CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 2
The first word in our chapter had better be read — “Wherefore”; it is intimately connected with what follows, but it is all one subject running on from the end of chapter 1. In the last verse of that chapter we have those who, knowing the righteous judgment of God against such as do the things there named, not only do them but take pleasure in those that do them. Then this second chapter continues the thought of the philosopher sitting in judgment. It is a kind of appeal to any man who took the ground of judging his fellow. For such there was no excuse, nor would they who judged others, and did the same things, escape the judgment of God. Man judging another is a sign of man fallen. He needs to judge himself. A censorious spirit is a bad spirit and a sign of the fall, coming in as the result of knowing good and evil, but without the power of good. This chapter deals with people who professed to have more light than the mass. Men like Socrates and Plato are possibly in view here. To judge right and wrong in others is right when exercised by a superior power as God, but there is in man a sort of pride in judging. When a man judges he exposes himself more than he exposes another, and here we see God’s thoughts of such a man. There is nothing for God in man, be he Jew, gentile, or philosopher — all are on equality, there is no difference, for all have sinned. If a man had any right sense he would never judge another, for he would know himself capable of the same things. A man exposes himself in judging. A christian judges himself and disapproves in others what he judges in himself. There was terrible darkness in these philosophers, they even [p. 41] attributed evil to God, and yet they assumed to have light. The line of things in these chapters exposes the state of man, it is all very general and impersonal and shows that God was righteous in rejecting that man. Man may judge God and find fault with Him, but God will judge man, and in these chapters God exposes him.
Justification refers primarily to what a man has done, what he is responsible for, he is justified in respect of his responsibility; we are justified by another Man having come in to bear our judgment. God will not save one bit of the first man. All come in for the exposure, gentile, philosopher, or Jew. The professing christian today takes the ground of the Jew. The Jew was on the ground of privilege with more light than others, and hundreds today take the place of the Jew in light and privilege. The judgment of God takes account of what man has produced, but then God takes account of the heart also. He searches the heart — to give to every man according to his doings. As to the saint, when God comes in to judge, He finds that which His grace has produced. To those who seek glory, honour, and incorruptibility He renders eternal life. Seeking glory, honour and incorruptibility proves that there has been a revelation. The gospel brought with it the revelation as to judgment also (verse 16, “according to my gospel”). Man never approaches God until he learns that God has approached man. The fact that man approaches God is a proof of God having revealed Himself to man. Incorruptibility involves resurrection; Christ brought in the light as to this. Job had no definite idea of the future life though he looked for resurrection. This scripture shows that God will deal with man according to his works. Eternal life is not so future in this epistle as it is sometimes taken to be, but has its application now in a certain way; it is there for us in Christ. This chapter gives us the immutable principles of God’s ways and dealings with men. The judgment of God upon man’s work is according to the light he has. In the book of Revelation the severest judgments fall upon the third part of the earth, that is, on the Roman earth, because the greatest light has been there. We have the responsibility side of things in this epistle, even as to eternal life — in this chapter it is viewed as the end or reward of a course of well doing.
Repentance in man means recovery for God. A man approaches God, he faces the right way, but he approaches in self-judgment, he has God’s thoughts about himself. Confession is the fruit of repentance; in Luke 15 the prodigal says, “I have sinned”. In John 4 the Lord did not say much to the woman about her life, but He reached her as to her state; she went away and testified, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did”. Her life was known to the One who spoke to her, and the springs of it were exposed. He was indeed a prophet, and as such was to her conscience the mouthpiece of God.
The object in this chapter is to take man out of every refuge; it gives God’s judgment of him under every condition. There are different measures — those who have sinned without law, and those who have sinned under law (verses 12, 13). There is no escape, judgment will be according to light; these principles always abide true. The goodness of God leading man to repentance is a general idea. There was goodness in God approaching man, but there was the goodness of God as Creator. “He did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness”. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” — this was goodness. He could have cut off man in his sins, and left him without remedy, but He forbore and approached man. There is no goodness in man, nothing in himself to lead him to repentance; there was no approach to God on man’s part, nor could there be until all [p. 43] was clear on the divine side. But man despises God’s goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, he hardens himself in self-will and does not perceive that all is intended to lead him to repentance. Forbearance is the expression of God’s goodness.
The prodigal repented when he came to himself in the far country and felt his need, and thought of the plenty there was in the Father’s house. Though self-judgment gets deeper as we go on, yet there is a certain moment when the soul first repents. If we come to God in a right way repentance must take the form of self-judgment, and one could not go on with God unless there were self-judgment. The unconverted man settles things in his own mind for himself, he considers it perfectly lawful to seek his own gratification, but he is not consistent, for the moment anything goes wrong he blames God. When repentance comes in all this is judged. In a man under law repentance would naturally take a legal form. Paul speaks of himself as alive without law once, but when the law reached his conscience in its spirituality — that is, as dealing with the heart of man — when the commandment came, “thou shalt not covet”, sin revived and he died. In sin man makes himself a centre, and therein is the principle of sin, lawlessness, and self-will, but that is really a condition of debasement; instead of God and His will, it is many men and many wills.
In verse 16 we get three elements in man — heart, conscience and mind; the work of the law is written in the heart, the conscience is a witness-bearer, and the thoughts accuse or else excuse. Conscience is connected with the work of the law written in the heart, it bears witness; it must have a standard to go by, and that is the knowledge of good and evil. Men have naturally the work of the law written in their hearts; they know that it is wrong to murder and steal, and their conscience bears witness. When the law was given there was increased light, there was [p. 44] more obligation. The law did not make the things forbidden by it wrong, they were wrong before. Man acquired the knowledge of good and evil through the fall. Conscience is not light, it is neither a standard nor a guide; that is more connected with the work of the law written in the heart, the things which the law when it came condemned and forbade. These things were sins before, but the law made them transgressions. The more light a man has the more sensitive conscience is, and it judges according to the light a man has. The light condemns him; there is nothing to touch him until light comes in. Conscience bears witness according to the light. Conscience is an immense mercy of God; if you do violence to it, it will cease to witness. There is a standard and there is a witness bearer. The moment evil came in, conscience came in. Nobody can define it.