The Unchanging Truth

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Unchanging Truth, the verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jerod Gilcher, lead pastor of Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. Through the living and active Word of God, the Unchanging Truth exists to encourage your soul, transform your life, and help you trust and treasure Christ as Redeemer, Savior, and King. Now, opening the Scriptures and proclaiming the truth that never changes, here is Dr. Jerod Gilcher.

Dr. Jerod Gilcher: I love hard texts. I love hard texts in the Bible. They make you wrestle and sweat and fight and claw and dig. The reason why is because the treasures they contain make it worth it in the end. Verses 12 through 16 is a hard text. And yet, what treasure is here.

I'm going to do something a little different. I'm going to summarize Paul's argument as a whole. I'm going to look at his argument and examine it from the macro level. I'm going to give a summary of what he says and then I'm going to go back phrase by phrase and examine his argument at the micro level. The text is kind of tough and I think that's really going to help us.

Here's a paraphrase summary of everything that I just read here. Here is the argument Paul is making. Paul wants to prove in chapter 2 that the Jews were guilty and condemned. That much we get. The problem is that Paul seems to have dug himself into a ditch in verse 11. "There is no partiality with God." Meaning, everyone in the world is judged by the very same standard, namely God himself.

God himself, you would agree, is a righteous judge with zero capacity to tolerate sin. His holy nature is the moral standard and thus for him to be just and consistent with his holy nature, God must judge every person regardless of who they are by the standard of his holy perfection. He is unbiased. He is impartial. He does not play favorites. He is holy. He is fair. He is just.

The problem is that actually feels unfair. Think about it. To hold the Jews and the pagans to the very same standard seems unjust, doesn't it? It seems like he's partial because he gave his law to the Jews. When they sinned, at least they knew what they were sinning against. At least they knew what the standard was.

But the pagan nations of the world? I guess they're sinners. I guess they've sinned, that's true, but how can they be held to the same standard of the Jews if they don't even know what the standard is? How can they be judged by a law they've never even heard? How could they be guilty of breaking a standard they didn't even know existed? That's the dilemma.

And so therefore, the judgment of God is harsh, it is unfair, it is partial and biased. And yet, verse 14 is the ace in the hole. As it turns out, all the nations of the world have been given the law. They do in fact know the righteous standard of God because verse 15, the work of the law is written in their hearts.

The holy, righteous demands of God are inscribed in the soul, etched into the conscience, encoded in the very DNA of their souls, so that when they sin and they disobey, they sin against the law that is written in their hearts and God is the one who wrote it there. And so therefore, verse 16, the judgment of God will be fair, totally just, and totally right.

Here's the point of this. If the nations are guilty for breaking the law written in their hearts, how much more are the Jews guilty for breaking the law that was written in the text? That's the point of the text. Paul uses the guilt of the nations to prove to the Jews that they were just as guilty as the nations.

That's the argument of Paul at the macro level. So now, let's dig down deep at the micro level, phrase by phrase. Paul, you say there is no partiality with God. How can that be? The nations don't have equal status to what they will be held accountable for. Answer, part of the answer, verse 12: "For as many as have sinned without the law, also without the law they will perish. And as many as have sinned under the law, by the law they will be judged."

You can tell there's two kinds of people, rather two kinds of sinners in the world. There are those without the law and there are those under the law. Notice very carefully, look at the text, both are guilty, both will be judged, and without a savior, both will perish forever. That much is clear.

You can also tell that those without the law has to be the pagan nations of the world, those on the other side of the planet who have never heard of Israel, let alone the Law of Moses, which means those who are under the law are in fact the people of Israel. Do you follow where Paul's going here?

But notice carefully what Paul says about the nations. He describes them: "those without the law." What does that mean? What it means is they never physically heard the law. They weren't there at Sinai. They didn't read, handle, touch, see the two tablets with the Ten Commandments. They were without law. They didn't see the Ten Commandments, let alone the 613 total commandments found in the Law of Moses. They were never physically exposed to the law.

And yet, look at the text, what did Paul say they have done? They have sinned. They're not innocent. The sin and curse of Adam spread throughout the human race. They were born spiritually dead, slaves to sin, and they've also violated God's standard and sinned against God himself.

We know that the wages of sin is death, which is what Paul means when he says those without law also will perish without the law. What he's saying is even without ever explicitly hearing the Law of Moses, they are still sinners who will perish unless they get saved. Which means, although guilty and condemned, the nations are not condemned by a law they've never heard. They are still condemned, but it's not because they weren't there physically at Sinai to hear the law.

The Jews will be condemned unless they get saved. That's his point at the end of verse 12. They had the law, they had heard the law, and the results of sin against the law is that they will be judged by that very same law. So you see his argument unfold.

But notice what he does in verse 13. He says: "For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified." Well, that's risky language there because that sounds like salvation by works, doesn't it? You earn a righteous standing with God through your keeping of the law? Your good outweighs your bad and you will be justified before God?

Is that what Paul is saying? There's no way that's what he means. In the very next chapter, Paul says: "No one will be justified by the works of the law." Complete opposite of what this says. Chapter 11, verse 6: "If it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." Rather, verse 13 is a rebuke to the Jews. It's a rebuke to Israel.

The point is not that doing the law earns some kind of righteous standing with the Lord, but that true, authentic faith reveals itself in the keeping of the law. That's his issue. The Jews boasted in the law. They were experts in the law, they were meticulous in their study of the law, some of the greatest scholars in the history of the world, but that doesn't mean squat to God if you do not do what he commands.

