You will never understand what it means to be saved until you grasp what you must be saved from. The facts of our condition are dire. We are far worse than most of us could imagine. If it were not for God’s Word we would never believe how utterly helpless we were to find our way to God. This only makes His gracious salvation all the more beautiful.

After all his personal evangelizing of his fellow Jews, Paul had a good idea of what their objections would be to trusting in Jesus. First on that list was their belief that things like possessing the Law, being circumcised, and even just being Jewish, would guarantee them entrance into heaven, regardless of how much they sinned. This was a misplaced confidence that any careful reader of the Old Testament should have seen. In exposing them, Paul reminds us to make sure our hope is in the right place.

While Paul is debunking the silly idea that some people get a free pass to heaven (like the Jewish hypocrite he is arguing against), he also lets drop a fascinating insight into the relationship of God to every human ever created. Ever wonder why you feel bad for doing certain things? Curious why you have these inner conflicts in your mind about whether or not your actions were justified? Look no further than Romans 2 for the answer.

Jesus said that Christians will suffer for their faithfulness to God. That is a promise. But Christians are not left alone in our suffering. We can have complete confidence in the sovereign and powerful God of the Universe to always do what he promises and purposes to do no matter what prideful fools try to stand in his way.

The Apostle Paul is dealing with quite a guy in Romans 2. He is disputing with a Jewish man who thinks he is getting to heaven based on his ethnicity. Who, at the same time, is condemning Gentiles for doing the same sins he does! Paul points out his hypocrisy in verse one, then proceeds to build an argument why that Jewish man has no hope for heaven. The foundation to that argument comes in verses 6-11 — all men will be judged by God by the same standard.

There are parts of the Bible where it is really important you immerse yourself into the original issues that provoked the writing. Romans 2 is one of those. Paul has already made it clear that everyone is under the wrath of God because of their sins (Chapter 1). But many Jewish people would read that and think, “everyone except me.” Why was that? And how does that relate to our own ability to think everybody else, except me, is to blame!

The story of Bartimaeus’s change from blindness to sight is a remarkable picture of every Christian’s conversion. We needed Christ to heal us and He did! That is because Jesus is not afraid of entering this broken world in order to bring salvation to the most unlikely of broken people.

God is full of grace to save the most unlikely of sinners. If you ever doubt that, all you need to do is look at the guilty criminal hung on the cross beside Jesus.