Romans pt 24: Favortism
When a person has been a part of something for a long time, be it an organization, a church, or a neighborhood, there is a tendency to develop a feeling of status and privilege. Most creatures reward familiarity with favoritism. Humans are no different. We like to be around people who listen to the same music as us, and we yield to others driving the same brand of car.
When we look at the dynamics of the church in Rome, we see them, both Jews and Gentiles, rewarding familiarity with favoritism. The Greeks thought themselves wiser than the Jews (1:22), referring to them as brainless (1:14). And the Jews perpetuated stereotypes of Gentiles as godless heathens out for sex and violence (1:18-32). Each side has an obvious preference for their own people over others.
Sarah Lancaster, in her commentary on the book of Romans, says it this way:
They do not sin like the Gentiles, or if they do, their sin is not so serious. Thus, Israel is disciplined, but others are punished; Israel is chastised, but others are scourged; Israel is tested, but the ungodly condemned; Israel expects mercy, but their opponents can look only for wrath.
Paul confronts this unevenness in Romans 2:6 when he says, “God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” Is Paul declaring that our eternal salvation will be determined by our good works here? Paul is not, in fact, attempting to say anything about the afterlife here. Instead, Paul is using the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalm 62:12) to attack the foundation of unevenness in the church in Rome. He is reminding them that God is not like us; God does not judge people according to their national identity, or the flesh as Paul puts it throughout Romans.
Cultural markers have no sway in the judgment of Christ. The reason that this is important is because, not only is God exactly like Christ, but we are called to be like Christ. And with Christ, we also pursue a mindset that does not make decisions according to the flesh. Our preferences, as created creatures, are not wrong, and they are not shameful. But in matters of faith and justice, our preferences should take a back seat.
We tend to judge more harshly those who are different than us more, and the more different they are, the more harsh our judgment of them is. But Paul knows that the gospel of Jesus upends all of it, and his answer is to spotlight the absurdity of the idea that humans can judge each other rightly.