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Whether or Not You’re a Christian” is Not Important
Romans 2:1-16
Mari Ikeda
A. A misguided sense of superiority in being a Christian (1-5)
1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, 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 human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to 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.
B. God judges each person justly
1. Rewards and judgement are given to each person accordingly (6-8)
6 God “will repay each person according to what they have 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.
2. Being a Christian doesn’t guarantee anything (9-13)
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. 11 For God does not show favoritism. 12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.
3. God judges people justly, even if they are not Christians (14-15)
14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)
4. Nothing is hidden from God (16)
16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
I fell. But, Lord, you alone know that I did not renounce my faith. The clergy will ask themselves why I fell. Was it because the torture of the pit was unendurable? Yes. I could not endure the moaning of those peasants suspended in the pit. (…) I thought that if I apostatized those miserable peasants would be saved. Yes, that was it. And yet, in the last analysis, I wonder if all this talk about love is not, after all, just an excuse to justify my own weakness. I acknowledge this. I am not concealing my weakness. I wonder if there is any difference between Kichijiro and myself.
(from Shusaku Endo “Silence”)
Summary
Knowing Jesus does not make us superior to those who do not know him. What God desires from us is not that we know Jesus at an intellectual level, but that we worship him with our hearts, love him, and live in such a way that his will, and not our own, is done. The only one who is able to judge us justly is God, who knows each of our hearts and how we live each day of our lives.
For Discussion
1. Do you ever find yourself judging someone else based on whether or not they are a Christian?
2. Are we saved by “doing good” (verses 7, 10)? (See Romans 3:20)