Last week we saw how Paul indicted the Gentile world for its sin and rejection of God’s glory. As a result, God’s wrath was being revealed from heaven against their ungodliness and unrighteousness. This week, in Romans 2:1-11, Paul charges his fellow Jews with the same indictment – they too are sinners and cannot escape God’s judgment. This would have caught his Jewish readers completely off guard. They had become complacent and were presuming God, in his forbearance and patience, would treat them with far more favour than any Gentile.
Paul makes it clear to both the Jew and the Gentile, and to us all – God shows no partiality, and his loving kindness is not to be presumed upon. Instead, it is meant to lead us to repentance. Without this, no matter how we might compare ourselves to other sinners, we are storing up wrath for ourselves of the day when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
These are sobering words for us all to hear. Left to ourselves, we have no avenue for escape. None! But thanks be to God for the grace and mercy he has shown lost sinners like us in his Son. May we be led to repentance and faith as we hear this Word together.