[Editor’s Note: This is part of a devotional series through the book of Romans.]
Romans 2:12–16:
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. [13] For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. [14] For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15] They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them [16] on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
There are no secrets with God. That is, nothing we think or do remains hidden from his eyes. “If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:20–21). God knows the secrets of the heart. What a terrifying thought.
We may think we “get away” with something, but the apostle in Romans 2:16 reminds us of a coming day when “God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” A final judgment, universal reckoning, comprehensive accounting “by Christ Jesus,” the judge of all the earth. It’s an essential part of what Christians believe, teach, and confess:
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.1
Ultimately, no one “gets away” with anything. The Lord Jesus Christ will have the last word.
Of course, countless millions of people every day live as if God is not real, as if there is no universal reckoning with our Maker, as if what we do is hidden from his eyes. This is why Jesus mercifully warned against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:1–3). Nothing now hidden that will not ultimately be exposed, revealed, made known.
So be careful, pastor, what you watch. Be careful, pastor, what you read. Be careful, pastor, what you click. Be careful, pastor, what you stream. In a word, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9). Why? Because there’s coming a day when “God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”
The Apostles’ Creed