No Excuse for Anyone
Lesson 3 Notes: Romans 2
“For God does not show favoritism.” (Romans 2:11)
No matter when or where we live, we often attempt to minimize or excuse sin. Perhaps we present extenuating circumstances or situations outside of our control as satisfactory explanations. We defend our reasons for being late, breaking traffic laws, or lashing out at loved ones. We may even attempt to rationalize our sin, even to God. Or worse, we blame God for our sin. However, we have only ourselves to blame. All sin is rebellion and an offense against God.
Paul continued his letter to the church in Rome and to us by demolishing every excuse for sin. He excused no one. Instead, he accused both Jews and Gentiles of sinful rebellion against God, freeing us from erroneous, self-serving explanations and removing the camouflage of self-designed morality and outward religion. Not only does sin condemn us before God, but we also condemn ourselves when we judge others. Only God is righteous, pure, and holy—worthy to judge sinners. God alone perfectly judges every person.
Morality Versus Truth – Romans 2:1-16
Paul previously explained that the whole human race is under God’s wrath.1 Rebellion against God fills people with every kind of wickedness. From murder to disobedience, Paul denounced depraved sinners as God-haters who invent ways of doing evil.2 Next, Paul specifically addressed Rome’s believers with startling truth: All people are without excuse for their sin.
Paul did not excuse anyone based on position, heritage, or religion. Instead, Paul’s shocking argument declared that all who judge others condemn themselves because they do the very same things for which they are judging. All people are equally guilty of terrible sin. Morally upright people may wrongly believe that Paul’s harsh words do not apply to them. Perhaps they feel superior to others who defy their culture’s moral code. However, because their own moral standards allow them to recognize sin’s offense against God, they heap guilt upon themselves.
Every human falls short of any standard that measures sin. Even the seemingly basic human expectation to treat others with kindness and fairness becomes increasingly difficult when we encounter sarcasm, angry words, or rude actions. Sadly, we often find ourselves behaving our worst with those we love the most.
Biblical standards confirm Paul’s point. The Ten Commandments3 and Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount4 reveal God’s standard for living rightly and expose humanity’s inborn compulsion toward sin. Inherent human frailty and the power of sin leave every person utterly incapable of perfectly upholding God’s standards. Even seemingly little sins reveal a giant gap between God and us.
The Ten Commandments – God’s law, given to the Israelites through Moses, has greatly influenced the laws of many countries. While some of God’s commands may seem easy to uphold, a closer look reveals our own guilt regarding each command.
The first four commandments focus on our responsibility to love, worship, and honor God above all else. Anything or anyone, even ourselves, that replaces God as first in our lives becomes an idol. Using God’s name in an unholy or profane manner defames the very character of the God who created us. We are called to set aside a day each week to worship the Lord and make Him our utmost priority. Even with our best effort, we fall short of loving God with our whole heart.
The remaining six commandments deal with our responsibility to live upright lives among others. The fifth commandment requires us to honor, or respect and esteem, our fathers and mothers. With a contrary thought, an untruthful word, or an unkind action against our parents, we break this command. The sixth commandment forbids murder. God judges our thoughts and attitudes, not only our actions. Jesus equated feeling anger toward another with murder.5 The seventh commandment forbids adultery. Pornography, certain aspects of media, and some music promote all sorts of sexual promiscuity that run rampant in today’s world. Even people who belong to Christ can wrongly tolerate sinful desires. Jesus said we are guilty of adultery if we look at another person with lust.6 The eighth commandment forbids theft. Purposefully not returning a borrowed item or leaving a debt unpaid breaks this command. Neglecting God’s call to generously offer our time, talents, and treasure and to care for the poor and for widows also breaks this command. The ninth commandment forbids false testimony. God sees a small or seemingly insignificant lie the same as giving false testimony in a court of law. Because silence can leave the wrong impression, we can even lie without speaking. The tenth commandment says we must not covet. To covet means to want something others have out of desire rather than need. The marketing industry preys upon this human weakness. Later in Romans, Paul identifies his own status as a lawbreaker, confessing his own internal battle with coveting.7
Jews in Paul’s day intensely prioritized God’s law—the Ten Commandments. As God’s covenant people, every Jew cherished God’s law, yet all failed to keep it. Many Jews claimed God’s favor based on their heritage, failing to measure their sinfulness against the law God provided. God’s righteous standards condemned all people then and condemn all people now.
The Sermon on the Mount – Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount apply the Ten Commandments not only to outward acts but also to internal heart attitudes. Jesus’s sermon strengthens rather than weakens God’s Old Testament standards. In the Beatitudes, Jesus explained qualities that God blesses and commends as flourishing life.8 Only Jesus Himself fully embodies the characteristics He described. Gentle in spirit, Jesus mourned for sin. Meekness, mercy, and purity flow majestically from our Lord. Jesus, a peacemaker, not only embodies righteousness but suffered to provide righteousness for all who seek Him. His sermon also contains the Golden Rule: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”9 This command sums up Jesus’s teaching on the Law and the Prophets but also condemns every human being.
