Romans Explained Part 1 | Heathens, Hypocrites & JesusSample

| Romans 2:6-29 | Is Hell Fair?

Is God’s judgment fair? Is it fair for God to send people to Hell? What if they didn’t know? Is it fair to send religious people to heaven? What if they’re hypocrites?

We left off in Romans 2 at verse 5, and the phrase, “God’s righteous judgment.” Righteous means right, just, fair. So, is judgment fair? Now remember, all of this is our situation without Jesus, apart from the cross. In verse 6:

“God will repay each one according to what they’ve done” (Romans 2:6).

Exactly fair.

In verse 7, if you persistently do good, the reward is “eternal life.” Verse 8 - for those who do evil, there is “wrath and anger.”

Listen, to argue that Hell is unfair is a contradiction in terms. In the Bible, Hell is by it’s very definition fair. Change the name if you want, but Hell is defined as the place where everyone gets exactly what they deserve. Perfect justice. Then in verse 9:

“There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does…” - notice Paul emphasizes the actions – “anyone who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (2:9).

 Key phrase there: first for Jew, then for Gentile. Paul repeats it three times. Why? Because in Paul’s time, the Jew was the religious, and the Gentile - or your Bible might say Greek - was the godless and wicked. Paul is dealing with the mindset of the day. The Jews - Paul’s people - thought of themselves as godly and religious. They were the ones who stepped into the jury box to put the Gentiles on trial. I changed it up to fit our culture and thinking, but when you read “Jew” here, just think any religious person who thinks that simply having that religion makes them right and others wrong.

Now keep in mind, I am 50% Jew and 50% Gentile, and Paul was all Jew, so this is not a racist thing against Jews at all. In fact, Paul’s driving point here is that God judges everyone the same.

Do evil - face trouble. Do good - find glory. Jew or Gentile or anybody. Verse 11:

“For God does not show favoritism” (2:11).

That’s a key here. No favorites in the court. Now the Jews thought they were favored because they had the Law. God gave the Law - the Old Testament - to the Jews. God taught them right from wrong. But knowing right is not the same as doing right. That whole crew sitting in the jury box thought they were all good because they knew right from wrong, and they learned it from God’s law. So Paul drives it home in verse 13: Hearing the law doesn’t make you good with God, obeying it does (paraphrase).

Well now that Paul is grilling the jury box, one of the godless spots an advantage. “So if those guys are hypocrites for judging us - when they had the law - what about us Gentiles? We didn’t get the law. We didn’t know!”

This is the ignorance plea. “If I don’t know the law, I can’t be guilty.” Remember, that was me twenty years ago. Agnostic literally means ignorant.

But Paul answers in verse 14. You do have a law. Every time someone tries to do right, or tries to avoid wrong, verse 15 says:

“They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness…” (2:15).

Your conscience is evidence. It accuses you. And even when your conscience tries to defend you, it’s proof that you have a law, and God will hold you to it.

It’s like that old Bugs Bunny - when Yosemite Sam chases Bugs off a cliff, but Bugs doesn’t fall. And he explains, “I know this defies the law of gravity, but I never studied law!” It’s the ignorance plea. The cartoon is classic, but it doesn’t work in real life. The very fact that we avoid jumping off cliffs proves that we know gravity, and the fact that we avoid sin proves that we know what sin is.

And just when the religious crowd thinks Paul is back on their side, Paul turns back on them in verse 17. You’re so convinced that the law will save you, you preach against sin, but you do the same sins! In verse 24, you’re the reason that all these Gentiles back here blaspheme God’s name. Because you guys are hypocrites!

Now, we finish chapter 2 with everyone in the court accused. But the verdict isn’t in yet. The accused have some challenges for Paul. And Paul has answers - for the hypocrites, and for the ones who point at the hypocrites as their reason for not believing.

Remember, please stay with me until all is heard. And you do not want to walk out until you hear the verdict. For now, read chapter 2 for yourself. I’ll meet you back in court for chapter 3.