Romans 2:1 - Meaning and Application

In the last chapter, the apostle had shown the Gentile world to be deeply sinful, just as the Jews were ready to say. Now he means to show that the Jews were also very bad, and in some ways even more guilty. So, to prepare the way, he first makes clear that God will judge Jews and Gentiles by the same just standard, not with the partial favor the Jews expected.

He first charges them with their habit of criticizing others and feeling superior: “You are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge” (Romans 2:1). Paul speaks in general terms, so this warning can reach many people, especially those who set themselves up as judges of others, no matter their nation or role. But he is aiming especially at the Jews. They often looked down on the Gentiles with pride and contempt, while they themselves were guilty of serious sin too. If the Gentiles, who had only the light of nature, were without excuse (Romans 1:20), then the Jews were even more so, because they had the light of God’s law, his revealed will.

Paul then stresses the steady justice of God’s rule, in verses 2 and 3. God’s judgment is according to truth, that is, according to the eternal rules of right and fairness, according to the heart and not outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7), and according to works, not favoritism. This is something we already know, because God would not be God if he were not just. But it especially matters for those who condemn others for the very things they do themselves, as if speaking against sin could cancel out their own guilt. Paul presses this home to the conscience: “Do you think this, O man?” As a rational creature, dependent on God and accountable to him, can you really believe you will escape his judgment? The heart-searching God cannot be fooled by outward religion or clever excuses.

Next, Paul brings a charge against them in verses 4 and 5. First, they are treating lightly the goodness of God. This is especially true of the Jews, who had received special signs of God’s favor. God’s goodness, patience, and long-suffering are meant to lead sinners to repentance, not to make them bolder in sin. But many people do not stop to think about that. They miss the point that God’s kindness is meant to draw them to repentance, and that kindness is one of the main ways he leads people, not by force, but gently, like rational creatures, with bands of love (Hosea 2:14; Hosea 11:4; Jeremiah 31:3).

Second, they are provoking God’s wrath, or righteous anger against sin. This comes from a hard and unrepentant heart, and people ruin themselves by following such a heart. To sin in this way is to keep walking in the path the heart has chosen. When the heart has become hardened through long habit, the course of sin becomes desperate indeed. Paul says such people are “storing up wrath” for themselves. That means every willing sin adds to the account, and the punishment grows. It also suggests something hidden and reserved for later. God’s judgment may seem delayed now, but it is being kept for the day of wrath, when it will be poured out fully. This is the day when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed openly. God’s wrath is not a wild human temper, for he has no sinful passion in him (Isaiah 27:4). Rather, it is his holy and righteous decision to punish sin because he hates it. What is now hidden by the prosperity of sinners will one day be made clear before everyone. Then all apparent disorder will be set right, and the heavens will declare his righteousness (Psalm 50:6). So no one should judge before the time.

Paul then goes on to explain the rule by which God will judge.

After speaking of God’s righteous judgment in Romans 2:5, Paul now shows what that judgment looks like. He shows the fairness of it and explains what we can expect from God, and by what standard he will judge the world. Fair judgment means giving praise or blame according to what people deserve, without favoritism. That is the righteous judgment of God.

He will give to each person according to what he has done (Romans 2:6). Scripture often says this to prove that the Judge of all the earth always does what is right. God shows this fairness in two ways, in giving his rewards and in giving his warnings. He delights to show mercy, but he also judges rightly.

Those who receive his favor are described in a clear way. They are people who, by patient persistence, keep on doing what is good. This helps us test whether we truly belong to God’s favor, and it also shows us what kind of life leads to it. The righteous God rewards those who set the right goal for their lives, those who seek glory, honor, and immortality, that is, the lasting glory and honor that come from being accepted by God now and forever. There is a holy ambition at the heart of true religion. It means seeking God’s kingdom, aiming as high as heaven, and being unwilling to settle for anything less.

This seeking also includes a sense of loss, a desire to regain what was lost, and a steady effort that matches that desire. It also means holding to the right path after setting the right goal. There must be real good done, not just good knowledge, good words, good promises, or a good profession. We must do what is good, and we must do it in the right way. We must also keep doing it. It cannot be only for a short burst, like a morning cloud or early dew. We must endure to the end, because it is perseverance that wins the crown. And this patience is needed not only because the work takes time, but because it brings hardships, resistance, and opposition. Anyone who will do good and keep doing it must be patient.

The result of God’s favor is eternal life. Heaven is life, eternal life, and it is the reward of those who patiently continue in doing good. In Romans 2:10 it is called glory, honor, and peace. Those who seek glory and honor will receive them. People often chase the empty glory and honor of this world and end up disappointed. But those who seek the lasting glory and honor of heaven will receive them, and they will also receive peace. Earthly honor often brings trouble with it, but heavenly honor brings peace, undisturbed and lasting peace.

God’s warnings are for those who do evil. More especially, they are for those who are quarrelsome and who do not obey the truth. To be hostile toward God is to resist him. Every willful sin is a dispute with God, a fighting against our Maker (Isaiah 45:9). The Spirit of God works on sinners (Genesis 6:3), but stubborn sinners resist the Spirit, rebel against the light (Job 24:13), and hold tightly to deceit. They fight to keep the very sin the Spirit is trying to pull away from them. They are also those who do not obey the truth. The truths of religion are not only to be known, but obeyed. They direct, govern, and command us, because they are practical truths. Refusing to obey the truth is really a kind of fighting against it. Instead, such people obey unrighteousness and do whatever sin tells them to do. Those who will not be servants of truth soon become slaves of sin.

