Romans Chapter 2

Vs. 1-3… Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. [2] But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. [3] And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?   

Paul is discussing the wrath worthiness of all mankind. He is educating us that no one will or ever has been able to perform to such a level so as to establish their own righteousness that is acceptable to God to gain entrance into heaven. Paul is examining the history of mankind up to the time God chose to reveal the dispensation of the grace of God. Job asked the question that Paul has under consideration many years before …I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? (Job 9:2) Paul is going to answer that question here in Romans 1-5. This is the first cornerstone of the foundation of faith---justification. We need to recognize our own WRATH WORTHINESS before we will ever recognize our need of a Saviour. It is more than just acknowledging that we are sinners. The wrath of God against unrighteousness and ungodliness is REAL. Unrighteousness and ungodliness are two different things (Rom. 1:18) Unrighteousness is our behavior against our fellowman; ungodliness is our attitudes toward God. As we are told in Gen. 3, Satan told the truth when he said that in the day that ye eat thereof---ye shall be as gods. Adam and Eve did become their own little god making up their own minds about right and wrong. Man is SELF-CENTERED; THAT IS HIS PROBLEM. When we don’t relate to God properly (ungodliness) we can not relate to our fellowman rightly. A synonym of the word “unthankful” is “self-centered”. The reason Paul lists specific sins in chapter 1:29-32 is to describe what he calls “coming short” as it relates to our fellowman and to inform us that if we find ourselves in that list---WE JUSTLY DESERVE GOD’S WRATH!!! This list describes what wrath worthy men do to their fellowman. OUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO SAVE US!  

Please do not abuse this passage in the way that most Christians do…Paul is not warning fellow believers to stop judging one another! COMPARING YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS WITH OTHERS and concluding you’re a pretty good guy is what Paul is reproving, in the context of salvation. This excuse will not stand up at the Great White Throne Judgment. The question is OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS COMPARED TO GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Rom. 3:10 & 23) 

The first thought a man has when confronted about his need for salvation is “I’m a pretty good person compared to the next man”. This inclination of the sinful human heart to compare ourselves with others and to conclude that when it comes to salvation “we are doing OK with the Man Upstairs” is inherent in us all…Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; (Rom. 2:15)  Our sinful hearts just will not let us conclude that we have done anything worthy of hell. Would you send someone to hell for lying, stealing, fornication, etc? NO !!! We just can’t see that we deserve that kind of severe punishment. That is why I contend that convincing a man or woman that they are sinners is not the critical point in salvation. They must be convinced they are WRATH WORTHY! Man’s pride nature will not allow him to see in the room concerning our sins---the lights are turned off in that room. You will have to depend on what God tells us about your sins and what He has done about them. The home (parents), the schools (teachers), the government (law enforcement/judges) and the church (preachers) are all trying to do the same thing---trying to reform man’s conduct; trying to get us to behave better. How is that working out for us? Man needs the Gospel of Christ initially and then godly edification in the Father’s curriculum.   

Vs. 4-5…Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? [5] But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;   

Romans 1:17 tells us that God completely took works out of the equation when it comes to salvation. Before he tells us about the wrath of God he tells us the power of God in the Gospel to address His Wrath against us. Also notice that Paul did not say the just shall live by their commitments to do something good; or become something better; or by their promises to abstain from doing the bad things he listed in chapter one. Righteousness does not come by good works or abstaining from the bad works. This does not sit well with “religianity”. It must keep works ever before people; both before salvation and after salvation.  

