Romans 2:1-11 – God is impartial

There are two truths that we need to bear in mind as we reflect on these verses. First, we need to know that God is perfectly holy; second that human is utterly sinful. God is unlike man. He knows everything and He judges impartially. Man is sinful and by his sin, he has distorted the image of God that he was made to represent. So in verse 1, Paul introduced a kind of conversation with an imaginary opponent. It is as if he was having a conversation with that opponent who would ask a question or state an objection, then he would answer that question or objection.

In the first four verses, Paul imagined the moralists, the people who think that they are good, objecting to all that he had said about God’s wrath. A moralist would think of himself as separated from the rest. He would judge others but fail to examine himself. Very likely Paul was thinking of the Jews who felt that they were immune to God’s wrath, by virtue of their relationship with God. They were the moralists who felt that they were above the rest and would begin to point an accusing finger at others for their sins. Paul here tells them they have no excuse and they would be judged by God. Why? For they accused others but were themselves doing the very thing they condemned. They should not suppose that God would bypass them in judgment, when they were no different from the people they were accusing.

Moralists are unusually self-righteous. They fail to see the extent of sin and are oblivious to their own sins. Hence they can be extremely critical. And even if they side with God in condemning others, they will condemning themselves for they practice those same things they condemned. Paul wanted these moralists not to take the grace of God lightly. God had been kind, tolerant and patient, only so that they could see His goodness and repent from their sin. God sees and knows everything. He knows man’s real intention behind every spoken word and every deed. Regardless of how upright one may think himself to be, without Christ he is doomed.

Verses 5-11, Paul set out to show that God is impartial in His judgment. Everyone, moralists as well as the rest, will be judged. So long as one is stubbornly unrepentant, he would be storing up wrath for himself in God’s final accounting. Here we are told that God will measure everyone according to his works. Did Paul contradict himself? One moment he was saying that only faith would save and here he seemed to say that man would be judged according to their deeds? So what was he saying? Paul had quoted Psalms 62:12 and proverbs 24:12 and his point is this: whether there is faith or not in our life, our works or deeds will reveal them.  

So we see the two aspects of God. He is not only righteous but He is also impartial. They are like the flip sides of a coin. There is a day coming when everyone will be called to give an account of his life and works. The judge would be impartial and would reward accordingly. Knowing that there’s a coming judgment should help us, believers, to be more authentic in our faith journey.