No images? Click here The Moralistic, Religious CriticRomans 2:1-5 May 15th, 2022 In the first chapter of this letter, Paul introduced himself to the Romans by stating that he is “a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” He longed to meet a people who needed the gospel, and they probably longed to meet him, for his reputation was widely known. Verses sixteen and seventeen begin to reveal the heart of his letter: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” By quoting Habakkuk 2:4, Paul is emphasizing that a right standing before God can only be obtained by faith in the God who justifies, not by our acts of righteousness which Isaiah describes as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). Romans 1:18 through Romans 3:20 is a discussion of the wrath of God, then in Romans 3:21 he begins to address the remedy for God’s wrath.
In Chapter One, Paul states that God’s wrath is revealed because men suppress the truth they know about God, with the result that their sinful acts go from bad to worse in a downward spiral, resulting in God finally giving them up to their desires. This wrath is seen in the culture as men commit the most horrible acts of debauchery and destroy one another; perhaps the most egregious being the feeding of Christians to lions, while spectators cheered. In the first chapter, Paul had been using the pronoun THEY but beginning in Chapter Two he begins to use YOU. The moralistic, religious critic can readily accept the fact that the sinful acts listed in Chapter One describe they but now Paul wants his audience to understand that these behaviors also apply to you. The Romans were a well-educated, cosmopolitan, prideful people who had engaged in or at least were familiar with, all types of licentious behaviors.
Paul addresses two groups of people in this letter: ones who had participated in these acts and know that they stand condemned and a second group, those who criticized the first group while engaging in the same, or equally sinful, behaviors. It is the second group that is the hardest to reach with the gospel and are those in the greatest spiritual danger. Such people readily see the speck in another’s eye but fail to notice the log in their own eye (Matthew 7:3-5). They think they are right with God because they don’t actually commit the acts described in the last portion of Chapter One, but Jesus holds to a higher standard than just the acts themselves. Anger is equated to murder (Matthew 5:22) and lust is equated to adultery (Matthew 5:28). Persons who rely on self-righteousness tend to constantly judge and condemn others. Jesus described them as white-washed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but are full of dead men’s bones (Matthew 23:27). They are spiritually dead.
Chapter Two, verses one through five are divided into two sections: 1) the plight of the moralistic critic and 2) the problem for the moralistic critic.
I. The Plight (vv. 1-2)
The plight of the moralistic critic is one of being on the precipice of salvation but never taking the final step of faith. Such a person is confident that he is right with God because of his good morals, his knowledge of the Bible, his understanding of doctrine, his commitment to serving the church, etc. Rather than having compassion on a fellow sinner, such a person actually applauds God’s judgment. He is in essence putting himself in the place of God. James reminds us, “There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12) By judging others we think we can avoid judging ourselves.
The judgment discussed here which is being condemned is the judgment of people’s hearts or motives, not their actions. Judgment of another’s heart is the judgment which Jesus forbids in Matthew 7:1. Yet, it is appropriate, needful and loving to confront a brother or sister in Christ who is in sin. However, Paul tells us in Galatians 6:1 that those who are spiritual should restore such a person with a spirit of gentleness and to be careful to avoid temptation ourselves. Being spiritual means to be certain that we have a correct motive for the admonition, not being a hypocrite.
The one who has outstanding Christian credentials has a great advantage over the one who recognizes his need for God’s mercy…or so he thinks! He fails to recognize that God is not partial (Deuteronomy 10:17) and that to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). In Romans 3:1, Paul asks the rhetorical question, “…what advantage has the Jew?” Clearly, the Jew had an advantage in having the law and the prophets and a history of being richly blessed by God, yet rather than being humbled by their special status, they became proud and judgmental. Jesus said in Matthew 15:8, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
● Your plight “O Man” Paul has more compassion for the first group than for the second. In fact, he is angry with the second group because of their hypocrisy. When he addresses them as O man he is essentially calling them Little Men. Such people base their righteousness on comparing themselves with others. The Pharisees added more than six hundred laws to the Ten Commandments, laws that they prided themselves in claiming to obey while criticizing others. But do we do the same? Do we see ourselves as more compassionate, as more inclusive, as more exclusive, as more tolerant, as more biblically literate? Do we take pride in a self-proclaimed code of ethics while judging others for not being in step with us? Do we think we can earn righteousness? Paul is warning that EVERYONE must examine his own heart to determine his source of righteousness.
The moralistic critic works hard to prevent others from seeing his true nature. Such people have a respectable veneer that looks great but underneath there is rot. Such is the characterization of Eliab, the first of Jesse’s sons to be paraded before Samuel when he was searching for a man to replace King Saul. They were certain that Eliab was the man, but God said to Samuel: “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) We don’t know what God saw in Eliab’s heart at the time, but it is revealed in First Samuel 17:28. When David’s father sent him to take food to his brothers in the battle against Goliath, Eliab’s anger was kindled against David and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle." Eliab was putting himself in the place of God by being a moralistic critic. No one can see another’s heart, so Paul wants to rip off the veneer so that a man can see his own heart.