Consider these three words---penance/penitence/repentance. Penance is paying for your sins. Penitence is to experience sorrow for your sins. Repentance is neither penance nor penitence. Religiosity today confuses these and it is a serious mistake. Repentance is changing your mind---about what? About righteousness and sin. We all come in the world as a SELF-RIGHTEOUS MORALIZER. We consider ourselves to pretty good people. So all men should change their minds about the seriousness of sin and God’s answer to mankind’s dilemma by what Jesus did for them at Calvary. ALL MEN MUST CHANGE THEIR MINDS IN THIS RESPECT. It is a fact that not all men have heard of or believe that all their sins were done away with at Calvary. (II Cor. 5:18-21) It is the goodness of God that leads a person to repentance…The “grace is a license to sin folks” over look this verse. We are told that “folks need more law preaching in order to become better people”. “Why if you preach God’s goodness, they are going to just out and sin all the more.” Paul is telling us the exact opposite. It is the goodness of God that leads to a man changing his thinking. You can scare people into making a temporary decision to change some aspects of their lives by preaching hell fire and damnation. Effective proclamation of the Gospel of Christ is not…IF YOU DON’T---THEN LOOK OUT!!! It is YOU DON’T---CHRIST DID. The Gospel is that God has held back the wrath that all men justly deserve. Do you not know that God has been good to you in holding back that wrath? Do you know that God is not happy with you for who you think you are or that He is satisfied with who you are trying to become! God has held back His wrath so you will consider His Goodness through His Son on our behalf and flee to His Grace. God wants you to change your mind as to who you are from a fleshly perspective and apart from Christ. God is not patiently waiting for you to change you mind about what you do! The church today preaches just such a message---many believe this gains salvation or a closer relationship with God. This is the “give your life to God or commit your life to God” crowd that supposes this gains salvation. Many have done this and they have become very good humanly speaking which is exactly what Paul is rebuking in this passage. The self-righteous moralizer looks in the mirror and says God must be satisfied with me; if I hear there is an area that I have not been performing in a certain area of the Christian life I will rededicate my life and “do more for God”. Paul is showing us that you can change your mind about the things you do without ever changing your mind about who you are apart from Christ. That kind of a change of mind will do you no good with regard to salvation. The kind of change of mind that God is looking for is the change of mind that occurs when a person is willing to acknowledge his sinful condition so that he might become totally dependent upon and therefore fully appreciative of the wonderful grace of God and what that grace accomplished where that person’s sins are concerned on the Cross of Calvary. A person needs to change his mind about himself and what it takes to be saved from sin; he has to repent from a works concept of salvation. A person who is still trusting in human righteousness to become saved or to stay saved is arrogant (vs. 3) and ignorant (vs. 4) and obstinate (vs. 5). When self-righteous moralizers harden their hearts and remain unrepentant concerning their own goodness, they are storing up to themselves wrath to be visited upon them at the Day of Wrath (Rev. 20) At this judgment the righteousness they think they have will be put on display. It will be open for inspection. They will stand before the Lord having ONLY THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESSES to show for themselves. Listen to Paul talk about his “OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS” in Philippians 3:8-9…Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, [9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:  Now add to that Romans 4:5…But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. What a marvelous plan God offered to all men everywhere. God has kept the fingerprints of the guilt worthy off of the RIGHTEOUSNESS HE DESIGNED FOR THE GUILT WORTHY.  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Cor. 5:21) 

In summary there are two dangerous religious ditches to stay out of:

1. You have insufficient sins to warrant Christ’s death at Calvary.

2. Christ’s shed blood was insufficient to have fully satisfied the Father where your sins are concerned. Thus the continuous need for something further required of you to keep God’s justice up to date. There is where the “new sin needs new forgiveness” idea set forth by those who fail to appreciate the accomplishment of the sin paying work Christ paid on Calvary. God’s mind is reconciled where your sins are concerned because His Son paid for them once for all…Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. [18] And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; [19] To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (II Cor. 5:17-19) 

Man’s pride nature makes the Gospel very complicated and man-centered. This is what II Cor. 11:3 is telling us… But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.  The gospel is simple---it is what Christ has done, not our complicated systems of repentance and good works.

Vs. 6-10…Who will render to every man according to his deeds: [7] To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: [8] But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, [9] Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; [10] But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. 

God’s judgment will be according to works. (vs. 6) (Matt. 19:17 & Rom. 3:12) It appears that Paul is saying in verse 2 that you are going to heaven if you are good and hell if you are bad. God will never take the sins back that He placed on Christ at the Cross and put them back on the sinner. There are several erroneous interpretations of this verse which become obvious when we check them out with other Scripture. Gal. 2:16 and Titus 3:5 clearly state that salvation is not granted to the sinner because he does sufficient good things to satisfy God’s standard of righteousness.

According to Rom. 9:31-32 the Jews thought that performing good works required in the law would put them in a right standing with God. NEVER!!! Obeying the law covenant would bring you physical blessings; however, a right standing with God is never earned, in any dispensation.

The most common interpretation of vs. 6 is that if you are saved, you will perform good works. But what about the man who stops performing good works or never starts them after he is saved? That is exactly what the Corinthians did. They were carnal! In fact, they were performing “bad works”.

The correct interpretation of vs. 6 is this: Good works would indeed save a person if he/she could sufficiently and consistently maintain them. (Rom. 3:10)  Our sin nature renders us useless to perform the standard of righteousness that measures up to God’s standard. THE FLAW IN THE LAW IS THE FLESH!!! We can not perform right. (II Cor. 5:21).

