OUR study in Romans last week closed with the eleventh verse of the second chapter. The lesson presented was the testimony of the scripture text concerning the source of life and immortality. Those who are to have the eternal life that brings the joys of immortality in the eternal world can not secure it unless they “seek” for it. Eternal life is not bestowed unconditionally upon all regardless of their own desires. Such is the plain lesson of the verses that were quoted from the book of Romans a week ago.
The next verses to be considered are the following:
“For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law; for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified (for when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves; in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them); in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, by Jesus Christ.” Rom. 2:11-16.
“There is no respect of persons with God.” As expressed on the occasion of some of the first Gentile conversions that took place under the apostles’ ministry, “God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to Him.” Acts 10:34. God is seeking to implant righteousness in men. He desires to find men who will come to the right and stand for the right. It is only when men do right that they can have true joys, and hence our heavenly Father’s solicitation for us to come to Him for His righteousness.
Says the text quoted above, “As many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law,” and then follows the further statement that “as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law; for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” The second of these statements is clear and reasonable to every one, but some have thought that the first one was not so reasonable, neither was it so clear. But if the statement is studied in the light of what is thrown into the text in parenthesis the reasonableness of it will become apparent.
“As many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law,” is the statement of the text in question. The parenthetical statement explains this by saying, “For when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves; in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts.” In other words, the heathen nations that do not have the written law of God as we have it in our Bibles have enough light on what is right and wrong to lead them into right-doing if they would only follow the light which they have.
There is a very notable example of what a heathen may do who follows the light that comes to every one, even in the remotest intellectual and spiritual darkness. Reference is made to the case of Abraham. Any one who has studied the life of Abraham knows that his father Terah was an idolater, and consequently he was born and had his early life and training amid heathen surroundings. We read:
“And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the river, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and led him throuout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.” Joshua 24:2, 3.
“Patience in well-doing” was shown by the study in Romans last week to be the plan upon which God gives eternal life to men. And a study of the life of Abraham shows very clearly that God made no exception in his case while his character was being developed. So persevering was Abraham in his work of well-doing that he reached the point that “he was called the friend of God.” James 2:23. He also became the “father of all them that believe” (Rom. 4:11) or, as is often expressed, “the father of the faithful.”
No religious character among all the children of men in all times and in all ages has exerted so wide an influence as “faithful Abraham.” The Jews with great pride point to the fact that they are the literal descendants of Abraham. The Christian world accepts Abraham as the spiritual father of all who have been adopted into the great family of Jehovah. And even the Mohammedan has been so impressed by the character of the “friend of God” that he lays superstitious claim to the benefits that come to the children of men thru the “father of the faithful.”
But after we have acknowledged all these facts in regard to the wonderful height of spiritual power that Abraham reached, we should recur to the further fact that he was born of a heathen father; his childhood was spent under the mythical influences and amid the degenerating surroundings of idolatry. And right in the midst of these untoward environments he heard the gentle, entreating, and winsome voice of his heavenly Father; he heard the same voice and had the same evidences that come to every man that is born into the world. No matter how deeply the individual may be sunken into the idolatrous worship of those who bow before the man-made shrines of heathen lands, yet does the Lord call to him and seek to draw him into the ways of righteousness.
Thus does the Lord set before the world a towering monument of what His grace will do for even those who may be born amid the uninviting conditions of darkened heathendom. By studying the life of Abraham we learn that he was not a well-rounded-out Christian as soon as he commenced to believe. He had to meet the same trials that we meet. He had to have his faith tested at every step. In passing thru this trial we find that he failed at various points as men fail to-day. But he pressed on and on in the conquests of faith. He reached height after height until the Lord’s own record tells of him that he “believed God.” He learned to take God’s word for just what it said, and to rest upon it fully. Thru thus learning to trust in the promises of our Father he became intimate with the Lord; he became His friend.
The Lord has given us this object-lesson of what He can and will do for a man born in heathenism; the Father in heaven certainly would not do less for those who are born under more favorable conditions. “For there is no respect of persons with God.” Then is it not plain that Jehovah is fair and just when He says, “As many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law; and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law; for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified . . . in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, by Jesus Christ.”
God’s dealings with the children of men, as expressed in His word, are so sensible and fair that they should appeal to every one.
T.