With either a human or biblical measure, Paul’s correctly states, “At whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself.” When asked which command was the greatest, Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”10 Jesus’s clarifying standards remain impossible for humans to carry out. Only Jesus fully upholds and provides the righteousness God requires.
Paul next addressed those who depend on their own moral living. God will judge the self-righteous alongside those who live steeped in depravity. God bases His judgment against all sinners upon His truth, which overrules any attempt to excuse sin. God’s judgment cuts through all excuses and the sins we try to hide, ultimately revealing our stubborn unbelief. No one can escape God’s judgment with His truth as the standard. God explains truth; Jesus, the way, truth, and life, embodies truth.11
Any human who judges another yet commits the same sins will not escape God’s judgment. Our choice to judge others by standards we ignore ourselves shows contempt for God’s love, kindness, and patience. With rich kindness and tender compassion, God calls us to repentance. To willfully turn our backs on God means choosing instead to receive His judgment and wrath against our sin. God patiently holds back deserved judgment, allowing individuals every opportunity to turn to Him. Only those who humbly respond to God’s kindness in repentance and turn to Jesus for salvation will escape God’s judgment. Tragically, those who defend their own self-righteousness await God’s final and certain judgment.
In Romans 1:18, Paul wrote, “The wrath of God is being revealed.” God does not withhold His wrath until the final judgment day. When He abandons humanity to sin,12 God reveals His wrath in real time today. Here, Paul’s second reference to God’s wrath points to His future, final judgment. On that day, His “righteous judgment will be revealed.” In Romans 2:2, Paul revealed God’s basis for judgment. Now and in the future, God always bases His judgment on truth. For those who have not received the salvation God offers through His Son, He will exercise the judgment they deserve based on their own sinful desires and deeds.
According to What People Deserve (2:5) – Because all people sin, everyone deserves God’s final judgment. Stubborn refusal to confess sin and turn to God stores up His wrath against those with unrepentant hearts. Ignorance of God provides no excuse because God reveals Himself through nature.13 All humans have enough knowledge to seek the One who created them and the world. Instead, the rebellious suppress God’s evident truth.
God will rightly judge all people, based on their knowledge of and disregard for His kindness.14 People who show contempt for God by trying to forget, dismiss, or atone for their own sin store up God’s wrath with every rebellious word, thought, and action. Like emails, social media posts, and digital images that are never truly deleted, their complete record of sin accumulates and remains.
According to Deeds (2:6-11) – God will base His judgment on what people do with the life He has given them. These verses describe two very different paths that greatly differ in motivation and destiny. Everyone is on either one path or the other. There is no middle ground. Some seek glory, honor, and immortality, persisting in doing good. In stark contrast, the self-seeking people on the other path reject truth and follow evil.
Paul lists the ultimate desires that motivate a believer’s persistence in doing good:
Believers pursue this path by God’s grace and through His power. Through the Holy Spirit, God delivers His children from sin, brings them to saving faith in Christ, and grants them eternal life. Can people persist in doing good apart from the gospel’s truth and the Holy Spirit’s power? They cannot! The only perfect path requires humble, perpetual submission to God. Self-consumed sinners would never choose this path by their own will and cannot persistently walk along this path in their own strength. Only those empowered by the Holy Spirit will walk this glorious path to and with Jesus.
Apart from God’s intervention, all humans take the self-seeking path of sin. Paul describes the sinful motivations of those on the path of rebellion against God:
What results from sinful rebellion? God promises wrath, anger, trouble, and distress upon those who turn away from Him. God’s wrath and anger are tied to His fierce and absolute opposition to all evil. Trouble and distress are the effects of judgment on evildoers; the Bible frequently describes the suffering the wicked will face in this way.19 God promises to accurately and comprehensively examine all people and their deeds without showing favoritism. All without faith in Jesus will be condemned. Family connections, church membership, culture, religion, status, power, comfort, or wealth will not suffice. The only path to eternal life is through Jesus Christ.
Righteousness in God’s Sight (2:12-16) – Paul continued teaching about God’s final judgment by addressing what his fellow Jews cherished—God’s law. Once again, Paul shocked his readers. God’s law is not contained on stone tablets nor upheld by flawed human effort. God must write His law on the hearts of His people. Those who hear and obey the law will be declared righteous in God’s sight. Gentiles who live according to the law’s regulations demonstrate that God has written the law’s requirements on their hearts. God, who knows the heart of every single person, will one day judge every person’s secrets through His Son, Jesus Christ.
