Week 5 - Tuesday

Everyone Will Be Judged

For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law; and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. (Romans 2:11-13)

Partiality (prosopolemptes in the Greek) means giving consideration to someone because of who they are. Another word to describe this is prejudice. When someone favors one person over another because of things like race, religion, sex, looks, or financial status; they are being prejudiced. Because people are not perfect, they have a tendency to be prejudiced in their dealings with others. God is not prejudiced though(Col. 3:25). It doesn't matter to Him who or what a person is. God will judge everyone by whether or not they obeyed His Law. Even those who have never heard God's Law, will perish for their sins. Every person has been given a basic understanding of what is right and wrong through their conscience. Because of this they are responsible for keeping God's Law. Obviously there are exceptions to this. Children, until they reach a certain age, are not held responsible by God for their sins. The age at which they are accountable, may vary from person to person since their reasoning ability matures at different times. Severely retarded people might never be held accountable by God for their sins. However for the vast majority of people, God will judge them on whether or not they obeyed His Law.

Another factor God weighs, in judging a person, is how much they knew about His Law. God will not favor anyone because they were raised in a Christian home, went to church or attended Bible Study every week. These things will not excuse anyone from judgment. In fact, the opposite is true. They only make them more accountable for obeying God. The people who knew God's Law, and have sinned, face an even more severe punishment for their sins than those who knew less. The Bible teaches that there will be different levels of punishment in hell. The most severe punishment of all, will be given to those who knew the most about God's word and did not obey it. (Luke 12:47-48). It's not enough to be a hearer of the Law. Only the doers of the Law will be justified. Any one who honestly examines themselves, would have to admit they have not kept God's Law. This means that everyone is guilty. How can a person escape being condemned by God then? There is only one way. God knows you can't perfectly keep His Law, but Jesus did. When you hear God's Law, and realize you are guilty, it should lead you to Him to be saved. If you have never received Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have a choice. You can perish for your sins, or you can turn from them and come to Him.

Readings for today: Gal. 2:6; James 1:22-24; Gal. 3:24; John 6:28-29