Romans 2:1, 11 (ESV)
[1] Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.
For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the
judge, practice the very same things.
[11] For God shows no partiality.
Romans 2 is the passage we often see people referring to
when they say, “Don’t judge.” It is true that the passage talks about judging,
but that is not its purpose. Paul writes about judging not because Christians
are judgmental people per se, but because it leads to the conclusion in verse 11,
“God shows no partiality.” Our judgments of others reveals our own guilt.
God does not give salvation to one particular group of
people because they are better than others. All stand guilty before God, and guilty
by our own judgments of others. In Paul’s day it was Jews and Greeks. They each
looked down on the other in some way, yet salvation was available to both
groups on the same grounds, the death of Jesus Christ.
Every group, every culture has those who are looked up to
and those who are looked down on. A tribal people might look down on another
tribe because of a history of violence between the two tribes. In America much
has been written about the history of slavery and the resulting judgment of Anglos
against African Americans and African Americans against Anglos. The same is
true, although it gets far less press, about Native American against Anglos and
Anglos against Native American. But the truth is that every finger we point at
the other group points right back at ourselves. We all stand guilty before God.
We all stand in need of grace. That is the point that Paul is making in this
passage.
Who is it that you view as somehow less than yourself? For some it might be a person of another color, heritage, language, or background. For others it might be those with more or less education than you have. For still others it might be someone of another gender, or someone with gender dysphoria. Yet before God we all stand on level ground. We are all in need of a savior. Apart from Christ we are all broken. As believers in Christ we are no better than those who do not believe. Aside from the grace of God we are no different, and God’s grace is just as available to them as it is to us. “God shows no partiality.” Do we? We all stand guilty before God. We all stand in need of grace. That is the point that Paul is making in this passage. May we begin to see others through the lens of grace rather than through the lens of differences.
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