The Dangers of Showing Contempt for Grace
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgement against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgement on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgement? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:1-4
In Romans 2:1-16 Paul is addressing the person who doesn’t identify with the kind of behavioural slide described in 1:21-32. Most commentators seem to think Paul has the Jews in mind; others think it is some kind of moralist.
The moralist finds himself in a bind. His moral judgement of others necessitates a clear knowledge of right and wrong, so he can hardly plead ignorance of God’s standards. His judging others is based on those standards. ‘Now we know that God’s judgement against those who do such things is based on truth’ ([2:2] impartial, based on fact and perfectly just). How then can we think, (we who although simply human beings take God’s place and ‘pass judgement’ on others for doing what we do), we ‘will escape God’s judgement?’
This doesn’t mean we should never judge a situation by applying God’s standards to it or trying to see it as God sees it. There are numerous times in the New Testament when we are told quite specifically to judge (e.g. 1 Corinthians 6:1-6; 11:31; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22). What we’re not to do is to judge and then condemn others (which lies outside of our ‘rights’ as human beings), especially when we don’t apply the same standard, judgement and condemnation to ourselves. This is the classic double standard, high for others but low for us.
Paul would have come across some who, in a futile attempt to escape the reality of God’s judgement, would appeal to His character, ‘the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience’ (2:4). He is probably thinking of the Jewish people. Out of all the nations of the earth, God had chosen Israel as His people. This could have and did develop in some Jews as a certainty of immunity from judgement. Without denying the Jews’ special favour, Paul criticises this group for ‘showing contempt’ for God’s goodness to them. ‘God’s kindness,’ he writes, ‘is intended to lead you to repentance’ (2:4). Claiming immunity isn’t faith but presumption. The goal of God’s kindness is repentance. God’s kindness gives us time to repent (2 Peter 3:9) – time to put sin to death (Colossians 3:5; Romans 8:13), not to give it more life.
“God will forgive; that’s his business” wrote the French sceptic Voltaire. But God is a just God. Everything He does is done according to an uncompromising justice. Sin is never dealt with in Scripture by sweeping it under the carpet. Sin is dealt with in the open. Christ’s death was an open display before the world of the only way the terrifying evil of sin could be justly forgiven.
‘But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7). The promise of purifying is conditional on our walking in the light. Never presume on God’s grace in the realm of your sin. Come into the light, confess about your sin what God says about it, and receive the promise of forgiveness and restoration.