Rom. 8:3…The law could not lift Israel to a right standing before God. But what about the Gentiles? Rom. 3:9. God judges all men by WORKS and no one measures up to the performance God requires. . A patient continuance in well doing would save you IF YOU COULD KEEP DOING RIGHT!!! YOU CAN’T!!! Therefore all men are warth worthy because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Vs. 11-15…For there is no respect of persons with God. [12] For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; [13] (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. [14] For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: [15] Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

The judgment of God is without partiality. (vs. 11) When performance is the measure to obtain a righteous standing before God---patient continuance is the only thing that will do. Luke 18:9…Israel trusted in themselves that they were righteous. What does the law say? You are worthy of the wrath of God. How many people are doing the law? NONE!!! Since God has declared a wrath worthy verdict on all---ALL NEED A SAVIOUR.  (Rom. 4:5). That means that people for the last 2,000 years will not be by the law that God gave to Israel. So why are preachers trying to get us to conform to law every Sunday? Salvation cannot be obtained nor maintained with good works.

Paul is not telling us to eliminate good works. He is telling us to totally remove any and all works from the criteria by which He saves us or by which He maintains us after salvation.

ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY THAT GOD TOOK GOOD WORKS OUT OF THE EQUATION WHEN HE PUT JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS. SALVATION IS A FREE GIFT OF GOD.

In verse 15 there are three words that are critical to understanding what God is saying---“work of the”. Verse 14 tells us that the Gentiles (have not the law of God) however, they (the Gentiles) make up the laws they want to live by on their own. Thereby, they evidence that God's work of the law is on their hearts. This is what causes the Gentiles to consider what is right and wrong. We either excuse or accuse one another. THE POINT?  Salvation comes from the Cross Work of Jesus Christ alone---nothing can be added to it or taken away and arrive at the same result. Good works cannot even prove you are saved.  

Vs. 16… Behold, thou art called a Jew… The Jews were proud of their POSITION. This is the excuse of Natural Righteousness. When Jesus confronted them about this sinful pride in John 8:31-33… Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; [32] And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. [33] They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man:  they responded by ignoring the fact that they were to “continue in Jesus Word” while taking great pride that they were Abraham’s seed. Satan had this same problem in that God gave him a special position and the position lead him to conclude he was worthy of the position God had given. The Jews believed the same thing.

There is a parallel today. So-called Christians has fallen into the same trap; they take great pride in belonging to a certain religious group of people. They delight in calling themselves a …Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Catholic, etc. They think belonging to the religious group alone provides a righteous status with God and that God looks on them with special favor because they happen to belong to a particular denominational group. In fact, those who “rightly divide” the Word of Truth must careful not to fall into this same trap. While we are thankful that God has given us a Position in Christ and a “business” (godly sonship edification) to learn, this should humble us rather than lead us to gloat about our position in and of itself. Religious affiliation will not merit you a righteous standing before God. The issue of ultimate importance is “continuing in the Word”.  

They also said they were never in bondage to any man. Bible history tells us they were regularly in bondage to Gentile nations. But, the truth of the matter is they were in bondage to IGNORANCE.  

“and restest in the law”… The Jews were also proud of their PERFORMANCE. The Jews were relying on their law keeping. Paul knew that they would appeal to their good works when confronted with the Gospel of Christ. The Jews thought they were worthy of going into the Kingdom when in fact they were WRATH WORTHY!!! No less wrath worthy than the Gentiles which went before them.  

