ROMANS 2 (NOTES OF A READING)
ROMANS 2 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC We see the pains God has taken to give testimony to Himself to man in the creation in chapter 1: 19, 20, which shows God has given man power in his mind to apprehend the testimony of creation. It is the most universal testimony that God has ever rendered. And all this is to render them inexcusable. There is a testimony to God’s eternal power and divinity to every human being in the things that are made.
Rem There is nothing said of His heart and feelings.
CAC No, we wait for the gospel for that, but the testimony is there.
Rem It would appeal to the most ordinary thinking man — the trees and bushes he sees. A man of ordinary intelligence should apprehend it.
CAC Do you not think that man would really know enough, but he is not prepared to be governed even by what he knows? Most in this country know a good deal, but they are not prepared to be governed by what they know. God has given the knowledge of good and evil, and men apply that to the conscience, and they know whether they are doing evil.
It is remarkable how Paul speaks to the people in Acts 14: 15 - 17 after the healing of the impotent man at Lystra. He does not say a word about the gospel. He takes it for granted that it was a very substantial ground on which to appeal to them, that they had all had experience of God’s goodness. “He did not leave himself without witness, doing good, and giving to you from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness”.
Verses 21 and onward of chapter 1 refer really to the world after the flood. We do not know that there was any idolatry before the flood; there was violence and corruption. Very soon indeed after the flood they became idolaters, and Abraham’s father was an idolater. Everybody knew about the flood, but of Terah it says he served other gods; it is very solemn.
Ques How far does the thought of God as Creator enter into our own exercises?
CAC It is important that we should glorify God in this way. The only assembly prayer we have recorded is addressed to the Creator (Acts 4: 24 - 30). There is only one hymn in our book in praise of God in creation, and it is there because there is no other. We must not leave out this very great thought of God as Creator.
There is a remarkable title of God in verse 23. “They ... changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man”. “The incorruptible God” does not occur in the Old Testament, but has a very definite place in the New. That is, God intended that man should look up to Him as the incorruptible God in presence of all the corruption that had come in through sin. In the presence of that state of things Noah walked with God, and he was preserved. He was the only man to do so at that time. Man ought to find the natural object of his heart in the midst of what he is as corrupt in the God that is incorruptible. We ought not to leave this out of the gospel. Have you ever heard Him presented thus in the preaching, Mr. B?
Rem No, I do not think I have.
CAC Well, we better make a move on! It is important because the whole character of christian blessing takes form from that fact. Nothing will suit God as the incorruptible God but that man should be brought into an incorruptible order of things, into incorruptibility. That is the great truth of christianity, and the thing has been accomplished already in Christ. An incorruptible order of things is begun with saints now as born of incorruptible seed. The old man corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts, but the new man is created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. The new man takes on the new character of man morally, and the [p. 421] saints will put on incorruptibility when raised. Meanwhile incorruptibility is brought to light through the gospel. So that life and incorruptibility are to be announced to man in the glad tidings. What a contrast to the corruption that is in the world!
See what immense thoughts come out of this, all wrapped up in a few words. There are certain persons looking “for glory and honour and incorruptibility” in the chapter we read. Well, they will only find it in Christ. The angels are holy, they are not said to be incorruptible. When you get hold of this, you get an order of things before you that is essentially outside the range of man. God never had any thought that incorruptibility should attach to Adam; incorruptibility for man, seeing sin and death came in, can only be in resurrection. It is an order of things entirely of God, and it has the same character as the righteousness of God; a whole state of things is brought in characterised by incorruptibility and honour and glory. And God is saying, so to speak, ‘If you seek that I shall be very pleased with you, so pleased with you that I will give you eternal life’.
It is in Christ risen that glory and honour and incorruptibility are found livingly. He is the One presented in the gospel, and men believe on Him to get these wondrous things. Idolatry is most degrading. What is there to look up to in the image of a bird or reptile? But if we look up to the incorruptible God and to Christ as the One in whom these things are found, these are elevating thoughts. Man cannot rise above what he worships, can he? In naming Eve, Adam saw life was coming in from God. He might have called her ‘The mother of all dying’.
We need to let God have that place and character that belongs to Him. Looking up to God, He becomes the measure of our expectation and our hope. I suppose every truly repentant soul has a sense of the utter impossibility of God being touched by any power of sin. God is entirely outside it all. He is entirely incorruptible and the soul links itself on [p. 422] with Him. The greatest miracle in the universe is a conversion — that a poor creature oppressed with sin should link himself on with the incorruptible God — it is fine!
This would do away with all idolatry; it is not worthwhile! Among the last words of John to the assembly is, “Children, keep yourselves from idols”. How foolish we are to shut out such blessedness by a trifle not worth anything! This epistle (Romans) is written that our souls should come into the blessedness of God as known in the gospel and in sonship.
To know right and wrong and to be able to put anyone else right is of no advantage to the natural man, as we see in the second chapter. To have light is no advantage unless we come personally into line with it. Those who give God a place and Christ a place are marked by “patient continuance of good works”. They are steadily on the line of good, they are born anew.
Rem They are on God’s line, and the issue for God is good.
Rem The judgment is according to the way man responds to the light received from God; it is according to his works. It is very salutary for us.
CAC And it is rather important to note that it is not ‘good works’ but “work” (Romans 2: 15); that is, the whole character of the life is continuing in what is good.
The fourth verse is not exactly His gospel goodness. He is always acting towards His creature man in the riches of His long-suffering, and His goodness is intended to lead men to repentance. Every human being has some experience of the goodness of God.
It is not “to Jew first” now (verse 10). The last chapter of the Acts brings us to the definite point where the Jew is given up. “Be it known to you therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the nations; they also will hear it” (Acts 28: 28). The Gentiles have priority now, and the Jew must come in on the same footing — as a poor bankrupt sinner with no claim on God at all. If he were to come as a child of Abraham, he [p. 423] would be rejected absolutely. It is moral character and conduct that count with God now; on the line of what is good — on the line of what God is, and Christ is.
Ques Would the day of wrath belong to the great white throne?
CAC There is wrath to come before the great white throne; it is a day of wrath in contrast to the day of salvation which is now present. Men ought to beware; the next thing is a day of wrath. Things are not going to be improved as men think; the kingdom of God will be introduced by a day of wrath — God is going to have His way. The wrath of God will prepare the way for the kingdom, not the gospel. Naturally the Jew is under wrath, having rejected the testimony of Christ and of the Spirit. Possibly in a very short time, within the lifetime of many living now, the wrath of God will be revealed. The saints will be delivered from the wrath to come by the rapture; that is the very next event to happen. The wrath to come is after that.