Romans 2:1-6 – God is Righteous to Judge

Also, just before we jump into Romans 2:1 we can’t forget what we’ve studied in the last few episodes because it’s still the same context. These are the four reasons Paul gives in Romans 1:16 through 20 as to why he’s ready to preach the gospel and do that at Rome also, as he states in Romans 1:15.

So, Romans 2:1,

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

So, the “therefore,” means we need to know what that’s there for and we just finished seeing that all are without excuse before the Creator because they see creation, because they knew God—especially in the beginning.

God has revealed Himself to man clearly enough so that all are without excuse.

So there’s something here that was given to Paul to preach, and that’s why he’s ready.

God revealed Himself and His power to save in Romans 1:16,

I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation.

Then, in Romans 1:17 God has revealed His righteousness from faith to faith, and Paul’s talking about the gospel of salvation—the gospel of Christ,

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.

Then Romans 1:18 God reveals His wrath,

For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness.

And in Romans 1:20 God revealed Himself in creation and we know that in our conscience,

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.

Gods revealed Himself from and through creation. He’s the Creator, which means He’s the Judge over the things that He’s made. So man is without excuse.

We know In our conscience that the wrath of God is revealed. Because, if we know there’s a God and we know the standard of His righteousness, we know we don’t have that righteousness.

We have to learn this lesson before diving into Chapters 2 and 3 which are talking about wrath and judgment and these are things that modern Christianity avoids believing, let alone discussing.

God will judge that there is a hell and there really is a right and wrong, and good works and bad works matter.

So they’re without excuse and that’s why Romans 2:1 says,

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 

So, right here, we’re dealing with the wrath of God.

Every man has an excuse, but none are valid before God.

But people will retaliate in their guilty conscience, saying, “You mustn’t judge, don’t judge. The Bible say, ‘Don’t judge’.”

Well, yes, that’s from the Bible, in Matthew 7, but Jesus isn’t talking about not judging there. He actually talks about increasing in righteous judgment, which is what Romans 2 is going to address.

This idea that the Bible teaches not to judge because love means you don’t judge anything just isn’t correct.

What is Romans 2:1 telling us,

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge,

Remember, that in Romans chapter 1, Paul’s talking about “them” and “they”. From the creation of the world, they changed the glory of God, and they did this and that. They, they, they. We feel comfortable because it’s about “they, them”.

But it gets more personal here where Paul changes to the personal pronoun “you”.

See “they” are without excuse, but so are we. Whether as a Christian or not, we’ll never be able to stand before God’s judgement with our own merits, our own works or with any sort of excuse. We either stand before Him with our penalty for sin fully paid for by the shed blood of Christ or condemned forever in our sin.

“Whoever you are who judge” is Jew, Gentile you and me, anybody, but we’ll see shortly that this person who judges is an unbeliever, a remorseless unbeliever. They’re rejecting God but they’re judging and that always happens with those that say, “Don’t judge.”

It’s always been there in humanity. You can’t judge me, but I can judge you. It’s always been part of the flesh.

So, there’s two segments in society.

One just doesn’t care about judging anything—they don’t care about right and wrong or about glorifying God as God or being thankful for His creation. They just don’t care.

Then there’s a segment that says, “Yes, there’s a right and wrong, and I’ll tell you where you’re wrong.” But they’re also without excuse.

They know better, don’t they?  That’s what it means to judge.

Now, we all do this. We’re guilty of it and this’s what That’s what Paul’s saying here, the hypocritical we know better, and we are better.

However Jesus says through Paul, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man.”

In Luke 18:10-14 Jesus gives an example that Paul will follow in Romans 2

Luke 18:10 first,

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 

The Pharisees were the most fanatically religious sect of all Israel’s sects of the day. They kept the law to the letter and believed it literally.

The tax collectors were a detested class of individual, not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, on account of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they did their job.

Luke 18:11,

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 

We can put the 25 sins of Romans 1 here.

