God Shows No Partality

Passage: Romans 16:2:6-11

Picture a courtroom scene where the apostle Paul is the prosecuting attorney.  His first defendant was a Gentile, a man who was arrogant, profane, godless, sexually perverse, wicked, and unapologetic.  He hates and defies all that is good.  Embraces evil, fears no judgment.  He is shameless in his shamefulness.

Paul pronounces the judgment, the Judge has completely given him over to impurity, to dishonorable passions and a debased mind.  His sin becomes his judgment.  The wrath and fury of God is on him.

Behind Paul in the courtroom is a great crowd of Jews cheering Paul on.  “You tell him, Paul.  Let him have it, throw the book at him.  He is a terrible person who does terrible things and deserves to be judged.  Give him the death penalty.”

Paul hears this and he turns around and becomes their prosecutor.  That’s Romans 2.  Chapter 2 makes a shift in pronouns.  In Chapter 1 Paul said they.  In Chapter 2 he says you and he doesn’t mean all you all, but you, and you, and you.  We need to feel the weight of Paul’s words.  We are the Jews, the religious people, the people who go to church and follow the rules.

Aren’t we quick to judge the terrible sins of others, aren’t we safe and secure in our own righteousness, especially compared to immoral people, those gays, those liberals, those gossips and slanders.

If the Jews thought they would get a pass, they have another thing coming.  The Jews thought they had exclusive privileges as the people of God.  They had Abraham as their father and the law as their standard.  To their shock and surprise Paul shows them they are just as much sinners as the Gentiles.

The Jews looked down on the Gentiles because of their gross sins.  They didn’t see their respectable sins as worthy of judgment.

That is how I was.  I was obedient, respectful, I did what my parents said.  I was not rebellious, not like lots of other kids.  I was the good kid, the trouble I got into was mild compared to everyone else.  My sins were respectable.  I didn’t think my sins were bad enough to keep me out of heaven.  I didn’t understand how God would deny me eternal life.  I didn’t know God.