As we explained in the last issue of The Tidings, Bro. Ron Abel gave a study day in Hamilton, Ontario on the subject of resurrectional responsibility. Bro. Abel said, “Our considerations in this analysis will take us to certain key passages. Others could be used but these certainly represent the strongest passages, in my opinion, on this doctrine of resurrectional responsibility. They are Romans 1 & 2, John 12, I Peter 4, Acts 24, and II Thessalonians 1.”
We will continue our series by quoting from Bro. Abel’s second tape of the day on Romans. He says, “We see in Romans I that the Gospel message of which the Apostle Paul was a steward declared, “the righteousness of God” in verse 17, and that likewise in chapter 2, “the righteousness of God would be revealed in the day of wrath,” in verse 5 of chapter 2, “when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” We find in chapter 1 that the “wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppressed the Truth,” and we’ll later see in passages that God takes the same view of those who persecute the ecclesia, which in fact is the custodian of the truth of God, of the oracles of God, and the dissemination of the gospel message.
How did God execute this wrath ? Well, we read of it in verse 24 of chapter 1, “wherefore God gave them up” because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie; verse 26, “God gave them up”; verse 27, “they received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.” and verse 28, “since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind,” and so on Through that we see the knowledge thread where the Apostle speaks of them as being without excuse because his invisible nature (his eternal power) has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made Later on in the chapter in verse 32, “though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them ” So these are not unenlightened people, these are people who do have knowledge.
Now in chapter 2 there is a connection, and here we come to a very important Juncture in our interpretation of the Roman epistle Now some who hold the position that “God can raise rebels that are enlightened, that God made them so, but we don’t think he will,” usually make a break between chapter 1 and chapter 2, and reason that chapter 2 then relates to Jews in the Ecclesia who’ve been sitting in judgment on Gentiles in the Ecclesia That’s a very important interpretation If it’s right, then you really can’t take Romans 2 and apply it to someone who’s not in the Ecclesia, which is what I think is the correct interpretation of Romans 2 So you have to see the first issue clearly here
Now, Ill review that again Is Romans 2 a general description irrespective of covenant status or whether one’s baptized, or is it a chapter directed specifically to the Ecclesia about a problem of Jews sitting in judgment of Gentiles? Because you can see that that juncture is either going to allow the possibility that what is intended applies to rebels against the Truth (those who are wicked in God s sight, who do wickedness), or whether it is going to restrict it to baptized members
Paul Is Concluding That All Are Under Sin
First of all, Romans 2, although there is obviously a break in the chapter divisions, is connected to chapter 1, and it’s connected by the word “therefore” It’s not that he has moved from a problem of wickedness in the world generally and then to the Ecclesia particularly, he is dealing with a broad sweep of a survey of Gentiles and Jews in which he is going to conclude that they are all under sin. The connection between chapter 2 and chapter 1 is, “Therefore, you have no excuse, oh man, whoever you are.” So the first thing we note is that these are very general terms We might have expected if chapter 2 were this kind of particular consideration of the Ecclesia that there might be some other introduction than “Therefore, you have no excuse, oh man, whoever you are” whether you’re a Jew, a Gentile, irrespective of your race or your background When as he says, “ye judge another” or in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself because you the judge are doing the very same things
There is a Key to Unlocking Romans 2
There is a key to unlocking, I think, Romans 2, and that is the accent upon what a person does He’s not only talking about the knowledge component he had as a Jew against a Gentile, he’s talking about what you’re doing with what you have You see this in verse 2, “You know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things Do you suppose, oh man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet you do them yourself that you will escape the judgment of God?” So you see the accent, not only in the early part of the chapter, but look at verse 9, “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” You see the general character of the terms There will be tribulation and distress for everyone, every human being who does evil, to the Jew first and also the Greek They re not the kind of terms that ordinarily we would associate with the Ecclesia They are too broad and too general to be confirmed and restricted to the Ecclesia Notice again, verse 13, “For it’s not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified ” Verse 21, the last part of the verse, “While you preach against stealing, do you steal ? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery ?” Verse 23, You who boast of the law, do you dishonor God ?” The whole emphasis of Romans 2 is on what you do with what you know, and that there are no barriers that prevent God from holding a person whose inconsistent conduct requires the judgment of God.
Now what judgment is he speaking of? In chapter 1 we see that “God gave them up,” that “they received the penalty in their own persons for their error,” a judgment that well may relate to what took place in their life of mortality. But when you come to chapter 2, there is an additional component here. For in verse 4, chapter 2, “Do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know, that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”
In Speaking to the Ecclesia Paul Does Not Use the Language of Romans 2
While it is true that the word “repent” in the Revelation was to be used of God’s Ecclesia, the general context to which it occurs here is associated with words that ordinarily you wouldn’t relate to the brotherhood. If you look at verse 5 it says, “your hard and impenitent heart” and that person’s “storing up wrath for himself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Now Paul spoke about the Roman Ecclesia in the Roman epistle and he never uses language like this to describe the character of the Roman Ecclesia. When you go through chapters 15 and 16 you read about the problems that he deals with. In chapter 12 there is instruction and exhortation to the Ecclesia, but never do we find the language of censor of chapter 2 in verse 5 where a person by their hard and impenitent heart is storing up wrath for themselves.
