The Fruit of Your Attitudes/Behavior

Rom 2:7-16

7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

(KJV)

Back into chapter 2:

Reread verses 7 & 8. These 2 verses really summarize the rest of the verses listed above and they are if, then statements. Rewritten they could look like this

Aim-those who patiently continue in well doing, seeking glory, honor, immortality

Result-eternal life

Aim-those who are contentious and do not obey the truth but instead obey unrighteouness

Result-indignation and wrath

Now verse 8 could be read to say that the ones who are contentious obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, or it could say they obey unrighteousness and indignation, and get wrath as a result. Regardless how you interpretet this verse, verse 9 gives us further results of the behavior of those who reject obedience to the truth.

9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

Yep, some real troubles and anguish result. And notice, God includes both Jews and non Jews in the judgment.

So what happens to Jews and non-Jews alike are the same conseqences, and the same for the good that happens.

Rom 2:10

10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

So to the folks who work good-whether Jew or non-Jew, God will give glory, honor and peace.

Then Paul makes another and even more obvious statement as a summary so to speak regarding God’s own attitudes--11 For there is no respect of persons with God.. God doesn’t show favoritism when it comes to righteousness versus unrighteousness. Everyone and I mean everyone is held to the same standard.

Next in verse 12 Paul addresses the issue of the non-Jew in relation to knowing God’s laws. Remember in Romans 1:20 Paul indicated that what is known about God is evident in the world of nature. So he states,

Rom 2:12

12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.(NIV)

Those who have lived outside the congregation of folks who had received God’s Laws on Mt. Sinai, those who have lived outside the pale of Judaism, those folks will be judged by God without using the Mosaic Law. Those who are "under the law"-basically the Jews-will be judged by the law-the Mosaic Law.

Rom 2:13

13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.(NIV)

Paul is pointing out here that the Jews have heard the Laws of God from even childhood, but hearing does no good if there is no doing, and if there is the doing, then they can be declared righteous. In other words, obedience is expected.

Rom 2:14-15

14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,

15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

(NIV)

Now this is the interesting part–when non-Jews(Gentiles) who were not given the laws of Moses-do those things the law expects and requires, they become a law unto themselves, and it also reveals that in their hearts God’s law is written, and they go through the same thing the Jews do -their consciences bearing witness to what they have done, whether it be right or wrong. You stop and look at some of these folks in pagan religions-for example in the American Indian religions there was the understanding that people needed to be totally honest in their dealings. Unlike the white man, your North American Indians believed in keeping their word and speaking the truth. That is true of what God gave Moses. Other religions in the world have taught the importance of service to their fellow man-again in God’s Law given to Moses. I could give you lots of examples, but the point here is that God has given mankind the basic revelations he has needed in order to do those kinds of things that are pleasing to God.

Rom 2:16

16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.(NIV)

In other words God is going to reveal these truths as He judges men’s secrets and He will be judging by means of Jesus on judgment day.

You can see here how Paul later on in this book gets into stating that there is none righteous, no not one. He quoted out of Psalms. Next week we will get into what he has to say to the Jews specifically. Remember this congregation he is writing to is composed of both Jews and Gentiles or another word for it-non-Jews. Aren’t you glad they were a combination rather than just one or the other. It made for a congregation rich in understanding.

May you too be rich in understanding this weekend and the rest of your life.  The Good News Lady