Righteous judgmemt

Years ago I had a conversation with an agnostic friend about the issue of God’s judgment of mankind. My friend could not and would not accept that if there was indeed a loving and all-powerful God, as I claimed, that he would send people to hell for not believing in Jesus, even though they had never heard of him before. When I asked my friend where he got that idea he was caught off guard, and mumbled something like, “Well that’s what Christians believe, isn’t it?” I assured him that it was possible that other Christians did in fact believe that, but that I did not believe it, and that the Bible clearly says otherwise.

The apostle Paul dealt with this very issue in Romans 2:14-16. Notice first in this passage that Paul is speaking about those “who do not have the Law” – in other words, those people scattered over the earth who have not heard the Law and/or the Word of God as it is revealed in the Bible. He makes it clear that it is possible for such people to “do instinctively the things of the Law” and so be “a law unto themselves.” He then goes on to say that God will judge such people not on the basis of whether they believed in someone of whom they have never heard, but rather on the basis of how well they followed this “Law written in their hearts.” He also makes it clear that on the Day of Judgment their own thoughts will either accuse or defend them, based upon how they have lived.

At first this passage seems to contradict other passages such as John 3:3, where Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” or Acts 4:12, which says clearly, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” But there really is no contradiction at all. The point Paul was making in Romans 1 and 2 is simply that all man will be held accountable for their actions – whether they have heard the gospel or not. Even though the message of the cross is not specifically spelled out in nature, the “invisible attributes” of God are – his love, his goodness, his power and ultimately “his nature.” Because of this, all men are “without excuse” at some level.

What this passage really tells us is that ultimately men will be judged relative to how much of God has been revealed to them. Those who have heard the gospel as it is revealed in the pages of the Bible will be judged on that basis and at that level, while those who have never heard the gospel will be judged according to how much of God’s power and nature has been revealed to them through other means like nature and their own conscience.

Jesus confirmed this same principle in Matthew 11:20-24, when “he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent.” To the cities of Chorazin and Behsaida Jesus said that if the miracles he had done in them had been done in the godless cities of Tyre and Sidon they “Would have repented long ago.” Then he added that it would be “more tolerable for” these godless cities in the Day of Judgment than it would be for them. And to the city of Capernaum He said that if the miracles he had done in it had been done it Sodom, it “would have remained until this day.” And again he said that it would be “more tolerable for” these godless cities in the Day of Judgment than it would be for them.

There really is no way for us to understand the full scope of the judgment of God – it is simply beyond our ability. But one thing we can be sure of, and that is that God is indeed the “Righteous Judge” (Psalm 7:11, 2 Timothy 4:8). And when the last Day comes, and the “Ancient of Days” takes his seat, and “the books are opened,” and “the dead are judged from the things which were written in the books,” we can all be assured that the Judge will “judge righteously,” and that his mercy will “triumph over” his judgment. (James 2:13)