Romans 2:9-11 Perfect and Impartial Judge

(Rom 2:9-11)  “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God”. (NASB)

As honest and pure as a judge in a U.S. court of law can be, he is still subject to his human nature and prone to be less than perfect at meeting out justice.  The rest of us probably fall short of that as we evaluate various circumstances that come our way.  Our natural temptation is to play the role of judge and render our verdict on people and their behavior.  Scripture is clear, that’s a big no no because we are far too imperfect to pass perfect judgment.  Let’s see what the Bible has to say.

After Paul lays out the fact that men having observed nature are responsible to know there is a creator; to know God exists.  Those who fail to acknowledge Him are the objects of His wrath.  He goes on in this discussion of those worthy of His wrath to discuss those who got a big charge out of pointing a finger at those in Chapter 1.  Romans 1 said “They” are without excuse but Chapter 2 goes on to say, “You” are without excuse.  Why?

The essence of Chapter 2 is to say that we’re guilty of judging each other and that in so doing we are both overlooking our own sin but we’re also taking on God’s job.  God is the one and only qualified judge.  Well upon what then will God make his judgment?

Paul makes the case that those who do good will earn a reward but those that do evil will incur God’s wrath.  That sounds fair.  Right?

Well it does actually sound fair but if you take a moment to consider, what you’ve just agreed to as fair means you are also guilty and worthy of God’s wrath.  You see, Paul has just laid out that those who do evil are worthy of wrath and conversely those who do good are not only no longer the object of judgment but they are also in line for a reward.  We naturally think, “I’m good, where’s my reward”.  Unfortunately, we have this idea of good and evil that says that if I’m a little more good than I am bad then I should get counted as good.  WRONG!  The standard God uses is complete holiness; complete perfection.  One little slip and you’re not good.  One little sin and you’re not holy.  So how do you measure up?  I can tell you.  Not judging you I might point out, just relaying the facts here.  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”,

(Rom 3:23)  “as it is written, ‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE’”; (Rom 3:10)

So what’s this guilt trip all about?  It is foundational to our faith to understand that we’re not the judge and that as objects of the judgment of God we’ve missed the mark.  We’re all guilty and when I say all I mean all.  Jew, Greek, Gentile, Muslim, Hindu, Arab, Anglo, Hispanic, White man, Black man – We’re all guilty!  We’re guilty because we don’t measure up to God’s standard of holiness.

Why do we need to know this?  Because if we don’t know our own guilt how will we know we are in need of a Savior?  Jesus paid the price for our sins.  He made the perfect sacrifice to appease God’s wrath.  When we understand our guilt before God and accept the work of Jesus Christ on the cross dying in our place by faith we find ourselves guiltless.  We find ourselves righteous.  We find ourselves forgiven.  We find ourselves holy.  Not because of anything we have done but completely because of Jesus.  AMEN!