Ap – The Guilt of the “Good Person” 2: 1-4

The Guilt of the “Good Person”
2: 1-4

The guilt of the “good person” DIG: God is working on everyone individually. Everyone is on their own journey. So, how is God patient with the “good person” also? Is God’s patience an endorsement of the “good person’s” sin? Why isn’t God impressed by mere “religious activity?”

REFLECT: How does this passage answer the popular modern-day belief that “human beings are basically good people?” Do you see yourself as more of a gross sinner (1:18-32), or as a “good person?” Are you not as bad as “other people?” How has God been patient with you?

The very ones who were passing judgment on the pagans were also guilty. While they are not guilty of repressing the truth, they are guilty of applying it to others and not themselves.

The bad news is not over. The “good person” perceives that he is not caught-up in the mire of the pagan (to see link click An – The Depraved Mind of the Pagan Gentile), but feels superior, and likes to condemn them. His sin is pride, and Paul has a message for him. “Spotting the evil in others has not rooted out the evil in you!” Or as the folk saying goes, “It takes one to know one.” Paul accuses the “good person,” who has made himself a judge, less for passing judgment on others than for not passing equally severe judgment on himself (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Du – Do Not Judge, and You Will Not Be Judged).

Knowledge: Therefore, connects Chapter 2 with Chapter 1. Since God’s anger is revealed against all people, and because all people have been given knowledge of ADONAI, therefore even the person who judges has no excuse, whoever you are, passing judgment; for when you judge someone else, you are passing judgment against yourself, Since you who are judging do the same things he does (2:1). They condemn themselves because they obviously have a criterion by which they judge, meaning that they know the truth about what is right and wrong before God! Even the “good person” knows the basic truth about ADONAI’s eternal power and His divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what he has made (1:20). They also have a sense of right and wrong by conscience (2:15).

Truth: Paul now affirms the general principle that God is fair in His judgment of such practices. We know (Greek: oida, which carries the idea of awareness of that which is commonly known and obvious) that God’s judgment lands impartially on those who do such things (2:2). Everything Ha’Shem does is, by nature, righteous according to the truth. He is not capable of doing that which is not righteous or saying that which is not true. David declared that ADONAI sits on the throne as the righteous judge . . . He will judge the world in righteousness; He will judge the people fairly (Psalm 9:4 and 8).

Do you think that you, a mere man passing judgment on others who do such things, yet doing them yourself, will escape the judgment of God? Such people are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside, but inside are full of dead people’s bones and all kinds of rottenness (Matthew 23:27). “You are foolish and self-deceived,” Paul says, “if you think that you will escape the judgment of God (2:3). There is no escape. Ever. If the “good person” cannot escape his own judgment, how can he escape divine judgment? If the “good person” is forced to condemn himself, how much more will the infinitely holy God condemn him? The only way the “good person,” no matter how outwardly moral and religious, can escape the judgment of YHVH is to receive Yeshua Messiah as Lord and Savior, trusting in the provision He made on the cross by His paying the penalty all deserve.⁴⁶

Guilt: Or perhaps you despise the riches of His kindness, His grace, forbearance (Greek: anoche, meaning to hold back) and patience; because you don’t realize that God’s kindness, His grace, is intended to lead you to turn from your sins (2:4). Here the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, through Paul, affirms that the LORD judges on the basis of a person’s guilt, which is common to everyone. The “good person” fails to repent just like the pagan fails to repent. But even worse, this “good person” has a contempt for the kindness of YHVH, assuming that God’s forbearance is a result of their goodness. Little do they realize that until the inevitable moment of judgment, the kindness, grace, forbearance and patience of ADONAI are extended to all mankind because He does not wish that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from their sins (Second Peter 3:9).

Dear Heavenly Father, You are so loving, yet You are also holy and perfectly pure. Everyone is thrilled with Your love, but Your holiness is something that gets ignored. Nowadays DIY- “Do it yourself” is popular and can be good when used for such things as bed mattresses etc., but if the same idea is used for morals – the end result is disastrous for You are holy and cannot allow any sin into Your holy heaven. Praise You that Yeshua took the punishment for sin by dying as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and conquering death. By His death and resurrection, He offers His righteousness to all who chose to love and to follow Him (Second Corinthians 5:21).

An awesome gift is God’s righteousness, yet how sad that many will not get the gift. He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36). God, how merciful You are to desire all to come to live with you in heaven, yet You will refuse many to enter heaven because they refuse to repent. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you – not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance (Second Peter 3:9). Too often people think of themselves as good enough for heaven, but they need to turn away from following their own desires and choose to follow You as Lord and Savior of their life. That is repentance – turning from wrong to lovingly follow Kosher King Jesus. Please open the hearts of my family and friends who know about you, but who do not love You – to bow their knee to worship and to adore You. May they rejoice in accepting you as their Savior and Lord. In Your holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Strangely, the “good person” does not perceive YHVH as being totally good! Instead of recognizing His gracious provision, patience, and His mercy, they accuse Him of being insensitive and unloving for allowing tragedies in this world. “How could God allow that little child to die?” they ask, or, “Why does God allow a ‘good person’ to suffer pain and poor health and permit a crook to enjoy health and wealth?” The “good person” judges God from a distorted human perspective, failing to acknowledge that, if it were not for the LORD’s grace and mercy, no one would be alive (Job 12:10).

Rather than asking why Ha’Shem allows bad things to happen to seemingly “good people,” we should ask why He allows seemingly good things to happen to obviously bad people (Psalm 73). We could ask why He does not strike down many other people for their sins, including believers, as He did with Ananias and Sapphira (see the commentary on Acts At – Ananias and Sapphira Lie to the Ruach). We should wonder why God doesn’t cause the earth to swallow up apostates as He did with the rebellious Korah and his followers (see the commentary on Jude Aq – They Have Taken the Way of Cain, Rushed into Balaam’s Error, and have been Destroyed by Korah’s Rebellion)? The reason that YHVH patiently put up with people who deserved punishment and were ripe for destruction . . . is that He did this in order to make known the riches of His glory to those who are the objects of His, whom He prepared in advance for glory (9:22-23). The purpose of the kindness of God is not to excuse the “good person” from his sin, but to convict him of it and lead him to repentance.⁴⁷