Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Jan 9, 2023

9 Jan 2023

Text: Rom 2:1-16

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Having established the existence of natural law in the first chapter of Romans, St. Paul explores the implications in chapter two.  In other words, Paul takes the objective reality of a moral absolute and brings it down to our subjective experience of it.  Or to simplify things even further: “Therefore you have no excuse, O man.” 

St. Paul writes to each one of us, to “everyman,” to every person who makes any kind of moral judgment.  And we all do, especially when we are wronged.  We complain about being wronged, because we know right from wrong.  And in spite of our sinful flesh trying to justify our own wrongs, in spite of our culture’s constant message that morality is an individual matter, deep down inside we all know better.  For even those who have never read the Scriptures – the Gentiles of the Old Testament, and the unbelievers in our own day – nevertheless cannot claim ignorance of right and wrong.  For even without being able to recite the Ten Commandments, “they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness.” 

There is no society, no matter how much people living in it may claim that morality is subjective, that denies objective morality.  Even the most hostile atheist on the left is convinced that racism, sexism, and homophobia are evil, and the most hostile identitarian neo-Pagan on the right is convinced that capitalism and race-mixing are evil.  Unbelievers across the spectrum hold some kind of objective morality, whether it is correct or not.  And they do judge others by an objective standard.

“Therefore you are without excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.”

And lest we forget, dear friends, we Christians are the main recipients of this letter from Paul, who is writing to those “who are loved by God and called to be saints.” So, we too are without excuse, we who judge others while overlooking our own sins.  We too deserve “wrath for [ourselves] on the day of wrath.”  God is indeed judging our works.  For “there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek.” 

Like the unbelievers, we have no excuse.  In fact, as our Lord teaches us, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48).  So it follows that we who have the Ten Commandments and break them anyway, we who are clear, both about natural law and God’s revealed Word, have no excuse.  And indeed, we do not.

Jesus did not die merely for those who “know not what they do,” but He also died for those of us who do, and who sin anyway.  St. Paul teaches us that we are indeed “without excuse,” O men, all of us, “everyman.”  We are universally in need of a Savior, and not one of us can judge ourselves objectively by God’s Law and conclude that we are without sin.  St. Paul is clear: we are sinners in need of a Savior.  That Savior is our Lord Jesus Christ, the crucified one, who rescues us by His grace, by His atoning blood, by His sure promise.  We are without excuse, but we are not without hope, O men.  We plead the blood of Christ, for ourselves, and even for those who are hostile to us and to Jesus.  We are without excuse.  So pray earnestly for all, O man: “the Jew first, and also the Greek.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.