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Almost None Of The Gentiles Live According To The Law Written On Their Hearts; Most Of The Jewish People Don’t Obey The Written Law; Therefore They Need To Believe The Good News
In the first chapter of this great letter that teaches us who God is and how He works and what He wants from us, Rabbi Paul started addressing the reasons why people need to believe the Gospel. After the Flood, the nations of the world suppressed the truth about God. Their rejection of God caused them to enter a downward descent into spiritual and sexual and moral darkness. Many people and nations became very wicked. But not all nations and not all people became equally wicked. Some nations and people were worse than others. Some were better than others.
The Lord’s representative now addresses those individuals who think they aren’t as bad as those who are really wicked, and therefore assume they are OK. Even though they might not be as bad as those who are farther down the spiral of moral and spiritual depravity, they still fail to meet God’s standards. They don’t even live in accordance with their own standards – which are lower than God’s standards. Therefore, the people who think they are OK, but in reality aren’t, need to believe the Good News if they want to become truly righteous. You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. The person who disapproves of the actions of others but does the same things himself reveals that he knows what is right and what is wrong and yet knowingly is engaging in what is wrong. His wrong-doing is not an ignorant kind of wrong-doing, but a knowledgeable kind of wrong-doing – which is even more serious, even more worthy of divine punishment.
Paul asks a question designed to emphasize the inevitability of judgment that will result from this. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? No, you won’t escape God’s judgment because you have shown that you know what is wrong, yet you do it anyway. God, whose judgment is right and true, will condemn you for violating your moral code.
And when you condemn others for doing something bad and excuse yourself for doing the same thing, that’s a kind of lie. It’s saying one thing but doing another. It is hypocrisy. It is deceit. And deceit is unacceptable to God, who is righteous and true and hates all kinds of lies. God will judge you and condemn you for being a hypocrite and a liar and a deceiver.
The Rabbi anticipates, and answers, the following objection: “Look, even if I am inconsistent because I point out the sins of others yet do similar things myself; even though I don’t always live according to my moral code, God can’t be angry with me for that. No one is perfect. Look at my life. Things are going well for me. I am blessed. That’s proof that I am OK.”
The Lord’s representative says it’s a mistake to presume that God is pleased with you because things are going well for you. That is not how you should interpret God’s blessings. Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? If your life is good, even though you are morally inconsistent, it’s not because God is pleased with you or He accepts you. No, the truth is that you are a violator of your own moral code, which has lower standards than God’s moral code. You are not right with Him. You are not OK. He will not accept you.
You are misinterpreting the reason why your life is good. The reason why your life is as good as it is, is because God is very kind and very patient. The reason why your life is as good as it is is because God is revealing something about Himself to you. He is giving you a taste of His kind, patient nature. He is giving you time to repent, to turn to Him the way you need to, so that you can be accepted by Him, so that He can be truly pleased with you.
But, if you refuse to turn to Him the way you need to, a day is coming when you will experience the most terrible consequences. 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 repay each person according to what they have done.”
Those who think they are morally superior to others, but don’t live according to their own moral code, and refuse to turn to God, are adding to their failings. Their stubborn refusal to turn to God will be added to their other sins. On the day of judgment, when everything will be revealed, it will become clear that God had been displeased with them all along. He had been angry with them all along. He had been letting them know that He was kind and patient and worth serving – but they ignored Him.
On the day of judgment, God will judge them. God will condemn them for their sins and for violating their own moral code, for their hypocrisy, for their stubborn refusal to turn to Him in spite of His kindness and patience which they experienced. And His condemnation will be righteous. It will be just. It will be fair.
This is not a new teaching that the Rabbi made up. It has been the teaching of the Word of God all along. It was express by David 1,000 years before Paul in Psalm 62: God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” That means that judgment is certain. That means that every human being will be judged. That means that God will determine, based on what people have done, or not done, those who will be condemned and punished and sent to Hell, and those who will be declared innocent and rewarded and allowed to experience eternal life in the new Heavens and new Earth.
The Rabbi expands on the teaching of God’s judgment being based on what people have 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.
To those who by persistence in doing good: I want to define what Paul means by “doing good.” It is a consistent doing good, not an occasional doing good, and most of the time doing bad. It means persistently doing good. It means a life that’s characterized by doing good. And when those who by persistence in doing good realize they have done something bad, and they will, they feel remorse and turn to God and confess their failings. They thank God for His ability to forgive, and pray that they will do good the next time they face a similar situation.
