140504 You Have No Excuse, O Man

Lesson 4 May 4 "For God shows no partiality." That's the strong affirmation of Romans 2:11. Not only that, it's what we want in the authority figures whom we interact from day to day - an absence of partiality. We expect our civil judges to rule impartiality in accordance with established laws of the land. We expect our police officers to impartially enforce the rule of law as they protect the innocent and apprehend the guilty. We expect our teachers to instruct, correct, and nurture the maturation process of our children without partiality. We have these expectations because we find favoritism and prejudice hard to deal with at best, grossly offensive at worst.  In the first half Romans 2, Paul not only establishes that our Creator does not show partially, he also challenges the foolish human tendency to condemn in others the very things we tolerate in ourselves.* How have you seen that phenomenon manifest itself in the lives others? * How have you seen the same phenomenon manifest itself in your own life?  * How might the phenomenon have been manifesting itself in the life of the saints in first-century Rome...?