God's Righteous Judgment
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has 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. For God does not show favoritism.
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. (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, 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.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
As I'm reading this epistle, I'm reminded of how applicable it is to present-day spiritual problems. People often make the argument that because they were written 2000 years ago, these letters by Paul do not carry much weight: Paul could not have foreseen the invention of the steam engine, let alone the marvelous advancements made in Philosophy by Arthur Schopenhauer (squeeeee!).
However, there are two critiques made in this part of the letter that resonate very well today. The first is the over-arching theme of condemnation. Speaking through Paul, God reminds us that we are under his righteous judgment. I think a present failing of many people (myself included) is that we do not think of actions as being righteous or unrighteous. They may be wise or foolish. They may harm others or oneself. They may add to the total utility of society. The only time an action is wrong is when it infringes on the rights of another.
A second critique comes as a result of the first: recognizing the sinfulness of the world involves recognizing the sinfulness of oneself. You cannot condemn or judge other people without condemning yourself. Curiously, this passage was quoted to me as evidence in favor of condoning sin. However, I think the problem that Paul is addressing is an inconsistent or hypocritical application of God's Law, rather than just the application itself.
There is a similar account in Matthew 7, in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Again, it is the hypocritical application that is being attacked here.
Why is this relevant? A poll I read showed that a lot of young people felt that the church was hypocritical in its moral teachings, and that this hurt Christian credibility. How can you take Ted Haggard seriously when he engages in homosexual affairs? How can you believe what Jim Bakker says after all of the accounting scandals?
Aside from those two contemporary issues (a hard-hearted society and a hypocritical church), this section goes on to talk about the law written on men's hearts, as well as good works.
How about the law written on men's hearts? Does such a thing exist? Is there such a thing as a conscience? That it exists is a fairly unarguable fact: you know as well as I do that you feel bad when you do something bad. As Abraham Lincoln is quoted to have said, "When I do good, I feel good, and when I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion."
How, then, do we account for differences in moralities and consciences between groups throughout history? And isn't it a social construct anyway? If it is so malleable, how can God justly judge us? One answer presented here is that it's not God's fault if men dull their own consciences or those of the people around them. Besides which, God's giving of the Law serves as a perfect, codified version with which we are to check our consciences.
As far as righteous works are concerned, I'll quote Luther in a second, but it dovetails into the next few verses.
The Jews and the Law
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
This gives me opportunity to talk about another layer in the topic of righteousness and condemnation: inner and outer action. People can see outer actions, be they righteous or wicked, but is impossible for us to see inner actions. People could even be performing an outwardly righteous action (say, giving to the poor) for an inwardly unrighteous reason (say, for the fame and social status). The hypocrisy here is condemning outer actions and not condemning inner ones.
Here's Luther on the subject:
You must not understand the word law here in human fashion, i.e., a regulation about what sort of works must be done or must not be done. That's the way it is with human laws: you satisfy the demands of the law with works, whether your heart is in it or not. God judges what is in the depths of the heart. Therefore his law also makes demands on the depths of the heart and doesn't let the heart rest content in works; rather it punishes as hypocrisy and lies all works done apart from the depths of the heart. All human beings are called liars (Psalm 116), since none of them keeps or can keep God's law from the depths of the heart. Everyone finds inside himself an aversion to good and a craving for evil. Where there is no free desire for good, there the heart has not set itself on God's law. There also sin is surely to be found and the deserved wrath of God, whether a lot of good works and an honorable life appear outwardly or not.
Therefore in chapter 2, St. Paul adds that the Jews are all sinners and says that only the doers of the law are justified in the sight of God. What he is saying is that no one is a doer of the law by works. On the contrary, he says to them, "You teach that one should not commit adultery, and you commit adultery. You judge another in a certain matter and condemn yourselves in that same matter, because you do the very same thing that you judged in another." It is as if he were saying, "Outwardly you live quite properly in the works of the law and judge those who do not live the same way; you know how to teach everybody. You see the speck in another's eye but do not notice the beam in your own."
Outwardly you keep the law with works out of fear of punishment or love of gain. Likewise you do everything without free desire and love of the law; you act out of aversion and force. You'd rather act otherwise if the law didn't exist. It follows, then, that you, in the depths of your heart, are an enemy of the law. What do you mean, therefore, by teaching another not to steal, when you, in the depths of your heart, are a thief and would be one outwardly too, if you dared. (Of course, outward work doesn't last long with such hypocrites.) So then, you teach others but not yourself; you don't even know what you are teaching. You've never understood the law rightly. Furthermore, the law increases sin, as St. Paul says in chapter 5. That is because a person becomes more and more an enemy of the law the more it demands of him what he can't possibly do.
This section also talks about circumcision being "more than merely outward and physical." Circumcision marked the Covenant between God and Abraham. There is therefore a relation with the New Covenant that Jesus gives in the Lord's Supper. These sacraments are not just symbols or outer remembrances or ceremonies. There are important things going on. This is why Paul and many Christians get a little upset with open, anything-goes communion.
