Four Principles of God’s Judgment (Romans 2:12-16)

Big Idea: God judges everyone impartially, and no one measures up, so salvation comes only through faith in Jesus.

Ask most people how they can be right with God, and you’ll hear something like this: “I’m basically a good person. I try to live a moral life. I am kind to others. I’m not perfect, but on the whole, I think God will be pleased with me.” This is the typical response because we all instinctively know that goodness matters, and so we try to be good. We know that we’re not perfect, but we hope we will be good enough. Nobody’s perfect. Some people deserve judgment for their bad behavior. But we’re not like those people, and we’re basically good enough.

Large-scale surveys reveal that most Americans think of themselves as “basically good” and believe goodness is enough. In worldview studies, most adults say they're generally satisfied with their moral choices. Researchers found that when people consider how to be right with God, they often rely on their own decency and efforts.

But what if there’s a problem with this approach? What if being good, even if you’re really good, isn’t good enough? Look carefully, and there are some problems with this approach. How do you know if you’re ever good enough? What do you do with the incredible pressure of having to measure up? Perhaps most importantly, what do you do when you don’t measure up?

We often think that it’s enough to try to be good, but that approach doesn’t turn out to be good news for us, because it sets up in impossible standard, and in the end, it turns out that none of us are good enough after all.

Understanding Paul’s Argument

We’re early in this series through the book of Romans. Here’s the message that Paul is communicating in the first part of this book from Romans 1:18 all the way through 3:20. It’s the good news that comes before the good news. Our greatest problem is sin. All people everywhere, regardless of whether they’re religious or not, are guilty before God and live under his wrath. Paul is laying down this argument so that, as he says in Romans 3:19, “every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.”

In the passage we’re looking at today, Paul is dealing with two kinds of people. The first are those who are religious. It was easy in Paul’s day for the Jewish people to cheer Paul as he went after the Gentiles, as he did in chapter 1. It was easy to feel morally superior as Paul exposed the folly of idolatry and immoral behavior. “Go get ‘em, Paul!” So in chapter 2, Paul begins to challenge this attitude. Religious people are not immune to God’s judgment. We commit the same sins as those who aren’t religious, even though we have much clearer revelation. There’s no moral superiority when we stand before God.

But Paul is also dealing with a second group of people. What about those who have never heard God’s law? What about people who don’t have the same access to the Bible that we have? What about the poor person in a far-off jungle who has never heard about Jesus Christ? Will God condemn him for failing to believe on a person about whom he has not even heard?

Paul knows that our natural tendency is blame-shifting. We excel at shifting blame and excusing ourselves. It’s our natural tendency to evade responsibility for sin, and so Paul goes out of his way to refute our excuses. Here’s what Paul is going to show in this passage: Nobody can stand in the judgment, no matter how religious and good you are, no matter whether or not you’ve heard about Jesus. It doesn’t matter if you’re religious or not. All are guilty before God and stand under his wrath.

Let’s see if we can understand Paul’s argument by unpacking what he says in four main points. You could call these the four principles of God’s judgment. Here’s the first:

God doesn’t play favorites (2:11-12)

The key principle is found in verse 11: “For God shows no partiality.” Paul reveals a fundamental truth about both God's character and our condition. God is perfectly just and completely impartial. He shows no favoritism based on race, status, or religious background. Everyone faces the same standard: his perfect righteousness. No one receives special treatment or exemption.

We may imagine our intelligence, position, or acts of kindness will persuade God to make an exception, but God judges according to works. Every person will stand before him, and the question won't be about childhood church attendance, upbringing, or parental influence. We face judgment according to our deeds—believers and nonbelievers alike. Religious heritage offers no advantage. The only question that day: did we meet the righteous standards of a holy God?

This impartiality reveals God's fairness and holiness. He doesn't overlook sin in one person while excusing it in another. No one can rely on heritage, good intentions, or status to stand right with God. His judgment remains impartial across all people and circumstances.

This cuts both ways. The good news: we face a just Judge, unlike the flawed judges of this world who sometimes miss the mark. The bad news: we face a just Judge. No special exceptions await us, no strings to pull, no connections to leverage. We will all stand before a holy, just, and impartial Judge.

His perfect justice means he gets every verdict right. But that same perfection means none of our usual advantages matter. The courtroom of heaven operates by different rules—God's rules, where righteousness alone determines the outcome.

That's the core principle here: God shows no favoritism. In verse 12, Paul applies this to two distinct groups: "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."

Some people never received God's law. They haven't read Scripture or learned the Ten Commandments. They had no special relationship with God—like most people today. These individuals face just condemnation. They will "perish" (eternal damnation) because they sinned. God won't punish them for violating a written code they never saw. Yet ignorance of God's written law doesn't exempt them from judgment. They still sinned in other ways.

The second group possesses the law and lives under it. Their advantage—knowing God's standards—becomes their problem. They face judgment because they broke the very law they received. Their lives will be measured against the standard they knew. God justly holds them accountable for disobeying what they had seen and read.

