Summary:Judging other people for sins doesn’t absolve you from guilt for your own sins (2:1-3). God’s patience and tolerance with sin is intended to produce repentance, not comfort and complacency (2:4-5). God judges people based upon their actions. Because of that, we all fail to pass His judgment (2:6-10).
2:1-3
1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?
The NIV’s wording for vv. 1-3 is a little clunky. More literal wording would be:
“1 So all of you who judge are inexcusable. You condemn yourself by doing the things for which you judge other people! 2 We know God’s judgment falls upon people who do these things according to truth. 3 So if others don't escape your judgement for doing these things - and yet do them too - do you think you will escape God’s judgment?” Or you can go with The Message Bible’s paraphrase in verse 1: “
It takes one to know one!”
V. 1, By this point in the letter the Jews in the audience were probably yelling “preach it, brother!” because 1:20-32 primarily addressed Gentile-like sins. So Paul turns to the Jewish believers - the accusers who are passing judgment on these Gentiles. Their judgment is inexcusable, and they are self-condemned, because they do the very same things they berate the Gentles for doing.
V. 2, God judges those Gentiles for their sins, but His judgment is based upon the truth of who He is. When God is the standard, truth is objective. So He is right in using Himself as the standard by which to judge them. After all, He created them.
Remember that back in 1:16-18, Paul began his discussion of the Good News by discussing God’s wrath. He contrasted “A righteousness from God is revealed” (1:17) and “The wrath of God is being revealed” (1:18).
We observed there that God’s wrath and judgment are indeed Good News.But it is important to me that I know how to present it to others as good news - to draw people to God rather than push them away from Him. So I asked myself a few questions as I worked through these verses:
Q: If a perfectly holy God didn’t judge people, what would that imply about their actions?
A: That what they do has no ultimate value.
Q: If peoples’ actions had no ultimate value, what would that say about their lives?
A: That they have no real meaning or purpose
Q: So what does God’s judgment of people say about peoples’ lives?
A: That people are meaningful and important
Q: So imagine you spend your ministry minimizing peoples’ sins, avoiding teaching about God’s judgment, embracing tolerance, treating everything as gray, holding back from speaking firm truth so as to not offend people... in other words “freeing” people from accountability. Then what are you communicating?
A: That those people have no meaning or value. That their lives are unimportant and empty.
How can we effectively preach God’s judgment as part of the Good News? What does it look like to speak the truth about God’s judgment in love, with a humble spirit, in a way that moves a person toward God?
Our message must show that peoples' actions have incredible value because the creator of the universe cares enough to judge them. If they had no value, He wouldn’t care what they did. God’s judgment gives their lives meaning and purpose. What they do matters. Their existence is significant. And if the creator values what they do, He must also highly value who they are. That’s Great News!
Evangelists who avoid the topics of wrath and judgment when they speak with unbelievers actually subject them to lives of meaninglessness and emptiness - prompting them to find meaning and value in the creation rather than the Creator.
2:4-5
4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
V.4, A thinking person might look around and say “OK, so I see that there is sin in this world. But it’s really not all that bad of a place to live. I kind of like here! If this is God’s judgment, I can handle it.”
But Paul warns here that what they see around them is God’s tolerance, not His judgement. His patience. His kindness.
He’s trying to lead people to repentance through that patience.
V.5, Stubbornly remaining unrepentant in the face of God’s patience is equal to showing contempt for Him. Those who do so earn His wrath.
Some believe Love and Wrath can’t coexist. But God
is Love, and judgment is a necessary part of His love because He is holy. God doesn’t only care enough about us to judge us, He cares enough to restrain His judgment so that we may repent and be saved from it.
But although He’s chosen not to reveal His full wrath for now, the day of wrath will come.
Note the interesting statement in this verse that God’s wrath and judgment also reveal His righteousness! That is a holy paradox. Vv. 6-10
6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done." 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
V. 6, So upon what basis does God judge man? Actions. What else could it be? He’s judging sin after all.
Paul quoted
Psalm 67:2: “
You, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.” These verses have been misapplied to say that
salvation is by works, but that isn’t the case. Judgment and wrath are according to works, but salvation isn’t. If it were, no one could be saved.
And that’s exactly Paul’s point in the full context:
Everyone qualifies for God’s judgment, but no one qualifies for God's salvation. Paul is masterfully building a feeling of doom and hopelessness so he can offer a radical solution through grace.
Vv.7-8, Verse 8 should be translated “
There will be wrath and anger for those who promote themselves (by refusing to be persuaded by truth).”
These two verses show a critical contrast between seeking God and seeking self:
- Eternal life will come to people who seek glory, honor, and immortality by doing good.
- Wrath and anger will come to people who seek self by rejecting truth and following evil.
As a consequence...
Vv. 9-10, Evildoers will experience trouble and distress. Good-doers will experience the glory, honor, and peace they’ve been looking for.
These promises of both wrath and salvation apply to the Jew first, then the Gentile.
Paul already set this up in
Romans 1:16, where he said the good news is “
the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
His message is that
- Jews who persistently reject God’s righteousness will experience God’s wrath along with Gentiles,
and also that
- Gentiles who accept God’s righteousness will be saved along with Jews.
Ultimately he’s saying to the Jews, “Instead of looking down on the sins of the Gentiles and judging them, examine your own life. Are you self-seeking? Are you self-promoting? If so, you’ve got nothing on the Gentiles. Just as God saved you first, His wrath will also come to you first.”