The result of God’s anger is indignation, wrath, trouble, and distress. These are the wages of sin. Indignation and wrath are the causes, and trouble and anguish are the needed and unavoidable effects. This falls on the soul, because the soul is the part of a person that directly receives this wrath and distress. Sin fits the soul for this judgment. Hell is endless trouble and anguish, the result of wrath and indignation. This is what comes from fighting against God, from placing briers and thorns before a consuming fire (Isaiah 27:4). Those who will not bow to his golden scepter will surely be broken by his iron rod. In this way God will give to each person according to his deeds.

There is no favoritism with God (Romans 2:11). In spiritual matters, there is a kind of difference between people, but not because of outward rank or condition. Jews and Gentiles stand on the same level before God. Peter said this when the wall of separation first began to come down, that God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34). He explained that in every nation, the person who fears God and does what is right is accepted by him. God does not save people because of outward privileges, or because they know and speak the truth in a barren way. He judges according to their real condition and their true heart. In both judgment and favor, this applies to both Jew and Gentile. The Jews had greater privileges and made a greater profession, so they were first. But the Gentiles are included too. Their lack of such privileges will not excuse their evil deeds, and it will not keep them out of the reward for good deeds (Colossians 3:11). Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Paul then proves that God’s way of judging is fair when he actually comes to judge people (Romans 2:12-16). The rule is this: whatever is the rule of a person’s obedience is also the rule of God’s judgment. God has given three kinds of light to human beings. First is the light of nature. The Gentiles have this light, and by it they will be judged. As many as sinned without the law will perish without the law. That means unbelieving Gentiles, who had only natural conscience to guide them and common blessings to move them, and who did not have Moses’ law or any special revelation, will not be held responsible for breaking a law they never received. They will not be judged by the same measure as the Jews, who sinned against the written law. Instead, they will be judged by the law of nature, according to how they sinned against it. This law is present in their hearts, though it is corrupted, weakened, and held down by unrighteousness. Yet it still exists in its pure original form with the Judge.

Paul makes this clearer in Romans 2:14-15, where he explains that the light of nature served the Gentiles in place of a written law. He had said in Romans 2:12 that they sinned without law, which seems puzzling, because where there is no law there is no transgression. But although they did not have the written law (Psalm 147:20), they did have what was equal to it, not the ceremonial law, but the moral law. They had the work of the law.

By “the work of the law,” Paul does not mean the kind of obedience that people could keep perfectly. He means what the law does: it tells us what we ought to do, and it examines what we have done. The law gives direction, and it also acts like a test.

Gentiles, or non-Jews, had some of this light through nature itself. By the power of their natural sense, they knew there was a real difference between good and evil. In that way, they did by nature the things the law commands. They had some sense of justice, fairness, honor, purity, love, and kindness. Natural reason also taught them to obey parents, care for the suffering, preserve public peace and order, and avoid murder, stealing, lying, and perjury. In that sense, they were a law to themselves.

They also had something inside them that judged what they did. Their conscience bore witness. It approved what was right and blamed what was wrong. Conscience is a witness, and sooner or later it will speak, even if for a time it is bribed or pushed down. It stands in for many witnesses, because it speaks about what is most secret. Their thoughts also accused or excused them, as their conscience applied the law to their actions.

Paul says this showed that the Gentiles had a real rule to guide them, and they will be condemned because they did not follow it. So they are left without excuse. God is right to judge them. They cannot claim ignorance, and that leaves them in danger of judgment unless they have some other plea.

Then Paul turns to the Jews, who had the light of the written law. They sinned under the law, not just while having it, but in the very presence of clear and full instruction. Its commands were detailed, and its warnings were strong. Because they had the law, their guilt was greater, not smaller. So although they were first in privilege, they are also first in accountability.

This is why Moses himself stands against them (John 5:45). Jesus also taught that the servant who knows his master’s will and does not do it will receive more lashes (Luke 12:47). The Jews valued the law highly, but Paul says that hearing it or knowing it would not make them right with God. Only doing it would. Their teachers tried to assure them that every Jew, no matter how he lived, would have a place in the world to come. Paul rejects that idea. The law was a great gift, but not a saving gift unless they lived by it, and they did not. So they needed a righteousness that could stand before God.

We can apply the same lesson to the gospel. It is not hearing only, but doing, that saves (John 13:17; James 1:22). Those who live under the gospel will be judged according to it. Paul calls it “my gospel,” not as though he had written a different gospel, but because he preached the gospel in general as Christ’s messenger. Everyone under that message will be judged by that standard (Mark 16:16).

Paul also teaches us what the day of judgment will be like. There is a day set for a general judgment, the great day that is coming (Psalm 37:13). On that day, God will judge by Jesus Christ (Acts 17:31). This is part of Christ’s reward for his humility. Nothing brings more fear to sinners, or more comfort to believers, than the truth that Christ himself will be the Judge. Then the secrets of people’s hearts will be examined. Hidden service will be rewarded, hidden sin will be punished, and things now done in secret will be brought into the open.