Romans 2:1-2 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. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.
Paul turns his focus to those who think they are above the sins of ch. 1, particularly the Jews. The problem is that even the Jews and those who know better succumb to the problem and power of sin. They condemn themselves because they are involved with the same things, though they might be more hidden behind religious activities. Sometimes the secret sins are the hardest to confess because they don’t seem to affect anyone else except us. But all sin trickles out to others eventually. God’s judgment is upon those who pass judgment in the same way that God’s wrath is upon those who reject God’s indirect revelation in nature. These words from Romans are not easy to read and even more difficult to accept and live out. We cannot read these chapters of Romans without going on to the chapters that talk about God’s love and forgiveness. If we stopped in ch. 1 or 2, we would be sorry creatures. But the gospel speaks to all of these and offers a way out.
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