Paul's point is at the judgment, when they stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, none of their study, none of their knowledge, none of their academic intellectual achievements will mean anything to God because true, authentic faith doesn't just hear what God says, it does what God says. That's exactly what James talks about, James 1:22: "Be doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves."

That's really serious. That's one of those speed bumps that should make us slow down and pause and look inwardly at the condition of our souls. The question is: is that the kind of faith that you possess? A faith that works. A faith that does.

A faith in Christ, the joy of which overflows not only in knowing God's word, but doing God's word. Because at the end of the day, what you do with the truth tells the truth. Your works are the facts that display your faith. I don't mean just quantity, I don't mean busyness, I don't mean mere activities, I don't mean meeting anybody's expectations. I mean what the New Testament means by deeds and works that are profoundly supernatural.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. The evidence of the Spirit and you can even look at it this way, there are four signs of saving faith that you should see in your life in some measure or degree. This is the evidence of faith. This doesn't earn anything, it is the evidence of your faith.

Four signs: hunger, love, sorrow, and war. That's the fruit and the evidence of saving faith: hunger, love, sorrow, and war. Let's look at these one at a time. Number one, saving faith reveals itself in hunger. Increasing hunger for Christ in and through his word. The main difference between a make-believer and a true believer is a make-believer merely finds Christ to be useful, but a true believer finds Christ to be beautiful.

Number two, saving faith reveals itself in love. Saving faith reveals itself in love, and not just love for God, that's a given, but love and affection for other people, especially for the people in his church. True, authentic saving faith is seen when we own the spiritual growth and health of one another as at the top of our priorities.

That is exactly what Paul means in Galatians 5:6 when he says: "In Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but faith working through love." Number three, saving faith reveals itself in sorrow. It reveals itself in sorrow, and by that I mean sorrow over sin.

The Puritan Richard Sibbes was exactly right when he said: "If you can look on sin without sorrow, then you have never looked on Christ." You understand the mark of authentic faith is not some kind of made-up sinless perfection that doesn't deal with real issues. Rather, authentic faith is a repugnance for sin, a sensitivity to sin, a vehement zeal to fight sin, a humble contrition because of sin, and a willingness to confess sin to other people.

Number four, saving faith reveals itself in war. In war, not against people, but against the sins that wage war against the soul. Did not Paul tell Timothy twice, "Fight the good fight of faith"? Romans 8:13: "By the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body." Colossians 3:5: "Put to death the members which are on the earth." 1 Peter 2:11: "Beloved, abstain from sexual lusts which wage war against the soul."

That is the proof of saving faith: hunger, love, sorrow, and war. The question is: is that the kind of faith that you possess? Because that is not the kind of faith the Jews had. Paul's point is very simple. There are two kinds of sinners in the world: those without law, those under the law, Gentiles and Jews. Both are guilty and condemned, both will be judged and stand before the throne, and without a redeemer who saves them from their sin, both will perish forever in destruction.

Which brings us back to the savage in the jungle. Which brings us then to part two: the clarification of the law. Part one was the condemnation of all, now the clarification of the law. Paul, how is this fair? How can this be? How could God condemn a world for breaking a law they didn't know existed?

How could God send billions and billions of people to hell, entire nations, people groups, thousands of generations in hell who never heard one word of Holy Scripture? How can this be? It's not a bad question. Have you been asked this question?

For about six months one time I met with a man who was a member of the local Buddhist temple. I did my best to evangelize this man and give him a gospel and see him come to faith in Christ. One time over coffee he asked me this question about the Bedouin in the desert, the tribesman in the jungle, the tribe on the remote village.

He asked me, "According to the Christian faith, do those people who never had a chance to hear the truth, when they die, do they go to hell?" And I said, "Yes." Before I had a chance to give more details, he soured his face, shook his head, and he pointed at me and he said, "You have a cruel God."

If sin were a small thing, maybe he'd be right. And if God were somehow less than he is, maybe he's right. And if the nations who have never heard of Christ are somehow truly innocent in some possible way, maybe he's right.

But sin is not a small thing. God is a God of infinite holiness and no one ever in the history of the world is innocent of sin or not guilty of rebellion. That is exactly Paul's point in verses 14 and 15. Look at the text. This is astonishing, this text. This is so helpful, so freeing, so clarifying.

He says: "For when the Gentiles who do not have the law instinctively do the things of the law, these while not having a law are a law to themselves, who display the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing them or defending them." That right there is insanely helpful and answers the question posed by the skeptic. How is God truly fair? How can God condemn people for breaking a law they didn't know existed?

The answer begins in verse 14. Notice that Paul affirms that there have been and there are still nations who do not have the law. They've never heard one word of the law or the Word of God. But notice what he says. He says: "When they who do not have the law instinctively do the things of the law, these not having a law are a law to themselves." That is incredibly profound.

He just said those who have never heard the law, the Ten Commandments and beyond, by nature they still do the things of the law. Meaning, the pagan in the jungle, the Bedouin in the desert, the tribe and the remote island somewhere, having never heard the law, they instinctively do the things written in the law.

Meaning it's in them. It's engraved on the heart. It's inscribed in the soul, it's embedded in the conscience. It's just part of who we are as people in the image of God and God is the one who put it there. What he means is, as a general rule, even the most pagan of pagans knows that murder is wrong.