‘I thank You I am not the unrighteous, the unmerciful, and the wicked—those who do evil things. I’m glad I’m not any of those people who changed the glory of God into a lie. I thank You that I’m not one of those people who seek vile affections and unnatural things between men and women. I’m glad I’m not one of those people.’

This Pharisee goes on in Luke 18:12,

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.

Then in Luke 18:13 we see this,

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 

Then Jesus sums up the situation in Luke 18:13,

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

So, the tax collector that says, “I’m a sinner, I’m unacceptable to you,” he’s the one Jesus said is closer to salvation while the religious Pharisee says, “Thank God I’m not like any of those sinners.” He’s the one that needs to hear the lesson in Romans 2:

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge,

Now, we need to realise that neither Jesus in Luke 18 and Luke 17, or Paul in Romans 2 is talking about the gospel of the grace of God.

Paul hasn’t got there yet, and Jesus is not talking about the gospel that saves either. He’s talking about repentance to Israel, who was given a religion that could make them puffed up hypocrites. They’d do things according to the law like tithing and fasting and completely forget that it was really a heart issue.

A person can tithe and fast without a heart of faith. A person can do that and reject Jesus which many of the Pharisees did.

This is why the Romans epistle is so vital for Christianity.

Without the teaching in Romans, we don’t have Christianity we have a religion. We have a works-based system, trying to prove ourselves excusable before God and acceptable.

But Paul starts, in the very beginning, in Romans 2:

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man,

People don’t believe in God’s judgment today and it’s an unpopular subject to discuss. They don’t know that they’re without excuse so how are they going to receive the gospel by faith when they don’t see the need for it and so many don’t even believe there’s an all-powerful, all righteous Creator.

When the church glosses over sin, and judgment and the knowledge in their conscience of God’s wrath, people won’t see the need for salvation and redemption from the penalty for sin.

People today will sarcastically reject the message that all are without excuse, that no one does good, and they’ll think they’re doing it in obedience to God, because of a failure to understand His Word.

This is exactly what Paul himself was like before He met Jesus on the road to Damascus that day when he was known as Saul of Tarsus.

He was persecuting those who believed in Christ. Why? Because he’s the devil, the antichrist? Was he an evil sadist who got his kicks from torturing and locking up people?

No, he was zealous of his Father’s religion. He thought he was doing God’s service and being a good Jew, a righteous Pharisee. That’s why he persecuted and put fear into the believers in Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 2:15, Paul says,

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

Now, why is that? How come he’s saying you judge all things?

Because God’s revealed spiritual truth through His Word that we can understand about invisible spiritual things. And if you know those things, you can judge more than just the natural—you can judge the spiritual. So, you judge all things.

1 Corinthians 6:1-2 says,

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 

We should know these spiritual things.

This is a hard saying for some people because there’re pretty smart people who are unbelievers.

But they don’t know the gospel, they don’t know spiritual truth, and they can’t judge spiritual things.

‘Do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world?’ Paul says.

We ask on what basis will I, a saint, judge the world?

Paul’s going to talk about this in Romans 2. We can only judge according to the truth. And if we have the truth of the gospel, the truth of God, then that’s the basis on which we can judge. If people don’t have that, they can’t judge that, obviously.

“Are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”

By ‘smallest matters,’ he means smallest matters in the world.

But then in 1Corinthians 6:3 he says,

Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

What does that mean?

The revelation of the mystery given to the Apostle Paul and given to the Church was something not given to angels. Angels can’t know that truth because they can’t be saved by grace. We can, and we have been, if we’ve trusted the gospel.

We have a means of judging by faith and grace that angels can never have. They could judge God’s law because they had to obey God too, but they can’t be saved by grace through faith like us. We’re able to judge things they can’t.

Philippians 1:9-10 says,

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment (the king James has that as Judgement), that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 

Paul says he prays that their love would abound in knowledge and in judgment.

Okay, so again, we’re seeing here that those that judge are simply people who have access to truth.

