Romans 2:1-16 ||No excuse
Topic: No Excuse
Passage: Romans 2:1-16
Date: 09 August 2026
Preacher: Rev. David Browne
Introduction
At 11:40PM on 14th April, 1912 the RMS Titanic began to sink. The ship was meant to be unsinkable but as the captain soon realised five watertight compartments were sliced open by an iceberg. At 12:05AM, orders were given to abandon ship.
Sadly, while ‘women and children’ were supposed to be placed on lifeboats first, first class passengers survived at a much higher rates than poorer passengers. This was because their cabins were closer to the lifeboats.
However, one first class passenger, a fur and real estate tycoon by the name of John Astor spent his last hours helping others and refused to take a spot next to his pregnant wife when offered one, because he would not board the lifeboats while there were women and children still waiting. Astor’s faith in Jesus lead him to prioritise others above himself and gave him hope as he went down with the ship.
Today’s passage reminds us that we’re all on a sinking ship. Our lives are temporary, and none of us are safe from ultimate judgement. And yet we have one rescuer, his name is Jesus.
Over the last couple of weeks in Romans, we’ve been marvelling at the gospel. Like a multi-faceted diamond this good news of Jesus’ exemplary life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection is good news for everyone. Today we’ll see how God does not show favouritism but instead will one day judge us all justly, leaving us with no excuse. We’ll also see how God’s kindness is intended to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4), and the glory, honour, and eternal life he gives.
We’re going to hear the glory of the gospel from Paul the parent, Paul the preacher, and Paul the lawyer. Let’s begin!
Paul the parent (v.1-2)
Our passage today begins:
“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (Romans 2:1)
Now if you’ve been following our series so far, you’ll know that the Apostle Paul is writing to a mixed community of Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus. In the second half of Romans 1, he highlights how people worship created things rather than our Creator-God and this attracts his wrath. We’ve lived in God’s world and enjoyed God’s things, all the while rejecting him, like bad tenants trashing the owner’s house and refusing to pay rent.
Now many Jewish Christians might have been chuckling while hearing this part of the letter. They knew this section applied to their non-Jewish neighbours and probably assumed they were safe from rebuke. They worshipped the Lord, the true Creator so surely, they were ok. Right?
Wrong! Here we see their judgementalism is just as bad! Like a parent rightly getting up a child for pointing and laughing while their sibling is getting disciplined. Paul gives self-righteous Jewish Christians a serve!
Many of the first Jewish-Christians assumed that they were right by God because of their heritage and religious practices. Some may have assumed faith in Jesus was an optional extra, and that they were excused from God’s judgement because they were religious, but here God shows us that we are all without excuse.
Even today some of us might think, “Well I’ve got my tickets to heaven stamped because: my parents went to church, because I tick ‘Christian’ on the census, or because I’m not as bad as other people.” We rest on our laurels, thinking God is satisfied with us because we’re not as bad as the people we don’t like. But that’s not how it works.
People who are judgemental are not immune from God’s judgement. Setting myself up as judge, puts me in God’s place. That’s idolatry, a sin that deserves God’s wrath. So, what do we do?
Paul the preacher
Well this is where Paul the parent becomes Paul the preacher. Look at v.4:
‘do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?’ (Romans 2:4)
Before Paul goes on, he wants us to remember the kindness and goodness of God. God doesn’t delight in judging people. The Bible repeatedly reminds us that the LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
God doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. 2 Peter 3:9 says:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise (to judge the earth), as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
God is more patient with us than the most forgiving boss or long-suffering parent. He must punish sin because he is just and holy. To simply forget about sin and give everyone a participation medal at the end of our lives would require him to tolerate evil, which would make him uncaring, wicked, or both.
Instead, God wants all people everywhere to be saved. And how are we saved? Through repentance. Through abandoning our excuses, turning our hearts to God, and throwing ourselves into the mercy found in Jesus.
This is good news! But sadly, Paul the preachers’ words often fall on stubborn hearts, so he turns into Paul the lawyer to make it crystal clear that our ship is sinking.
Paul the lawyer
Now Paul was a lawyer. He studied Jewish law under the great Rabbi Gamaliel. As an educated citizen he also knew Roman law and he wants us to know how cooked our goose is.
Romans 2:5 says:
“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” (Romans 2:5-6)
Again, in Paul’s world, like our world, stubborn hearts cling to all sorts of things other than God for confidence. Jesus tells a beautiful parable to illustrate this for us in Luke 19:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:10-14)
Today many of us are like that Pharisee. Thinking that because we pay our taxers, don’t drink or smoke, and haven’t murdered anyone, that God, if God exists, would be lucky to have us in heaven!
Not so says Romans 2:9:
“There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism.”
(Romans 2:9-11)
Remember there are divisions in the church. Some Jews thought they were first class Christians because they knew the Torah (the laws of the first five books of the Bible), but here Paul reminds us that God does not show favouritism. Yet again in our world there are divisions in the church with Christian denominations arguing over who is older or who is more right, all the while forgetting that God isn’t like us, he does not show favouritism.
This is good news because it means no matter your background, past sins, or present situation, God is calling you to himself. You don’t have to go clean up your life and become someone else before you come to Jesus, he wants you to repent and give your life to him today!
This is why Paul wants us to cut the excuses, to give up on the things we trust, on top of or aside from Jesus. This is why he uses law court language in v.12:
“All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”
(Romans 2:12-13)
In the early church many Jewish-Christians clung to the law. They told non-Jewish Christian men had to get circumcised and taught that people had to obey customs from Jewish law. Here Paul points out that God won’t condemn people for not keeping Jewish laws, if they’ve never heard them, and he certainly won’t commend people who know the law yet disobey it by judging others.
What’s more God has written the law on our hearts. V.14 says:
“(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)”
(Romans 2:14-15)
You can travel the world and see that God’s written his moral law on our hearts. All cultures have laws against murder, theft, and lying, and yet we find clever ways of getting around them. Just ask the major supermarkets, they find ways to lie and steal all the time!
And yet even though people obey God’s moral laws some of the time, we’re still all law breakers. No number of good deeds can undo our sins. That’s like spraying cologne on a corpse, hoping no one will notice.
All this sounds horrible, but Paul is making a case, not to condemn us, but to point us to the way out. Our excuses, religions, and legal wranglings might make us feel better, but they can’t do what Jesus can do: save us!
And this is why Paul points out three things about God in v.2, 11, and 16 (Daniel Fusco).
v.2 tells us God judges us in truth
v.11 tells us God doesn’t show favouritism
and v.16 tells us one day we will all appear before God and he will judge us based on the secrets of our hearts.
We may be able to convince the world around us that we’re good people. We may be to convince ourselves that we’re good people and don’t need Jesus. But one day we’ll find ourselves before God Almighty who sees through our excuses and attempts to make ourselves look better than we are.
Through his word today he’s asking us to be honest with ourselves and see that we cannot save ourselves.
We need him to take our broken hearts and piece them back together. We can never dig ourselves out of the hole we’re in. We’re all like passengers on the Titanic. It doesn’t matter how much money, power, or training we have, none of us makes it out of this life alive… unless.
Unless we let the Holy Spirit into our hearts and convict us of our sin. Unless we throw ourselves at Jesus’ feet and see his body broken for us and blood poured out for us, as the life raft it is. Unless we run into the open arms of our Father and receive his forgiveness today.
There’s much more to learn about the gospel in coming weeks but for today as we let the words of Paul the parent, Paul the preacher, and Paul the lawyer dwell in our hearts, let’s see Jesus for who he truly is: the hope of the world. Amen.