John’s writings are the record of Israel’s response to their Messiah. John’s role was to make known the Messiah to Israel so they could see who the Messiah was---the Lord Jesus Christ. Most Christians today believe that John’s writings are directed at them. The book of John is the first written information missionary hand out to new converts. Would the Apostle John agree with that strategy? Well let’s let him answer…John 1:31… And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.  The only way that John knew Jesus was directly related to the nation of Israel and their failure under the law contract. John’s baptism with water was directly related to that. John was sent to give Israel an opportunity to repent, to change their mind about their ability to keep the law sufficiently to gain an entrance into the earthly Kingdom of Christ through their performance. John recorded the events of Christ’s life and Israel’s rejection of their King. Israel wanted no part of Christ, much less His kingship. In John 5:39 Jesus tells them that “they think” they have eternal life. What could possibly lead them to that conclusion? THE LAW!!! The Jewish moralizers thought it was the law that gave them a righteous standing before God… Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.  Christians to this day do the same thing. They mix law with grace and hold onto that notion that law keeping is the criteria that God is using to keep them saved or for them to remain in good favor with Him.  Paul calls this “resting in the law” (Rom. 2:17). Now keep in mind that I am not talking about keeping a list of do’s and don’ts as in right and wrong things to do; hardly anyone does that in religianity today except Independent Baptists. I am talking about ceremonial law keeping, i.e. be faithful to attend church, submit to water baptism, support your pastor, give to the church, use your spiritual gift for the Lord, love your neighbor, support mission work. In “religianity” today a so-called Christian is measured by these performance law keeping standards. Those who are continually asking for forgiveness for sin are in a very real sense resting in a program of rules and regulations in order to maintain their relationship with the Lord. Thus they feel the need when they feel that relationship slipping away to ask Himfor a new measure of forgiveness to bring them back into a proper relationship with Him. They obviously believe that if He will forgive them one more time they will do better in the future and not disappoint the Lord. This thinking is as “resting in the law” as it gets!!! Your relationship with the Lord has nothing to do with law keeping according to the Holy Spirit through Paul. Your relationship with the Lord has only to do with your position in His Son and that comes only by believing what His Son accomplished for you at Calvary where your sins are concerned. So if righteousness in the sight of God is not attached in a person’s mind to an adherence to a list of rules and regulations of any kind and they have faith in the Cross-work of Christ as full payment for their sins; why would they need to ask for forgiveness WHEN THEY FEEL THEY HAVE BROKEN RULES AND REGULATIONS? Rules and regulations is not the criteria that God uses to determine a person’s righteous standing before Him. So if you continue to hold on to that idea that what you do or promise to do or to abstain from doing is going to earn you extra favor with God, you can forget about it. The so-called “broken fellowship” teaching so popular in our day is a reality not in God’s view but in the mind of the believer only because we have bought in to the idea of “resting in the law”. In God’s mind and view of us, we have a secure position before Him because of Christ. In contrast, law keeping was used by God with Israel to prove they had no right to the promised earthly kingdom. Law keeping could not save a person, law keeping could not keep that person saved even in the dispensation of the Law. The ungodly of both programs would have to be justified by faith. Paul wants these Jewish moralizers to understand something---the Law Program was never given to save a person or keep a person saved. This is clearly pointed out in Galatians 3:19 & 21…Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. Paul is telling us that if there would have been a law given that men could keep, then righteousness would have come by the law. It would have been unnecessary for Jesus to come and die. The very law these Jews were resting in actually served to condemn them. It was given to them to prove their need of a Saviour. When it comes to providing righteousness, the Law had a major weakness. Rom. 8:3…For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  The weakness of the Law was due to the presence of the flesh and until we no longer have this flesh to contend with and the indwelling sin nature of that flesh, that WEAKNESS will always be present with us. Therefore God had to send His Son to condemn your sin in Christ’s flesh. Now most people will agree that God will not justify a person by law keeping before salvation but He certainly does after salvation. Acts 13:39…And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. So, keeping the Law after you are saved will not keep you saved. You can’t keep it any better after you are saved than you could before you are saved when it comes to earning righteousness through the doing of it.

Do you know that it is a dangerous thing to attribute righteousness to law keeping today? It is not wrong to strive for righteous living; we know that it is good to make righteous choices that God approves of and are consistent with charity (having another’s best interest at heart). Every grace believer should strive for righteous living in that respect; but to attribute our righteous standing before God due to the choices we make is something else altogether. II Cor. 4:3… But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:  This is not a nice verse for all those so-called Christians out there who adhere to a law keeping method of obtaining a relationship with the Lord. Paul says in this verse that if “our gospel” be hid, a person is lost (not just confused or in need of spiritual growth). The word “hid” in Greek is interesting because we get another English word from it for which we are all familiar---kleptomaniac (a compulsive thief). There was an attempt in Paul’s day just like in our day by Satan’s “minister’s of righteousness” (II Cor. 11:14-15) to steal the Gospel of Christ away by hiding it from your mind. Perhaps you have seen the billboard on Interstate 75 near Atlanta that says, “What part of the Ten Commandments don’t you understand? Signed God”. What is the implication? If you are not obeying them then you better get back to them. Why if we would get back to putting the Ten Commandments back on the walls of our schools, think how good they would be. This is a commendable effort by some misguided Christians to tie salvation and/or fellowship to law keeping; but both ideas are rejected by the Lord. Your fellowship is based on your position not your performance. When we confuse the two we are “hiding” the truth of the Gospel from people. This occurs every Sunday in America. There is a continual TRADITION on the part of the so-called church to hid the Gospel rather than proclaim the TRUTH of the Gospel.  

