For You Practice the Same Things
1Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. 2We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; 6who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” 7to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; 8but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation, 9oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 10But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 11For there is no partiality with God. 12For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified 14(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
It is God who works on behalf of his people when they strive to stand firm in the faith even where human limits press in on them. Just because God’s work cannot be seen right away does not mean he is not working. Strive to live by the word moment by moment, then look back on the road you have traveled, and you will find that God has led you all the way with love and grace.
People are not afraid to sin for their own sake. But because God does not work for a world already under judgment, you must live by the word and not take your seat in the place of sin. If the plans you have made are evil and yet God does not stop you, I hope you will recognize that you are living as God’s enemy. Everything a wicked person does is in the end the sin of eating the forbidden fruit that God does not want eaten; it must therefore be repented of. If hardship meets you even while you live rightly, may you not change your plans or regret them, but hold fast to your faith to the end, because God, who knows every thought and plan of the good, will use that time and that experience. When hardship comes, if you look at once at the problem before you and at the outcome of your own choices, and endure in faith, you can reduce your failures. Only by deciding each matter carefully, moment by moment, will you arrive at a good outcome. The right choice, and the endurance, come when you can see the end within the problem itself.
A person of faith gives glory to God whatever comes, but the unrighteous give glory to themselves. And so, believing their own judgment to be right, they commit the sin of judging and condemning others. The apostle Paul says that the sin of those who live by human thinking and will not let go of their own righteousness is worthy of death. When someone of little ability, character, and wisdom trusts their own judgment, they cause great trouble. For such a person to be born again takes much effort, patience, and time. Never trust yourself; be born again only through faith in Jesus Christ.
In chapter 2 the apostle Paul changes the form of his letter. It is as though someone had objected to what he said in chapter 1, and he now writes an answer. “Therefore … O man, whoever you are who judge … O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same” — as though he had seen someone mocking others while committing the same sin, Paul calls out to them and declares the judgment of God. They condemn others as if they themselves were flawless. But they are not perfect either and may commit the same sins, so the condemnation they pass on others may come back on them. Rather than criticizing others, then, what we need is to stand ourselves rightly before God.
God’s people have been able to remain faithful because they received his grace. Those who forget this and condemn others are despising the riches of God’s goodness, forbearance, and patience. They condemned those caught up in homosexuality and paganism, yet they themselves failed to stay true to the faith and did the same things. Because of that, Paul told them that if they did not turn back, they would be without excuse when judgment came. For sinners, repentance is the opportunity to be forgiven by God. However hard we try to keep the whole law, we cannot keep it perfectly, and the root of sin cannot be forgiven that way, so we must rely on Christ, who atoned for our sin.
People overlook how fearsome God is. God has commanded the angels who will reap the harvest on the last day to throw everyone not clothed in white into the fire of hell. The angels have already received the order, and they are waiting. But because God’s heart longed for everyone to be clothed in white and saved, he told people beforehand that the day would come and that they should prepare. People heard God’s plan clearly, yet, caught up in the present, they pay it no mind and live as they please, because their life right now matters more to them than the will of God. This is what we are like today. We need to prepare in faith for the end of the world and for our own end, either of which could come at any time.
In Matthew 22, Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who made a marriage feast for his son. The king sent his servants to invite people to the feast, but they refused. So he sent other servants and invited them again: he had prepared his dinner, killed his cattle and fatlings, and made everything ready; they should come now. But they would not listen to the servants. One went off to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized the servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. They could do such things so easily because they despised the king. The king was angry; he sent his armies, destroyed them, and burned their city. The king had thought that, since he had already sent them invitations, they would be waiting for the feast. But they were so absorbed in their own lives that they ignored the king’s word.
A similar scene is recorded in Luke, so let us consider it together with this account in Matthew. In Luke, the guests make excuses: they cannot come to the feast because they have bought a field, bought oxen, and are to be married. The people did not stop at refusing the invitation; they killed the servants the king had sent. Why would people invited to the king’s feast do such a thing? It is said that in those days an invitation gave only the day and not the hour. Even so, if the king had invited them, they should have spent the whole day getting ready for the occasion.
