Inexcuable

Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Two
“THOU ART INEXCUSABLE”

Scripture Reading: verses 1-4

THEREFORE THOU ART INEXCUSABLE, O MAN, WHOSOEVER THOU ART THAT JUDGEST: FOR WHEREIN THOU JUDGEST ANOTHER, THOU CONDEMNEST THYSELF; FOR THOU THAT JUDGEST DOEST THE SOME THINGS. BUT WE ARE SURE THAT THE JUDGMENT OF GOD IS ACCORDING TO TRUTH AGAINST THEM WHICH COMMIT SUCH THINGS. AND THINKEST THOU THIS, O MAN, THAT JUDGEST THEM WHICH DO SUCH THINGS, AND DOEST THE SAME, THAT THOU SHALT ESCAPE THE JUDGMENT OF GOD? OR DESPISEST THOU THE RICHES OF HIS GOODNESS AND FORBEARANCE AND LONGSUFFERING; NOT KNOWING THAT THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADETH THEE TO REPENTANCE?

Reading the dark catalog of offenses outlined in the closing verses of chapter one, and noting the debasement of iniquity into which the creature has sunk, we might have the tendency to feel that we are exceptions to the rule. Yet, if we carefully go over the passage we find that it reveals the entire range of sins. Thus, it is not difficult for any of us to find our own guilt in the catalog.¹ It may be that some of these iniquitous practices such as “fornication, murder, haters of God, inventors of evil things, without natural affection” do not apply to us. These are some of the grosser evils, but we are not guiltless when looking at some of the other charges: “covetousness, deceit, whisperers, backbiters, proud, disobedient to parents, covenant breakers.” It is not difficult to find our own guilt somewhere in these expressions, and each one of us should be humbled before God as we hear again the words spoken to David, the sinner, “Thou art the man.”

Keep in mind, the Spirit of God is here writing the catalog of charges God brings against His rebellious creatures, in order that we might be brought in guilty before God. This is not for the purpose of condemning and banishing us from His presence for all eternity, but that we might come to God confessing our sins, receiving from His hand forgiveness and justification. While this may be the end view, still, during the process, let us be sure we take our place “condemned” before God.²

There is no room for the Pharisee here. Our hearts have exactly the same impulses as those of the murderer, or the malignant criminal. It may be that by God’s mercy we have been preserved from some of the grosser sins, but the impulse is there, because the human heart is above all things deceitful and desperately wicked. If one has been preserved by God from becoming a murderer, do not think for a moment think he can point in disdain at the criminal who has been caught in this temptation of Satan. In his unconverted days, Paul could rightly make his boast that as touching the law he was blameless. But, it was when he came under the indictment “thou shalt not covet,” that he found his place as a hell-deserving sinner and found in the Lord Jesus a heaven-sent Savior. Saul of Tarsus belonged to one of the strictest sects of his day. He was a religiously righteous man if there ever was one. But when the Lord Jesus Christ apprehended him, Saul discovered that his righteousness was self-righteousness, its object to make much of Saul, to make Saul a man of eminence in his traditional faith. Acquaintance with the Lord Jesus laid him low in the dust of self-abnegation and humiliation. Then, in the very depths of his being, he discovered the primary spring of his self-righteous life was “covetousness.” This brought him in before God as a condemned criminal, and he found forgiveness. He later says: “But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

That is the background against which we must consider this second chapter – the indictment here includes each one of us. “Thou art inexcusable O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest, doest the same things.” Let us never stand on the pinnacle of self –righteousness, looking at the sinner who has been caught in the act as if he were made of different moral fiber than ourselves. Refer to that poor sinful woman in John 8, who was brought to the Lord Jesus and languished at His feet condemned. Her guilt was proven. There was not a shadow of doubt that she was guilty of one of the grossest sins. The proud Pharisaic multitude brought the sinner to the Lord Jesus, reminding Him that Moses commanded she should be stoned, but they wanted to know what He had to say. It is one of the episodes that draw from our heart the greatest admiration and worship for the Person of our adorable Lord. He said: “Let him that is without sin first cast a stone at her.”

There was only one Person in that multitude who was without sin. Only one Person had the right to stone that woman. That Person was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But He had come to be her sin bearer. He knew He was going to the Cross to bear the penalty of sin, to go into the dark chasm of God-abandonment under the judgment of a holy and righteous God. Because of that atonement which He was going to make, He could say to her, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” It was not that He did not con-demn what she had done; He refused to pronounce condemnation on the woman, because He had come to bring her forgiveness. “He came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Little wonder the multitude who had stood complacent in their self-righteousness found their way rapidly out of His presence in ignominy and shame.

