed the law should be protected from God's wrath." People today might say, "We've been going to church all our lives. We've tried to be religious. How can we be condemned?" Paul replied, "Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law."

(1) The business of the people

(a) The hearers

The Greek word translated "hearers" is not the usual word akou[ma]o, meaning "to hear," but akroatai. It is used specifically of pupils who hear--constant hearers educated in the law. Greek scholar Marvin R. Vincent had a good translation of it: "Those whose business is hearing" (Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 3 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980 reprint], p. 27). That's exactly what the Jewish people did in the synagogues: week after week they heard the law and had it explained to them. They were professional hearers.

(b) The doers

It's not those who hear who are justified, but those who make it their business to obey the law. James warned us, saying, "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22).

(2) The deceit of the hearers

God's law doesn't protect hearers from judgment. In fact the more they hear without obeying, the greater their judgment will be. Some people will come to the judgment and relate all the different times they heard God's Word preached or taught, thinking that will count for something. But all it will count for is greater condemnation.

(3) The purpose of the law

God requires perfect obedience, but no one can do that. Thus the law is meant to drive us to a point of desperation, where we turn to God for the power to do what we otherwise couldn't do. Hearing the law doesn't do any good unless you do it. Otherwise it just intensifies your guilt because only the one who does it is justified.

b) The Gentiles are responsible (vv. 14-15)

"When the Gentiles [Gk., ethna] who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another."

The Gentiles might also question Paul's argument, saying, "We never had the law. How can we be condemned for not obeying it?" Romans 4:15 says, "Where no law is, there is no transgression." Romans 5:13 says, "Until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law." And Romans 7:7 says, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law." If those things are true, how can the Gentile be held responsible when he doesn't have the written law? For that matter, does God hold anyone responsible who has never heard the written law of God?

Romans 2:14-15 gives us the answer. People are responsible even if they haven't heard the written law because they obviously have a law within them as seen by their behavior, conscience, and thinking patterns. Scripture gives four reasons explaining why those who've never heard God's truth are lost.

(1) Creation

Romans 1:18 says, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men." God's wrath is revealed against all men whether they have the written law or not. Why? Because they "hold the truth in unrighteousness" (v. 18).

How do they hold the truth? Verses 19-20 says, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." All people can look around them and know there's a God. They can perceive He is supernatural--more powerful than any being they know of. Thus they are responsible because they know at least that much.

(2) Conduct

Romans 2:14 says, "When the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves." They don't have an external written law, but they do have an internal law that manifests itself in their conduct.

Pagans naturally do things written in God's law without ever reading God's law. Their conduct proves they know what is right and wrong.

(a) Examples of man's good

Many pagans pay their debts. Many honor their parents. There are many people who do not know Jesus Christ or never read the Bible, yet love their wives. There are many such wives who love their husbands. Many care for their children and many children care for their parents. Many believe it's wrong to kill. There are many who feed the hungry or help people who are sick. Pagans will tell the truth, seek justice, and struggle for equity. All those things reveal an internal human code of ethics that is law to them. We see it operate in our human system of justice. We see it in humanitarianism. Sometimes those things are warped, but pagans in any society naturally do things that are in line with God's law.

(b) Laws dictating man's good

The Stoics, who were pagan philosophers, said that certain laws operative in the universe man broke at his own peril, such as laws of health and morality. They called these laws phusis, which means "nature." They said men were to live according to what is natural.

Mankind recognizes that there is a code of ethics. In fact man has a guilty conscience because he violates that very code of ethics within him. He has a definite sense of right and wrong.

(c) The motive of man's good

Unregenerate people do relative human good, but they don't do good in terms of spiritual righteousness. Their good is not based on the right motive because nothing is truly good unless it is done for the glory of God. But they do good in a relative human sense. When they do that they show the law of God at work in them. They do good in the right manner if not for the right motive.

Cyrus did good (Ezra 1:1-4; 5:13-17). So did Darius (Ezra 6:12) and Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11-26). Ezra even commended Artaxerxes for his good on behalf of God's people (vv. 27-28). The city clerk in Ephesus quieted the rioters (Acts 19:35-41). Romans of high standing protected Paul (Acts 23:12-30). Barbarians showed unusual kindness to Paul by building a fire to warm him (Acts 28:2).

Man is totally depraved in that he cannot do anything good that glorifies God apart from divine intervention. But he can do human good, which proves there's a law within him that points him to what is good. Most people aren't in prison. That doesn't mean man is basically good. He is depraved. But within him is a sense of right and wrong that keeps him from being as bad as he could be.

(3) Conscience

Romans 2:15 says, "[The Gentiles] show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness." Conscience simply means "co-knowledge." The etymology of the Greek, Latin, or English word is the same, meaning, "to know along with." It refers to a person's inner sense of right and wrong--the moral consciousness that pronounces judgment on one's thoughts, attitudes, speech, and deeds.

(a) Intensifying one's conscience

Man's conscience responds to the internal norm. In the Christian it is intensified because he has not only that basic internal law, but also the law of Christ that excites the conscience even more. Paul listened to his conscience, saying, "My conscience ... bearing me witness" (Rom. 9:1; cf. Acts 23:1; 24:16). He recognized when his conscience agreed that he was doing right.

