One of my professors in seminary had a saying: "You can't say everything about something. If you try you won't be saying anything, you will only be saying everything else." I am probably butchering his words but you get the point: it is impossible to say everything that can be said about any particular matter. This is especially true when it comes to preaching. Often I find that I have no trouble finding things to say in any given text. The struggle is deciding what not to say. Many preachers face the tension of how long they should spend going through a book like Romans. We could easily spend 3 years in Romans. We could also spend 16 weeks if I decided to go at it one chapter per week. I always try to find a healthy balance. But it is inevitable that things will get left out and that some things addressed will not be addressed adequately.
Romans 2 has alot of content to reflect on. Paul begins by making the reader understand that he is no better than the people he despises. The Jews easily could have taken what he said in chapter 1 to be an "us and them" statement. So he turns his guns on them telling them they are no better than those who do such things. It may seem odd that the nature of hell was brought into the sermon that week. Let me explained why a right view of hell is necessary for understanding Romans and how it fits into the text.
That same professor I mentioned above had another saying: "all doctrines form webs of multiple reciprocities." In other words, no doctrine stands alone unrelated to others. What we believe about X affects what we believe about Z. Same is true of what we believe about hell. Granted, Paul's point in Romans 2 is not explicitly about the nature of hell, but Paul does assume a view about the nature of hell which can be seen in his urgency that the Romans get the gospel right. If we do not take into account his views of hell as we interpret his warnings in Romans 2 we can find ourselves missing much of his purpose for writing the book.When he describes divine wrath and judgment in his writings referring to the day of judgment as the final day, it assumes the outcome is permanent. In Romans 2:7-8 he presents "eternal life" with "wrath and anger" as two contrasting paths that one might be on. Elsewhere he says judgment is eternal punishment that is away from the presence of the Lord. (2 Thes. 1:9) Eternal punishment takes place in a place Jesus described as hell, a place where the terrors and torments are never quenched (Mark 9:43-48). If we do not assume this view of eternal judgment, the warnings and urgency of his message in Romans 1 and 2 fall flat.
Another potential point of confusion in Romans 2 might be Paul's view of his kin - the Jewish race which I was unable to address. It might seem Paul is anti-Semitic. You may be surprised to know that some have interpreted Paul this way and used his writings to justify the mistreatment and oppression of Jews. Paul clearly loves his lost family (Romans 9:2-4) but he makes no apologies for calling them lost and under wrath either. And this gets into another issue of what we are to think of Jewish people today as Christians. This will come up later in Romans but it is clear that Paul does not describe them as on some other path of salvation like some Bible interpreters have taught. The only Savior for mankind (Jews and Gentiles) is Jesus. Unless they are in Christ they are lost. This should not lead anyone to be hostile or hold to anti-Semitic views for the same is true of every non-Jew in the world. Therefore, it should fill every believer with urgency and zeal to reach them with the hope of the gospel.
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