It’s important to understand that “doing good” means more than just doing actions. If doing bad includes rejecting the truth, and it does, then doing good includes accepting the truth. Doing good includes faith. Doing good includes believing the right things. Doing good means changing your thinking so that you are no longer suppressing the truth about God, so that your thoughts come into agreement with the truth about God, and the truth of the Good News.
Part of the motivation of those who are doing good is to gain glory, honor and immortality – and it’s OK to have that as part of their motivation. The do-gooders want to live in a way that pleases God and causes Him to reward them with glory, honor and immortality – immortality being the condition of not being able to die. They want to live forever with God as His glorious and honorable friends – and they will. You want to be part of the group who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality.
Then there is the other group, the do-baders, who will have an entirely different future. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. Instead of seeking God first, they seek themselves first. Instead of living for God, they live for themselves. Instead of living in a way that pleases God, they live in a way that pleases themselves. Instead of receiving the truth about God and the Gospel, the reject the truth about God and the Gospel. Instead of persistently doing what is right, they follow the majority and do what is wrong. Instead of receiving the rewards of glory and honor and eternal life, they will experience the wrath and anger of the Creator whom they have offended. You do not want to be part of that group.
The Rabbi continues with his teaching on rewards for those who do good and the punishments for those who do evil. The do-gooders are not limited to the Chosen People, nor are the do-baders limited to the people from the other nations. 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. Those who do good, which includes individual Jewish people and individual Gentiles, will be rewarded with glory and honor and peace. All shame, anything dishonorable will vanish and the Lord will transform them into glorious, honorable creatures. And He will reward them with peace. All the turmoil, all the conflict, all the unhappiness they have experience living in a fallen world will be over. Completeness, eternal well-being, everlasting peace will be theirs. Those who do evil, which includes individual Jewish people and individual Gentiles, will experience the opposite – trouble and distress and eternal loss.
God does not show favoritism. He treats all human beings the same way, on the same basis. His treatment of people will not be based on favoring a member of the Chosen People more than someone who is not a member of the Chosen People. His treatment of people will not be based on race or ethnicity. God will judge all human beings on the basis of whether they were repentant or unrepentant; righteous or unrighteous; whether they were doers of good or doers or evil – the way He defines doers of good and doers of evil. Those who do good, no matter their race, will be rewarded; those who do evil, no matter their ethnic background, will be punished.
If in His judgment, God does not show favoritism based on race or ethnicity, but treats all people based on things like righteousness and truth and good character – maybe we should too?
One other important point: While God does not show favoritism based on Jew/Gentile differences, He does have a God-ordained priority of giving rewards and punishments based on Jew/Gentile differences. 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. To whom much is given, much is required, and they will be judged first. And to whom less is given, less is required, and they will be judged last. When it comes to punishment, the sinners from the Chosen People will be punished first; after them, the Gentile sinners. And when it comes to the time for God to give rewards, those Jewish people who became right with God will be rewarded first; and after them, the righteous from the nations will receive their rewards.
This is not the first time that the Lord’s representative has used the phrase, “first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” He used it earlier when introducing the importance of the Gospel, which is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. The Gospel has a God-ordained priority. It is to go to the Jewish people first. This is a principle based on God’s choice of Israel as the Chosen People.
This God-ordained “to the Jewish people first” emphasis of the Gospel is not limited by time. It did not end in the first century. It remains in effect today. How do we know this? In part, because the same principle applies to the way God will reward and punish – first the Jewish people and then the peoples of the nations. Just as that “to the Jew first” principle will be operating on the Day of Judgment, so the need to bring the Gospel to the Jewish people first remains in effect until there is no longer any need to bring the Good News to the Jewish people. Makes sense? Of course.
God will judge the people of Israel, and He will judge the nations based on the truth that was given to them. Those who received more truth will be judged by the truth they received. Those who received less truth will be judged by the truth they received. Sadly, neither the Jewish people, who received more truth, nor the people from the nations, who received less truth, live according to the truth they received. Therefore, everyone, the Jewish people and the peoples from the nations, need to receive the Gospel in order for them to be saved.
All who sin apart from the law (the Gentiles, who had not been given the law) will also perish. Perish is a very strong word. It means to be completely ruined, to be destroyed. All the Gentile who sin apart from the law, which is the vast majority, but not everyone, because there were occasional ones like Malkee-Tzedek who knew God and did what was right.
And all who sin under the law (the Jewish people) will be judged by the law. And the majority of Israel will be condemned, since they hear the law but don’t obey it, just as the majority of the Gentiles don’t obey their God-given internal moral code. 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.
