Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
Lincolnton, NC
November 16, 2004

• I. The apostle claims that the "judge of others who does not judge himself" is "hard" and "impenitent" of heart.
  • A. He uses a phrase "according to the standard of your harshness"...
  • B. The word I have translated "harshness" is only used here in the New Testament.
  • C. This word is connected to the verb "to harden", and is typically used in reference to the "heart" [Hebrews 3:8, 15; 4:7] as is the case in the text before us.
    • 1. The result of "hardening" is revealed by Acts 19:9 to be "disbelief" as well as "speaking evil of".
    • 2. The combination word "hard-hearted" (found in Matthew 19:8 et. al.) emphasizes the normalcy of relating hardness to the "heart" [there is also another combination word referring to "stiffnecked" that uses the idea of "hardness" along with the neck as an analogy to someone who will not consider any alternative].
  • D. The connection in this text to "impenitence" is also highly instructive in that it reveals even more clearly how arrogance "hardens".
    • 1. Clearly it is pride that sits in judgment of others without considering oneself as also guilty.
    • 2. This is half of the issue of repentance: pride and despair are the twins which oppose God -- the former by refusing to acknowledge any moral lack; the latter by refusing to accept His willingness to address all moral failures with redemption. The pride of self-righteousness and the despair of self-condemnation are equally an aggressive attack upon the character of God in that both seek to be able to maintain independence from Him so that one may be his own "boss".
• II. The apostle claims there will be a day of wrath.
  • A. He characterizes it as a day of "wrath" because he is looking at what will happen on that day to the hard hearted who have been impenitent.
  • B. He claims that the hard hearted are "heaping up as in a storehouse" the consequences of their hard heartedness.
    • 1. The consequences are called "wrath".
    • 2. This is a figure of speech: what he means is the outpouring of wrath in terms of specific retaliatory actions as retribution for evil done.
      • a. Thus, he calls it a day of "revelation" of what the "righteous judgment of God" means.
      • b. What it means is that Justice will be done without mitigation.
      • c. God will "give" to every man according to his deeds: in this case, deeds of hardness and impenitence.
    • 3. The picture is graphic: for every action taken in hardness and impenitence there will be a retaliatory "blow" meted out that will never cease its impact -- wrath is eternal in duration.