THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
Romans 2:1-3:31
“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. 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.”
It is interesting that in the complex arguments that Paul raises in these two chapters, it is the righteousness of God that he seeks to establish and defend.
God is righteous and he does not discriminate. You may think you are better than another person and so you think God condemns him but not you. But you are also sinful, just in different ways, and so you too will face God’s judgement.
God is righteous and he does not discriminate. You may think that you have a special place in his heart, or that you are serving him in some ways, or you have good intentions, or you are trying hard but God’s judgement boils down to a simple truth: God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. None of us will be judged to deserve eternal life.
God is righteous and he does not discriminate. You are in the right camp because you are a Jew. You are circumcised. You bear his name. All these outward things don’t mean anything if you are sinful in heart. Similarly for those of us who think God is happy to see us wearing the right clothes, speaking the right language, and socialising with the right people. He looks at our life, our actions, our motivations, our obedience.
And so “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.”
But if God is righteous and does not discriminate, how can man ever survive? In our minds, either God wipes all of us out, or he decides to be less righteous and to discriminate for those whom he chooses.
Instead, and surely only God could have come up with this solution, God chose to take upon himself the consequence of our judgement, and suffer the wrath that is our due. Essentially what would have wiped us all out he directed towards his Son. The benefit of his sacrifice is then offered to all who would choose to follow Christ. Paul describes this as “the righteousness of God” for that is truly what it is.
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”