Studying His Word and His Works

Listen to the study here: Romans 2:1-16

Read here: Romans 2

• Intro to Chapter 2: Schreiner says Romans 1:18-32 was mostly directed at Gentiles, but now switches to Jews. Indirectly in v. 1-16, but more directly starting in v. 17.
  • Sproul says if we are looking for mercy, we aren’t really going to find it in these verses! Although end of v. 4 offers hope. For now though, keep that buckle on tight and hang on!
• Verse 1
  • No excuse, a restating of Romans 1:20.
  • “O man” is a direct address to Jews in that culture. They would know Paul was talking to them directly. Paul is trying to respect cultural diversity, not single out Jews like a raging anti-semite. Remember, Paul was a Jew. So was Jesus. And just because Paul might be addressing a specific group of people here, it doesn’t mean that what he says does not apply to everyone. Paul just finished writing that he is under obligation to preach to both Jew and non-Jew (Romans 1:14), and that the gospel he is preaching is for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).
  • You who judge practice the same things: This is a definition of hypocrisy. Have you ever done this? Judged someone while doing the same thing yourself?
    • Sproul: If we condemn others for doing what we do, then, by our condemning them, we condemn ourselves.
• Verse 2
  • Was justice really served? That is a question that often arises in court. God’s judgment though, “rightly falls” every time. Some translations say God judges “according to the truth”, so truth is the standard. There’s always a standard of comparison in judgments.
  • Look at earthly judges, whether it is a courtroom justice or football referee, they judge according to an agreed upon set of rules. They don’t always judge properly. In football, over the last two decades, the game has changed because of cameras. There are so many cameras now, and referees are closer to being “omniscient” than ever. They can review all those camera angles and more easily conclude a right judgment that was maybe impossible without cameras. But even the cameras don’t allow them to be perfect. The refs also have to be powerful enough to enforce their judgment. They have to pursue omnipotence, in other words. 
  • God has every camera angle of us ever recorded. He has more than camera angles too. He can probe the very depths of our souls! His final judgment will be perfect. His omniscience and omnipotence allow him to judge rightly and to carry out the sentence. 
• Verse 3
  • No escape. I think it is interesting that we long for just judgment for “their” side, but maybe not so much for our side. We want to escape judgment. In sports, in a close game, we are usually happy when the ref misses a call that helps our side. But with God, there is no escape, He will judge perfectly. 
• Verse 4
  • presume on his riches is also translated as “despise the riches”. We expect a one-sided thing, focusing only on His goodness and kindness and not seeing that for what it is, His patience while he waits for us to repent. We are going to talk about predestination later, and there is much controversy about that subject. But we can see here predestination does not mean we are robots. It means He knows what we will do with the decisions in front of us. He knows if we will stay on the right path or not. He knows if we will truly repent and turn to him or fall off the tracks. 
• Verse 5
  • storing up wrath: Sproul describes this as “one of the scariest verses in the Bible.” 
  • The opposite of repentance is the hardened heart described in Ch. 1, what God hands us over to. You can actually test this right now: If you are reading this simply to scoff at every word and mock God, and you can’t do any different, almost like you are being forced in that direction, then you are the hardened heart. But just like Lydia at Philippi (Acts 16:14), God softens hearts, too.
• Verses 6-10
  • The longer you remain unrepentant the more “treasure” you acquire, in the form of God’s wrath.
    • Sproul: “If you murder 9 people, you go on trial for 9 counts of murder, not just 1”, as if the sin of murder is just 1 sin and you already did it so why not do more. Could apply this to a lot of things, adultery, etc. Each one of our sins is being stored in a “treasure chest of unrighteousness” that will be exposed in God’s perfect judgment.
    • In his commentary, Sproul asks his readers if they believe these verses, that every day that we sin without repenting, we are depositing future wrath into the account of God’s judgment? King David was an adulterer and murderer, but repentance is what set him apart.
  • Verses 6-10 are NOT saying “hell is hell, one sin and you’re going to hell and hell is the same for everyone.” It’s saying that by having an impenitent heart, you are building up the worst savings account you could possibly imagine, and the worse hell will be for you. Sproul describes this as “various degrees of punishment in hell,” where the punishment fits the crime. Amazingly, as repentant believers, our sin debt, no matter how large, is paid in full by Christ!
• Verse 11
  • no partiality: God is just, and part of true justice is fairness. “No partiality” means it doesn’t matter if you are the President’s son, Jew, Greek, black, white, etc. Paul’s message is clear, Hell is for unrepentant sinners. 
• Verses 12-16
  • Sproul says people demonstrate by their actions, that God has written the 10 Commandments (the moral law) on their hearts. Their behavior reveals they know the difference between right or wrong, whether they are a devout Jew or the most isolated pagan ever. But the Jews will have a greater judgment because, historically, God gave them the responsibility of preserving the Word (Romans 3:2). But Gentiles are not without this light, that is what Paul is saying here. 
  • Schreiner says Paul is probably referring to “Christian gentiles” here, who “do what the law requires,” even though their culture was unaware of the 10 Commandments. A lot of what Paul is describing here is also hypothetical, as later he says none are righteous. It’s not like some of the Gentiles were “saved” by their occasional righteous behavior.
  • Schreiner says some scholars think v. 14-15 don’t refer to natural law, but are instead an allusion to Jer 31:33 and the new covenant. Discerning this takes deeper study in Greek word meaning, but doing so, plus connecting to other verses in Romans makes this lean in favor of Gentile Christians here. 
  • Mediate and immediate general revelation. God reveals himself in His works and His word. Theologians refer to these as general and special revelation, respectively. Two types of general revelation are mediate (through some medium) and immediate (in our souls, part of the way He designed us).
    • Mediate: Romans 1:20, His attributes revealed in creation. See also verses like Psalm 19:1, heavens declare His glory.
    • Immediate: not time related, but there is no intervening medium (creation) necessary, it’s in us, the knowledge He plants in our souls.
      • Immediate revelation is revelation given apart from our reading of Scripture (special) or looking at nature.
      • An example Sproul gives is how we can practice our sins over and over again and get everybody in our community to think and agree that it is okay to do those things. But, deep down, we know better. 
        • Our conscience bears witness, v. 15
  • Thankfully, God has appointed Jesus Christ as the perfect judge, the mediator between us and God. Unbiased. Showing no favoritism. Doesn’t matter what country you are from or what color you are. We are all judged rightly, like it or not.
  • Click here for Romans 2:17-29.