Romans 2:1-6 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds.” (Psalm 62:12)
There will come a day when God will judge the living and the dead by the Man Christ Jesus—“according to truth.” I believe that He is the Lawgiver from Sinai and the Judge. So, we have no business judging. “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” (James 4:12) We are fallen without full knowledge, therefore, do not do it.
Absolom and Shimei and others of Israel wrongly judged King David as unfit to continue to be the king of Israel. Yes, David had committed the gross atrocities of adultery and murder, but what his accusers did not understand is that King David had truly confessed those sins to Yahweh and forsaken them. You can read of it in Psalm 51. And Yahweh His God had forgiven him. And he was still Yahweh’s anointed king of Israel—a man after His own heart.
So it happened that Absalom, his son, set up shop at the gate of the city. When people came to the King to settle disputes, Absalom would meet them at the gate to judge their cases. But instead of righteous judgment, he resorted to lies and flattery. He told them what they wanted to hear... and took their hands and kiss them… and “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” (2 Sam15:4-6) Eventually, King David and his men had to flee from Jerusalem for their lives. On the way, a man named Shimei came out along the road cursing them and throwing stones at them. Shimei cried out to the King saying: "Come out! Come out! You bloodthirsty man, you rogue! You see the LORD has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son. So now you are caught in your own evil, because you are a bloodthirsty man!" The king’s men reacted naturally. They wanted to take off his head for it. But King David was not sure that this rebellion was not of God. He defended the man saying: “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the LORD has said to him, 'Curse David.' Who then shall say, 'Why have you done so?'” (2 Sam 16:5-14) This is godly humility. He decided to see how it played out-- to see if Shimei was in actuality a prophet of Yahweh God, or not. For the record, he was not. David returned.
We are not to execute judgment because we do not have all the facts. We have not walked in the other person’s shoes nor do we access to their private communion. Should Kent Brantly and the other medical personnel of Samaritan’s Purse have gone to Liberia and put themselves in harms way. I don’t know. I am fallen. And I am not their lord.
God will render to each according to their deeds was a quoted from King David in Psalm 62 while he was on the lamb, running from his enemies. This seems like a story of royalty, but let’s applies his story to you. Someone spreads rumor and lies about you and flatters your friends and steal their hearts by lies. You have been a victim of their wrong judgment and gossip and backbiting. And you have felt the blow of character assassination, and for this reason, you can you identify with David.
Even in his days as the enemy of King Saul, David had a humble and contrite heart. He always respected and safeguarded the righteous defenders of his lord the king, as well as the king himself.
Here David was righteous but he considered that his dilemmas might be the result of his sins. He felt that perhaps there was some truth to the charges brought against him. We would do well to heed his example in dealing with others who profess the name of Christ, but criticize our ministry. David called out to the LORD about his troubles. Here are some excerpts with comments added
"Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved. How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his high position; they delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah (pause and mediate on this!)” (Psalm 62:1-4) Adam Clarke meditates on Truly my soul waiteth upon God and concluded that it is better rendered "Surely to God only is my soul dumb." In other words, "I am subject to God Almighty. He has a right to lay on me what he pleases; and what he lays on me is much less than I deserve: therefore am I dumb before God." Still he reminds his enemies of the end-time judgment and confronts them with their pride and hypocrisy: You consult to cast Him down from His high position [as our Judge, Lawgiver and King]; you delight in lies; you bless with your mouth, but you curse inwardly.
“My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Psalm 62:5-8) Again, he says: "Surely to God only is my soul dumb." But this time he praises the God-Who-Sees (Gen 16:13)… and inhabits the praises of Israel. (Ps 22:3)
“Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; if they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor. Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God. Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; for YOU RENDER TO EACH ONE ACCORDING TO HIS WORK.” (Psalm 62:9-12) Again, David always held his righteous enemies in high regard—even protecting them, but he speaks to the wicked—to those who render wrong judgment. He calls them men of low degree (which is literally sons of Adam). He says that they are a vapor; and even men of high degree (in the eyes of man) are lighter than vapor. They hope in vain oppression of him and have robbed him of the praises of men. God says: do not set your heart on these stolen riches. The hearts that you stole will eventually turn on you. Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; for You render to each one according to his work…. David is saying: Yahweh—the one among many imagined gods—of power or strength is the one that I am addressing. He is the only true God—the God of checed or mercy… and through Him is power and strength. He will “render to each one according to his works.”