God never unjustly condemns anyone for what they never knew. Yet this leaves us all with the same dilemma: God, who is impartial, evaluates our lives and finds us all guilty of sin. The specific transgressions differ depending on our knowledge, but nobody escapes judgment. We all stand guilty before God—with or without the law.

That’s the first principle of God’s judgment: God doesn’t play favorites, but that leaves us all with the same problem. We’re all left guilty before a holy God.

Here’s the second principle of God’s judgment:

Nobody will get off easier just because they had the Bible (2:13).

Verse 13 says, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”

It would have been tempting for the Jewish people to pull out a very big advantage that they enjoyed. They had received God’s law. In fact, they were the only people to whom God had revealed the law. They had access to what deeds are required of them, and the rest of the world doesn’t, which at first seems like an unfair advantage.

One rabbi said: “God willed to allow Israel to earn merits, and therefore he gave them much Torah and commandments.… In order to give Israel merits, it pleased Yahweh to make the Torah big and strong.” Similarly, the great rabbi Hillel stated that “where there is much law, there is much life.” For these rabbis, the law provides opportunities to accrue merit before God. They thought that it gave them a leg up with God.

This would be like someone today saying, “I think I’ll be okay when I face God one day because I grew up in church and I memorized Bible verses.” But Paul is clear: any advantage this gives you is offset by the greater responsibility you have as a recipient of God’s word. Going to church, reading the Bible, sitting under the preaching of God’s word — none of that will give you an advantage on that day. Having the Bible isn’t the issue; keeping the Bible is.

God doesn’t play favorites, and nobody will get off easier just because they had the Bible. Here’s the third principle of God’s judgment:

Nobody will get off because they didn’t have the Bible (2:14-15)

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them…

You might think not having the Bible gives you an advantage—that you could stand before God and say, "How could I have known what you required without it?"

But this reasoning quickly falls apart under scrutiny. Even the Canadian criminal code states, "Ignorance of the law by a person who commits an offence is not an excuse for committing that offence." More importantly, Paul argues that even without God's written law, you possess another law: the one written on your heart. Every human inherently understands right and wrong at some level. When God created us, he instilled a moral compass within us. He gave us a conscience, as verse 15 explains. This innate sense of right and wrong exists in everyone. Yet we fail to live up to even our own moral perceptions, let alone God's Law. No one will ever be able to stand before God and claim he has been unfair.

Francis Schaeffer once described what he called an “invisible tape recorder” — we don’t have tapes anymore, but you get the idea. Imagine an unseen device hanging around each of our necks, quietly capturing every word we speak about others and the standards we expect them to live by. On the final day, God the Judge will remove this recorder and say, “I will judge you fairly, simply by playing back what you yourself have declared as the standard for human behavior.” Paul’s pointed question echoes here: “Do you think you will escape God’s judgment?” The honest answer is no. None of us can claim to measure up. We stand condemned, not only by God’s perfect standard but by the very standards we have set for others. This truth exposes the weight of our words and the reality of our accountability before a holy God.

God doesn’t play favorites, and nobody will get off easier just because they had the Bible, just like nobody will get off because they didn’t have the Bible. Here’s the fourth and final principle of God’s judgment:

Every single one of us will be individually and exhaustively evaluated by God (2:16).

In verses 16, Paul talks of “that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” One day, God will reveal all the things that we wish had remained hidden. Even our thoughts and motives will be revealed. This judgment will take place by Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). This is such a central teaching that Paul says that it is an integral part of the gospel.

Wow. This is a lot. Here’s what Paul is saying. God treats everyone the same. No one gets a pass for having the Bible or not. Each of us will stand before him for a full and fair judgment. There will be no saying “At least I’m better than others” on that day.

God judges everyone impartially, and no one measures up. It’s not enough to be a moral person. Good enough isn’t good enough. We will stand condemned because we don’t meet God’s standards; we don’t even meet our own standards. Nobody will be able to argue with God’s judgment on that day. Our goodness won’t be good enough, and we will know that we deserve God’s judgment.

But there’s good news. God is doing us a big favor. Imagine being charged with a serious crime. You meet with your lawyer and throw out some defense strategies. “Argue that the Judge is unfair!” No, your lawyer says, that won’t work. “Argue that I went to law school!” No, your lawyer says, that makes it even worse. “Argue that I didn’t know the law!” No, your lawyer says, ignorance of the law isn’t a valid defense. One by one, your illegitimate defenses are taken away.

Then your lawyer leans forward. "I know a defense that never fails." This is Paul's strategy: stripping away our worthless defenses to reveal the only one that matters. While we stand condemned by our own standards and God's perfect law, God provides an undefeated defense: Jesus Christ. He lived the perfect life we couldn't and took our deserved punishment. When we trust him, God counts Christ's righteousness as our own instead of our sins. This is the "my gospel" Paul references in Romans 2:16—justification through faith, not works, but grace alone.

The question isn't "Am I good enough?" but "Have I trusted the One who is good enough for me?" Heaven's courtroom will be perfectly just, yet filled with mercy for those in Christ.