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- Preaching
the Living WORD through the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4:2 - |
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THE IMPARTIALITY OF GOD (Rom 2:11-16) 2/18/07 Pastor I.
GOD IS IMPARTIAL TOWARD SINNERS (11) A. Context – Paul has taught that
there is no excuse for the Gentiles; they have sinned and fall under the
judgment of God (Rom 1:20). Paul has also taught that there is no excuse for
the Jews (God’s covenantal people); for they also have sinned and fall under
the judgment of God (Rom 2:1). If any person believes that they are more
religious than others and therefore are exempt from God’s judgment, they are
gravely mistaken. For there is no impartiality with God. B. Paul strongly emphasizes
that God is absolutely not partial to anyone in regard to sin. In the Greek,
the sentence emphatically begins with the negative (ou). Coupled with the indicative mood, i.e. the mood of
certainty, there is no room for the idea that God is or can be partial. C. The word for partiality (prosōpolêmpsía) is made up
of two Greek words. One means to receive (fr lambanō) and the other means face (fr prosōpon). The idea is that one is received on the basis of
one’s face or person. It means to show bias of favoritism. D. God has never and will
never give special consideration to anyone simply because of his position,
wealth, influence, popularity, or appearance. God is just and righteous and
judges sin wherever he finds it (Acts 10:34; Gal. 2:6; Eph. 6:7, 8; Col. 3:25; 1 Pet. 1:17). II. GOD
IS IMPARTIAL TOWARD SINNERS WITH OR WITHOUT THE LAW (12-13) A. All
Who Sin Will Perish (12) 1. Paul
explains (“for” gàr)
in greater detail that God is impartial to Gentile or Jew. 2. God
is impartial to the Gentile even though he is does not have God’s Moral Law
(Mosaic Law – Ex 20:1ff). Because when he sins without the Law (anómōs), he is judged without
the Law. God judges according to the righteous standard of his character. 3. God
is impartial to the Jew even though he does have God’s Moral Law (cp. Rom
2:17-23). When the Jew sins with the Law (nómōs),
he is judged with the Law. God judges according to Law, which is based on the
righteous standard of his character. 4. Furthermore,
those who sin and incur God’s judgment, whether with the Law or without it,
will perish. The word perish (apōllumi
– destroy, destroy utterly) has reference to God’s eternal punishment
against sin (Jud 1:11; 1Co 1:18; Jn 3:16; Jn 10:28; cp. name for Satan the
Destroyer (Apollyon) – Rev 9:11). B. Rom
2:13 1. Paul
reiterates what he has stated in vss. 6-10. Salvation is based on faith alone
in Christ alone but God’s judgment is based on works. 2. Paul
states that mere hearers (akroatês
– in the NT, the word means one whe merely hears but does not practice what
he hears cp. Jam 1:22, 22, 25) of the word are not justified before God, but
doers of the word. 3. He
is not teaching that we can work our way to heaven but is concurring with the
same premise as the book of James. Salvation is by faith, but saving faith
will give evidence to works (Jam 2:20-26). III. GOD
HAS GIVEN MAN A MORAL CONSCIENCE (14-15) A. Rom
2:14 1. Paul
is not promoting that the Gentiles obey the Law unwittingly and were
righteous as opposed to the Jews being sinful. Rather, he was stating that
all men have a moral conscience whatever they have knowledge of the Law or
not. Furthermore, all men have sinned and know it. 2. God
has given mankind a moral conscience. It is part of his human nature or
instinct (phúsis).
Even though Gentiles do not have the Law, they do have a sense of right and
wrong. This sense of right and wrong becomes the basis for their law. 3. Paul
is not stating that men are righteous, because man has a sin nature (Rom
3:10-17), however they do have a sense of right and wrong even though they
often violate it. B. Rom
2:15 1. Paul
explains that man’s sense of right and wrong has been written in his heart
and conscience by God. It is not that man automatically knows every detail of
the Law but it means that when men govern themselves by this sense of right
and wrong it is in line to some degree with God’s Law. 2. The
problem is that since man is corrupted by the sin nature his sense of right
and wrong can be skewed. 3. Paul
uses the word, suneídêsis
for conscience. It means, “with knowledge or awareness.” Man’s conscience
is that part of the soul of man that makes him aware of whether he is living
morally or not. When he goes against his conscience, it produces guilt (Heb
10:22). The other problem man has is that his is that conscience can be weak
(1Co 8:7, 10, 12), corrupted (Tit 1:15), and seared (1Ti 4:2). 4. Therefore,
sinful man will always struggle with what is right and what is wrong. He will
have conflicting thoughts (metaxú – between thought or with after thoughts,
back and forth) which alternately accuse or defend himself. IV. THEREFORE
GOD WILL JUDGE THE SIN IN MEN’S HEARTS (16) A. Paul
states that God will judge the secrets of men’ hearts (1Ch 28:9; Ps. 139:1–3;
Jer. 17:10; Matt. 6:4, 6, 18; cf. Luke 8:17; Heb. 4:12). B. They
will be judged and punished accordingly. It is also man’s conscience that
will be part of his eternal punishment. He will realize that God is
absolutely righteous in punishing those who do not trust in Christ. C. Furthermore,
we see that is Jesus Christ who will be the judge (John 5:22, 27; Acts 17:31). D. Judgment,
Paul continues, is a component of his gospel, the gospel that was divinely
revealed to him (Gal 1:1 cp. Gal 1:8, 9). V. CONCLUSION A. Since
God is not a respecter of persons (impartial), in the sense that he will
regard an advantage to some but not to others, God will judge men according
to his own righteous standard in relation to their unrighteous deeds,
consciences, thoughts, and motives. B. Man’s
only hope is Christ who can cleanse his sin and conscience (Heb 9:14) by his
death on the cross. Furthermore the believer receives the Holy Spirit who
guides him in truth (Jn 16:13), based on the Word of God (Jn 17:17; Ps
119:119:60). |
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