Matthew 16:27 affirms it is indeed Jesus— the Son of man— who will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. [Jesus will render]… “eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness— [Jesus will render] indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” (Rom 2:6b-11)
Romans 2:12-16 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34), their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
The English word “Law” is used to translate the Greek work “Nomos” here. By it, most narrow the meaning to Commandments only—a specific Torah given to Moses on Mount Sinai, which is the basis of the Old and New Covenants. Yet some, including me, do not go along with this restriction of the word. The Word Torah in the New Covenant-- …. When the Jews translated the First Covenant Hebrew into Greek in the Septuagint they had to choose a Greek word which was closest in meaning to the Hebrew word Torah. Unfortunately there was no exact word to match the meaning of the concept of the Torah. The only Greek word that came close was "nomos"… When the New Covenant writers wrote the New Covenant, they continued to use the Greek word ‘nomos’ for the Hebrew word Torah. Let us compare the Old and New Covenant uses of these two words… When the word nomos was translated into English, it was translated as ‘law’. We could say that the original meaning of Torah has been ‘lost in the translation’” http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/holyassembly/chapter12.html Nomos or Torah is the complete teaching of the Bible revealing the Creation, the Fall and the need and work of the Redeemer.
Paul taught: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My Law [‘Nomos’ in Greek and ‘Torah’ in Hebrew] in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’(Jeremiah 31:31-34) In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Heb 8:7-13)
For as many as have sinned without Torah will also perish without Torah… If this were not the case, the best thing that we could do for savages living in the remote areas of the world is to stay out with our Bibles. Then they would have no occasion to stumble. But we know that they will be condemned too.
and as many as have sinned in the Torah will be judged by the Torah for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified… Some aspire to be religious—to keep the moral code of the Ten Commandments and / or do other good deeds, like keeping a kosher home. There are, according to experts, 613 commands of the LORD and many man-made traditions based on different parts of Torah. These will likewise perish without Jesus. For Jesus said “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.” (John 12:47-48) He taught as no other man- as one with authority and made the Way of life manifest for all who desire to find it. Let us not only seek Jesus, but seek to have the faith of Jesus. If He is our Savior let us take His side on matters of doctrine.
for when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah, by nature do the things in the Torah these, although not having Torah, … "It has been traditional for our English versions of Rom 2:14 to translate this verse something like what occurs in the ESV: 'For when the 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.' Significantly the phrase translated as by nature is taken as qualifying the verb that follows it. Following this translation, the idea is that Gentiles can naturally do some of the things that the law of God requires. From this has developed the idea that Paul is talking here about moral pagans. BUT THE PHRASE BY NATURE CAN ALSO BE TAKEN AS QUALIFYING THE VERB THAT PRECEDES. In this case it should be translated as: 'For when the Gentiles, who by nature do not have the law, do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.' The idea in this case is not the idea that Gentiles can naturally do morally good things, but rather that Gentiles naturally do not have the law, i.e., the Gentiles, because they are Gentiles and not Jews, do not possess the law of Moses." http://berithroad.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-gentiles-do-by-nature-romans-2-14.html?m=1
are a Torah to themselves, who show the work of Torah written in their hearts… this is a reference to Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the promise of Jesus to His followers in the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 8 verses 7-13.
their conscience also bearing witness… “Some things are right, and some things are wrong, within themselves. If a man never had revelation from God, he would know that it was wrong to murder his fellow man, or to rob him of his possessions, or in any way to infringe on his rights. Cain sinned in killing his brother and felt his guilt, though we have no record that God had told him not to kill. God’s moral law is the same to all nations…. they [the Gentiles] did have an idea of right and wrong (1988, p. 57).” (Robertson Whiteside)
and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them ... Human reasoning is a risky barometer of belief or practice.
