For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power
of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew
first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness
of God is revealed… (Romans 1:16-17)
The Gospel is something that reveals the righteousness,
or rightness of God, and certainly it is true that the greatest
right thing that God did was John 3:16,
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life.
Yet it is interesting that this is not what Paul goes
on to talk about in Romans 1:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress
the truth in unrighteousness… (Romans 1:18)
According to Paul the ungodly and unrighteous men that
His wrath is poured out upon are characterized by the fact
that they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Of course
if one is met with the opportunity to respond to the good
news of Messiah’s sacrifice and rejects it, you could
see that as suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. However,
in what Paul proceeds to write he does not go in that direction:
…because that which is known about God is evident within
them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation
of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power
and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
(Romans 1:19-20)
He says that the truth they suppress is something that
is evident within them (for God has made it so). It is an
inborn understanding of God’s invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature. Not only is that knowledge
known deep within us, but it is also substantiated through
what has been made.
The Conscience
Is this speaking of John 3:16? Is that what is known about
God innately? Not according to Romans 10:14 and 17:
How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have
not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? …
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of
Christ.
So John 3:16 is not instinctively known, but has to be
heard. However, it says that all are without excuse in regard
to knowing the things of Romans 1:18-32.
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him
as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their
speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans
1:21)
What kind of knowing could they innately have of God within
their very nature, and how could they honor Him as God according
to that knowing? It is clear that there is a requirement
put upon men based on what they are born with, which is
apart from John 3:18,
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not
believe has been judged already, because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Here Yahshua says that the one who has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God is judged already.
Paul would ask, “How can they believe if they haven’t
heard?” Not believing indicates a conscious rejection
of something that has been clearly communicated to you.
It is understandable that God would hold you accountable
for that. To say that God would hold accountable those who
have not heard the message from a reputable source conceals,
rather than reveals, the righteousness of God. Rather than
giving the Gospel its power, it takes it away.
…it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who
believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in
it the righteousness of God is revealed…
The Gospel derives its power from the fact that it reveals
His righteousness to man. When that is revealed, the heart
of those who have a will to do His will is captured and
the love affair begins. It is the love that compels a person
to no longer live for himself, but live for the One who
died and rose again on his behalf. The innate knowledge
or understanding that Paul was talking about in Romans 1
is referred to in chapter 2 as the conscience — the law
written in men’s hearts, and also a witness to their
deeds. It is the knowledge God and man share as to what
is good and evil. Considering this it can be understood
how a man, according to the understanding he is born with,
can honor God. If God put the conscience in us, then when
we obey that inner voice we honor Him.
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively
the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a
law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law
written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness,
and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending
them… (Romans 2:14-15)
“Gentiles” refers to those who are not believers
and are outside of the Commonwealth of Israel.
Of course, there are verses like Romans 3:23 and Isaiah
64:6 to consider:
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God… (Romans 3:23)
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and
all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all
of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind,
take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and of
course we fall short of the glory of God. But can it really
be that there is no distinction between those who really
try so hard and even suffer personal loss to do what is
right according to the voice of conscience (that God gave
them), and those who actively suppress that same truth
and even exchange it for a lie?
For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped
and served the creature rather than the Creator… (Romans
1:25)
This does not refer to worshipping and serving Christ,
but rather worshipping and serving the Creator in the capacity
of those who know Him through their inborn understanding.
They do that by obeying the voice of their Creator that
resides within them — their conscience.
The ones Romans 1:25 is talking about exchange that truth
for a lie that suits them better at the moment, allowing
them to do what they want, rather than what they know to
be right. They elevate themselves to the stature of their
Creator, saying in their hearts that there is no one greater
or with more authority to determine what is right and wrong
than themselves (the creature). They worship, or honor and
serve only themselves. They say in their hearts, “There
is no God,” having become the fools that King David
wrote of in Psalm 14:1,
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they have done abominable works; there
is none who does good.