God, Our Worthy Judge
Paul presents hard and challenging truth about God’s righteous judgment. God will judge all people, Jews and Gentiles alike. Living among the Roman culture, Christ’s followers in Paul’s time likely witnessed rampant unbelief. Perhaps some who professed faith still participated in sinful cultural practices. Paul offers no middle ground when it comes to Christ. All people sin, and all people will face judgment. God is perfect, and every judgment He makes is based on truth. He is our worthy judge.
Scripture presents two basic types of judgment: punitive and evaluative. Punitive judgment, faced by unbelievers for unrepentant sin, refers to dreadful suffering in a conscious state throughout eternity. Scripture warns of this terrible punishment so sinners will flee to Jesus for rescue.1 Believers, freed from God's punitive judgment, face only evaluative judgment2 based on their service to Christ in this life. Sometimes referred to as rewards, this judgment should encourage believers to faithfully obey, honor, and serve God.3
Refusal to believe that God will judge every person requires exchanging God’s truth for this world’s lies. Selfishly seeking our own path allows sin-marred priorities to steer every thought and action. Without God’s truth as our standard, sin is brushed off as comedy, Satan is depicted as a cartoon, and God’s judgment becomes a source of scoffing. Refusal to turn to Christ in repentance tragically reaps this world’s troubles. Even worse, those embroiled in this lie face the devastating eternal consequence of God’s wrath. The choice to refuse God on earth leaves people void of His presence for all eternity.
When we believe that God knows the secrets of our hearts and will judge us on that final day, we rightly humble ourselves before Him. We confess our sin in contrite repentance before God and receive cleansing through the blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ. We live life on earth in peace, knowing that our sins are forgiven and trusting the Holy Spirit’s enabling as we seek to please God. We know that when we see God face-to-face, He will see the perfection of His one and only Son, who died for us, rather than our sin and flawed human service to Him. We long for heaven’s rewards and gratefully await our eternal home with God.
Outward Religion Versus Inner Transformation – Romans 2:17-29
Paul shifted to specifically address the Jews of his day. Today his words could apply to anyone, including ardently faithful churchgoers. Spiritual advantages such as church membership, the sacraments, and stewardship are genuinely good, but they cannot save. God is not interested in outward expressions alone. Rather, the Lord looks at the heart.20
Religious Jews of Paul’s day claimed special spiritual advantages and religious privileges based on their nation’s history with God. Paul questioned their foregone assumption of an elevated status with God, saying, “If you call yourself a Jew.” The religious Jews boasted about and relied on their unique relationship with God and His law. Because God gave them the law, they knew His will and approved the most excellent moral standards. Therefore, the Jews had been guides for the blind and a light for those in darkness. They were instructors for the foolish and spiritual teachers of children. Each claim Paul mentioned was absolutely true, highlighting their important spiritual advantages. However, God called the Jewish people to proclaim Him to all nations through holy lives shaped by His law. Despite God-given privileges, they offered God only lip service while their external actions revealed unchanged hearts that dishonored God.
Knowing God’s ways is never enough. Paul asked in verse 21, “You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?” God judges according to truth, not appearances. God measures what people do, not just what they say.
Paul produced three examples of the Jews’ “superior” way of life: The Jews possessed God’s revealed law and knew God’s commands regarding stealing, adultery, and right worship, yet they broke those very laws. God is not satisfied with mere intellectual knowledge. Paul had instructed the moral Gentiles that God measures our actions.21 By God’s standard, both Jews and Gentiles stand condemned. Their own words condemned them because they judged the actions of others yet did the same things themselves.
Paul quoted the Old Testament, stating, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”22 When openly religious people violate the very standards they proclaim, God’s name is defamed, and people are confused. This remains true today. The watching world quickly spots hypocrisy. How faithfully do you practice what you preach?
Paul turned to address the circumcised Jewish men. Circumcision visibly identified these men as belonging to God’s covenant people. God promised salvation for His people. He pledged to be their God and gave them circumcision as the sign of His covenant with them.23
Today, baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs of the new covenant for Christians.24 Like circumcision under the old covenant, these sacraments point to spiritual realities. These God-given blessings help strengthen our faith. However, no outward sign has the power to save. God looks within to correctly discern the truth about everyone.
What is a Jew? Paul insisted that a Jewish believer must be a true Jew—one whose upright conduct flows from new life within. Paul clearly stated, “A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” Only God can perfectly judge and change a human heart. No human can circumcise their own heart through their words, actions, or heritage. To become a part of God’s people, we need hearts changed from the inside out. Jesus transforms us inwardly so that we may please Him outwardly. God knows everything about everyone. God alone perfectly judges every person. Our proper response is to humble ourselves before Him.
