"For there is no respect of persons with God." Romans 2:11

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Romans 2

Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.

For 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; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

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"Now just because the history of our race has been so black, as shown in Chapter One (“God gave them up—God gave them up—God gave them up—”), we who read the record are ourselves in peculiar danger, for the doors into the death-chamber of self-righteousness so easily open to us! We readily fall into the delusion that God is speaking in this chapter concerning heathen idolaters, who finally descended to worshiping “creeping things,”—and that He cannot be speaking to us!

But will you remember that God comes quickly, through this sad history, to man’s settled state. For at the end of the history, the announcement concerning men is, “being filled with all unrighteousness!” By and by God will announce that there is ‘no distinction” as to sinners, and will publish the fact that there is but one way of salvation for all men alike,—and that through the shed blood of a Redeemer. But here, as we have above said, God is heading off from escape first the proud “judges” of others, of every sort,—the moralists, and moral philosophers, all the “moral” folks,—the “whosoevers” that “judge”; and, second, those who would escape the consciousness of guilt and judgment by running under a “religious” roof— whether a Jewish shelter, as in Paul’s day, or a “Christian” one, in our day.

SEVEN GREAT PRINCIPLES OF GOD’S JUDGMENT
1. God’s judgment is “according to truth” (verse 2).
2. According to accumulated guilt (verse 5).
3. According to works (verse 6).
4. Without respect of persons (verse 11).
5. According to performance, not knowledge (verse 13).
6. God’s judgment reaches the secrets of the heart (verse 16).
7. According to reality, not religious profession (verses 17-29) . . .

Remember, if the goodness of God toward you is not leading you to repentance, then every day, every hour, you live, drops another drop into the terrible “treasure” of indignation which will burst the great dam of God’s long-suffering—in the great Day of Wrath, when God shall reveal His righteous judgment! (Of course, if you flee to Calvary, you will “not come into judgment” (John 5:24): for Judgment has already struck there!) . . .

Verse 11: The fourth principle...is, “Without respect of persons.” Among men, there is almost nothing else but what James and Jude denounce as “showing respect of persons”—“for the sake of advantage.” The rich, the educated, the travelled, the cultured, the prominent, the influential, the pleasing, the strong,—are all sought after. The poor, the ignorant, the weak, are despised and neglected. But not so with God. He sees men through His own eyes of holiness and truth always. He “seeth not as man seeth.” It is a terrifying thought to earth’s great,—but an infinitely comforting thought to every humble God-fearing soul,—that there is an impartial One, with no respect of persons, with whom they have to do! . . .

Verse 13: Not those hearing law, but those practising, accounted righteous before God. The fifth principle is, that hearing God’s Word is no advantage without obedience. Paul addresses the Jew directly, beginning at verse 17; but here, in verse 13, the principle is announced in general. It is not yet the Jew as possessing circumcision and the Law, as in verses 17 to 29 (for the word is hearing law—not the Law). But it is, in verse 13, the great fact, (true of Jews or Gentiles), that the possession of Divine truth can avail nothing with God apart from subjection and obedience thereto. There is no form of the “deceitfulness of sin” more insidious and more prevalent (because of its subtle power over the self-righteous heart) than that of settling down into false peace because of merely knowing God’s truth. Nor does God in this verse say any will be justified by “doing” (for He tells us plainly elsewhere that none will be), but He is saying here that doing, not mere hearing, is what His judgment calls for. We shall find that the gospel will speak of the “obedience of faith”: whereas disobedience and unbelief are interchangeable words. We know that the blood of Christ is the only procuring cause for our being accounted righteous, and faith the sole condition. Yet it is deeply instructive here to quote a passage like that of Luke 1:6, concerning Zacharias and Elizabeth: “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” Now their walk was not the ground of their acceptance, although only such as they are accepted! For they were subject to God’s Word, not mere hearers, but doers. The first verse of the book of Job describes such another. Indeed, at heart all God’s saints are such.
 
