Devotional: Romans 2:1-11

Today’s passage: Romans 2:1-11

Helpful thoughts:

• If the end of chapter one had made us feel like we were better than other people, chapter two puts that to rest.
• God’s gracious kindness toward us is not a license to continue in sin, but is a path leading to repentance and growth.
  • To continue in sin is to show contempt for God’s grace.
• Verses 6-11 contain a literary pattern called a chiasm.  There is an order to Paul’s statements in order to emphasize an important truth:
  • God will judge everyone according to their actions
    • If you have a clean record of good, you deserve eternal life
      • If you have sin, you deserve judgment
      • If you have sin, you deserve judgment (Whether Jew or Gentile)
    • If you have a clean record of good, you deserve eternal life (Whether Jew or Gentile)
  • God will judge everyone according to their actions (Whether Jew or Gentile)

Questions to consider:

1. Given the statements of verses 1-5, should a person read verses 6-11 and come away thinking they are in pretty good shape given their own record of sin and/or righteousness?  Where do we all land in this chiasm (Romans 3:9)?
2. When does the “well-doing” come?  Christians should have a growing amount of “well-doing” in their lives, but when and how does it come about?  (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:17-24)
3. How do these truths produce in us a right humility?  How does it give us a right view of other people who (Also) have sin in their lives?  How does it encourage us in how we can help them (As we have been helped)?