Romans 2:2,3 - Do you suppose that you will escape judgement?

2:2

“We know that the judgement of God rightly falls on those who practice such things”. 1 Peter 1:17 says that God judges impartially. The Jews were keen on thinking of themselves as morally superior to the Gentile world. Self-righteousness is something we always need to be aware of. We see evidence of sin in other people, and we will often be right, for everyone is sinful. But the religious person then so often draws the conclusion that they are worthy of condemnation and that we are better than them. The world draws a different, but equally wrong, conclusion. The world’s conclusion is that we should never say that any sort of behaviour is wrong, this usually only applies to sexual behaviours. The correct response is, yes their behaviour/attitudes are wrong, I need to look at myself, I need the grace of God.

2:3

It is very clear that Paul is thinking of those who judge others. He also sees this as something that the Jews are particularly prone to. Part of the reason the Jewish leaders hated Jesus was because He told them they were sinners in need of forgiveness. Judging others can bring a sort of comfort to us, for we think we are better than them, and that feels nice. However, Paul reminds them that God is a just judge, and if we rely on our supposed righteousness we will not escape God’s judgement.