Observations:
Continuing from Paul's final statement in chapter 1, (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.) Paul gives no excuse to those who judge.
Why?
They commit the very same acts and, in judging another, they acknowledge their own actions, too, as wrong. Essentially, they are admitting no not merely ignorance of the law, but flagrant flouting of the law. (v 1)
Paul then continues, asking the Romans that, given that we know God punishes such acts, and rightly so, how they, the judgers, presume to escape the punishment of God. Do they presume that the can just slip by unnoticed? Do they, read this, presume upon God's forgiveness and mercy? (vv 2-4a)
Addressing the latter, Paul makes an addendum: in their presumption, do they not know that God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance? (v 4b)
I want to pause over this statement, because it is something I see very prevalent in society and, being part of society, I'm fairly sure I do in my own right as well. That is, I/we sin. I/We judge other based upon their sin. I/We expect to get by with my/our sins uncounted because God is a good, loving God.
God's kindness is meant to lead to repentance.
Let that sink in for a moment.
God is not unaware of how we abuse his kindness. He sees how we carry on in our sin, taking His goodness for granted. Church, I'm talking to you. God is not good for the sake of being good. God is not merciful, forgiving, and kind purely for the sake of those virtues themselves. God could be good simply by removing evil, i.e. us. No, He delays justice that we may appeal for amnesty.
God's kindness is in the delay of justice, which is for the benefit of man that he may receive amnesty and be forgiven.
Let us carry on.
Because man is blatantly impenitent in his conduct, he is instead storing up against himself the wrath of God, which will be unleashed against him at the day of judgment. (v 5)
Now, on to everyone's favourite subject, judgment. Paul states that God will judge each according to their works. (v 6) Now, before you all haul me off and stone me for heresy, let's see what Paul means by that.
"[T]o those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life." (v 7)Okay, so, at first, you may see "The do-gooders will go to heaven." That's not quite where Paul is going with this. Note the words "patience in well-doing" and "seek for ... immortality". Clearly Paul is saying that, first, this reward goes to a life lived in continuous discipline and devotion to doing what is right. Second, he is saying that the goal of those seeking eternal life should be beyond this life. In multiple passages, Jesus referred to himself as life or the way to life. It lies to reasonable assumption that seeking immortality is not seeking fame that lingers beyond the grave (akin to Ozymandias), but seeking Jesus.
"[B]ut for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." (v 8)What are the criteria for punishment? Self-seeking, disobedience, and unrighteousness. If verse seven didn't bring you around to the idea that heaven merely waited for those who do good stuff, then verse eight makes it uncomfortably clear. Self-seeking? Pretty straight and clear-cut. It is seeking one's own desires above those of God or others (again, akin to Ozymandias). Disobedience, unrighteousness? Interesting, we just talked about those yesterday.
Paul then continues to make clear that God's judgment is total and impartial. In verses nine and ten, Paul describes that punishment will come to all who do evil and that reward to all who do good. He even makes the point of distinguishing that judgment will come to both Jew and Greek, that is, both the special "People of God" and the other guys. In addition, if that last point wasn't very clear, in verse eleven, Paul reiterates that God will show no partiality.
Remember, if God is perfect and God is just, then God is, by definition, perfectly just. No one will escape his judgment and no one will be falsely condemned or acquitted. Each will receive the punishment deserved and, if we remember yesterday's passage, we are all deserving of punishment, having obtained salvation solely through the delay of judgment and the sacrifice of Christ, which was sufficient to satisfy the law on our behalf, allowing for God's judgment to have been rendered fulfilled in Christ instead of pending fulfillment in us.
Application:
How, then, do we respond to such great justice? How do we answer such immaculate mercy?
With humility.
We bow our heads in confession. We accept with gratitude the undeserved gift given us. In repentance we commit ourselves, in return, to obedience and righteousness.
