Although the person Paul is addressing has changed,
\nthe argument is still continuing underneath the same thought flow. The
\nthought-flow being how God is found just, in this particular case, by
\nthe fact that He judges. God’s righteousness, it said in chapter one
\nwas seen in the fact that He judges all unrighteousness.<\/p>\n
\nIn the previous chapter, Paul showed God’s progressive judgment of men
\nwho suppress the knowledge of God within them, ultimately reveling in
\ntheir own darkness and rejecting the light. This sink into depravity
\nwas so bad, that ultimately these unbelievers would uphold and admire
\nthose who did these wicked things and taught others to do the same.
\nMind you, this depraved man is not so bad that he can’t do “good” as if
\nhe’s incapable of it. This depraved man knows that he can do “good” but
\nwon’t! This depraved man is guilty, not because of something outside of
\nhimself but out of his own choosing.<\/p>\n
This chapter then starts to address a different individual in light of
\nthe previous “sinful” individual. Paul starts off with “therefore” as
\nif to say, “because of these things” a certain kind of person is found
\n“without excuse”. Why are these certain persons found inexcusable? Not
\nbecause of the practice of the gross sins at the close of the previous
\nchapter…but because they judge others and yet practice the same exact
\nsuppression and rejection of God as those others who participate in
\nthose gross sins. The hypocrisy is not found in the area of the
\nmoralist participating in the lying, wrath, sexual sins and beyond but
\nrather in their willful and repeated rejection of God.<\/p>\n
\nThese specific people would agree that God’s judgment of those sinners
\nin the previous chapter is a proper and right thing. They would stand
\nin the cosmic courtroom on the side of God agreeing with the Holy One
\nthat these sinners should be judged…and yet, by the very fact that
\nthey point out this need for judgment, they are in effect saying they
\nshould be judged because they practice the same exact rejection. What
\nmakes these moralists think they will escape God’s judgment?\n<\/p>\n
Well, God hasn’t judged the moralist so this moralist would
\nlikely think that he or she is okay. In fact, this moralist would very
\nlikely think they’re going to heaven on account of their general
\ngoodness–the Jewish authorities were particularly guilty of this
\nsin…those Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes. <\/p>\n
\nThen again, there are many moralists in this day and age who stand on
\nthe side of God and point out many sins that are being done and they’re
\nin the same situation as those Jewish Authorities of Jesus’ Day. How
\nmany in Christendom condemn Sin X and yet allow sin Y or Z? How many in
\nChristendom reject the singular nature of Jesus’ Gospel and embrace the
\n“many roads” approach to reaching heaven. “Ah,” some of these may say
\n“Jesus, Ghandi, Buddha, Mohammed…all the same group. Great men, all
\nbelievers in God.”\n<\/p>\n
These people, like this moralist in Paul’s letter, is not
\nreceiving immediate judgment in the sense of being given over to the
\nsins of the heart, but (in their trampling over God’s patience,
\nkindness and forbearance) they store up wrath for later. They ignore
\nthat God’s kindness is there to lead them to repentance and they wind
\nup storing up wrath for the day when God’s righteous (unlike the
\nmoralist’s hypocritical and unrighteous) judgment is revealed. <\/p>\n
\nThis Day of Judgment will be a day where a person’s works are judged.
\nThe example Paul offers here is a hypothetical one because later on he
\ngoes on to prove how none are capable of their own accord to achieve
\nsalvation. But, if it were possible, hypothetically speaking, the day
\nof judgment will question if a person’s works have made them possible
\nto earn eternal life by perseverance (constantly, unstopping) in doing
\ngood seeking glory, honor and immortality. This is, Paul will later
\nconclude, is utterly impossible. What he is doing here is illustrating
\nthe point that all men are sinners, both the heathen and the moralist
\nand that both are guilty sinners.\n<\/p>\n
For this day of wrath is on those who follow their own selfish
\nambition and do not obey the truth and follow after unrighteousness.
\nThis affliction will be first for the Jew and also for the Greek or, if
\nyou wish, supplant this with Gentiles.\n<\/p>\n
Which truth is? It is the truth of the Gospel of which Paul
\nspoke of earlier. This obedience is that obedience that results in a
\nperson realizing their own shortcomings and accepting what the Lord has
\ndone in their place. An obedience to the gospel of salvation!\n<\/p>\n
The verses then go on to state that there is no partiality with
\nGod and yet, there seems to be partiality in the way He is judging. He
\njudges the Jew first and then the Gentile…why?\n<\/p>\n
Note the flow of the argument in this chapter…the Jew, or
\nmoralist, should know better. We will discover in later chapters that
\nthe Jews were given the prophets, the scriptures, the glory and so on.
\nWith all this evidence, the Jews should know better and yet they
\nrejected the Gospel of God. God has revealed himself to the Jews so
\nthat they would be a means to reach the entire world yet they
\nsuppressed God’s revelation…repeatedly. God is no respecter of
\npersons in that these Jews, who think because they have been the
\nOracles of God, have nothing to worry about, are seriously mistaken.\n<\/p>\n
But Paul is not speaking specifically of the Jews just yet,
\nhe’ll refer to them in later verses. He is speaking here of moralists
\n(although the Jews happen to be moralists as well)\n<\/p>\n
Do these moralists think that they are not sinners? Do they
\nbelieve that they are not like those heathens? They are EXACTLY like
\nthose heathens in that they have sinned. The heathen has sinned without
\na Law (as in the given Law yet against their own internal meter of
\nconscience and morality) and the moralist, or Jew, has sinned with a
\ngiven Law (by either obeying their conscience or obeying the given
\ncommandments)!\n<\/p>\n
Oh philosophers and moralists with your good works and
\nrighteous upstanding, repent of your hardened heart! Oh man who stands
\non the side of God and pointing out the wickedness of the world and yet
\ndo not repent of the wickedness of your repeated rejection of God,
\nrealize your sin!\n<\/p>\n
\nThe grossest sinner and unbeliever is in the same exact boat as the moral and upright unbeliever!<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n r<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Although the person Paul is addressing has changed, the argument is still continuing underneath the same thought flow. The thought-flow being how God is found just, in this particular case, by the fact that He judges. God’s righteousness, it said in chapter one was seen in the fact that He judges all unrighteousness. In the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[34,3],"tags":[909,897],"class_list":["post-108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-romans","category-study","tag-romans","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\n