Romans 2. God’s Righteous Judgment. 

1. How do Romans 2:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 compare? Verses 1-3. 

   1. This word “judge” or “appraise” in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 comes from the Greek word anakrinó, which means to examine or inquire into. The word “judge” in Romans 2:1-3 comes from the shorter Greek word krinó. This is the same Greek word used in Matthew 7:1-5 and it refers to the decision of a judge in a court of law. In both cases Paul and Matthew use it to refer to condemning others for their sins being idiotic because in doing so we also condemn ourselves, for we practice the same things. Only God can judge the soul as only He is holy. 

   2. Though we may not sin in the exact same way as another, all sin falls into one of three main categories listed in 1 John 2:15-17, therefore we “practice the same things” as others. This is also how we are to understand how Jesus was “tempted in every way” as we are as it is written in Hebrews 4:14-16. Not that He was tempted in every single individual scenario that we will face, rather that He faced temptations from all three categories as we do. 

1. The Lust/Desires of the Flesh. 

   1. The desire to please ourselves rather than to please God. Hunger propels us to find food and eating is not a sin in and of itself, but when hunger becomes a lust for food it turns into gluttony. When natural sexual desires become perverse they lead to homosexuality, adultery, fornication, and other sexually related sins. These are all lusts of the flesh. 

   2. Examples in Scripture include when Satan tempted Jesus with hunger after He had fasted for forty days and 40 nights in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-4). Also, when Samson was tempted to simp for Delilah and ended up being captured (Judges 16). Another example is when David saw Bathsheba bathing and had her brought to him and sent her husband Uriah off to war to be killed so that he might take her as his wife (2 Samuel 11). 

   3. Where do you see the lust of the flesh in your life? What must we do about it? 

2. The Lust/Desires of the Eyes. 

   1. The desire to possess what we see or to have things that have visual appeal. This can be seen in a coveting of money, possessions, or other physical things. John emphasizes that these things will pass away, but life with God will not. Read Ecclesiastes for a better understanding of where John is coming from here. 

   2. Examples in Scripture include Eve looking at the forbidden fruit and seeing that it was “pleasing to the eye” (Genesis 3:6). Satan tried to use this same method on Jesus by showing him “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (Matthew 4:8). 

   3. Where do you see the lust of the eyes in your life? What must we do about it? 

3. The Pride of Life. 

   1. The desire in every human being to be his or her own god. This comes from a love of the world and anything that is of the world. In other words, anything that leads to arrogance, ostentation, pride in self, presumption, and boasting.

   2. Examples in Scripture include Eve desiring to be like God and eating of the forbidden fruit, rather than being content and living in a perfect world under God’s perfect grace and care for her (Genesis 3). Also, when Christ was tempted in the wilderness by Satan to cast Himself from the roof of the Temple in order to prove that He was the Messiah by such an ostentatious showing of power that was not in the will of God for the redemption of mankind (Matthew 4:5-7). 

   3. Where do you see the pride of life in your life? What must we do about it? 

2. Is everyone punished the same in hell? Verses 4-5. 

   1. Let’s read a few sets of verses.

      1. Luke 12:35-48. Points to greater or lesser torment in hell. 

      2. Matthew 10:15 and Matthew 11:21-22. More or less bearable signifies greater or lesser suffering. 

      3. This relates to Revelation 3:15-16 in how “lukewarm Christians” will be judged more harshly than those who are either hot or cold. The cities referenced in the verses from Matthew both witnessed Jesus and saw the gospel right in front of them yet they still did not believe. 

      4. Romans 2:4-5. The word for storing up in Greek is thésaurizó. This is the same word Jesus uses in Matthew 6:20 in reference to storing up treasures in heaven. However, in this case it refers to storing up punishment in hell. 

      5. James 3:1. Those in positions of teaching will be judged more harshly due to their increased responsibility. 

      6. Numbers 15:27-31. Different sins required different sacrifices in the OT. 

      7. Different sins were punished differently in the OT and even are today. 

         1. See Exodus 20-23 for many examples of this, but to name a few…

            1. The punishment for kidnapping was death (Exodus 21:16), whereas the punishment for stealing livestock was to restore more than what was taken (Exodus 22:1). 

            2. The principle of lex talionis in Latin meaning “law of retaliation” is found in Exodus 21:23-25. This was to set the standard of having punishment be equivalent to the sin, as most would over-retaliate against others who wronged them. Clearly, not all sins are equivalent, otherwise this principle would not have needed to be put in place. 

