So Abraham appealed: “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? . . . Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:23,25).
Abraham was appealing on the basis of an innate sense of justice placed within him by God Himself. He knew that it would be unjust for God to punish the righteous in the same way as He punished the unrighteous. And, before that story concluded, we discover that Abraham was right. God rescued the righteous and punished the guilty (Genesis 19:29). As Peter records, “the Lord knows how to deliver the godly . . . and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9).
We learn from this that, in God’s eyes, punishment is reserved for the criminal. God does not punish righteous people; He only punishes those He regards as unrighteous. This brings us on to the next question: whom does God regard as unrighteous?
In Romans chapter 3 God’s observation of humanity leads Him to conclude: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12). As the “Judge of all the earth” God has reached a verdict in respect of every one of us. We stand “guilty before God” (3:19) and deserve punishment from Him.[2]
But how does God reach this conclusion? On earth there is such a variety of people: religious and irreligious, moral and immoral. Some seem friendly, neighbourly and kind; others are abrasive, hate-filled and cruel. How can God conclude that all are guilty?
In Romans chapter 2 God gives His rationale for judgement. He begins by reminding us of our propensity to judge others while excusing ourselves. We condemn a classmate for lying or cheating but the next day we do the same thing! God says, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things” (2:1). When we point our finger at someone else three more fingers point back at us.
However, God’s judgement is neither hyper-critical (finding fault where there’s none to be found) nor hypocritical (attacking others while excusing self). There are clearly stated principles upon which His judgement rests. Note the following from Romans chapter 2:
- God’s judgement is “according to truth” (v.2).
- God’s judgement is “according to deeds” (v.6).
- God’s judgement is without “partiality” (v.11).
According to Truth
The “judgment of God is according to truth” (Romans 2:2). In a court of law a witness must swear to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. This is because the verdict reached in the court, and the sentence passed by the judge, should properly reflect the reality of the offence, taking into account all the circumstances in which it was committed. Justice should be “according to truth”.
God, as supreme judge of men, deals with reality; He takes things as they are. Sometimes we attempt to cover our wrongdoings with a cloak of religiosity. Other times we produce a smoke-screen of charitable works. We often contrast our sins with the “more serious” sins of others to make ourselves look not so bad. We excuse our hatred on the basis of others’ actions. We protest that the particular sin we are involved in is victimless: we’re not doing anyone any harm.
God’s justice cuts through our excuses. He strips us of any cloak we might use. He blows away the smoke-screen. He sees things as they really are. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
We present ourselves in the best light. We deceive others about our true character or conduct or intentions. We often succeed in deceiving ourselves, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). But we don’t deceive God. “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind . . .” (Jeremiah 17:10). “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men” (Psalm 11:4). The use of the term “eyelids” is intended to convey that God is narrowing his eyes to examine closely the actions of human beings. Nothing escapes His notice. The “darkness and the light are both alike” to Him (Psalm 139:12). “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He ponders all his paths” (Proverbs 5:21).
I once attended a courtroom where a young man stood before a judge for a traffic violation. He had been speeding on a country road. His solicitor argued that the offence took place on a road which was straight and had excellent visibility. He claimed that there had been no other traffic on the road at the time of the offence and the weather conditions were good. As a result the young man’s sentence was lenient. But another person, sitting beside me in the courtroom, knew that country road. He told me that it was not straight but winding, and that visibility was poor due to tall hedgerows! The judge had passed his sentence based on a deception.
God is not deceived. His verdict and sentencing will be utterly free from error. He is not depending upon other witnesses to reveal the truth to Him. He is His own witness, and nothing escapes His notice.
According to Deeds (Works)
God will “render to each one according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6). God not only judges according to the facts; He judges according to our acts. His assessment takes into account the actions of each person. This deals with a number of problems people raise about judgement.
First, God’s judgement is personally earned. Many people have the notion that people are guilty and will be in hell because of Adam’s sin. This strikes many people as very unjust and is used by some to claim that they are not responsible for their own perishing. It certainly seems unusual that I would be held accountable for the actions of a person I never knew who committed his sin long before I was born.
The Bible teaches however that God condemns people not on the basis of another person’s actions but because of their own sins. Romans chapters 1-3 picture for us God’s cosmic law court. God sits as the judge and all of humanity stand before Him. The verdict He reaches is that the whole world is “guilty before God” (Romans 3:19). However, in order to prove this fact He makes no mention of Adam’s sin at all. He points to the actions and reactions of human beings as the basis for His verdict. He shows that people have suppressed the truth about creation, ignored the voice of conscience, and disobeyed the commandments of His Word. Because of these facts they stand guilty before God.
In fact, as a thought experiment, Paul tells us that anyone who never sinned but did good continually and perfectly would obtain glory, honour and immortality by that means (Romans 2:7). He knew well that this would never happen and he confirms this fact in the next chapter (3:20) but, if a person did live a perfect life they would obtain eternal life as a reward.
The Lord Jesus also implied this in a conversation with a Jewish lawyer. When the lawyer stated that the way to earn eternal life was to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind” and also to love “your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27) Jesus did not argue. He said, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live” (v.28). The Lord was not teaching this man that a few good works would save Him. He was stating that a person who lived a life of perfect devotion to God and selfless compassion for others would have eternal life. Why? Because he would have committed no sins! No one, apart from the Lord Jesus Himself, has ever lived, or will ever live, such a life. But, if a person did manage it, he need have no fear on the day of judgement because the judgement of God is according to works.
Elsewhere Paul says that “no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God . . . because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:5-6). It is not because Adam sinned that people experience divine wrath; it is because of a person’s own actions that they stand guilty before God.
A woman I visited once said to me: “If God would only just look at my life and judge me by that, I’d be ok”. She had not yet learned that her life, her actions, her deeds, her works were not the solution, they were the problem! She needed another solution.
