Impartial

Rom 2:11 Impartial

Connection with Judgment v. 16 according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. There is no Jesus without Judgement. There is no good news without bad news.

Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet (Thomas Watson). The gospel is good news Gk euaggelion a compound word -eu good and aggelos messenger or message, thus translated good news or gospel. Judgement is connected to the gospel. according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus." What is the gospel about? It is about future judgment. Paul says that "according to his gospel". . . not according to the law, (status or a theological position), but according to the gospel, God will judge the very secrets of your heart through his Son, Jesus Christ. The gospel is mainly the message about how to be right with God at the Day of Judgment. The gospel is not mainly about good experiences here, but about safety at the judgment and glory beyond the judgment. (Piper).

John Bunyan experienced tremendous darkness in his soul as he struggled with the assurance of his salvation. He was appalled at what he saw among ordinary Christians in his day - not unlike our own, in this regard. “I saw old people hunting after the things of this life as if they should live here always . . . [and] I found [professing Christians] much distressed and cast down when they met with outward losses, as of husband, wife, child, etc. Lord, thought I, what ado is there about such little things as these. What seeking after carnal things by some, and what grief in others for the loss of them. If they so much labor after and shed so many tears for the things of this present life, how am I to be bemoaned, pitied, and prayed for. My soul is dying, my soul is damned. Were my soul but in a good condition, and were I but sure of it, ah, how rich should I esteem myself, though blessed but with bread and water. I should count those but small afflictions and should bear them as little burdens”. (John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners)

Court of Judgement 11 For God shows no partiality 16 God Judges

God is the impartial Judge. Gk prosopolepsia- A compound word: prosopon “face”- the appearance one presents by his wealth or property, his rank or low condition outward circumstances, external condition and lambano “to receive” - to receive (what is given), to gain, get, obtain. It means respect of persons or partiality. It is the fault of one who when called on to give judgment has respect of the outward circumstances of man and not to their intrinsic merits, and so prefers, as the more worthy, one who is rich, high born, or powerful, to another who does not have these qualities. The word is only used in Christian literature. The word was possibly coined by Christians. (Moo) It is used four times in the NT (v. 11, Eph 6:9, Col 3:25, James 2:1). It symbolizes giving someone a gracious reception, but in the NT, it is always used in a bad sense or showing partiality or preferring someone without a good reason. With the negative Gk ou preceding the word it is translated - not receiving face or impartial. In the ancient world judges would be partial, by not treating a rich or important person in the same way as a poor or insignificant person. God will not favor any individual or nation, be that nation Jew or Greek. (Leon Morris). For there is no partiality with God." This is why God will judge the Jews and the Gentiles not according to their appearance or their circumstances or their cultural or religious advantages, but according to something more intrinsic. He is not moved by irrelevant external appearances. He sees through them and goes to the heart of the matter and is not partial to appearance and circumstance. Nobody breaks the rules and gets away with it, no matter how powerful or clever or wealthy or networked. All are judged by the same measure (Piper). The literal meaning of the word is lifting up of the face where God is concerned, that as people stand in the presence of God, with downcast heads and faces because of a sense of shame, he does not show favoritism. And He does not lift up the face of one more than another. We are biased, we are prejudiced, and because we are like that, we tend to think that God is the same. There is no respect of persons whatsoever where God is the judge. His judgement is always according to the truth (v 3). God is never influenced by these considerations that weigh so much with us in our assessments and in our judgement. (Jones)

Criteria for Judgement

There are specific distinctions in the recipients, the revelation and the responses

The recipients 14 For when Gentiles 16 the secrets of men Basically everyone. Everyone is either Jew or Gentile those who have the law and those who don’t. The judgement is inclusive of all humanity. No one will be exempt or excused from God’s judgment.