As we saw in Romans 1:18,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 

See, they have the truth, but they’re not judging righteously according to it. They have the truth. They’ve heard the gospel. They’ve heard the lessons of the law, and yet they’re not judging themselves as being guilty of it. This is a problem.

Our opening verse in Romans 2 (Romans 2:1), says,

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 

This is the same thing that Jesus taught in Matthew 7:1 where Jesus says,

Judge not, that you be not judged.

Oh good we say, so that means that if I just don’t judge anybody else, God won’t judge me?

Unfortunately, No, that’s not what Jesus is saying here. We need to read on.

Matthew 7:2.

For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

He’s saying that the judgment that’ll be applied to us is equal the judgment that’ll be applied to every person.

So, if we’re going to stand in judgment, we’d better be sure that the same standard we’re holding someone else to is the standard we’re holding ourself to.

That’s what that means. Otherwise, don’t be a hypocrite. That’s what Jesus is saying. He’s not saying, ‘Don’t judge.’ He’s saying, ‘Don’t be a hypocritical person by judging someone else but not yourself.’

Now, what if we judge ourselves by the same standard as someone else? Is that hypocrisy? No way!

So if I hold you to the standard of God’s perfect holy law, and myself to the standard of God’s perfect holy law, the conclusion is that we’re both sinners. Is that hypocritical? No!

It’s only hypocritical if I say I’m keeping the standard of God’s holy law and you’re not.

If I say, “I’m a sinner and you’re a sinner and we’re both held to that same standard.’ You don’t remove the standard because Jesus said, ‘Don’t judge.’ No, he’s saying that judgment is equal.

Matthew 7:3

And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 

See, that’s the hypocrisy. We’re saying, ‘You’ve got a problem.’ But do we also have that problem? Because if we do, maybe we should see to that first before we see someone else’s problem.

It’s much easier to see someone else’s problem than our own. That’s sinful flesh. It’s easy to criticise other people but it’s hard to look in the mirror.

That’s what Jesus is saying. He’s not saying, “Forget about that. There’s no standard here”. That’s not what he’s teaching.

Matthew 7:5,

Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 

He’s got a little speck in his eye, but I’ve got a plank in mine!

Does Jesus say that we shouldn’t judge anybody, but we should be loving to everybody and never hold anyone to any standard?

No! That’s not His teaching.

He says, ‘ First remove the plank from your own eye.’ He’s not saying something impossible here. He’s not saying, ‘We know this is impossible, so just don’t worry about it.’

He says, “Remove the plank from your own eye then you’ll see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Once we’ve dealt with the problem that’s bigger in ourselves, then we can know how to deal with a smaller problem in someone else. That’s what Jesus is saying and that’s righteous judgment.

So, if you’re a judge in a court, you’d better know the law and you’d better not be breaking it yourself, or you don’t deserve to be on the court. That’s hypocrisy.

This is what Paul’s saying in Romans 2:1. He’s not saying there’s not going to be a judgment of anybody. He’s saying, ‘Look, you’re without excuse because the standard by which you’re judging other people is the same standard for you and you don’t look so pretty.’

He’s leaving no one with an excuse, even those who claim to be sitting on the judgment seats.

When we say, “I’m not a hypocrite like those people.” Well, we’re saying we’ve got no sins in ourselves.

We’re preaching our own self-righteousness. But if we try to hold others to a standard and we don’t hold ourselves to it, it’s hypocrisy.

We in the church shouldn’t be hypocrites.

How do we do that?

When we get saved do we you stop sinning?

Some Christians think yes, but that’s not true.

Paul himself experiences this, and we can pick up his desperation in Romans 7:14-25 which we’ve looked at a number of times,

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 

If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 

But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 

Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 

I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. 

We become a Christian by God’s grace through faith. And so, becoming a Christians or being part of church, the body of Christ, doesn’t mean that there’s no sin anymore and therefore we can judge everyone else who has sin in their life.

