Romans Chapters One and Two

For the season of Lent I decided to read the book of Romans. I started at the beginning. Chapter One is very strong. This chapter of Romans is one that is often cited by those who condemn homosexuality. I believe that Chapter Two has more to say about the condemnation than chapter one does. However, I will begin at the beginning. The beginning of Romans is about how faith. God's justice is: "based on faith and addressed to faith" (1:17). What does that mean? A justice based on faith? Is that justice? Paul goes on to write "The retribution of God from heaven is being revealed against the ungodliness and injustice of human beings who in their injustice hold back the truth." (1:18) It is God's justice; not our justice. Paul is setting up the theme for Romans here: our idea of justice versus God's ultimate justice.

To clearly illustrate the differences in our justice versus God’s justice Paul describes the people in Rome that knew God, but have forsaken God. He then goes on to list all the unjust things that people who do not follow God do. He includes in this list “sexual impurities” (1:24) and “women exchang[ing] natural relations for unnatural ones” (1:26). In short, Paul explaining that these people are horrible people. They have no redeeming qualities. He is listing every depraved and immoral thing that can be thought of: “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife deceit and malice…” (1:29). Paul’s point though, is not the sinful nature of the people he is describing. The break between Chapters One and Two give us the false impression that Paul is beginning a new thought. Chapter One ends with the revulsion of these “ungodly” people. Chapter Two begins with the sentence: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (2:1) These evil people that revile God and flaunt God’s creation are we; we are the ones exchanging natural relations for unnatural relations. When we judge people we are, in fact, showing, “contempt for the riches of [God’s] kindness, tolerance and patience” (2:4). Paul is showing us here, in the beginning of Romans, that when we use to the law to judge others and create our justice it is not in line with God’s justice.

Later in Chapter Two, Paul makes it even clearer that the keeping the law is not the same as justice. In an aside he says, “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness” (2:14-15). Paul ends Chapter Two with the idea the being a Jew is not about physical or verbal signs – i.e. circumcision and the law. Instead Paul is arguing that being a Jew, having faith, is about inward knowledge. Once again, Paul is clearly showing us that the divisions that we create in order to have justice were not made by God. Paul is not arguing that morality and laws are bad, but he is arguing that when we judge others to be less morally acceptable in God’s eyes than we ourselves are we are lying to ourselves and misrepresenting who God is.