The revelation 12 without the law, under the law; 16 by Jesus Christ

Every human being has received God’s revelation. There are three aspects of God’s revelation mentioned: those without the law, those under the law and those with Christ. The first category Universal revelation refers generally to all humanity, everyone, even Jews. The second refers specifically to any and all who have access to God’s law, but here primarily, the Jews. The third group are those who have received God’s special revelation of Christ. God has revealed himself to all humanity through natural revelation in two ways: Through creation (Rom 1:18-20) and in our hearts (Rom 2:15) His revelation displayed through what He has made (creation) is natural revelation. His revelation declared in our hearts (creature) is the natural or moral law. The first is primarily external thorough what God has made while the second is internal within the innate nature of how God has created us. Natural revelation addresses the presence of God and Natural law address the principles of morality given by God. All human beings have creation’s voice crying out to them (Ps 19:1, Rom 1:21) and are accountable to respond to God’s revelation (Rom 1:32). Everyone is guilty before God “without excuse” because they continually suppress the truth that has been clearly made known to them (Rom 1:18). All human beings also have the moral or natural law of God stamped on their hearts (Rom 2:15). It is what directs fallen man to behave “civil”. It is a “law to themselves”. The evidence of this is that the moral behavior of all kinds of people all over the world shows that they have a sense of many true moral obligations, and their consciences confirm this with the conflicting self-defenses and self-accusations that it constantly brings up (Piper). Those who haven’t heard the Old Testament display “civil acts of virtue” or civil righteousness. They don’t obey the whole of the law, for they don’t love God . . . But this partial obedience reveals that there is a certain sense in which the law is written in their hearts. Every human being has some moral sense, some light of nature, by which he is able to distinguish right from wrong. There is a sense of rightness in every human being. We all have some built in understanding of what is right and wrong (Sproul). Man made in the image of God, has the mysterious sense which see, feels, handles moral obligation. He is aware of the fact of duty. Not living up to what he is aware of, he is guilty. (Moule). This is illustrated when people are outraged at some societal injustice that has occurred or an angry persons argues with someone. They almost always appeal to some basic standard of behavior that the other person is assumed to recognize: They respond with; How’d you like it if anyone did the same to you? Or “That seat is mine I was here first, and “Why don’t you do something about that, they are being mistreated?” That’s not fair? Or, That’s not right? In these and other ways fallen humanity is not merely saying that the other person’s behavior doesn’t happen to suit them, but that the behavior of the other person is wrong. (Boice). Those who say this are “appealing to some kind of standard of behavior which he expects the other man to know. . . . There seems to be some kind of Law or Rule of fair play or descent behavior or morality or whatever you lie to call it, about which the agree and they have (CS Lewis) Lewis comments, “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line”. (CS Lewis Mere Christianity). This is the law written on the heart of all men. We all have a law written within, a law that did not merely say that some kinds of behavior seem to work better than others or produce better responses from other people, but, rather, went far beyond that either to accuses or excusing them of wrong doing (Boice). Boice suggests that there are three “witnesses” against fallen man in v 15: 1) The moral law work of the law is written on their hearts. This law is written on our hearts is the standard of morality and declares to us what is right and wrong. 2) Our Conscience- their conscience also bears witness this is what directs us in the way we should go. The law within instructs us in the knowledge of what is right, our conscience directs us to do what is right. 3) Our Thoughts - their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. The real battle is in the mind. Our thoughts are often conflicting as to whether to follow the right and find salvation or fail by doing wrong and find sin, thus either accusing or excusing them. All three of this come together in unison of condemnation because we have followed the road of our will, refusing the road that forks at the cross of Jesus Christ that will lead us, if we follow, even to eternal life (Donald Barnhouse). There is a second aspect of revelation mention. Unique revelation God reveals his law uniquely to specific individuals, here to the Jews and anyone else to whom the Law of God has been made known. Having this law, they have a greater accountability before God. God will judge them on the basis of this special revelation.

