In Nomine Iesu

Pastor Thomas L. Rank
Trinity 3
June 12, 2005

Text: Romans 2:1-16
Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness -- indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

THESE ARE YOUR WORDS, HEAVENLY FATHER, SANCTIFY US BY YOUR TRUTH, YOUR WORD IS TRUTH. AMEN.

In chapter one of Romans, St. Paul details for us the many sins that we find throughout the many cultures of the world. It is not our own age alone that is troubled with the perversions of twisted sexuality or by the multitude of religions clamoring for our attention or by rejection of the true God. St. Paul makes it very clear that the results of our sinfulness are evident throughout the world, and throughout the history of the world.

Now in chapter two he continues with the preaching of the law. He turns his attention to those who may consider themselves to be ethically and morally superior to those listed in chapter one. This includes the Jews of that first century, the ones who were like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax-collector. That Pharisee was content in his self-righteousness as he looked down on others who were less righteous than himself. He used the sins of others to comfort himself – he was not as bad as they were. He was self-justified. And that is one of the sins St. Paul desires to root out in the readers of this second chapter of Romans. "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."

But Paul's target is more than the Jews. It is both Jews and Gentiles. "There is no partiality with God." Paul does not need to show that everything that we see as wrong in others is something that we ourselves are doing. Instead, he simply states the case. It is God’s divine judgment, an indictment. We will either believe this judgment of God or not. But if we do not, it will be because we are rejecting the truth of God's law. God's judgment comes upon all. It is deserved by all.

In fact, God's judgment is correct and righteous whether or not you have read or learned the Ten Commandments. God's law is known whether or not you have heard the commandments. In culture after culture we find evidence of this. We have God's law written on our hearts. This doesn't mean it is clear or full as knowing God's law from Holy Scripture. But still this means Jew or Gentile are responsible for their sins. Everyone carries with him a conscience, an understanding of right and wrong. We are to honor parents, protect the neighbor's life, marriage, property. We are not to lie or slander others. These are common values among people. They are explained more fully in the Bible, for there we find that each of these commandments is really a rejection of the true God. But even without the witness of scripture, people know right is right and wrong is wrong. That is why finally there is no excuse for anyone. When Cain killed his brother Abel there were no Ten Commandments written yet. But Cain knew it was wrong, and ran away to try to hide his crime.

So St. Paul works at closing every escape we may try to find from the accusing voice of the law. That is why he does not want to allow us to judge others in our own pride, righteousness, and strength. When we do such judging we are actually showing that we do not understand the law's meaning for ourselves. We do not yet realize the great insight the Martin Luther found in Holy Scripture: "we are all beggars."

As long as you and I believe that there lies within us some ability to help with the payment of our debt of sin then we fail to realize the radical nature of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of faith. What Paul must do in this part of the book of Romans is leave no stone unturned in the search for hypocrisy or self-righteousness. We usually can spot the more obvious sins – although we must admit that in more and more of society today there is a deliberate re-defining of sin in order to justify immorality of all kinds. Yet the very need for some people to try to do something like make gay marriage legal is itself an admission of the wrongness of the very thing they are trying to make right.

Our ability to see the more obvious sins does not leave us safe from other more concealed sins. These sins are concealed because we hide them under our pretending to be good and righteous and moral people. This is the self-righteousness and hypocrisy that troubles us all so much. Paul's judgment on this behavior is powerful: "But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God...."

To see and to admit yourself to be a beggar before God is to confess that you have nothing, absolutely nothing, by which to persuade God that you should not receive the full measure of His wrath at your sin. But with your confession that you are a beggar before God you begin to understand just what it was that Jesus Christ accomplished for you and for the world. In another letter St. Paul teaches us the good news of Christ in this way: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Cor 8:9). Our poverty, our status as beggars, is replaced with the riches of the Son of God. He became poor, took on our sin, our hypocrisy, our self-righteousness, and also the more crass and open sins of Romans chapter one, all so that we would receive forgiveness through His death in our place.

There is no way by which we deserve to become the heirs of God, inheriting the grandest, richest, and most noble and beautiful kingdom of all. Yet, in Christ that is what we receive, we poor beggars. That is the great act of Jesus for you all.

St. Paul knew the great wonders of the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He had been a persecutor of Christians, planning and plotting their capture and death. But he was changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God for salvation. Paul's own faith and love for the grace of God can be heard behind his earnest appeal to you and me in this chapter two of Romans: "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance...." St. Paul writes in order that you not despise the riches of God, not despise God's patience with you, that loving long-suffering which some interpret as God not knowing or caring about the world. How mistaken such a notion is. God's longsuffering and forbearance are not due to His unconcern for this world, but they are due to His desire to allow people all over the world to learn the truth, to hear the message of repentance, to turn away from evil, and to hear and believe the Gospel, that Jesus died for all, for you and me.

The law, as harsh as it sounds to our ears and as shaming as it is to our lives, serves the needed purpose of making us ready for the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be ours through faith alone. This is the radical nature of the Christian faith. In ourselves we are only beggars. But in Christ we are rich, rich beyond measure, with life eternal, the blessedness of heaven, as God’s gifts for us. God keep us hearing the law, in order that we may grow in loving the wonderful work of redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.