In the same way, God told Israel in advance through the prophets that Jesus would come. He gave the Jews the first chance at salvation. But they rejected the prophets and killed not only Jesus but John the Baptist and the disciples as well. Many Jews did not accept God’s invitation. Because they wanted a great warrior like David, when they were told that Jesus, so unimpressive to look at, was the Messiah, he was not worth considering. As Isaiah prophesied, Jesus had no beauty that we should desire him; he was despised and rejected by men. They refused the invitation for nothing but the sake of their life in this world. Yet they were the king’s subjects, and they were bound to obey the king’s command. The angry king destroyed them all and then told his servants to bring in those who had not been invited — anyone at all, whoever they met. The servants went out into the roads and brought in everyone passing by, and the wedding was filled with guests. When the Jews refused the invitation, God called to the place of salvation not the Israel of blood descent but the Gentiles, and he meant to give them the rights of heirs of the Kingdom of God.
Luke 14:21
21“That servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
Leviticus 21:17
17“Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.
A priest with a defect could not come near to God. Yet here Jesus is abolishing that very law of God. This is an astonishing grace, one he can give because he fulfilled the law on behalf of us, who could not come to God. Israel, fallen into the proud thought that they were the chosen people, refused the place of salvation; that is how the Gentiles, who had no right to come to God, came to be invited. He cast off those who called themselves righteous and called sinners instead.
Matthew 22:11-13
11But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless. 13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’
People who had no right to stand before the king suddenly received an invitation. Having met the servants on the road, they would have been wearing their everyday clothes. In the court ceremonies of Korea in former times, everyone who came before the king wore robes issued by the palace. And since the king asks a man suddenly called to the palace why he is not wearing wedding clothing, we can tell that wedding clothing had certainly been provided. To put on wedding clothing is to show the king the respect that is his due. The king called those who had no right to come and even gave them wedding clothing. Why did this man not put it on? He had been summoned before the king without warning, yes, but he must also have been wearing the fine clothes of the world that people envied, and so he felt no need for wedding clothing. That, however, was his own thinking; there is a courtesy owed to the king. It is the law of the realm, and it must be kept whatever an individual may think. In the same way, God gives every person the wedding clothing of Jesus Christ and has made it his law that anyone who comes to the heavenly feast must wear it. Christ has told his people in advance that he will come again, so on the day of his return, whether we meet Jesus on the road or at home, we must be wearing the wedding clothing of faith.
The king commanded his servants to bring everyone they met — the poor were welcome, and so were the disabled. And he commanded that all of them, whatever their condition, be dressed in the same wedding clothing. But those who thought their wealth and power were enough would not obey, even though it was the law the king himself had set. The angry king ordered that they be bound hand and foot and thrown into the outer darkness. In the same way, those who do not receive Christ will be thrown into darkness. If you have come before the king, you must wear the wedding clothing as the law requires. When you do not know the customs of the court, it is wisdom to follow those who have gone before you. How much more is it death to do as you please in the presence of the king! We should not forget that the king can spare our lives or take them.
The king had prepared fine food and even wedding clothing, yet the people treated that grace with contempt. Thrilled at the thought of going to the palace, they came along, yet they broke the most basic law. In the same way, people hear the news that they can go to heaven and come to church, but they take no interest when they are told that only those who believe in Jesus Christ can go. Let us never forget that the king’s command is life itself. Because those who broke the command never understood, to the very end, what sin they had committed, they will grind their teeth in the darkness in bitter resentment.
The way to meet the almighty God is to receive Jesus Christ. God has said that he always looks at the heart, yet they wrap themselves in pride and hypocrisy and keep up a show of faith. So it is not those who know nothing of God who grind their teeth in resentment. It is those invited by the king who, thinking their own conduct right, commit the sin of doing as they please. God’s people, too, pride themselves on knowing God because they go to church, read the Bible, and serve; but before all that, we need to ask whether we truly know and believe the law God has established, that is, Jesus Christ. Tell people that such formal religion is not faith, and they will gnash their teeth in resentment.
When Paul pointed out the sins of pagans and idol worshipers, the Jews, believing that they themselves kept the law, would have agreed with him, and the Gentiles who attended church would have thought they were different from such people. Then Paul rebuked them, saying that although they thought they were different from those people, in God’s sight they were committing the very same sins. It is like condemning those who do not go to church because you go, or condemning those who do not read the Bible or pray because you read and pray. But reading the Bible and praying are not achievements so praiseworthy that they entitle us to judge and condemn others; they are simply what God’s people ought to do. No one is more foolish than someone who boasts of doing what is only right. If you say you are different from them because you go to church, God will ask you whether you truly have the right to judge them. We ought to look at ourselves and ask whether we are crying out for the woman caught in adultery to be put to death while harboring lust in our own hearts.