The response hearers and doers of the law

There is no fundamental distinction between Jews and Genties in the moral knowledge they have or in the sin they have committed (by disobeying the law they know) or in the guilt they have incurred, or the judgement they will receive (Stott). All will be judged according to their response to the revelation God has given them. The Gentiles have not been given the law. Therefore they will not be judged by the law. They will be judged by the light they have (Rom 1:18-20, 2:14-15), and, because they have not acted in accordance with that light (Ch 1, 2:12), this means that they will be condemned. The Jews have the law. They were tempted to say, “even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power” They have not kept the law God has given them, therefore that power of God which they valued so highly will be exercised for their condemnation. (Piper). People will be condemned, not because they have the law or do not have the law, but because they have sinned. (Leon Morris) Luke 12:41-48 –distinction between two classes of servants. God gave the Law of Moses only to the Jews, and so they have access to what deeds are required of them, and the rest of the world doesn't. So how can you say that God is impartial to judge according to deeds when he has only told one group of people what the deeds are that they should do? It is not based on what they have, but what they have done with what they have. God is impartial "because all who have sinned without the Law [that is, nations who don't have the Old Testament Law of Moses] will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law [Jews who have the Law of Moses] will be judged by the Law." Rom 2:12) . . . the judgment of God will not be partial to those who had access to more truth, it will be according to the truth they do have. Sin without the Law - perish without the Law, and sin under the Law -be judged by the Law. The Law of Moses will not be brought in to condemn those who sinned with no access to the Law of Moses. It will be used only to judge those who had access to it. When someone perishes who never heard of the Law of Moses, it is not because they never heard that Law. Not hearing the Law of Moses will not condemn anyone. And hearing it will not save anyone. 2:13 . . . having access to the moral Law of Moses and hearing it and knowing it is not an advantage at the final judgment. At the judgment, the question will not be: How much of the Law did you possess and hear and know? The question will be: In view of how little or how much you possessed, how did you live? How did you respond in your heart and your action to the Law you did know? (Piper) The main point in the argument here: Not having the Law or having it is not the basis for judgment in the last day: doing it is. Both Jews and Gentiles have the law. Jews have the same law within their hearts as the Gentiles, plus the added divine revelation of Mosaic law. The question is not what law do you have, but have you obeyed the law you have? The mere hearing of the law is no advantage to the Jew at the judgment day, and not hearing it is no disadvantage to the Gentile, because doing and not hearing is the issue. (Rom 2;13). There two parallel distinctions of the response of the Jews and Gentiles as many as sin without the law will also perish without the law, while those who sin in the law will be judged through the law. There is a universal human sinfulness and a sinfulness of such a nature that condemnation must be the outcome. Even those who have the law will be condemned when they sin. The law can justify only when it is obeyed; reading it, hearing it taught and preached, studying it . . . none of these, nor all of them together can justfy. Only the doers of the law will be declared right at the judgement. It is doing, not hearing or possessing, the law that matters (v. 13, John 7:22), (Moo). If one has an abundance of light about God (The Jews), judgement will be based on this abundance of knowledge about God. If one has a paucity of light about God (the Gentiles), then judgement will be based on the very little knowledge (relatively speaking) about God. No one will be judged for light they did not receive; everyone will be judged for the light they did receive. This contrast is presented in Amos, the nations apart from God’s revelation (Amos 1:3-2:3) will receive a different degree of judgement then the Israelites (Amos 2:4-5, their sins are detailed it the remaining chapters of Amos). (Kenneth Boa). Men will be judged based on the revelation that they have received. . . a man who has never heard the gospel and has never had an opportunity of hearing it, will not be judged as if he had heard it. . . what matters in the judgement is not possession of the law, or our lack of possession of the law, but sin. In the judgement the one question tht will be ask is, What about sin? It doesn’t matter who you are if you have sinned. It doesn’t make any difference whether you are a Jew or Gentile . . . If you have sinned, you have sinned and you will be judged according to your sin. v 12 you will perish with or without the law if you sin. (Lloyd Jones).

So, The Gentiles do “by nature” or "instinctively" do things revealed through the inward moral compass, then there is hope in evangelism. There is something fundamental here about human nature. This is what it means to be human - to have the law of God pressed or stamped or written on our heart. (Piper).This is a great truth to aid in evangelism. If everyone’s human nature has a stamp of God’s moral law within their heart to know right from wrong, and if they are consciously compelled to respond when “their” standard is broken, then the concept of ultimate source of that standard being God, a violation of that standard as being sin, and the conflict is between God and the one who broke his standard can provide hope in presenting the gospel. There must be bad news before you seek the good news.

Another evident truth for evangelism is that every human soul, as it comes to consciousness, knows that it is created by God, and dependent on God, and should honor and thank God (1:20-21), and should do the things that are written on the heart (2:14-15), and that failing to do them is worthy of death (1:32). Everyone you know at work or school or in the neighborhood has the law of God written on his or her heart. Everyone you know, knows the impartial God. Whether they suppress this knowledge or not, they have it. They know their Creator at a profound level, and they know their duty at a profound level. God has dealt with them deeply before you ever came on the scene. God has gone before you in preparing them for himself and his will. (Piper)

So, If God is impartial and judges by fixed standards that he has revealed, and if you, in the depths of your human nature as the image of God, have the moral law of God stamped on your being, then to know this and embrace this will give a tremendous gravity and solidity and stability to your convictions about God and about truth and right and wrong. Because you will see clearly that there are fixed truths and fixed moral standards that you do not make up. They are not mere human opinion, but come from God, outside of us. Life is not a cafeteria of equal options from which you can choose. Life comes with profound givens. God exists. God is impartial. God is and knows the truth. God has imprinted it on human hearts. It is knowable. We will be judged by it. Therefore life is not trivial. And our convictions about God and morality gain gravity and solidity and stability. (Piper).