We’re saying we’ve been saved by grace through faith from our sins by Jesus Christ. We’ve been condemned sinners, and we’ve received forgiveness and you can receive it too.

The problem is that first you’ve got to know that you’re the sinner and that it’s impossible to save yourself. Most people think they’re not sinners until they learned that they are and we’re the same.

So we can still condemn sins. So long as we include our own selves in that condemnation.

So it’s not that it’s just wrong for you and not for me—that would be hypocrisy.

Paul here in Romans 2 is talking about those that judge being inexcusable, and he himself was in their shoes.

He was slaughtering Christians, assaulting and imprisoning believing men, woman and children.

He was convinced he was doing God’s service. Then Christ appeared, and he thinks, ‘I’m done for. I’m guilty.’

Paul thought he was doing right, and he was wrong, very wrong, and Christ pointed it out to him. But he was one that was judging other people, bringing them to judgment, taking them captive, bringing them back to Jerusalem to judge and he was absolutely inexcusable for doing it.

In Acts 21:27 Paul is in Jerusalem and the Jews wanted to kill him so they stirred up the people, again because they thought they were doing God’s will. They told the people that this is the man teaches all men everywhere against the people, or the Jews, the law, and this place, the temple, and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

Paul is arrested by the Roman guard as a result of the uproar, but he asks the commander of the garrison if he can speak to the people. The commander agrees.

So, he’s in the courthouse of public opinion here, and there’re unbelieving Jews bringing a charge against him, and he’s starting his defense, saying in Acts 22:3,

I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. 

He was doing wrong but he thought he was doing right.

When he says in Romans 2:1, Therefore you are inexcusable, you can hear him speaking from his own experience. Just like you’re zealous to judge wrong, I was zealous to judge wrong. I thought I was punishing those people for blasphemy, and I was wrong. I was doing what I was blaming them for doing. It was me who was blaspheming God by denying the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now Romans 2:2,

But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 

We hear Paul speaking through his own experience here. He knew God was right and He was a righteous judge. Paul wasn’t somebody going off sinning because he thought sin was good or something.

He knew sin was wrong, but he thought they, the Christians were sinning. He was wrong. He says here we know there is the judgment of God and it’s certain, and God is righteous and will judge according to the truth.

Today’s Christian often thinks that if God is love, so much so that maybe he doesn’t judge at all. Maybe there’s no judge. Maybe everyone’s saved. Maybe there’s no hell. Maybe there’s no consequences of sin.

It’s this love all the time, and most people distort the meaning of it.

He’s talking here about those who know there’s something to judge, who know there’s right and wrong, who know there’s sin, who know there’s justice that needs to judge that sin. Paul says, ‘We are sure about the judgment of God.’ Every time we make a judgment about the rightness or wrongness of someone we’re declaring that there is a righteous standard by which we’re held to.

Because of that we’re sure of the judgment of God. We’re certain of it and from the creation man has been because all know that God is righteous.

Notice again Romans 1:18 that they’re holding the truth in unrighteousness. The judgment of God is against them who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

It doesn’t say, ‘God’s judgment is against such things.’ It says, ‘Against them which commit such things.’

God’s not against people. He’s for people. He wants all people to be saved according to 1 Timothy 2:4,

who (God) desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

But if a person’s not saved, His righteous judgment is against that person.

We’ve got to keep reminding ourselves that these passages in Romans have not yet come to the answer for judgement, God’s salvation of grace through Christ’s shed blood. If we don’t we can easily fall into condemnation and this’s why it’s so important to have the whole counsel of God as Paul says in Acts 20:27.

Romans 2:3

And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 

Paul asks two questions here of the judge.

Again, we’re talking here to unbelievers, as we’ll see in a moment. But remember this is our own thinking, before we were brought to the knowledge and guilt of our own sins and our need for the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Romans 2:4

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 

You see the questions he’s raising here in verses 2 and 3? These aren’t the only two positions people take when they’re not saved.

They’ll think God’s not going to judge or worse, that there is no judge.

