Romans 2.2-God Judges Men According to Truth
Prairie View Christian Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 18, 2007
Romans: Romans 2:2-God Judges Men According to Truth
Lesson # 42
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 2:1.
Last Thursday, we completed a study of Romans 1:18-32, which presents to us the unrighteousness of the Gentiles who are as a result in need of salvation and the righteousness of God, both of which are received as a gift from God through faith alone in Christ alone.
Then, on Sunday, I presented an overview to the congregation of Romans 2, which contains twelve principles of divine judgment.
Last evening, we studied Romans 2:1 in which Paul turns abruptly from speaking about the unrighteousness of the Gentiles to addressing the self-righteous attitude of the Jews towards the Gentiles.
In the process of doing this, Paul teaches that the Jews will be judged according to the same standards which they set for the Gentiles since they also commit the sins that the Gentiles commit.
This evening we will study Romans 2:2 in which Paul presents a second principle of divine judgment, namely, that God judges men according to truth.
Romans 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
Romans 2:2, “And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”
As we mentioned on Sunday, the New American Standard translation is incorrect since they translate the prepositional phrase kata aletheian, “rightly” instead of “according to truth” or “based on truth” as the NIV does.
Romans 2:2, “Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.” NIV
Romans 2:2, “But we know that the judgment (adverse verdict, sentence) of God falls justly and in accordance with truth upon those who practice such things.” Amplified Bible
“And” is the conjunction de (deV), which introduces a new topic of discussion, transitioning from Paul’s discussion pertaining to the guilt of the Gentiles and the self-righteous Jew in Romans 1:18-2:1 to a discussion regarding principles related to the judgment of God.
Therefore, the word should be translated “now,” which the New American Standard fails to do and yet the New International Version does.
“We know” is the verb oida (oi‚da), which denotes the possession of knowledge rather than the acquiring of knowledge, which the verb ginosko denotes, thus it means, “to know for certain, to know without a doubt.”
The word denotes the full possession of the facts concerning the judgment of God and is usually followed by the conjunction hoti (o^ti) (hot-ee), which introduces a statement that is accepted as a dogmatic statement of fact in the Old Testament, as is the case here in Romans 2:2.
In Romans 2:2, the “intensive perfect” tense of the verb oida emphasizes the results or present state of the self-righteous Jew knowing for certain that the judgment of God falls on those who practice the sins listed in Romans 1:29-31 and which state was produced by the past action of learning this from the teaching of the Old Testament in their synagogues and in the temple in Jerusalem.
“The judgment” is the noun krima (krivma) (kree-mah), which refers to the guilty verdict of eternal condemnation that God renders to those who commit the sins listed in Romans 1:29-31.
The definite article preceding the noun indicates that this judicial verdict of eternal condemnation is “well-known” to the self-righteous Jew who was instructed concerning it through the teaching of the Old Testament in his synagogue and in the temple.
“Of God” is articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the Trinity, namely, who are God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit functioning in their role as the Supreme Court of Heaven.
“Is” is the verb eimi (ei(miv), which denotes that the judgment of God possesses a certain inherent characteristic that is identified by the prepositional phrase kata aletheian, “according to truth.”
The present tense is “gnomic” used for a general timeless fact or spiritual axiom, thus indicating that it is “an eternal spiritual truth” or “spiritual axiom” God will judge according to truth those who as a lifestyle practice the sins listed by Paul in Romans 1:29-31.
Romans 2:2, “And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”
“Rightly” is composed of the preposition kata (katav) and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun aletheia (a)lhvqeia) (al-ay-thi-a), “truth.”
God has the monopoly on truth since it is an attribute that helps to compose His divine essence.
Psalm 31:5, “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.”
Those who live according to truth are living in reality whereas those who reject truth are living in unreality and under the lie of Satan.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the truth of God since He is the Word of God incarnate.
John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
After salvation, the will of God is that the believer acquire an experiential knowledge of the truth in the sense of personally encountering truth through the process of fellowship as it is revealed by the Holy Spirit through prayerful study of the Scriptures.
It also means being affected by this encounter with truth resulting in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
1 Timothy 2:4, “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (Bible Doctrine, the mind of Christ).”
The new nature that the believer receives at the moment of salvation has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Ephesians 4:24, “and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
The believer’s sanctification is accomplished by means of truth.
John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
Therefore, the believer is commanded to let the Word of Christ richly dwell in his soul.
Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
He does this by diligently studying the Word of truth to enrich his fellowship with the Lord and his worship of Him.
2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
He is also commanded to speak the truth to his fellow believer by means of God’s love.
Ephesians 4:15, “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.”
Truth will set the believer free from sin.
John 8:31, “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’”
Believers are commanded to love each other according to the Word of truth.
1 John 3:18, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
The believer is to worship the Father by means of truth.
John 4:23-24, “But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers, will worship the Father spiritually, yes, by means of truth. In fact, the Father intensely desires such worshippers of Himself. God, as to His nature, is spirit and those worshipping Him must worship spiritually, yes, by means of truth.”
In Romans 2:2, the noun aletheia means, “truth” in the sense that God’s judgment is based totally on reality and the facts and is totally and absolutely impartial in that He does not have one standard for the Jew and another for the Gentiles.
Therefore, for a Jew to pass judgment on the sins of the Gentiles or anyone else for that matter, while at the same time practicing those very same sins was to pass judgment on himself and so Paul’s readers would have to agree that they could not escape God’s judgment.
Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
The definite article preceding the noun aletheia, “truth” is “monadic” emphasizing that truth is “unique” since it originates in the essence of God.
The preposition kata with the accusative noun aletheia, “truth” specifies that the “standard” by which God’s judgment is executed is truth and should be translated “according to.”
Romans 2:2, “And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”
“Upon” is the preposition epi (e)piv), which is used with the accusative case as a marker of opposition in a judicial sense meaning, “against.”
“Those who practice” is the verb prasso (pravssw), which means, “to make it a habit of practicing” and denotes a habit and a process leading to an accomplishment.
“Such things” is refers to the various acts of sin that are listed by Paul in Romans 1:29-31.
Corrected translation of Romans 2:1-2:
Romans 2:1, “For this very reason, you are, as an eternal spiritual truth, without excuse O man, each and everyone of you without exception who as a lifestyle judge as guilty for by means of that which you as a lifestyle judge as guilty the other person, you, as an eternal spiritual truth condemn yourself for you, who as a lifestyle judge as guilty, make it a habit to practice the same things.”
Romans 2:2, “Now, we know for certain that God’s judgment is, as an eternal spiritual truth according to truth, against those who as a lifestyle practice such things.”
Psalm 98:8-9, “Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy, let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.”
Deuteronomy 32:4, “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just, a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.”
Psalm 19:9, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.”