Verses 14, 15: (For when Gentiles [ethnē—nations] not at all having law—that is Law as an external revelation from God (the Law if you will): these words alone, although there are many like passages, wholly refute the claim that God gave the Law to all nations. By nature, the things of the Law are doing—this does not mean that they are fulfilling the claims of the Law, for they do not have it, but that they are unconsciously aware, as moral beings, of what is right and wrong. These, law not at all having, to their own selves are law. We are giving the literal rendering of this passage. Note, first, that they do not at all have law, that is, external Divine enactment. Next, they are by their moral constitution, not by external enactments, “law to their very selves.” Being such ones, as show out [by their actions] the work (of the law) written in their hearts—Here, note most carefully that it is not the Law that is written, for the word “written” agrees grammatically with “the work.” It is a work that is written by God in the constitution of these whom He has “suffered to walk in their own ways” (Acts 14:16). For “as for His ordinances, they [the nations] have not known them” (Ps. 147:20). God is describing how He has constituted all men: there is a “work” within them, making them morally conscious. As we have said elsewhere, such a “work” would not be contrary to any succeeding revelation to Israel. Indeed, if the Israelites had not had this “work” within them, their moral constitution, the external enactments given by Moses might as well have been given to the stones of the wilderness. The conscience of these [nations] bearing fellow witness [with the Law,—though they have it not] and their inner-thoughts accordingly one with another accusing or else excusing)—Note that verses 14 and 15 are a parenthesis explanatory of verses 12 and 13: read verses 13 and 16 consecutively to see this fact . . .

Paul goes on to declare that Jewish circumcision, which was the mark of that nation’s separation to God, was good only if one were thus really separated to God, but that if not, the Jew was really an uncircumcised one; that he was excelled instead, and “judged,” by those who, wholly outside circumcision, feared and walked with God. Paul finally declares that a man is not a Jew who is merely one outwardly, and that God does not regard mere outward circumcision: that the only Jew in God’s sight is an “Israelite indeed,” like Nathaniel, sincere and without guile; and that circumcision is a heart matter, in the real spirit of separation to God and regard for Him. (See the same phrase by which God describes a real Jew [en tō krupto] in Matt. 6:3, 6, etc.)

So much for the Jew who was the “religious” man, when Paul wrote Romans. But the “religious” man today is the “professing Christian,” and “church-membership” as they call it, has taken the place, in the thought of Christendom, of the Jew’s consciousness of belonging to the favored Israelitish race.

If we should thus apply this passage (17-29), must it not read something like this?—“If thou bearest the name of a Christian, and restest on having the gospel, and gloriest in God, and knowest His will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the gospel; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, having in the gospel the form of knowledge and of the truth”—Then would follow the searching questions of verses 21 and 22; for do we not know teachers that teach others, but refuse to follow their own teaching? And preachers that denounce stealing, but are accused by the world of being themselves money-grabbers? So it would read, “Thou who gloriest in the gospel, through thy disobedience to the gospel, dishonorest thou God? The name of God is blasphemed among non ‘church-members’ because of you! Church-membership indeed profiteth if thou be an obeyer of the gospel; but if thou be a refuser of a gospel-walk, thy ‘church-membership’ is become non ‘church-membership.’ If therefore a non ‘church-member’ obey the gospel, shall not his non ‘church-membership’ be reckoned for ‘church-membership’? And shall not non ‘church-members,’ if they obey the gospel, judge thee, who with the letter and ‘church-membership’ art a refuser of a gospel-walk? For he is not a Christian who is one outwardly, nor is that ‘church-membership’ which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly; and ‘church-membership’ is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

Now before we proceed, remember yet once again, that God’s great announcement of these principles of His throne is given to awaken men out of their false hopes about themselves, unto the truth about themselves; and is to be regarded as a description of God’s judgment, as it must be—in order that men may be aroused, and not refuse His truth. But do not confuse Romans Two with Revelation Twenty! At the Judgment Day there will be no such preaching and reasoning with men as Paul here is doing, but damnation only—“according to their works—the things written in the books.” O sinner, if God’s rebukes are still coming to thee, there is sweet hope for thee! There will be no rebukes in that Great Day: but “visitation” only!"

William R. Newell 




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I'm a Christian saved by God, by His Sovereign grace. I want to encourage all to read, to hear, to believe, and to feed upon the only Words in all the world that are truly spirit and life, living and active; to know the One True God: God the Father, His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit; Who has graciously given us the Holy Scriptures
“All Scripture is God-breathed..."
2 Timothy 3:16–17; cf., John 3:31-36; John 6:63; John 14:26; John 17:3, 17; Romans 1:1-6, 16-17; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Peter 1:20–21; Hebrews 4:12-13. As for the commentaries I post and refer to; with much gratitude, as they have done for me, it is my hope and prayer that they serve to edify all who read them.

Shalom, beccaj
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