It is possible for the Jewish people who are responsible for obeying the Law, who are under the Sinai Covenant, to be saved. How? By obeying the Law; by a persistent keeping of its commandments, including: having faith in God; being loyal to Him; loving God with all your heart, soul and might; realizing you are a sinner in need of atonement, and when you sin, going to the temple and sacrificing a bull, goat, lamb, ram or pigeon; and when God sends the Messiah, and the Law reveals He would, by accepting the Messiah. That’s how a Jewish person was saved under the Law. Sadly, only a remnant among the Jewish people obeyed the law and became righteous. Most Jewish people heard the Law but did not obey the Law and never became righteous in God’s sight.
Gentile sinners, like Jewish sinners, will be condemned. Therefore the sinners from the nations need the Gospel, and sinners from the Jewish people need the Gospel.
Even though they were not blessed with the divine relation of the Torah, the peoples from the nations were given divine revelation. It was written, not on tablets of stone or on scrolls, but on their hearts. 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. God has made us in His image, and part of that image is having an innate sense of morality, of knowing right from wrong. The people from the nations were not privileged to be at Sinai, and did not hear the voice of God giving the Ten Commandments. They did not have the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets. They did not have the rest of the Law that Moses gave us. In spite of that, the Gentiles still they knew it was wrong to disobey parents; to give false testimony; to murder; to steal what belonged to someone else; to take another man’s wife.
Not only did God give all human beings an innate sense of right and wrong, He gave all human beings a conscience, which is an internal moral regulator. It lets us know when we violate our internal moral code. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Messiah Yeshua, as my gospel declares. The peoples from the nations, although they were not given the Torah like the Jewish people were, have the moral requirements of the Torah written on their hearts – not the ceremonial commandments of the Torah, like being circumcised on the eighth day, or keeping kosher or wearing tzit-tzit. The peoples from the nations know there is good and there is evil. There is right and there is wrong. They know it is wrong to disobey parents; to give false testimony; to murder; to steal; to commit adultery.
The problem is that although the Gentiles have a God-given internal moral code, sometimes they live according to it and sometimes they don’t. When they do what they know is right, their internal moral regular, their conscience will commend them: “Good job! You did what is right! Keep it up!” When they do what they know is wrong, their conscience will accuse them: You did something wrong! You should be ashamed of yourself. You need to make things right. Don’t do that again.”
Sometimes people respond to their conscience – which is a commendable thing; and sometimes they ignore their conscience, which is a sin. On the Day of Judgment, God will take that inner moral code into consideration – whether people obeyed it or not obey it. And, God will take conscience into consideration, whether people have responded properly to it or not. People may not know whether they have lived according to their moral code, or have listened to their conscience, but God, who knows our deepest secrets knows, and will judge human beings on that basis.
If you are Jewish, you need to understand that the Sinai Covenant is a broken covenant, and it is impossible to keep it. Even if you try to keep it, you will not be able to keep it perfectly, and since there is no temple and no sacrifices, which is the way the Sinai Covenant provided atonement, the Torah can’t provide atonement. And since the Torah teaches us to accept the Messiah when He comes, and He has come, keeping Torah means following Yeshua. Don’t think you are keeping the Torah if you reject Yeshua. You aren’t. You too need to believe the Good News.
One other thing: I was taught that the Gospel was about Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection. The Good News does include Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection, but it includes more than. Judgment is part of the Gospel, as Paul make clear: This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Messiah Yeshua, as my gospel declares. The Gospel includes bad news as well as good news. If people are to understand their need for the Good News, they need to be told that they are sinners who will be judged by God, and they will be condemned on the Day of Judgment. That’s why they need to turn from their sins and become loyal to the Three-In-One God.
Let’s pray:
Avinu Malkaynu, our Father and our King, You are a moral being. You are perfectly righteous. You always do what is right. You never do what is wrong. You always do good, never what is evil. And, You have right to define good and evil, and set the standards for good and evil, and insist we do what is right, and reward us for doing what is right, and punish us for doing what is wrong. Help us to persistently do what is good and what right, including having the right beliefs.
You have made us in Your image with an innate sense of morality, of right and wrong, and a conscience that lets us know when we have violated or upheld our moral code. Help us to be sensitive to live according our internal moral code, and live according to our conscience and according to the written revelation You have given us.
Help us to be among those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, and are rewarded with eternal life. Help us not be among those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil.
Thank You for Your kindness and Your patience, which leads us to repentance. May each one of us turn to You the way we should.
Thank You for the Gospel, which makes salvation possible.