Romans 2:12-16, “A Christ-centered Conscience?”
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Romans 2:12-13... We will not be judged as to whether or not we have been exposed to God’s Law, but by what we have done with what we have been given, both Gentiles and Jews alike.
These verses tell us that those “without the law will also perish without the law.” Jews cannot escape judgment because they possess the Law, neither Gentiles who have not received the Law; for neither ancestral heritage, nationality, or religious practice make any difference to God.
God is clearly and sovereignly impartial, both Jew and Gentile are deserving of judgment because of their sin, notice, “all who have sinned will be judged, and all have sinned.” Judgment is not based upon possessing or hearing the Law, the truth is, only those who do the Law will be justified (James 1:22-25).
Romans 2:12 tells us all who have sinned, Jew and Gentile alike, will be judged; verse 13 implies that the only way to be made acceptable to God, i.e., to be declared righteous, is to be justified by Christ (Galatians 3:10-11). Our problem is that none of us is free from sin, because by nature we are sinners, and yet, there is no excuse, no exception, and no escape, for no one will be able to plead ignorance on judgment day, because God’s judgment accounts even for a man’s own conscience.
Romans 2:14-15... These verses declare that even Gentiles without the Law may do the works of the Law, at times. This has the effect of equalizing Jew and Gentile, in reference to personal responsibility, for the Law of God is written upon our hearts; and it is only after we are made new creations in Christ, that are we able to do the works of God (2Corinthians 5:17).
See Genesis 2:25... Before sin’s curse!
See Genesis 3:7-11... Consequences of sin!
See Genesis 3:21-22a... Adam and Eve now know good and evil, long before the Law is given; and the propensity to sin is passed from parent to child (Romans 5:12-14).
Consider this, predominantly the conscience stirs up accusing thoughts when the standard God put within us is violated, i.e., when we do what we know is wrong. Notice again in Romans 2:14-15, that the conscience bears witness, it has an obligation to do what is right and good.
Genesis 2:25, “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” Genesis 3:8-11, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he
was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
Clearly, what was without shame or guilt before they sinned, became shameful after they had sinned, now they were hiding from God. Why?
We all have a conscience that seeks to guide us, when we go against that conscience we feel guilt, it is our conscience that separates us from animals and makes us human. This strongly declares, even though we live in a society that seeks to silence our conscience, that we have a responsibility to know and do what is right and good; the more we deaden our conscience, the more we act like animals that are instinctually governed, instead of allowing our morality to guide us, the more our carnal nature rules.
Everyone has a conscience, but our conscience can be desensitized, even seared, no wonder Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,” (see 1Timothy 4:1-2).
Honestly, I believe that the majority of psychological and emotional struggles we face as humans are caused by the cumulative effects of violating our own consciences; and this is exacerbated by our medical and mental health professionals offering a plethora of excuses, alibis, and escapes from our responsibility through medications or the justification of bad behaviors. Many in our society either deny or try to escape from any guilt for bad, destructive, and sometimes even illegal, behavior:
Guilt is often minimized or placated:
“A man who was shot and paralyzed while committing a burglary in New York recovered damages from the store owner who shot him. His attorney told a jury the man was first of all a victim of society, driven to crime by economic disadvantages. Now, the lawyer said, he is a victim of the insensitivity of the man who shot him. Because of that man’s callous disregard of the thief’s plight as a victim, the poor criminal will be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He deserves some redress. The jury agreed. The store owner paid a large settlement. Several months later, the same man, still in his wheelchair, was arrested while committing another armed robbery.”
“Rioting gang members in Los Angeles beat truck driver Reginald Denny almost to death before live television cameras. A jury acquitted them of all but the most minor charges, deciding that they were caught up in the mayhem of the moment and therefore not responsible for their actions.”
Another way our society tries to vanquish guilt is by viewing sin as a disease, a neurosis, a mental disorder.
“An FBI agent was fired after he embezzled two thousand dollars, then gambled it away in a single afternoon at a casino. Later, when he was caught, he sued the FBI, arguing that his gambling addiction was a disability, therefore, his being fired was an act of illegal discrimination. He won the case! Moreover his therapy for the gambling addiction had to be funded under his employer’s health-care insurance, just as if he had been suffering from a heart attack of an ulcer.”
That seems ridiculous, and yet The American Psychiatric Association publishes The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V, updated 2013) this is the authoritative guide to diagnoses of mental disorders, e.g.:
Conduct Disorder: “A persistent pattern of conduct in which the basic rights of others and major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated.”
Oppositional Defiant Disorder—“A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior.”
Antisocial Personality Disorder—“A pattern of irresponsible and antisocial behavior beginning in childhood or early adolescence.”
The therapy industry seeks to convince people that they are not responsible for their bad behavior, but that they are patients who are ill, instead of sinners who are sinning.
J.I. Packer writes (Rediscovering Holiness), “An educated, sensitive conscience is God’s monitor. It alerts us to the moral quality of what we do or plan to do, forbids lawlessness and irresponsibility, and makes us feel guilt, shame, and fear of the future retribution that it tells us we deserve, when we have allowed ourselves to defy its restraints. Satan’s strategy is to corrupt, desensitize, and if possible kill our consciences. The relativism, materialism, narcissism, secularism, and hedonism of today’s western world help him mightily toward his goal. His task is made yet simpler by the way in which the world’s moral weaknesses have been taken into the contemporary church.”
As we read in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve’s conscience made a note of their offense, they felt guilty, expecting some kind of punishment.
Romans 2:16... Truth be told, no one can escape the judgment of God, when it says, “on the day when God will Judge,” it is referring to what is said in (v. 5), “the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed” (see Hebrews 4:12-13).
Notice (v. 16), Paul says that God’s judgement will be through Jesus Christ, for this is the Gospel that Paul believed in and preached (1Corinthians 15:1-4), “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
God will judge the world through Jesus Christ
John 5:22-27, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is
coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And He has given him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man.”
Even if you are the most compassionate, kind, honest, and moral person on this planet, you will not be saved apart from the sacrificial death and sovereign resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 14:6, The Way,Truth, Life).
If you have never repented of your sins, confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, and believing in Him as Savior, your conscience should be urging you to do so, to receive the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, for He paid God’s required debt for all sin.
Praise God! Christ died in our place, He was punished for our sin, and every sinful action, word, and thought has been forgiven, as Jesus said, “it is finished!”
1Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”
You are granted life with Christ when you repent and believe, having made (1Peter 3:21) ”the pledge of a good conscience toward God [being saved] by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that you might (Hebrews 10:22), “draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having [your heart] sprinkled to cleanse [you] from a guilty conscience.
There is only one relief from the guilt of sin, and only one release from sin’s penalty: Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior and Lord. He is the once for all, for all time, sacrifice for sin, His blood was shed so that you might be set free from from sin’s penalty (Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 8:1; 10:9-10, 13).
1John 1:8-9, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He [God’s Son] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
1John 5:11-13, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Pastor Mike <‘((((><