Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise all ye creatures here below, praise Father Son and Holy Ghost.
”I receive your praise with joy. Your praise joins millions of brothers and sisters who are part of our beautiful family. Yes, and every part of My creation has been made to praise Me and represent Me to those who would open their eyes to see. That is why I have said man is without excuse because I am there, everywhere in creation, in all my creatures and especially those whom I have taken into My family. So open your heart and mind and open your mouth and praise Me with all your being.”
We take a second bite at Romans 2:1-16. I have often had difficulty in placing this section in the overall argument of Paul. This is how I see it, being as simple as possible.
Back in 1:18 Paul makes the statement about God’s wrath in introducing an explanation why the gospel – salvation story is so important. In the rest of that chapter he starts proving how all mankind is under God’s wrath. Now there are two questions. Why is it a serious situation to be under God’s wrath? What about those who live more moral lives, especially those who have the law?
So this part of ch 2 he devotes to showing how God’s wrath leads to His judgement. He expands that to say His judgement is always right, according to His righteousness, vs 2. (Then he deviates to discuss man’s judgement by comparison. That is what we dealt with last week). He ends this section, bracketing it, in 2:16 where he rounds off the description of God’s judgement.
The rest of the section is largely devoted to showing that everyone is equally culpable under God’s judgement. Everyone will be judged according to the way they have lived their lives. Here we read for the first time what judgement under God’s wrath looks like. Vv 8,9 wrath and anger and trouble and distress.
The last paragraph is devoted to proving that those who have not had the benefit of the law are equally culpable because God has built into every person a conscience. Those who have the law should not think that they are better off than those have not heard it, because hearing it alone has no benefit, it is how we live in the light of it that matters.
In 2:16 he makes three points concerning God’s judgement as he rounds off this section: All that which was secret will be revealed. Judgement will be through Jesus. And finally, most important the gospel will make all the difference. Hence a reminder that all will fall under judgement. The only way to escape it will be through the salvation provided by Jesus Christ.
The bottom line then is that there will not be any special treatment for those who have never heard the gospel or those who have heard it and ignored its appeal. This is a stark reminder that each believer holds a golden key in the gospel, as the only way to escape God’s judgement and should therefore be prepared to share it with whoever we can that God leads into our path. There is no reason to believe that we could ever live such a righteous life that we will not be judged so we need to continue to be eternally grateful that, despite everything we have received Jesus’ salvation.
God bless you all till next week.