Romans 2:4
4Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
God in his goodness bears with his people to the end, even as he watches them judge and condemn others while living immoral lives. He waits for them because faith takes time to grow, because they need time to come to their senses on their own, and because they need time to repent and turn back. That God holds back his judgment is perhaps the grace of one who is waiting for us to repent. We ought to be thankful for God’s patience. Yet people turn God’s goodness to their own ends. Since he does not judge them at once, they use the leniency of a God who holds back punishment to pursue their own gain and to sin.
Jews and Gentiles live foolish lives because they despise the abundant love and grace of God. Yet whatever such people do, God bears with them and waits until the appointed time, wanting more people to be saved through the gospel. People imagine they live by their own ability, but they need to know what a blessing God’s patience is. When repeated sin brings no discipline, people sink further into corruption. Such behavior shows that they have forgotten how worthless they are. To think that one prospers because one is good is the folly of not knowing how worthless any goodness defined by human beings is.
God judges the one who sins openly and the one who puts on a mask of goodness to be the same. That is why he grants entry into the Kingdom of God to those who entrust their feelings, their possessions, and their health entirely to the God who looks at the heart.
Romans 2:6
6who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”
Jesus Christ said that on the last day he will set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left, and that he will tell the sheep on his right to come, as those blessed by his Father, and inherit the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. No effort is needed to separate the sheep from the goats. A sheep looks like a sheep and a goat looks like a goat, so there is no need to strain to tell them apart. God looks at the heart, and no one can deceive him. People can be fooled, as when a goat passes for a sheep, but God, who knows every detail of a person’s life, will give rewards and judgment fairly.
2 Corinthians 5:10
10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Suppose you dreamed of the perfect crime and fooled everyone, only to have your sin laid bare before God. How would you feel? First of all, you must hold firmly to the truth that God cannot be deceived; only then can you live an upright life. Our only chance to repent is now, while we are still in the body. If you put it off, meaning to repent later, and today you lay down this body, the chance to repent will be gone, so I hope you will do it now.
Ezekiel 33:30-33
30“As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’ 31They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. 32Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them. 33“When this comes to pass—behold, it comes—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
God told Ezekiel that the people’s eager interest when he prophesied was utter hypocrisy and an abomination, because they had not come to hear of repentance and the hope of salvation in order to know God’s will. The people came to Ezekiel selfishly, to hear whether there might be something in his prophecies they could use. When Ezekiel delivered the word as a song, they thought only that he sang well and paid no attention to the word of God within the song. They did not hear the word and repent; they went home without any resolve. Just as God had told Ezekiel, it was only after they saw the word of judgment fulfilled that they realized it had been the judgment coming upon them. Once judgment has come, understanding comes too late; the chance has already passed. If they had turned back when God sent the prophet Ezekiel to warn them beforehand, there would have been no judgment, and the people would not have suffered.
If you forget that living in peace today is wholly the grace of God, one day you will face something fearful. If you realize only after suffering comes that God told you beforehand, your regret comes too late. While God makes you hear the word and causes you to understand it, may you turn back. If you hear even the fearful things he makes us see in the world as the voice of God, you can make them an occasion to turn back.
Romans 2:7-8
7to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; 8but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
What God desires is that his people persevere in well-doing and live holy lives. On the other hand, he has said plainly that he will judge with wrath and indignation those who are self-seeking and obey unrighteousness. What more precise standard could we need? People may think their own conduct looks clean, but the goodness humans claim may not be goodness at all. That is why Scripture says that as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. It says that it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified, because those who grasp what the law demands are the very ones who serve Jesus Christ wholeheartedly.
Our best is only human will, so we must live by the word of Christ. My hope is that you will not give your utmost through human effort and earnestness that have nothing to do with the truth, but will train yourselves always to weigh and decide everything with the word at the center.
A believer who does good need not fear God’s judgment, because God desires not judgment but salvation. Whoever lives purely today, looking forward to the day of the heavenly feast to which the king has invited them, will see the king’s face beaming on the day they were invited to. To that end, may you always wear the wedding clothing of salvation that Jesus Christ has given you, and live a holy life as one raised to new life and as one of God’s people.