Can
one
honestly
say
(with
a
good
conscience)
that
there
is
no
difference
in
the
eyes
of
God
between
a
terrorist
and
a
hard-working
farmer
who
rises
early
and
goes
to
bed
late,
wearing
himself
out
in
his
struggle
to
feed
his
family?
Will
God
send
them
both
to
the
same
eternal
destiny
of
the
Lake
of
Fire
simply
because
they
never
heard
the
Gospel?
This is not the impression of God that Abraham had when
he made a plea for the lives of the few righteous in Sodom:
Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous
with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are
treated alike. Far be it from Thee… Shall not the Judge
of all the earth deal justly? (Genesis 18:25)
The Judgment
These considerations start to give understanding of the
judgment in Revelation 20:
And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it,
from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place
was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the
small, standing before the throne, and books were opened;
and another book was opened, which is the book of life;
and the dead were judged from the things which were written
in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave
up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up
the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every
one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades
were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death,
the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found
written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake
of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15, NASB)
This judgment is based on deeds. Books are opened, which
are the individual records of people’s deeds, as recorded
in their conscience. What is written in each book is according
to their deeds, not their religious beliefs. On that basis,
a person’s name is either kept in or erased from the
book of life.
What we see in Revelation 20:11-15 is the separation of
two types, or categories of people. They are all outside
of the realm of John 3:18, having never been faced with
the opportunity in John 5:25,
Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now
is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
They never heard the voice of the Son of God, either in
person or through someone He has sent. They may have heard
similar words spoken by those who claim to represent Him,
but are actually seeking their own glory. For this the hearer
is not accountable.
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He
who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is
true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. (John 7:18)
Those who stand in the judgment of Revelation 20:11-15
are the ones spoken of in John 5:28,
Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which
all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come
forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of
life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection
of judgment.
So there are two categories of man clearly described in
the judgment of Revelation 20, each with their own destiny.
They are men living according to the knowledge of good and
evil they were born with. They will go to a second life
in the nations of the eternal age, or a second death in
the eternal Sea of Fire.
Their Need for a Savior
The point of this is not to justify those who have done
good deeds and say that they don’t need a Savior.
Apart from having a sacrifice for their sins, all men have
an appointment with death,
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus [Yahshua] our Lord. (Romans
6:23)
As it is appointed for men to die once and after this
comes judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)
Doing good does not mean that one does not die, but just
that his death would not be eternal, and there would be
a chance for a second life after one has paid the just wages
of his sin. Of course, for a person to present his good
works to God as a justification for rejecting His Son’s
sacrifice for him would be as the stench of filthy rags.
Man’s righteousness is not comparable to the righteousness
of God that is through faith in Christ, as Paul described,
And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of
my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith
in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the
basis of faith. (Philippians 3:9)
That righteousness is only found through the Son of God.
In fact as good as men can be when they strive to live by
their conscience, they still remain in the enemy’s
camp, needing to be made friends:
All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us
from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making
others his friends also. Our message is that God was making
all mankind his friends through Christ. God did not keep
an account of their sins, and he has given us the message
which tells how he makes them his friends. Here we are,
then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making
his appeal through us. We plead on Messiah’s behalf:
let God change you from enemies into his friends. (2 Corinthians
5:18-20, TEV)
No truly good man would choose his own righteousness over
receiving God’s righteousness. He would not reject
the opportunity to be God’s friend. Those who reject
God’s kindness and mercy betray the true condition
of their heart. And this rejection of God’s righteousness
and friendship puts them in the category of the cowardly
and unbelieving in Revelation 21:8,
But for the cowardly and unbelieving, and abominable
and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters
and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Seeing the Worth of Messiah
To understand that man is born with the possibility to
do good is to begin to understand the value of what Yahshua
did by paying for our sins. Rather than being helpless puppets
doomed to a life of depravity, we sin because of choices
we willingly make. To sin is to do what you know you should
not do, therefore it requires suppressing the voice that
gives you that knowing — your conscience. It is a matter
of choice. The “cowardly and unbelieving” became
that way because of choices they made, just as “the
abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars.”