So there’s a contextual flow of thought that is inconsistent with the view that Romans 2 is speaking of a Jewish convert sitting in judgment of a Gentile convert. But it would be quite in keeping with the language used of a Jew and a Gentile considered in general terms, of which he’s not speaking of covenant relationships specifically or whether or not a person is baptized. “By your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourselves on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” So it’s a day of reckoning.
So it isn’t that the man who does wickedness and does not obey the Truth can skate through life apparently unscathed by his wickedness and face no day of reckoning.
It’s here that we should pause perhaps to look at this because I have a feeling that for many people, this is one of the problems in the view that they say, “Well, God can raise a person who is rebellious while he understands the Truth, but we really don’t think he will. Because what purpose would it serve? Why raise someone like that ?” Well, when we look at the relationship of a mortal man to the Almighty, perhaps we can put this again into better focus.
On the one side we have the offer of an award. It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. There are all the promises, as the Apostle Paul sets them out here; “to those who by patience in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life,” an offer of reward. Now that is a positive incentive; to be in the Kingdom, to see the Kingdom. There’s an offer of reward that this body of humility may be changed and fashioned like unto his glorious body.
Fear of Punishment is Part of God’s Message
But you know there is another component to this, and that is fear of punishment, of failure; and that’s part of the message of God to mankind as well. Very often in the statements of Jesus to the Jews of his day, you read “on that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?” “And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me ye evildoers.” You’ll see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and ye yourselves thrust out. So when you look at God’s gospel invitation — yes, there is the invitation, the good news to participate in the Kingdom age, but there’s also the fear of punishment and the fear of failure.
We Need an Attitude of Revival
What that does is produce in the attitude and the mind of the disciple the reverence a mortal should show before the Almighty. So it could never be said of anyone that he could ever think that he could tie God’s hands by saying “You know, I don’t think the Scriptures ever really teach that I could be liable to a resurrection until I’m baptized.” Because what it would mean, it would mean that God would reward a person who had that attitude by keeping him in the ground, and the person who at least tried in the race for life eternal and failed, would be raised and judged. Now, if my interpretation of Scripture is correct, the person who is enlightened about the demands of the gospel message and refuses to comply to those demands, he has a responsibility towards God in which God will judge him. He doesn’t tie the hands of God as to what God can or cannot do. There is no impediment to God raising him from the ground where he will see the righteous judgments of the Almighty. And so, if our understanding of Romans 1 and 2 are correct, then we see in Romans 2 this aspect of fear or threat of punishment; which if this analogy be followed, would produce in a person, hopefully, a reverence and respect for God.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 2:6 says, “He will render to every man according to his works;” the emphasis upon doing with what you have, not simply knowing. “And to those who by patience in well doing seek for this glory and honor and immortality, he will give them eternal life.” But for those who are factious (the word means self-seeking) and do not obey the Truth — that word as used in Romans seems to be reserved in the Roman epistle at least for ‘disbelief.’ It is used in other contexts in the New Testament, but if you look at Romans it is used for the “blatant disbelief”, for example, of the Jews.
This idea, “do not obey,” in the Roman epistle is not used of believers, it is used of those who are disbelievers who do not obey the Truth.”
“Do not Obey” Refers to Disbelievers
There’s another component to this chapter 2 of Romans which we’d like to highlight at this time. Paul says in v. 12, “all who have sinned without law will perish without law and all who have sinned in law will be judged by law.” Then there is what has sometimes at least been regarded as a parenthetical section. Verse 12 should almost certainly be followed by verse 16. If you take out the parentheses, it would read this way: “All who sin without law will perish without law. All who sin under law will be judged by law, on that day when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” Now is this an important component of one’s understanding of the gospel message? One of the criteria we set out as first principle was not only the frequency of occurrence, but whether or not it was related to the gospel and affected one’s attitude to God.
Well, you can see here the ‘day’ that
“The Day” Is the Day of Judgment
the apostle speaks about in verse 5 “by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath.” When is that day? Well, Paul tells us in verse 16, “on that day when according to my gospel God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” So this established not only the attitude of a person to God, what it ought to be in terms of what we have revealed here in chapter 2, but that it was a component of the gospel message. On that day when according to my gospel God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” And you see in general terms when Paul on Mars Hill stands up and says that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent, the general description to the Athenians. The gospel is not just an invitation, but God commands all men everywhere to repent and that they incur a relationship to him by their knowledge by which there is no impediment to him raising them for their accountability if He so wishes.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One