Take to Heart
Paul spoke shocking truth about an outwardly moral or religious person’s guilt before God in the same way he rebuked sinful unbelievers in Romans 1. Someone who judges another’s sin stands equally accountable to God as they commit that very same sin. All people, Jew and Gentile alike, are condemned by sin and await God’s judgment and wrath. No excuse will suffice. Even sins we consider small represent a chasm between us and God so big that we cannot rescue ourselves. While upright, moral living is good, nothing we can do will save us.
Our best efforts to save ourselves cannot meet God’s perfect standards. While we may take pride in moral living, religious observances, or our family heritage, God knows the truth about every sinful heart. We offer God nothing worthy of His favor. Yet, in mercy and compassion, God has provided a way to redeem people caught in sin’s trap. Paul will go on to explain the riches of the gospel. But first we must recognize our utter need of a Savior. Our sin runs deep, but God’s love reaches deeper. Only the blood of Jesus Christ rescues us from sin.
Paul speaks the naked truth to us, who, like Paul’s readers, tend to minimize our sin. There is no acceptable excuse for our sin. Every single human is a sinner. No single sin is insignificant or hidden from God. No one escapes judgment for sin. God will perfectly judge every sinner. How might you consider yourself more righteous than others? Whom do you judge as more guilty before God, and how does that condemn you? Indwelt by the Holy Spirit and saved by God’s grace, believers should view others with compassion, not revulsion or self-righteousness. Will you ask God to reveal the ways pride infects your thoughts, words, and actions? When will you repent?
Neither moral behavior nor outward religion can overcome sin’s permeating root within us. While socially approved sins claim to bring happiness and freedom, sin ultimately entraps us and dominates our hearts. Each step of indifference in regard to God’s great mercy and kindness accumulates more of His wrath. Failure to worship, refusal to forgive, neglect of others, angry words, selfish thoughts, spiteful retorts, and harmful acts add to God’s wrath. What sin holds you captive? How might your excuses for sin reveal indifference toward God? Sin so mars us that no external action can save us. Only a heart circumcised by faith in Christ and transformed by God’s Spirit can be set free from sin’s bondage. What is the state of your heart? How will you respond to God’s mercy and thank Him for saving you from the eternal wrath all people deserve?
Paul spent time and used well-chosen words to intricately explain sin’s deceptive hold on all humanity. And he is not yet finished! While we may cringe and long for relief, understanding the full extent of sin’s damage makes God’s plan to redeem us more precious. Paul will celebrate the realities of salvation in Christ but first allows us to feel the weight of sin’s damage. The truth about sin humbles us before God. Understanding the reality of sin prepares us to seek the salvation only God can provide.
Jesus Christ opened the only right path to God. No true freedom from sin exists apart from Christ. Only Jesus lived in complete obedience to God and could absorb the full weight of humanity’s sin. Only Jesus can place you in right standing with God. How do we find Jesus and His right path to righteousness? First, we must recognize that sin has led us in the wrong direction and turn to Jesus in repentance.25 When we repent of sin and believe Jesus died on our behalf, He saves us. By His Spirit, God empowers us to trust, obey, and depend on Him. We offer sacrificial work on His behalf as a spiritual act of worship, giving Him glory and honor. God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience offer a choice. Will you show contempt for God and His blessings or repent and look to Christ for salvation?
1. God’s wrath: Romans 1:18-20
2. God-haters: Romans 1:29-31
3. Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1-17
4. Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5–7
5. Anger as murder: Matthew 5:21-22
6. Lust as adultery: Matthew 5:28
7. Coveting: Romans 7:7-11
8. Blessings: Matthew 5:1-12
9. Golden Rule: Matthew 7:12
10. Most important commands: Mark 12:30-31
11. Jesus, the truth: John 14:6
12. Abandonment to sin: Romans 1:24, 26, 28
13. Revealed in nature: Romans 1:18-20
14. God’s appropriately measured judgment: Luke 12:47-48
15. Glory: Romans 5:2; 8:18, 30; 9:23; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 15:42-43; 2 Corinthians 3:12-18; 4:17
16. Honor: Hebrews 2:7; 1 Peter 1:7
17. Immortality: 1 Corinthians 15:42, 50-54
18. Love: Matthew 22:37, 39
19. Suffering of the wicked: Isaiah 8:22; Zephaniah 1:15-17
20. Outward appearance versus heart: 1 Samuel 16:7
21. Knowledge versus action: Romans 2:6-16
22. God’s name: Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:22
23. Sign of circumcision: Genesis 17:10-14; Leviticus 12:3
24. Signs of new covenant: Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 22:20-23; Acts 2:36-47; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
25. Turn to God: Isaiah 45:22; Jeremiah 31:18; Acts 3:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
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