Zambia Hunt

Introduction

Human beings possess a remarkable ability to justify their actions, attitudes, and behaviors. We are, in many ways, masters of rationalization. This tendency toward self-justification is precisely what Paul addresses as he transitions from Romans chapter one to chapter two, shifting his focus from the obvious sins of pagan culture to the more subtle—but equally dangerous—sins of religious people.

Let me illustrate this tendency with a personal example:

I remember in my early teens feeling that my mother was too restrictive. There were times I would argue my case by saying, “But mom, everybody’s doing it,” or “Mom, everybody’s going to be there.” I can still hear her response as clearly as if it were yesterday. She would look at me and say, “Philip, everybody is not doing it because you’re not doing it.” That settled the matter.

This tendency toward self-justification manifests in familiar phrases: “Well, nobody’s perfect,” or rationalizations for what we consider small sins—”Boys will be boys,” or “It was just a little white lie.”

The reason we love to categorize sin this way—as big sins and small sins—is that each one of us has this unique ability to rationalize and justify ourselves, our actions, and our attitudes. That’s exactly what the Jews of Paul’s day were attempting to do, and so Paul writes chapter two in this letter to the Romans.

Connecting To The Theme of Romans

The theme of the letter to the Romans is: God’s provision of justification by faith through the gospel for all sinners.

Paul, in Romans chapter one, laid out a clear indictment against those who once knew God but rejected Him, resulting in the darkening of their hearts and the blunting of their consciences. In response to their utter disregard for God’s righteousness and His nature, God is said in verses 24, 26, and 28 to have “gave them over” to the sins that they craved, allowing those sins that their hearts craved. God eventually said, “Fine, have at it. Partake of it. Do it. Live it. Take it to its logical extreme. Go ahead, I am turning you over to that sin.”

God allows that sin to devour the pages of our lives. This is Romans chapter one.

Termites In The Soul

Zambia is full of termites. I once discovered this firsthand when I picked up a box that had sat undisturbed in my office closet for over a year. To my dismay, termites had infiltrated through the back wall and done their devastating work. Though the box appeared intact from the outside, opening it revealed that all my sermon notes and Bible Institute class records had been reduced to tatters—unreadable, unprofitable, unrecognizable, unusable. The only option was to dispose of everything in the burn barrel.

This perfectly illustrates the spiritual condition of some people. Outwardly, everything appears fine—they dress well, maintain appearances, and attend church regularly. Yet the termites of sinful passion have been working destructively within. Their hearts have grown hard, feeling no grief over their spiritual condition and no shame or remorse for the sins they indulge.

That’s chapter one—Romans chapter one. The Bible says that God gave them over to a reprobate heart and warned them that the wrath of God is going to be poured out upon Gentile guilt.

The Self-Righteous Also

Paul is primarily addressing the Gentiles in chapter one, but chapter two marks a significant shift. Here, Paul redirects his focus to self-righteous religious people who likely responded to chapter one with approval: “That’s right, Paul, expose those perverts and reprobates. Look at their immoral lifestyles—men with men and women with women engaging in detestable practices.”

These religious observers may have spent the previous weeks nodding in agreement, thinking, “This is powerful preaching. If only those people out there could hear this message.”

Now Paul swivels from Gentile guilt and says, “Now let me talk to those who are self-righteous.” In chapter two, Paul admonishes them that the wrath of God will also be poured out on Jewish guilt.

In Romans chapter three, we see that God’s universal condemnation of both Jew and Gentile requires a gospel solution. We often rush toward solutions without fully understanding the underlying problems. This tendency resembles visiting a mechanic who immediately diagnoses engine trouble upon hearing a simple “tk-tk-tk” sound, claiming to know exactly what’s wrong based on minimal information.

Just as those termites devoured everything valuable in that box in my office, sin has a way of quietly destroying what matters most in our spiritual lives. What makes this particularly dangerous is that the very people who should be recognizing this destruction are often the most blind to it. That’s exactly what Paul confronts in Romans chapter two.

Setting the Stage

Paul is about to deliver a devastating blow to religious self-confidence. He will demonstrate that being religious, attending church, knowing the Bible, or having godly parents provides no automatic immunity from God’s judgment. He will show that religious people who judge others while practicing the same sins are storing up wrath for themselves.

The comfortable assumption that “God will judge those obvious sinners, but surely not us religious folks” is about to be shattered. Paul’s next words will cut through every excuse, every rationalization, and every presumption about special treatment from God.

In our next post, we’ll examine Paul’s shocking opening statement in Romans 2:1-4 and discover why even the most religious people don’t fool God.

This is the first post in a 5-part series examining Romans 2:1-11. Next: “When Religious People Think They’re Safe” – exploring how religious self-deception leads to dangerous presumptions about God’s judgment.