Romans Chapter 2
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. Rom 2:1
Paul is addressing what modern psychology calls projection.
Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another.
As we discussed in What is in Man Jesus understood the nature of all mankind according to the flesh. As much as we like to talk about all human beings beings made in the image of God, that image applied universally to Adam and Eve. Everyone who came after was a corrupted mutation of that image. But to all who did receive him (Jesus) who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 Hence all believers are works in progress on our way to becoming fully conformed to the image of God. Rom 8:29
What Jesus knew is in Man is the culmination of Romans chapter one.
every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice, gossip, slanderer, insolence, arrogance and boasting; invented ways of doing evil; the lack of understanding, fidelity, love, and mercy (as in man). Not only do they continue to do these things but they approve of (and commiserate with) those who practice them. Rom 1:29-32
It is so very important to understand that our redemption by the blood of Jesus is not a license to sin. The law and the standard for holiness has not change.
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Mat 5:8
Many believers mistake Jesus’ last words “It is finished!” John 19:30 for all is accomplished. It is finished in Greek is tetelestai from teléō. Perhaps the best analogous context is a business transaction where a debt is paid in full. Jesus was the final blood sacrifice that paid for all sin. All is accomplished in Revelation 19-22. All means the restoration of All God’s creation to its original status before the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Victory over sin and death is just the beginning. The indwelling of Holy Spirit is a down payment toward our full inheritance. Eph 1:14
The main error that Paul exposes in the first three chapters of Romans is one of overvaluation of identity. The Jews saw themselves as righteous by way of their Jewish bloodline. Some gentile believers regarded their newfound born-again status, or their identity, as won and done. The fruit of this error can be seen in Martin Luther’s proclamation, “Love God, sin boldly.” Jesus died for all my sins so I don’t need to worry about sin. Right?
Wrong!
…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? Rom 2:4
The riches of His kindness made possible by the Cross, are what allow us to come boldly to the throne of grace. Heb 4:16 And to be forgiven provided we confess our sins. 1 John 1:9 Those who simply take the cross of Jesus for granted and minimize or justify instead of rectifying their sins and failures through confession and repentance are hypocrites.
The Jews thought they were righteous because they had the law. Apparently like today, many Jewish and gentile believers thought hearing the law, e.g. going to church and claiming to believe what they heard made them righteous. Paul made it clear that
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Rom 2:13
While we are not exempt from doing what the law says, we do it His help.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:14-16
At the end of the day, God is most concerned with the intentions of our hearts. Those intentions are defined by our actions.
For a righteous man may fall seven times
And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him. Prov 24:16-18
Paul continues to reinforce the theme of projection and resulting hypocrisy throughout the chapter with a discussion of circumcision.
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. Rom 2:25
Similar to baptism for believers, circumcision was an outward expression of an inward commitment. While it might be tempting to focus on Paul’s seeming emphasis on distinctions between Jew and Gentile, it’s really not the point. Not at this point anyway. Once again, Paul is writing to the church in Rome. Hence he is speaking to both Jewish and Gentile believers. The message for contemporary believers remains the same. Pursue righteousness by doing what is written to the best of your ability with God’s help. Let us not redact scripture to fit the lifestyle we want to lead. Don’t be a hypocrite.
The most sobering verse in Romans 2 is
You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Rom 2:23-24
We constantly hear people justify sin, be it theirs or the sins of others in the name of grace because they errantly believe that the law is irrelevant because Jesus fulfilled it. Hence
love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Pet 4:8
Love is the crucifixion of Jesus that resulted in our justification, not our justifications that demand tolerance for our sins. This is Paul’s point when he says ...God’s kindness is meant to lead (us) to repentance…in Rom2:4
While church leaders and especially teachers are subject stricter qualifications and standards, 1 Tim 3, James 3 Every believer impacts someone.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For temptations must come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! Mat 18:5-7
The word for sin and temptation here is skándalon– a trap. However, the trap here includes leading by wrong example. A person consumed by sexual sin and yet claims to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ falls into the catagory of Romans 1:32.
Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
These are the ones by whom “The name of God is blasphemed (among unbelievers)” Rom 2:23-24
The very idea of covering up or making lite of our or another person’s blatant sin is neither righteous nor loving.
But then here is where projection can make a proverbial twist. Sometimes people errantly give what appears to be grace. We may assume their intentions are pure. They simply misunderstand the nature and purpose of grace. “They‘re just nice,” we say. When in fact they are reticent to call out and expose worthless deeds of darkness Eph 5:11 because they are guilty of the same sins. …You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Rom 2:21 A contemporary twist is; if I commit adultery; do I excuse adultery because I am guilty of the same thing? In covering up the sin of another with what I term love and grace; do I hope the same sins will be covered up for me?
There is no end to how those with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom will twist God’s word to justify their behavior and the behavior of those whom they are afraid to confront. If this is how a church body or a body within a body operates the end result will at best always be but a variation of what happened at IHOPKC and multiple other ministries over the last twenty years. In the end God is blasphemed and people reject Him because of our failures.
At the end of the day, the overarching theme in Romans 2 is simple. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. If we know what is right because we got it from scripture then we’d better be doing it. People are watching and looking to justify their unbelief by our actions. When we fail as we all do at times, then we’d best be ready to immediately confess and repent. Anything else makes us hypocrites. This is one reason why Paul said, leaders must be above reproach. 1 Tim 3 And James said, not many of you should become teachers, James 3:1
Woe to the hypocrites. Mat 23
If you are reading this and asking “Where is the love?”, consider the possibility that you have a deficient understanding of love. Why is Paul so hard? Because
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Prov 9:10
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Ecc 12:13-14
The love of God can not be understood apart from the fear of God, His goodness apart from His severity.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Rom 11:22
So often any mention of the fear of God, His law, and the pursuit of holiness is dismissed as “religious”. Within the charasmatic stream, the word religion has become a pejorative. The implication is that Jesus was only hard on the religious people. We are “Spirit Filled”. For the record “religion” is from the Latin Relegere to reread and Religare to bind fast, an obligation, a bond between man and God. In a nutshell, being religious means are who we say we are, and we do what we are supposed to do regardless of who we are with. Being Spirit filled means we have the power to walk in integrity. Integrity is a fruit of being unspotted from the world. James 1:27 Among other things, our religion should produce integrity.