No one has the advantage.
“For there is no partiality with God.” Romans 2:11, NET. There is no advantage in being a blood descendant of Abraham. There is no advantage in belonging to a specific religious group or organization. There is no advantage in being born of well-respected parents. There is no advantage in possessing extensive knowledge of the Scriptures, laws, and doctrines. All human beings are equal in the eyes of God. All people are one hundred percent sinners, with no exceptions. God in Christ only justified one hundred percent sinners on the cross at Golgotha. The partial or almost sinners are not justified because they do not exist.
Jews maintained that because they are descendants of Abraham, a chosen people, they are not sinners like the Gentiles are. Jews, who practiced faithful obedience to the law of Moses, considered themselves blameless. However, Paul insists that the Jews are breaking the law on which they pride themselves by their attitude. Therefore, all are subject to judgment. “For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.” Romans 2:12, NET. Jews failed to understand that God chose Abraham to bring the Savior of the world through his descendant. They thought that God saved the Jews only because he chose Abraham.
All human beings are natural sinners, whether they have, or have not received and obeyed the written code. All human beings are born natural sinners. They do not become sinners when they knowingly commit personal sins. Humans sin against the law because they are sinners. All of humankind sinned in the first Man, Adam. Therefore, Paul insists that all are subject to judgment without exception. Paul speaks here in the future tense because he addresses the helpless condition of humankind before the Cross of Christ. Both the unrighteous and the self-righteous were subject to judgment “on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Jesus Christ.” Romans 2:16, NET.
On the cross at Golgotha, God put on the body of Jesus our sin committed in the garden of Eden, our sinful life, and, therefore, all our sins against the law. By abandoning, or forsaking, Jesus, God destroyed the sin that we committed in the garden of Eden, including those committed after Eden, the past, present, and future sins against the law. This judgment is the most important one spoken of in the Bible. By the judgment on the cross at Golgotha, God made us righteous in His eyes, in Jesus Christ, and Him only. In our own eyes, we are sinners, but sinners who are saved and justified by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
The Jews and the law are next.