Paul did not want the Galatians to fall for the same error that occurred in Corinth where they were handling the Word of God deceitfully (II Cor. 4:2). Apparently they did for in Gal. 5:4 he says…Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. He is telling them that since they were saved by believing what he had preached, they were sealed by the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to begin the Christian life right and then to fall away from it because you have been told wrong doctrine. However, it is another thing to have never heard the Gospel to begin with and to have begun with the thinking that you are earning God’s favor by what you do. The idea of the words “fallen from grace” is the idea that you have moved away from what the grace of God is all about. The Galatians chose to believe ministers who were “resting in the law” after they were genuinely saved. They were crediting their works for a superior position before God. Things have not changed in our day; we are still attaching righteousness to good works in the eyes of God. The trick today with the ministers of righteousness is attaching works not to sins but righteousness. So what are Satan and his ministers trying to hide? The truth that your righteousness is not tied to your works. They tie your works with your righteousness as it relates to your standing before God. This is contrary to everything that Paul has told us about the Good News of God in Christ. 

Vs. 25… For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.  God's ancient people came to be known as Hebrews by race, Israelites by nationality and Jews by religion. Circumcision was the token of the covenant God made with Abraham, the ceremonial rite that separated Israel from the corrupted Gentiles mentioned in Rom. 1. It spoke of separation to God and a cutting off of the flesh and its passions. Under Moses it became part of the Law. This is why circumcision and the Law are so often referred to together. Paul wrote to the Galatians, who were tempted to submit to this religious rite: "I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law” (Gal. 5:3).  Therefore, the mere possession of the Law, or the mere submission to circumcision did not entitle one to special favor from God.  Owning a football doesn’t qualify one for the NFL.  

 Vs. 26…“if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?”  Paul is saying that the Law could teach a Gentile something just like the Jew. Of course there were no Gentiles who perfectly kept the Law, but some did accept it as God's revealed will and purposed to let it be their “schoolmaster” (Gal. 3:24-25). This did not save them, but it did place them in a position where God could reveal Himself to them further. We have an example of this in the case of Cornelius the centurion. In Acts 10:34-35 we have Peter saying to Cornelius and his household: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him.” Peter did not say they (Gentiles) were saved, for Acts 11:14 clearly indicates that Peter was sent to tell them how to be saved. What he meant, therefore, was that such God-fearing Gentiles were "accepted" by God along with the chosen race, the Circumcision, because they were sincerely trying to do what circumcision taught and what those of the circumcision so clearly failed to do.   

Vs. 27-29…"And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

So God teaches a twofold lesson:  

(1) The Law cannot save sinners; it can … Give knowledge--- "For by the Law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20);  meet out consequences---"The Law worketh wrath” (4:15);  bring condemnation--- "the ministry of condemnation”  (II Cor. 3:9).  

Many religious people persist in believing that the Law was given to show us "how to be good." But this is the opposite of the truth, for the Law, while condemning the sinner, does not show him how to be good. Paul, the apostle of grace, records how to glorify God as grace believers. I call it the “Godly Sonship Program”.  

Not only Rom. 3:20, but other passages of Scripture clearly indicate that the Law was not given to help us to be good, but rather to show us that we are bad and need a Savior. Rom. 5:20: it "entered that the offence might abound." Rom. 7:13: "that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful" 

So Paul first sets forth the basic principle in Romans 2:1-11 that God rewards the good and punishes the evil. Then he demonstrates that there is not one truly, consistently good person on the face of the earth and that this is why we need a Savior. This demonstrated, he proceeds to present a message of salvation in which both the righteousness and the love of God are gloriously revealed. This is how our Lord dealt with the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23). The ruler had asked, "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and our Lord replied: “Why callest thou Me good? none is good, save one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments...”  (the man knew what he ought to do to inherit eternal life). However, what he did not know was that with the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom there was an even higher standard than the Ten Commandments. Thus, as he objected, “All these have I kept from my youth up," our Lord simply added the even loftier requirement for entering into the kingdom. "Yet lackest thou one thing," He said, "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor...... This was to be the way of life in the coming reign of Christ. The Lord was showing the rich young ruler that (as he knew in his heart) he had broken the Law and that, clinging to his riches while others were poverty stricken, he was not even good enough to enter the prophesied kingdom on earth! He needed a Savior.

 (2) Religious rites cannot save. External conformity to the rite of circumcision did not meet the real purpose of the requirement…the acknowledgement of sin and the need of salvation. 

The acknowledgment of our guilt before God is one of the first steps to salvation. There is one thing that God, the Judge of all, insists upon: the sinner must stop saying things in his own defense. It is not sin that keeps men out of heaven; it is rather their carnal mindset of pride that is inclined to believe that what we do gets us right with God. This is the “pride of life”. When we live in this mindset, we join Adam and Eve hiding from God rather than running to Him for mercy. God, in grace, has made full provision for sin, paying the penalty Himself, but He has made no provision for a self-righteous attitude.