Even if He did judge they can just say, “Well, God, you didn’t say it good enough or clear enough or loud enough. I have an excuse,” or “I haven’t done things that bad, and I have more good than bad. They think they can convince God and persuade Him that they were good and righteous.

They’ll ask, “Why hasn’t God judged already? If He’s going to judge, then why doesn’t He judge this and that? If God’s such a righteous judge, why does He allow sin to continue? Why does God not judge the world now? Why doesn’t He send another flood or send a fireball to consume all the sinners?”

Because He wants all of them saved. He’s displaying His goodness in long-suffering and forbearance, bearing the offense of their sin so that they might repent and believe and be saved.

And yet they despise that forbearance by saying, “If you’re so righteous, God, why don’t you intervene?”

You see, those are the positions that people take as unbelievers: either God’s not going to judge at all, or He’s unrighteous to forbear and be long-suffering. Neither one is true or accurate.

Everyone will be judged and judged by the same standard. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have. That’s Paul’s answer.

Repentance in the Bible is defined as a change of mind it is not defined as us stopping our sin.

It’s used like that over and over again where Christians get the gospel wrong and they say you should stop sinning before you get saved.

That’s not that when you enter the church you’ve got to stop your sin.

That’s impossible!

That’s a works based religion.

Repentance is what Romans 1 and 2 is doing.

It’s saying I’m wrong and I’m guilty and I’m in for God’s fearful judgment, so I repent by changing my mind about the wrongness of my sin and the rightness of God’s judgement.

Repentance itself doesn’t save us. It can’t because that’s just us changing our mind about what we do that’s wrong.

I now feel guilty and regret about that. So I learn the truth of God’s will. The truth of the gospel. I hate to think of how many years I didn’t know that.

Maybe I didn’t repent so I’m not saved.  No, repentance is that feeling of wrongness. Habits die hard sometimes, and repentance is not getting it right now.

It’s the changing of our mind to know what’s right and that starts

with knowing our own sin and our own failure and that God is true.

Romans 2:5-6

But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “WILL RENDER TO EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS”:

But the judgment of wrath is due to their impenitence.

Do you see that? False repentance. Is that wrath because of the deeds being done, the works?

No, it’s because of a failure to change the thinking because of a hardened heart and a failure to change the mind.

It’s simply failing to acknowledge that we’re wrong and God’s right.

Paul pictures here the hardened and unrepentant sinners treasuring up judgment for themselves, as if they were building up a fortune of gold and silver. But it’s a fortune that nobody will want in the day when God’s wrath is finally revealed at the judgment of the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15)!

Because of that hardened, unrepenting heart that convinces them of their own righteousness they will need to face judgement for their deeds and works.

In that day the judgment of God will be seen to be absolutely righteous, without prejudice or injustice of any kind.

This is an unbeliever here.

That’s a heart that’s not soft enough to know its own sin and doesn’t repent and regret for what it’s done or thought.

But there’s a root cause for that and it’s back in Romans 1:21.

because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Then they profess themselves to be wise—and that’s when they become fools.

They start changing the glory of God.

So, there’s this big problem.

Yes, they did wrong—we all did wrong—but the issue is their heart. When people have done wrong and they repent toward God, God has always been merciful to save. These people are not repentant—they’re impenitent!

If believers are judged according to their works, what will be the outcome? Certainly they cannot present any good works by which they might earn or deserve salvation.

All their works before salvation were sinful and as like filthy rags as Isaiah 64:6 says,

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;

But the blood of Christ has wiped out the past. Now God Himself cannot find any charge against those who’ve trusted in the gospel of salvation for which to sentence them to hell.

Once they are saved, they begin to practice good works—not necessarily good works in the world’s eyes, but good works as God sees them.

Their good works are the result of salvation, not in order receive salvation.

At the Judgment Seat of Christ, the first judgement at which only believers will be present, their works will be reviewed, and they will be rewarded for all faithful service.

We must constantly remember that this passage does not deal with believers—only with the ungodly.