For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (...) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
For simplicity and context I've cut the long paranthetical statement St. Paul makes and which we explored last time. Here he completes His thoughts on the nature of judgment, having established thoroughly the following basic teachings:
- God's salvation is for the Jew and also for the Greek (Rom 1:16)
- Salvation is "living by faith," or acting according to faith (Rom 1:17)
- Unrighteousness destroys our ability to know God, and thus we experience God's absence (His wrath) and fall further into unrighteousness, assuming God isn't there or replacing Him with the material. This is the plight of the Gentiles, and it makes them "deserving" of death since. (Rom 1:18 - 32)
- This unrighteous behavior endangers not only the Gentile, but the Jew as well (since it is unrighteousness, in contrast to living by faith, which removes us from God's presence) - it is therefore foolish to judge others since this unrighteous act of judgment only further separates us from God (Rom 2:1-5)
- There is no partiality with God - whether Jew or Greek we will be judged for what we DO (whether we live unrighteously and destroy the Truth or act according to faith). It is plausible that a non-Jew could act justly, having the Truth in their "nous" (intuition-heart-mind), just like a Jew having the Law can still sin. (Rom 2:6-15)
- This judgment is according to Christ - for it is Christ's gospel by which we are saved (Rom 1:16, 2:16).
As stated previously, the basic premise of Romans is that Jews and Greeks are equally members of the Church, since both are equally subject to sin or righteousness, and we are judged based on our sinfulness or righteousness (judged for our deeds).
Romans 2:17 - 20
Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the Law and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the Law.
Here St. Paul summarizes one of the arguments forwarded by the Judaizers (as he will do throughout Romans).
The boast of the Jew is the Law: the Covenant with God and God's instructions for Jewish ethical and ritual actions (an important distinction). Since the Law, being God's Word, contains Truth, the Jew teaches from it as a leader of the blind. And indeed, the Law DOES inform us about God, and DOES teach us what is right and what is wrong. It is indeed the form of knowledge.
Yet that is the key word: form. True knowledge, in the Biblical sense, is not cognitive-brain knowledge - remember that limiting our experience of Truth to the physical (cognitive) brain is precisely the idolatry which the Gentiles fell into because of sin. Rather, knowledge is communion. Knowledge means complete intermingling - like the knowledge a husband has for his wife or vice-versa. Knowledge has a deep sense of holistic (Catholic) fullness. Merely asserting a doctrine is not knowledge. One can recite good ethical principles, but to know them one must do them. One can recite good doctrines regarding God, but to KNOW God is an entirely different thing.
Indeed, this was the problem with the way the Law was used. Mistaking the Law (a cognitive list of right and wrong) with living by faith (that is to say, acting righteously because one knows God) fundamentally damaged the spiritual wellbeing of the Jews. This is an easy mistake for Christians to fall into as well. How often do we mistake the Creed for knowledge? Or the Bible? Or ANY doctrine? Any source of human wisdom? There is a big difference between being able to recite all the right answers and LIVING the right answer - KNOWING the right answers - COMMUNING with THE "right answer" (the Truth) who is Christ our Lord. We can read all the right books by the right Orthodox authors, we can hear every homily and memorize the Scriptures, and have a working understanding of ancient Greek and the patristic saints. We can own a thousand icons and light a thousand candles and, ultimately, it means nothing.
We are not guides to the blind unless we have the knowledge of God. First we must judge ourselves, and realize that we are lacking, and then, once we are empties of ourselves we may be filled by God and, by being filled by God (the knowledge of God), HE may USE us to guide others. But if at any point WE are the guide, we have fallen into pride and have mistaken our egotistical cognitive-self for "truth" - we have become an idol, setting up for ourselves a nice and comprehensible God whom we "share" with others. This kind of shallow religion, which is more than obvious to those outside of it, lacks the basic humility of Christ, who, having done more miralces in a moment then "we" will EVER do, told those whom He healed to say NOTHING about Him. His divine silence - His humility - should remind us how empty our prideful words are.
This does not mean, as St. Paul will say later, that we let go of the Truth handed to us. The doctrines are important. They ground us in reality and fence us from heresy - necessary safeguards indeed. You'll notice the Law is in the Christian Bible. The Truth IS handed on, but we should never mistake our role within it. We are not experts. We do not have knowledge. We can but parrot others until we are sanctified. This parroting is "tradition" (handing-on), but it must be done with the utmost humility. This is why I conclude posts with "Forgive me." I ask your forgiveness for my own pride, and I pray that this is a faithful rendition of the Holy Tradition which contains within it the path to True knowledge of God. It is my prayer that I NEVER mistake a teaching for knowledge.
Romans 2:21 - 24
You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the Law, do you dishonor God through breaking the Law? For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" as it is writen.
While one may be able to walk through the first few rhetorical questions, the last one - do you who boast in the law break the law? - is a tough one to avoid. We all sin. Or rather, I know that I do. Perhaps God has already granted you sanctification, in which case I thank Him for that. The world needs more sanctified people. I myself am nowhere near it, and, like much of Romans, these are sobering thoughts. We often shout our views from rooftops, so to speak, because of our LOVE for God - yet our very hypocrisy results in His being blasphemed. How often have we heard in this culture something like this: "I could never be a Christian; they're such hypocrites! They preach all this so-called morality and not one of them follows it."
Let us be the FIRST to own up to our own sins. It is one of the greatest untapped Truths of Christianity. We so often try to "fake" that we're "all better now" because of our conversion to Christianity when, inside, we know our sins. How refreshing would it be to let that go, to be REAL! This is a major purpose of confession, at least to a point: by vocalizing our sins, we "real-ize" them (make them real to ourselves) and prevent the self-delusion which leads to hypocrisy.
It is also why it is critical that we not correct one another, but leave correction to those whom God has ordained to the task. If a woman wears pants in Church, it is not the place of other women to scold her and tell her to wear a skirt. If a man wears short sleaves, we should tolerate him and trust that it is between him, God, and whomever else God appoints over him. If a kid cries in Church, do we become annoyed? Remember that we sound just as bothersome before the saints and angels in their eternal worship before God, being mere children to them, yet we are welcomed with love and encouraged to join in. If we see people living a life we consider immoral, do we let judgment enter our heart? Do we judge drunkards and homosexuals? Do we judge prostitutes and pornographers and liers and corrupt politicians? ARE WE BETTER?
If the MIRACLE of God's Holy Tradition becomes mistaken for KNOWING GOD then we will fall into pride and hypocrisy. We should judge ourselves first, and others never. God will judge them. Our task is to love. YES - we have a responsibility to stay obedient to the teachings of the Church and to hold fast to them, as they are a precious gift; so we must seek to understand them. But we must seek to LIVE them. And until we do, and do so sufficiently, we have no business scolding another.
A story from the Desert Fathers teaches this principle effectively, and I'll conclude this post with it:
"A brother in Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to him, saying, “Come, for everyone is waiting for you.” So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug and filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said, “What is this, father?” The old man said to them, “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the errors of another.” When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him."
Forgive me,
Macarius
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