So, in verse 2 Paul says: “We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.” In other words, there is no defense for the criminal; he is unequivocally condemned by God, and we cannot raise our voice in that condemnation because we are also sinners. So the challenge comes: “Or thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” In other words, even though we may not murder, we should not even think of escaping God’s judgment. Because we are guilty of many other sins, we stand condemned together with the murderer, at the same bar of judgment. The extent of our guilt may not be the same, but we are both criminals. This is the thought here. But in juxtaposition to this condemnation the question is then asked: “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”³

Footnotes:
¹ God’s eternal, intrinsic righteousness is the theme Paul was developing in the latter part of Romans 1 and in the first 16 verses of Romans 2; that part in chapter 1 being concerned with God’s righteousness in dealing with Gentiles, and the first 16 verses in chapter 2 referring to another class of persons, the non-Christian Jews. God’s inclusion of Israel, along with the entire race of man, and His judgment of all of them, Jews and Gentiles alike, as sinners, Paul justified in the first 16 verses of this chapter, the Jews also being included in the universal condemnation, not exclusively upon the premise of their rejection of Christ, although that was enough, but also upon the basis of their negative and inadequate response to God’s revelation in the Old Testament. In these first 16 verses, Paul lays down a list of ten particulars, or principles, upon which God’s judgment of all people will be based. Those principles of eternal judgment are: (1) People are self-condemned when they practice what they condemn in others (Rom. 2:1). (2) God’s judgment will be according to the truth of the Word of God, that is, His revealed Word in the Bible (Rom. 2:2). (3) God’s goodness to sinful people does not indicate approval of their sins but longsuffering in hope of their repentance (Rom. 2:4). (4) God’s judgment of man will be according to their works (Rom. 2:6). (5) God requires obedience of man and will punish disobedience (Rom. 2:8). (6) Greater privilege only entails greater responsibility (Rom. 2:9-10). (7) God is no respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11). (8) Judgment will be according to the light people have (Rom. 2:14-15). (9) Judgment will be according to the New Testament (Rom. 2:16). (10) It will be through Jesus Christ, now constituted judge of all, and according to His Word (Rom. 2:16). Throughout the epistle, it will be easier to follow his argument if we imagine the apostle face to face with a heckler who interrupts his argument from time to time with an objection, which Paul then proceeds to answer, first rebuking with a “God forbid!” (Perish the thought) and then demolishing with a reasoned answer.
² People will be judged according to the Bible. This verse makes it clear that Paul’s real subject in this paragraph is the judgment of God and the basis on which the same will be executed. Those persons who thought that God’s Judgment would ever be exercised upon partial and unequal judgments were fantastically wrong. Paul here exclaimed in utter astonishment at the foolishness of persons who fancied that they might escape the judgment of God when they were condemned even by their own consciences, a self-condemnation just mentioned in verse 1. If a man cannot escape his own judgment against himself, how could he ever hope to stand before the holy God? As Kenneth S. Wuest expressed it: “The Jew certainly thought, in many cases, that the privilege of his birth would of itself assure his entrance into the kingdom (Matt. 3:8-9), this having been his practical conviction, whatever was his proper creed” (Romans in the Greek New Testament, p. 40). It was for the purpose of refuting such widespread errors regarding God’s judgment that Paul sternly propounded the true principles of it in these verses.
³ God’s goodness to sinners is not a sign that He approves of sin but that He looks to their repentance. The goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, called here “the riches” of God, have reference to the special privileges of the covenant people, the Jews, who again were answered by Paul in the form of a diatribe. The argument which was refused is: “God has been very good to us, and therefore we shall continue to expect goodness and favor at His hands.” The argument is false because it is founded on a misunderstanding of the purpose of God’s goodness, which is not to show approval of people’s sins, but to extend to them further opportunities of repentance, and to persuade them by means of such goodness. Of special interest is the revelation here that God’s goodness is designed to lead people to repentance, it being apparent that if God’s goodness cannot lead people to repentance, nothing else can. The response of the soul to all the mercies of heaven, the response of the human individual to all the joys, benefits, and privileges of life, as given to men by the heavenly Father that response is the God-implanted instinct of gratitude to the Creator, to the end that people should seek after God, draw near to Him, and serve Him with joy, and certainly not for the purpose of allowing people to feel presumptuously secure in their sins. Thus, in this verse there is continued emphasis on the master theme of Romans, that of the righteousness of God, His righteous judgment being the particular aspect of it considered here.