   2. To read more about hell, visit this link: 10 The Doctrine of Hell.pdf.

3. How will we be judged in the end? Verses 6-8. 

   1. For salvation, we will be judged on either our works or the works of Christ. However, we know that unless we repent and believe in the gospel of Christ crucified we have no hope to escape the wrath of God and be with our Lord, for all have sinned (Romans 3:23) and are morally incapable of doing anything other than sinning until they are saved and given a new heart by God (8:7-8). 

   2. For eternal rewards or punishment, we will be judged on our own works. Christ saves us from condemnation, but works still play a role in what we receive in either heaven or hell. As we just discussed, not all will be punished the same in hell. Similarly, not all will be rewarded the same in heaven. Jesus tells us to store up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). 

      1. To read more about heaven, visit this link: 11 The Doctrine of Heaven.pdf. 

4. How does Romans 2:9-10 compare with Romans 1:16? Why does God’s punishment come first to the Jew, then to the Gentile? Verses 9-10. 

   1. The Jews were God’s chosen people (here we are speaking of ethnic Israel, not spiritual Israel), God had given them far more spiritual light than the Gentiles. Therefore, they had far more of an opportunity to repent and believe in the Savior to come than the Gentiles did, yet many did not. 

5. If not all are judged equally as seen in the previous question, then what does it mean that God shows no partiality? Verse 11. 

   1. The Lord holds all people to the same standard, His moral perfection, no matter their ethnicity. However, this does not mean that He doesn’t judge some harsher than others due to other reasons such as their positions in ministry, sins, etc. 

   2. God will not judge the Jews harsher because they are Jewish, He will judge them harsher because they have received greater spiritual light. The same goes for anyone who has received more spiritual light yet still does not repent and believe. 

6. What about those who have never heard the gospel? Are they still responsible for their sins? Will they be judged by God’s righteous standard or by some other means, such as a level of human morality from the people group they are in or how well they obeyed their own beliefs? Verses 12-16. 

   1. All will be judged by the standard of God’s moral perfection. In the last chapter we talked about how nobody will have any excuse for why they rejected the truth of God. He has made His existence known through general revelation both in creation and in the form of a conscience. 

   2. Logically speaking, why would we evangelize if people had to both hear and reject the gospel to go to hell? If that were the case then we would not evangelize. In fact, it would be worse to evangelize than to hide the gospel, for if it were hidden nobody would be able to reject it and therefore all would go to heaven. This line of thinking, while seemingly fair from our human perspective, is incredibly dangerous to the progression of the gospel among the nations.

7. The previous points were originally written in a manner that either skipped over a beautiful exegetical opportunity or with the assumption that v. 14-15 is referring to unregenerate Gentiles. The information in the points remains correct, however I believe it relates more with Chapter 1 than the passage we are now on. After further inspection of the passage with friends, I came across some beautiful truths that oppose a common teaching that stems from the Reformation era about the law of God being written on the hearts of men. This investigation was sparked when a friend texted me the question: 

   1. Is Romans 2:14-15 speaking of regenerate or unregenerate Gentiles? 

      1. How do you support your view and what follow up questions does this lead to? Below I summarize my thought process. 

8. Is the law of God written on the hearts of all men or only the regenerate?

   1. God’s law being written on a man’s heart shows that he is part of the New Covenant (NC) and therefore regenerate (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:8-12). 

   2. From this, it’s clear that God’s law is not written on the heart of every man. The Greek used in Romans 2 and Hebrews 8 are basically identical. Also, everywhere else in Scripture the law of God being written on the heart of a man is only used in reference to someone who is regenerate (100). 

9. Is there a difference between the conscience of a man and the law of God being written on his heart? If the law of God is not written on the hearts of the unregenerate, why do all men have some understanding of what is actually good? 

   1. Yes, Paul differentiates the two in v. 15. Every human has a conscience (Gk. suneidésis) because every human is made in the image of God, meaning we naturally have an understanding of what is truly good. This is why the “atheist” does “good deeds” such as donating to charity, helping his grandmother, etc. 

   2. If you breakdown their worldview, it makes no sense. They have no reason to do anything for anyone but themselves. “Good” and “evil” don’t exist in their worldview, yet they still will at times choose to do things that are beneficial to others. This is because they are still made in the image of God. 

   3. In summary: By nature all men are totally depraved, but still made in the image of God. Therefore, while our consciences have knowledge of good and evil, our desires are still truly evil. 