If sin were not a matter of our own choices, but merely
our lot from being born incapable of doing good, then God
sending His Son to die for our sins could hardly be called
mercy. Even good people have gone to great lengths to save
the life of a helpless victim like a baby. But the love
of God far surpasses such human responses. It enters into
a dimension of righteousness that is far above that which
human beings can understand in their own experience: His
mercy extended to our deliberate disobedience.
The Son of God partook of man’s struggle on this
earth and overcame every obstacle that man faces. No man
is without those moments when he has made choices he knew
were bad. No man except Yahshua. He chose always to do the
will of His Father, triumphantly conquering every obstacle.
This qualified Him to be the spotless Lamb needed to pay
for our sins. In death, He paid the full wages of our sins.
We were truly worthy of the torment of death because of
the choices we made. He definitely did not deserve it, yet
He chose to receive the full wrath of God that was due for
the sins of the whole world.
If a man cannot see the worth or value of what He did,
how could he possibly make the right response? What you
pay to gain something always reveals its worth to you.
The Righteousness of Man and the Righteousness of God
The people of the nations must struggle to live according
to the voice of their conscience. Yahshua spoke about them
in Matthew 6:31-32 saying,
Do not be anxious then, saying,
“What shall we eat?” or “What shall we
drink?” or “With what shall we clothe ourselves?”
For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
He was not condemning the Gentiles for their anxiety.
Isn’t it normal that people would be concerned about
how to get those necessary things for themselves and their
families? They have no choice but to consume themselves
with getting what they need. The issue for them is how they
go about it, not the fact that they do.
However, Yahshua was speaking to those who wanted to follow
Him. They were those who heard the “voice of the Son
of God.” To them He said, “Seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness.” They were
called to a higher dimension of righteousness than those
locked in the struggle of working for what they need to
live. They were called to His righteousness, to partake
of it by trusting and obeying Him. It was a new dimension
of righteousness that would cause those who followed Him
to escape the chains of self-life and actually attain to
bearing the fruit of His kingdom.
Such was the life recorded in the early chapters of Acts.
The life of serving one another to meet each other’s
needs rather than one’s own expresses His righteousness.
This love between them was the sign that they belonged to
Him. After all isn’t that why He died?
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded
this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died;
and He died for all, that those who live might no longer
live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died
and was raised... For our sake He made Him to be sin who
knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness
of God. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15,21)
Those who have become His righteousness are His holy people,
who will rule together with Messiah eternally over those
who did not abandon the natural righteousness of their conscience.
For all eternity, God will dwell in His holy ones, who are
His temple, and through them He will dwell with men —
the restored men and women who were raised from the first
death to stand in the Last Judgment and were not found worthy
of the second death. Redeemed Man (having the righteousness
of God) will rule over Restored Man (having the righteousness
of man), and those who hated all righteousness will have
their part in the lake of fire, which is the second death.
These are the Three Eternal Destinies
of Man.
See What’s in a
Name
2 Corinthians
5:14-15
Conscience (con-science) means to know together
with; co-knowledge.
Ephesians 2:12
Romans 1:18
It
is worth noting that Paul was quoting from this passage
in Romans 3:10, showing that “There is none righteous” is
not speaking generally of mankind, but of those fools who
live as if there is no God, and therefore no judgment.
This is not the Lamb’s Book of Life in Revelation
21:27
Those who are dead in their trespasses, as Ephesians
2:1 says.
Matthew 10:40
Revelation 21:24,26; 22:2
Revelation 21:8
Proverbs 16:2
John 5:24-25
Matthew 6:33
Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35
John 13:34-35
John 5:29; Revelation 5:9-10
Revelation 21:3
Revelation 20:12-15
Revelation
21:8
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