October 2018 TRANSCRIPT

Romans Class SRL, Medellin

Prepared by: Walter Eriksen
LESSON 6 Romans 2:1-16
Righteous Judgment
Jewish Sinfulness Part I

Scripture for lesson: Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing
judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know
that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who
judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or
do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is
meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for
yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
6
He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth,
but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human
being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does
good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

12
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the
law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers
of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law
requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the
law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse
or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

1. ON VERSE 1: Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing
judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
1.1. Paul’s critique of the Jews in three paragraphs.
1.2. The first, vv. 1–5, uses the second person singular to accuse the Jews of earning for themselves the
same wrath already falling on Gentile sinners.
1.3. The second and third (vss.6-11; 12-16) validate the inclusion of Jews along with Gentiles under
sentence of God’s wrath. This accusation is the main point of 2:1–16.1
1.4. The apostle is referring to his own people, do the very things that they condemned in the pagans was to
condemn themselves.2
1.5. Practice (πράσσεις: grammar present active indicative; is ongoing) the very same thing. This is not
an occasional slipping back into sin. It is charging ahead with an arrogance that says, “We are God’s
people. He’s not paying attention.”
2. ON VERSE 2: We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.
2.1. to the Corinthians Paul says, “I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say”, 1 Cor.
10:15).

1 Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 127). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 47). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
 2.2. The judgment of God is not simply righteous, it is according to truth. God makes no mistakes when he
brings us before him on trial with no possibility of a biased judge.3
3. ON VERSE 3: Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them
yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?
3.1. Paul with sharpness and severity rebukes their “fictitious sanctity”.4
3.2. Paul is speaking to one who judges others yet do the same things.
3.3. The judge is as guilty as those he judges.
3.4. you will escape, his you is emphatic:
3.5. “Some Jews did expect precisely this: “even if we sin we are thine” (Wis. 15:2). 2.5
3.6. It was commonplace in the first century, especially the Pharisees particularly, God would overlook
certain behavioral patterns in Jewish people and condemn only the pagans.
3.7. When we stand before Almighty God, we stand alone.6
4. ON VERSE 4: Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not
knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
4.1. His mercy shows to us (the elect) we are to turn to him, to secure our wellbeing,
4.2. If we use not God’s bounty for this end, we abuse it.7
4.3. Three terms, all dependent on “riches,” describe this mercy of God. “Goodness” “Forbearance” and
“patience”37 denote the expression of God’s goodness in his patient withholding of the judgment that is
rightfully due the sinner.
4.4. Certainly, the OT encourages God’s people to regard God as merciful and forgiving (e.g., Ps. 145).
4.5. The literature of intertestamental Judaism, while consistently stressing the need for Jews to repent of
sin, at the same time highlight Israel’s favored position with its security in God’s.
4.6. Paul is teaching a radical departure from Jewish tradition, not only critiquing of the prevailing
understanding of God’s covenant with Israel but also that a new era in salvation history had dawned.8
4.7. God never punishes for the sake of punishment.9
4.8. Sproul, R.C.: For the most part we take God’s kindness for granted and therein lies the danger.

3 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 47). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
4 Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 86).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
5 Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 111). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans;
Inter-Varsity Press.
6 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 47–48). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.
7 Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 87).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
8 Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 132–133). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co.
9 Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 111–112). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
5. ON VERSE 5: But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the
day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
5.1. Calvin, John: They who are not anxious about repentance openly provoke the Lord.10
5.2. Stubbornness “hard” word found here only in NT hardness (of heart), stubbornness as a human
characteristic 11
5.3. Deut 9:27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this
people, or their wickedness or their sin,
5.4. Unrepentant is laying up for his treasure—the wrath of God!
5.5. wrath It signifies God’s settled opposition to all that is evil, and not some irrational passion.
5.6. The day of wrath one of wrath and revelation (Paul says “day of wrath and revelation”).
5.7. “Revelation” signifies the make known to people of something previously existent, but not known.
5.8. Righteous judgment is one word in the Greek, the compound being found here only in the New
Testament and not often in any earlier writing.
5.9. Paul uses the two words instead of the compound (2 Thess. 1:5). 12 This is evidence of the righteous
judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also
suffering.13
5.10. Sproul, R.C.: Instead of our taking advantage of God’s kindness, by coming to him in
repentance and faith and expressing our gratitude for his patience, we assume that it really doesn’t
matter to God that we are disobeying his law.14
6. ON VERSE 6-7: He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-
doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
Calvin, John: perseverance, &c.; literally, patience; by which word something more is expressed. For it is
perseverance, when one is not wearied in constantly doing good; but patience also is required in the saints,
by which they may continue firm, though oppressed with various trials. 15
6.1. Sproul, R.C.: The ground of God’s judgment is our deeds. And that is true for everyone. Each
individual’s performance will be evaluated by Almighty God. If a person lives a life that is in perfect
obedience to the law of God, he doesn’t need Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to save people who do not
live perfect lives. The tragedy is that there are actually people who believe that their lives are good
enough to get them into heaven.16

10 Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 88).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
11 Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New
Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 930). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
12 Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 114–116). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
13 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (2 Th 1:5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
14 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 48–49). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.
15 Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 90).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
16 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 50-51). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.
7. ON VERSE 8: but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
there will be wrath and fury.
7.1. Sproul, R. C.: Who will receive the wrath and anger of God? Those who are selfishly ambitious and do
not obey the truth but follow evil.17
8. ON VERSE 9-11: There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first
and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the
Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.
8.1. On one hand Gentiles pretended defence of ignorance. On the other hand Jews gloried in the honour of
having the law.18
8.2. Trouble- tribulation is a strong word, with a meaning like pressure to the point of breaking; it is thus
used of dire calamity.
8.3. Distress the idea of being cramped for lack of space, and thus of extreme affliction.
8.4. Paul tells us is for every human being who does evil.
8.5. The combination of Jew and “Greek” here embraces the whole of mankind.19
9. ON VERSE 12-13: For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who
have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
9.1. Those who sin suffer the consequences, whether they know the law or not. Apart from the law renders
an adverb that is found twice in this verse and nowhere else in the New Testament.
9.2. without having the law”. Paul is speaking of people outside Israel who do not know the law that God
has revealed to his ancient people.20
9.3. Sproul, R. C.: It is not the hearers of the law who will be declared righteous before God, but the doers
of the law.21
10. ON VERSE 14-16: For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they
are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is
written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or
even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ
Jesus.
10.1. Sproul, R.C.: But pagans, who have never heard of the Old Testament, do display what is called
‘civil acts of virtue’ or civic righteousness. We find pagans with enough human morality to take care of
their children and to refrain from stealing. They don’t obey the whole of the law, for they don’t love
God with all their hearts and all their minds and all their souls. But this partial obedience reveals that
there is a certain sense in which the law is written in their hearts.
10.2. Here we have the classical location in the New Testament for the apostolic teaching of some sort
of natural law. Every human being has some moral sense, some light of nature, by which he is able to
distinguish right and wrong. Even the secular philosopher, Immanuel Kant, went to great pains to prove

17 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 51). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
18 Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 93).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
19 Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 119–120). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
20 Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 121–122). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
21 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 52). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
 this point, that there is a sense of rightness in the breast of every human being. Human behavioral
patterns, no matter how primitive the culture, bear witness to the fact that man is born with some sense
of moral awareness. We all have some built-in understanding of what is right and what is wrong. God
gives us that innate or inward knowledge of morality.22

22 Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 53). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.