in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel… “Anyone who has a picture of Christ which does not include Him as Judge of the earth is laboring under a serious misrepresentation of the true identity of the Savior. The babe in the manger, the healer of the sick, the One who welcomed the children, the teacher of parables, the silent prisoner of the judgment hall, the pitiful victim on the Via Dolorosa, the agonizing sacrifice on the cross, the resplendent Lord in the garden, the triumphant leader in the Upper Room—all are pictures of a Lord that, in one form or another, appeal to the human heart. But Jesus as Judge is foreign to many. Yet it should not be, because He repeatedly announced His own Judgeship during the days of His ministry…. His insight into human nature was such that ‘He knew what was in man.’ (John 2:25) Nicodemus’s need was obvious to Him, the woman of Samaria’s condition was not hidden from Him, Judas’ dark schemings were clear to Him, Peter’s twisted loyalties were uncomplicated to Him—He truly knew what was in man. Yet this knowledge of man’s true nature was touched with a compassion which came from His deep empathy with man in all his struggles, for He, too, had lived and struggled, been tested and tried, and yet had never succumbed. He was Himself not only the ideal Judge, but He was in Himself the very standard by which the judgment should be made, in that He had fulfilled all the Law’s demands.” (D. Stuart Briscoe)
Rom 2:17-24 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the Law, and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the Law. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the Law, do you dishonor God through breaking the Law? for "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.
““Here Paul vividly pictures the Jew’s opportunities, and points out how even these did not bring the Jew to a life of obedience and fellowship with God. The failure of the Jew was the more conspicuous because of his privileges and confidence… He boasted in God. He knew God’s will…. He… was instructed in the Law [Torah]. He had heard the rabbis discuss the crucial points.” [Wycliffe Bible Commentary]
“HOWEVER, man’s righteousness does not result from possessing the Law; it comes from practicing the Law. So Paul turns the tables on his audience when he writes, ‘You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?’ (Rom 2:21-22).” (Bob Deffinbaugh)
…For "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written…. This quotation from Isaiah 52:5 was a reference to the fact that during the Babylonian exile of the Jews the humiliation of the nation, Israel, was such that the Gentiles mocked their God, Whom they thought was unable to deliver His people.” (Bob Deffinbaugh) LIKEWISE IN THE CHURCH, some practice hypocrisy. “The most horrible effect of this, other than the fact that they’re deceived into thinking they’re Christians, is the fact that God’s name is being blasphemed because of them. The name above all names. The name by which every man, woman, and child will be saved. The name at which every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The name that is so holy to the Jews that they won’t even write it out. This name is being blasphemed because of those who call themselves Christians... [but aren't].” http://ateasetees.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/the-name-of-god-is-blasphemed-because-of-you/
Rom 2:25-29 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the Law; but if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the Law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
“It doesn’t matter if you do the rituals. That’s not what makes you a Jew. If you call yourself a Jew and transgress the Law, you are no better than a Gentile. But the one who has had his heart circumcised by the Spirit is a Jew. Someone who calls themselves a Christian and does all the outward things to ‘prove’ they’re a Christian but doesn’t obey the gospel, isn’t a Christian at all.” http://ateasetees.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/the-name-of-god-is-blasphemed-because-of-you/
“There are many through the history of mankind who have regarded religion as primarily a matter of ceremony and ritual. The rite upon which the Jew rested his standing before God was circumcision. This rite will be fully discussed by Paul in chapter 4, but here Paul makes the point that circumcision is an outward act which symbolizes some inward reality. The rite has no value without the reality. Circumcision was the sign of the Old Testament covenant between God and His people. The covenant obligations of the Jew were prescribed by the Law. But in failing to keep the Law the Jews indicated their rejection of the covenant, and thus the rite of circumcision was a meaningless act…” (Bob Deffinbaugh) The LORD said: “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the Word of the LORD is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” (Jer 6:10)
The heart kind of circumcision has always mattered most: “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised-- Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.” (Jer 9:25-26) MOSES ALSO BECKONED FOR THE HEART KIND: “Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer”. (Deut 10:14-16)
An Messianic Jew testified: “I have heard many times over the years of people who have suddenly had their eyes and ears opened by God after decades of studying the Scripture. Those people all seem to have the same basic message: ‘I have a brand new Bible.’ I had a similar experience when I was a University student. One day as I sat in my dorm room I picked up the Scripture and inexplicably found that I was engrossed and could not put it down. Suddenly layers and depths of meaning began to make sense and I somehow knew that what I was reading was true... but more than that... a strange familiarity came over me and I knew that this was my destiny; that this was not a story about someone else's life that took place thousands of years ago, but rather the story, still ongoing, of my own life. It was glorious! I may have held the Scriptures in my hand that day, but really, in a far distant place, I touched the living God (He touched me). I must not approach the living God and His utterances as mere literature …” scripturesongs.net/misc/The_Utterances_of_God.pdf It is the very Word of God.
Jesus confronted one woman who was religious, but had no regard for the moral code given to Moses. In John 49-30:
“Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.