● Inexcusable Judgment An inexcusable judgment is coming upon the moralistic critic who knows the Law of God and readily recognizes sin in others. Such people may keep others from seeing their sin, and they may also be able to hide the truth from themselves; they may use Scripture to justify their own behavior. However, the moralistic critic is sealing his own judgment. They think the more they know, the more they call out sin the more righteous they are. Paul is going to rip off the veneer, expose the truth of who they are, and expose the fact that their heart is still unregenerant. He states that not only will you be judged by God, but you are currently condemning yourself by the judgments you continue to wail against others. Paul is stating that the moralistic critic knows that the judgment of God justly falls on those who condemn others. The judgment to which Paul speaks is the Great White Throne Judgment where the dead will be judged according to what they had done (Revelation 20:11-15. This judgment will be more severe for the moralistic critic who judges others according to his standards. This judgment should strike fear in the heart of anyone whose name is not written in the book of life!
II. The Problem (vv. 3-5)
● You practice the same things (v. 3) Paul says that the moralistic critic practices the same things as the one who knows he is not right with God. They literally participate in the same things and also their heart attitude is one of participating in the same things. They criticize others for their morality, their actions, their behaviors, then slide out the back door while doing the same things. Some commit these sins (greed, lust, not treating others as we want to be treated, or whatever) only within their own hearts, and that is what Paul is trying to bring out. He is saying you pass judgment on others, yet you are continually doing the same things – they are a part of who you are.
How do we identify a moralistic, religious critic? One of the easiest ways is to examine their speech. Jesus said in Matthew 12:34b, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” When speaking with these critics, the heart attitude will be absent from the conversation. When they criticize another person, they do so on the basis of what they see on the outside. They judge by externals; they major on the minors such as dress, political leaning, highlighting their quiet time, comparing their kids to other’s kids, having the right friends, speaking a certain way, etc. Such things are really important to moralistic critics.
The moralistic critic may be very diligent to attend worship, to read his Bible, to pray, to have a regular quiet time. These things are all good in themselves, but do we approach them with an attitude of wanting God to serve us, by filling us up with The Spirit so that we can go about our day? Are these only a formality? Or do we sit before God pleading for ourselves and our family, asking Him to cleanse us of our sin and conform us more into the image of His Son? Do we want a heart change? That is the mark of a true believer, someone who wants to grow spiritually.
The Pharisees could not accept what Scripture had to say about righteousness, so they made up a code of morality that they could meet. This way they could feel good about themselves while criticizing others. A. W. Tozer said, “A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself. A spiritual man is hard on himself and easy on others.” Tozer’s quote is quite applicable to the moralistic, religious critic. Hard on yourself doesn’t mean hard verbally; you don’t just beat yourself up verbally -- you don’t really care about your own heart. Being hard on yourself means you really want God to move in your life and change your heart to be more like His.
The most dangerous thing a hypocrite can engage in is described in verse four: to “presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience.” Paul asks this as a rhetorical question; he is saying you know that the kindness of God is intended to lead you to repentance but, by judging others, the moralistic critic is actually despising the kindness of God. They dismiss His kindness as being of no value. They refuse to acknowledge God’s common grace when He sends the sun and rain on the evil and the good (Matthew 5:45) as well as God not allowing man to be totally unrestrained in his evil desires. Family, friends, freedom, material blessings, health and the ability to appreciate God’s creation are shared by both believers and non-believers alike. This is the common grace of God and it is designed to bring us to repentance.
Paul is exhorting the critics to acknowledge God’s common grace as well as the special revelation that God has made known to them. They know the true gospel, the way of salvation but they neither avail themselves of it nor share it with others. They may dispense information about the gospel but they are not saved because they don’t really love Jesus. Another way to identify the moralistic critic is to see how they demonstrate their love for Jesus. They may even think they love Jesus or want to love Jesus but they are blind to their own sin. How often do we listen to a sermon and think to ourselves ________ (fill in the blank) really needs to hear this? We might know many people who need to repent, but do we think of ourselves? Repentance is a key factor in salvation; faith and repentance go hand in hand. Some people spend their whole life on the precipice of grace but never receive the ultimate grace of salvation; they may trust God in some areas of life but they don’t trust God fully. A. W. Tozer said, “God wants the whole person and He will not rest until He has us in entirety. No part of man will do.”
● You store up wrath (v. 5) How does God respond to the person who doesn’t fully trust Him? Verse five warns, “because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself.” Paul says you little man, you little self-righteous church member, you little moralistic, religious critic, you fine, upstanding, moral person, not only do you have the wrath of God revealed to you but, more importantly, the wrath of God being stored up against you. That is God’s response to the person who knows the law, who rejects the law, who does not love His Son, then judges everyone around him. That’s what is happening in the throne room in heaven. Why is wrath being stored up? Because they are stubborn; they actively reject God every time they should trust Him. God has no mercy, no grace for such critics; there will only be heated passion when God reveals His righteousness on the day of judgment. It is a treacherous thought that we would think we are a Christian when we are not. Only you know whether you have trusted God fully. We all need to ask ourselves, do we judge the sin in others while never caring about our own heart? Do we think the sins of others are more important than our sins? God is storing up a record of our deeds that will someday be revealed. God will render to each according to his works – that is unless his name is written in the Lambs book of life. (Revelation 21:27)
Selah:
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