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THE KING’S BUSINESS
deals with naked facts; that at the; bar of God a man appears as he really is„ not as what he seems, to be ; that character, not deputation, is emphasized. These facts should keep the respectable, moral Gentile and the Jew from looking with disdain and censure upon the so-called notoriously sin ful. The same propensities that manifest themselves in the openly sinful act are operative and active in the hearts of the so-called moral and religious, in thought, imagination, and motive. The moral man who is nasty within is just as guilty before God as the immoral man who is nasty without. “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? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering ; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repent ance” '(2:3, 4) ? God deals with realities, not professions. Men stand before Him in their true character. We should be careful lest we fall into the error of thinking that the sin which we look upon with contempt and yet is existent in our own hearts will be overlooked by God in the judgment. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” God looks at the heart, that is what we are in reality, and many a moral Gentile would be just like the immoral Gentile were it not for the shame that such indulgence in sin would bring to his name or family. The difference between the sin of the moral and immoral is in manifestation only. Outward respectability does not save anybody. God deals with realities, not professions. His judgment is according to truth, not according to masquerade (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10 R.V.). Severer judgment for the moral man. Indeed, it is the teaching of the Scrip ture that the privileges of environment, education, culture, training, and knowledge » of the moral man, will be as so many wit nesses against him in the judgment day, unless they have led him to a surrender of his life to God. If these blessings and privileges have not been as eagle wings to
lift us up to God, they , will be as nether millstones to drag us down to perdition. •The moral man is solemnly warned not to forget this great principle of the judgment (cf. 2:3, 4;:'cf. Luke 12:47, 48).' Man’s brighter light will send him into the deeper darkness if he does not use it in the divinely appointed way. Second. The second principle of judg ment is “according to our deeds” (2:6;' cf. 6-10). These verses do not teach sal vation by works, for not salvation judgment is the thought under consideration here (cf. v. 12). The doctrine of salvation by works is totally denied elsewhere in this epistle (3:19, 20). If a man lived up to all the light he had, that would not save him (Galatians 2:16; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:12-14). Such a man might be “accept able or ready to be saved as in the case of Cornelius (Acts 10:33; 11:14), but even then it would be necessary for him to receive instruction as to what to do to be saved (cf. Acts 10:43). Even the believer, who does not enter into the judgment of life and death, must stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be rewarded according to the deeds he has done in the body, whether they be good or bad (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10). Third. The judgment is without respect of persons (2:11; cf. 11-15). We note that the judgment is according to deeds and according to what we really are. God pays no attention to class distinctions such as those described in 2:1-16, contrasted with 1:18-32. There is no respect of persons with God. ^As a true Judge, He deals only with the case. Justice is sometimes repre sented with a bandage over her eyes, indi cating that she is blind to class distinctions. The man who has sinned without a written law, shall be judged accordingly. The man who has sinned with, a written law and in spite of it, shall be dealt with accordingly. No man will perish who has had no knowl edge of God, or ,to, whom God has not in some degree at least revealed Himself. The standard of the judgment will be in accord ance with a man’s light and knowledge of
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