Second, God’s judgement is individually tailored. Some people wonder why everyone deserves to go to hell. Why should a mass murderer and a civil rights activist end up in the same place? How could it be righteous for a terrorist who maims people and a doctor who “heals” people both to be at risk of hell?
The answer to this problem is that, while all unforgiven sinners do end up in hell, their punishment is tailored to their own specific sins. The apostle John foresees the Day of Judgement in Revelation 20:
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened . . . And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (vv.11-12).
The books that are opened represent the perfect record that God has of all the actions of each human being. Just as many people keep a journal recording their experiences day-by-day, so God has a journal of each life. He has seen and recorded every act – none will be forgotten.
The Law of God demands that we have “no other gods before” Him and that we do not make images to bow down to or serve. It states that we should not “take the name of the LORD [our] God in vain” and that we should honour our parents. We are forbidden to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, and covet (see Exodus 20:1-17). These laws are not intended merely to regulate our external conduct. Murder begins as hatred in the heart, so we should not hate. Adultery commences as illicit attraction, so we should not lust (see Matthew 5:21-48).
Each crime against God’s law has its proper punishment and while every sin is serious, some sins are more serious than others. Some years ago I regularly visited a young man in a young offenders prison. As we chatted he would sometimes point out other prisoners enjoying visits and tell me a little of their history. Some were in prison because of car theft, others because of burglary. Some had committed grievous bodily harm; others had been drink-driving. Each one had broken the law, stood before a court, and been found guilty. They were all in prison, but the terms of each imprisonment was different. Each sentence was intended to correspond with the crime committed. God’s judgement perfectly reflects this principle of justice; it is individually tailored to our sins.
Without Partiality
There is “no partiality with God” (Romans 2:11). The God who sees reality and assesses our actions does not have favourites. His justice is not hindered by bias or marred by prejudice. This means that He treats everyone fairly, even taking into account any possible “advantage” that one may have over another.
The Lord Jesus spent much time in the city of Capernaum. His miraculous works amazed its people and His gracious words echoed in its streets. Capernaum was “exalted to heaven” with privilege but Capernaum was full of people who never repented. Because of this Jesus rebuked Capernaum severely, warning that it would be “brought down to Hades”. He compared it unfavourably with Sodom, one of the most wicked cities in history. He affirmed that, if the miracles Capernaum had witnessed had been done in Sodom, then that city would have repented and would not have been destroyed by fire and brimstone. Sodom did not have the same privilege as Capernaum and therefore, “it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for” Capernaum (see Matthew 11:23-24).
We could say that Capernaum had an unfair advantage over Sodom because it had much greater knowledge of God’s character than Sodom had. However, this privilege brought greater responsibility and will result in more severe punishment for Capernaum. This is because God is impartial.
One aspect, then, of the impartial judgment of God is that He takes into account the knowledge of each person. Not everyone possesses the same knowledge of God or of His law. Some are better instructed than others. With greater knowledge comes greater responsibility.
It must be noted here that, in God’s eyes, no one is completely innocent because no one is completely ignorant of God’s law. The Jewish nation had the Ten Commandments written down and were well aware of God’s moral requirements. The Gentiles, who did not have the law written down showed “the work of the law written in their hearts” (Romans 2:15). In other words, they revealed in many ways that they had an internal moral awareness of right and wrong.
As I write this article, there is a war in Israel. Hamas has invaded, killed many, and carried away captive scores of Israeli citizens. News reports vary in the level of condemnation but there is almost universal recognition that the brutal slaughter of innocents, the killing of babies, the execution of those who are helpless, is morally wrong. How do we all know that this is evil? Because God has written His law large upon every human heart.
It is good to know that God will not hold people responsible for what they do not know. It is solemn to think that God will hold everyone responsible for what they do know. “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law” (Romans 2:12). Some have read the biblical command “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13) and God will, one day, judge their actions by that law. Others have never read the biblical command but they also know that murder is wrong, and God will judge them according to the knowledge they possess. Those who have sinned knowing the law will be judged by the law itself. Those who have sinned not knowing God’s commands will be judged for rejecting the appeals of their conscience.
Conclusion
The Judge of all the earth will do what is right. For all of us this is both good news and bad news.
It is good news because it confirms that we will not bear the judgement for another’s sin. Nor will any of us bear too much punishment for our own sins. Each action will be assessed and this assessment will take into account our knowledge and our motives.
It is bad news because it confirms that we will bear the judgement for our own sins. The punishment we will bear will be the exact penalty due, and each sin is hell-deserving. God knows what we know, and we all know the difference between right and wrong. The Apostle Paul wrote that God will “judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel” (Romans 2:16).
Is God righteous in judging us? Yes. When it comes down to the facts, we have all done wrong. We all have a record of breaking God’s law. None of us deserve special treatment. God is just in judging.
Thankfully God is also just in justifying those who are sinners! He is “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). This is possible because the blood of Christ has satisfied the demands of God’s justice. While this goes beyond the intended scope of this article I want to assure everyone that they can escape judgement from God because of the death of Christ.
If you have discovered that you are guilty before God, you can be declared right with God “freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
God could not pass the sinner by;
His sins demand that he must die.
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be.
The judgment fell on Jesus’ head;
By His shed blood sin’s debt is paid.
God’s justice will demand no more,
And mercy can dispense her store.
[1] This story is found in chapters 18 and 19 of the book of Genesis.
[2] There are exceptions to the statement “all have sinned”. An unborn child has surely never sinned, having neither knowledge of morality or ability to act. This applies also to young children and to people in a permanent vegetative state. For such there can be no punishment. God will do what is right: He will not punish any who have not sinned.