10. Is this passage speaking of regenerate or unregenerate Gentiles? Verses 14-15. 

    1. This passage is speaking of regenerate Gentiles as only the regenerate have the law of God written on their hearts! The language “the works of the law” and Paul’s description of these Gentiles show that God’s law being written on the heart of a man will lead to action. They will desire and perform good works out of love for God, something the unregenerate man can never do (Romans 8:7-8). 

11. Did the OT saints have the law of God written on their hearts? 

    1. Yes (Psalm 37:31, 40:8, 51:10, 119:11), but they were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is a major difference between the Old and New Covenants believers.

12. How did the Jews fail God’s mission for them? Verses 17-24. 

    1. They sinned, rebelled, failed to make it to the promised land, etc. All of that is true, but in reference to this passage Paul clearly states that the Jews failed God’s mission for them to spread the spiritual light He had given to them to the Gentiles. Instead, they kept it to themselves. Let’s look at the story of Jonah. 

       1. God gave Jonah a mission to go to Nineveh and warn them of their wickedness. In disobedience and pride, Jonah not only didn’t go to Nineveh but went in the complete opposite direction. As a Hebrew he despised the pagans, viewing them as inferior and undeserving of the light of God. He wanted to keep it to himself. 

       2. We see this same pattern with the Jews throughout history. They cared more about their own righteousness and pride than they did about actually serving God and spreading His light to the rest of the world. This can even be seen now in how Judaism is still not a universalizing religion. 

    2. Here, Paul is calling out the failure of the Jews. They were not a guide to the blind nor a light to those who were in darkness (Romans 2:19), they were not instructors of the foolish for they themselves were fools (2:20, 1:22), they were hypocrites who wanted to keep God’s favor and light to themselves. They were comfortable in their religion, they had no conviction of sin nor desire to deny themselves and submit to God. They did not care about God’s glory. 

       1. What about you? Do you desire to spread God’s light into the darkness of this world? Or are you content and prideful in keeping it to yourself? 

       2. Though we are not ethnic Jews, we have some shocking similarities in terms of the nations we grew up in (ancient Israel and modern day America). The Jews grew up in a very privileged nation in which there was great exposure to the Word of God and some degree of external morality. This is very similar to us here in America, especially the South. 

13. What is the difference between physical circumcision and spiritual circumcision? Why is physical circumcision worthless if we are not born again? Verses 25-29. 

    1. A true Jew would be born again, not merely circumcised in the flesh but circumcised in the heart. Ethnic Jews and anyone who is merely physically circumcised has no change internally unless they are born again. The same goes for baptism. Simply being circumcised or baptized does not save anyone. 

       1. “The real circumcision is not performed in the flesh by human hands, it’s performed in the heart by the Spirit of God.” - Steven Lawson. 

       2. “The outward actions are important, but only if there’s the reality of the heart that’s under it.” - Steven Lawson. TO BE REWRITTEN. 

    2. We see the Lord reference spiritual circumcision in Jeremiah’s prophecy of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34, later quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12. The Lord makes it clear that He will establish a new covenant with His people, truly new and not simply a revised version of the Old Covenant. 

14. What is this new covenant written on? What is so significant about it being written on our hearts (internally) instead of on stone (externally)?

    1. The new covenant would have its laws written in people's hearts, not on tablets of stone. The old covenant failed because the urgings of the flesh superseded the urgings of the spirit in man. The new covenant is based on God making us new creations so that we are Spirit-controlled rather than body-controlled. God makes His will the desire of our hearts (Psalm 40:8, 37:4). 

    2. Under the New Covenant and being indwelled with the Holy Spirit, having the law of God written on our hearts, we desire to please God and bring Him glory. We are truly a new creation, not simply a spiritually dead man who appears to be moral from the outside (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

15. Resources: 

    1. ESV Reformation Study Bible (RSB). R.C. Sproul. 

    2. ESV Study Bible, Personal Size (ESB). Crossway. 

    3. What is the lust of the flesh? GQ. 

    4. What is the lust of the eyes? GQ. 

    5. What is the pride of life? GQ. 

    6. Are Some Sins Worse Than Others? Bible Tools. 

    7. Is Everyone Punished the Same in Hell? dG. 

    8. Are all Sins Equal? TGC. 

    9. Does James 2:10 imply that God doesn’t consider some sins more serious than others? GQ. 

    10. How can we store up treasures in heaven? GQ. 

    11. Enduring Word Bible Commentary Hebrews Chapter 8 EW. 

16. Sermons: 

    1. Romans, Vol. 02 (1:23-2:29) GTY, John MacArthur.   

    2. Abusing the Goodness of God GTY, John MacArthur.