(b) Scaring one's conscience

i) The Christian

The Bible also suggests that one's conscience can become scarred. Scar tissue has no feeling. That's why Paul told the believer not to violate his conscience (Rom. 14:13-21). In those verses Paul discussed the issue of Christian liberty. He said that if a believer tells a weaker brother it is acceptable to do a certain thing, yet the conscience of that weaker brother leads him not to, then he shouldn't. Once any Christian makes it a habit to violate his conscience, he will scar that which he needs to protect himself.
Leprosy exemplifies the danger of a lack of feeling. In biblical times people believed leprosy was a disease that ate away one's extremities. Now we know that leprosy creates a deadening of sensation in certain areas. As a result untreated people afflicted with it tend to wear out their extremities because they can't feel the warning signals to keep from harming themselves.

ii) The non-Christian

Even unbelievers have consciences. But over a long period of time they tend to become dull. Yet I don't believe their unbelief ever completely obliterates it--it persists in informing them of what is right and wrong. Little children are a good illustration of the conscience at work. When they do something wrong and are confronted about it, most of them lie because they know what they did was wrong and they're afraid of the consequences of being caught.

(4) Contemplation

Romans 2:15 says, "Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." In us is the ability to contemplate or reason what someone does as right or wrong. For example, a person without Christ hears about someone who murdered a child. What is his reaction? Unless he's completely given over to evil, he's going to accuse the murderer. Punitive systems exist in society because men know right from wrong.

How unbelievers deal with the good and bad in their own lives and in the lives of others indicates that the law of God is written in their hearts. If they live up to the light God has given them, I believe God will reveal to them the full light of Jesus Christ. That was what Paul was implying when he said to the Athenians, "[Men] should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after him, and find him, though he is not far from every one of us" (Acts 17:27). John 7:17 says, "If any man will do [God's] will, he shall know of the doctrine."

VI. MOTIVES (v. 16)

"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."

God will judge not only a man's deeds, but also his reasons for doing them. People can falsify deeds, but they can't falsify motives. Judgment will reach ultimately into the secret places of the heart.

A. 1 Chronicles 28:9

David said, "Thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts."

B. Psalm 139:1-12

"O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandeth my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Wither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or wither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

C. Jeremiah 17:10

"I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the conscience, even to give to each according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."

D. Matthew 6:4

"Thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly" (cf. vv. 6, 18).

Our innermost secrets may be hidden from human judgment, but they are not hidden from God. We will be judged for our motives. You do what you do either for the glory of God or the glory of man.

CONCLUSION

All those elements of God's judgment will come into play "in the day when God shall judge" (Rom. 2:16). That is the day of the Great White Throne Judgment when all judgment is committed to Christ.

If you haven't dealt with your sin before that day--if you haven't confessed Jesus as Lord, accepted His sacrifice on your behalf, and His atonement and payment for your sin--then you are treasuring up "wrath against the day of wrath" (Rom. 2:5). Ultimately it will damn your soul--and don't think that you will "escape the judgment of God" (v. 3).

Focusing on the Facts

1. Explain the phrase "respect of persons." How does it apply to God (see p. 1)?

2. Does God judge everyone the same? How does Romans 2:12 support your answer (see p. 2)?

3. Who are those "without law" (Rom. 2:12; see p. 3)?

4. What do some claim Romans 2:12 teaches (see pp. 3-4)?

5. Why do people without the law perish (see p. 4)?

6. Who are the people "with law" (Rom. 2:12; see p. 4)?

7. In what way might those with the law disagree with Paul's argument in Romans 2:12 (see p. 5)?

8. Who will be justified (Rom. 2:13)? Who won't be? Explain (see p. 5).

9. What is the purpose of the law (see p. 6)?

10. In what way might those without the law question Paul's argument in Romans 2:12 (see p. 6)?

11. How does creation hold someone without the law responsible for obeying God (Rom. 1:18-20; see p. 7)?

12. How does the conduct of someone without the law hold him responsible (Rom. 2:14; see p. 7)?

13. In what ways do men show they know right from wrong (see pp. 7-8)?

14. How did the Stoics support the truth that man has a knowledge of right and wrong (see p. 8)?

15. Does man do good for the right motive? Explain (see p. 8).

16. Define conscience. How does it work in a Christian (see p. 9)?

17. How can the conscience of both a believer and an unbeliever become scarred (see pp. 9-10)?

18. How does the ability to evaluate another's behavior hold the person without the law responsible (see p. 10)?

19. God will judge not only a man's deeds, but also his _______ for _____ them (see p. 11).

Pondering the Principles

1. Read James 1:22-27. Would you characterize yourself as a hearer or a doer of God's Word? Explain. According to verse 25, how does one become a doer? What is the benefit of being a doer? Is that true of your life? What area of your life is most characterized by hearing and not doing? Begin to be obedient to God in that area. Ask God for guidance as you implement God's truth in your life.

2. A common objection to the gospel is: if Jesus is the only way to God, what happens to the native in Africa who's never heard of Him? Based on this lesson, how would you answer that question? Organize your thoughts and write them out. Use that to set up a presentation you could use to answer that common objection.