Romans 2:29

Rom. 2:29. "But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." That by this last expression, "Whose praise is not of men, but of God," the apostle has respect to the insufficiency of man, to judge concerning him, whether he be inwardly a Jew or no, and would signify that it belongs to God alone to give a voice in that matter; is confirmed by the same apostle's use of the like phrase, in 1 Corinthians 4:5. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God. " The apostle in the two foregoing verses says, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord." And again, it is further confirmed, because the apostle in this 2d chapter to the Romans (Romans 2) directs himself especially to those that had a high conceit of their own holiness, that made their boast of God, and were confident of their own discerning, and that they knew God's will, and approved the things that were more excellent, or tried the things that differ, as it is in the margin, Romans 2:18, and were confident that they were guides of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, instructors of the foolish, teachers of babes; and so took upon them to judge others. See verse 1 and 17-20. These things show that for any to take upon themselves, by only a little occasional conversation with others, that are professors of godliness, to judge them as hypocrites, unexperienced and unconverted men, is a great error. The same is confirmed by 1 Corinthians 2:15. "But he that is spiritual judgeth [ discerneth] all things, but he himself is judged of no man," or (as it is in the margin) is discerned of no man.

Everything in the Christian, that belongs to the spiritual and divine life, is spoken of in Scripture as being hidden, known only to God and to himself. His life is said to be hid with Christ in God, but to appear, and to be made manifest at the day of judgment, when Christ shall appear. Colossians 3:3; Colossians 3:4. Their joy is said to be what others intermeddle not with. Their spiritual food is said to be hidden. Revelation 2:17. "To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the hidden manna." So Christ told his disciples that he had meat to eat that they knew not of. And their new name, which is the name they have as new creatures, as born again, is said to be what no man knows but he that receives it. Revelation 2:17. The heart, which is the thing that God looks at, and in which are those spiritual ornaments and graces, by which persons are sincere Christians, is called the hidden man. 1 Peter 3:4. "But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible," etc.

Again: The same is confirmed from that in the parable of the good seed, and the tares, in the 13th chap. of Matthew, 28, 29, 30th verses (Matthew 13:28-30). "The servants said unto him, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together, first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." The servants of the householder can be interpreted of nothing better than ministers, who were represented by Abraham's servant; and by the servants of the householder in the parable of the king, that made a wedding for his son, and sent forth his servants to call guests; and by the servant of the man that made a great supper in Luke 14; and by the servants of the householder, to whom he committed the care of his family when traveling into a far country; and by the servants of the householder that waited for the coming of their lord, in the 12th chapter of Luke; and by the servant or steward in the same chapter, that gives to everyone his portion of meat in due season; and by the servant that beat his fellow-servant; and by the servants of the householder, that dressed, and adorned, and fed the returning prodigal; and by the servants that were sent to receive the fruit of the vineyard, Luke 20. The same that were there to take care of the fruit of the vineyard, are those that in this parable have the care of the fruit of the field. The servants of the householder are oftentimes very apt to conceit themselves sufficient to separate between the wheat and the tares; but the householder says, Stop. He is aware of more danger of their rooting up the wheat with the tares, than they are, and therefore commands that they should let both grow together until the harvest, and signifies that that is the proper time of doing it. This parable shows plainly, that the proper time of judgment in this respect, viz. of judging who of professors are sincere, and who not, is the day of judgment; and that therefore, if any take it upon them to do this now, they do it out of its proper season. And therefore, judging men in this sense, comes under that prohibition forementioned, 1 Corinthians 4:5. "Therefore judge nothing before the time."

When we are so often forbidden to judge, that we be not judged; without doubt it refers to a judging of men's state, of their sincerity and hypocrisy, of their good and evil principles, of their hearts in general, as well as of particular actions. For what is meant by that prohibition is doubtless, that men should not take God's work out of his hands, and anticipate the proper business of the day of judgment. In the place just now mentioned, we are forbidden to judge; in 1 Cor. we are forbidden to judge others upon that account, because it is before the time; and in the 14th of Romans at the 4th verse (Romans 14:4), we are forbidden to judge others upon the other account, because we therein go out of our place, and take God's work into our hands. Romans 14:4, "Who are thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth;" and James 4:12, "There is one lawgiver, that is able to save and to destroy; who art thou that judgest another?"

These two reasons are given as good reasons in Scripture against judging others, but they are as strong against judging the state of men's hearts in general, as against judging the state of their hearts with regard to particular actions:

For, 1. It is as much the proper work of God, and his prerogative, to judge the state of men's hearts in general, to determine what hearts are good, and what not, what hearts are sincere, and what not, as to judge the state of the heart with regard to particular actions. When knowing the hearts of men is so often ascribed to God as his great prerogative, one thing principally intended is his knowing the state of their hearts, whether they are sincerely godly or no, as is evident by what Peter says concerning the conversion of the Gentiles before the council of Jerusalem, Acts 15:7; Acts 15:8, "God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe: and God which knoweth the hearts bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us." It is often challenged by God as one of the most glorious prerogatives to search the heart and try the reins of the children of men. And this is challenged as God's prerogative, especially as it relates to the trial of the general state of the hearts of professors, in Revelation 2:22; Revelation 2:23. There Christ threatens to destroy, and finally condemn, certain professors, except they repent; and adds, "And all the churches shall know, that I am he which searcheth the reins and the hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." And again, 1 Chronicles 28:9, this divine prerogative is asserted, with respect to the judging of the state of the heart in general, and in order to that salvation, or destruction and casting off forever, that depends on it, "And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever." So Psalms 7:9-11, "O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but do thou establish the just. For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. My defense is of God which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day." So, trying the hearts is spoken of as God's prerogative, as the furnace tries what is gold, and what is dross or base metal. Proverbs 17:3, "The fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts." So the psalmist prays in the 26th Psalm, that God would judge him with respect to his integrity and trusting in God, and that he would examine him, and prove him, and try his reins and his heart, and not gather his soul with sinners, nor his life with bloody men, verse 9. So it was part of Christ's prerogative to know which of his followers, and professed believers on him, were to be depended on, and which not, John 2:23-25, "Many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of men, for he knew what was in man." It is God's prerogative to weigh the spirits and ponder the hearts of men, Proverbs 16:2; Proverbs 21:2. It belongs to him to weigh men in the balance, and say who is found wanting, Daniel 5:27. This certainly is as much and much more claimed in Scripture, as God's prerogative, than taking vengeance is; and therefore for anyone to take upon him to decide what professors are sincere, and what insincere, and to draw a dividing line between them, is as much and much more invading the divine prerogative, than private revenge is.

2. If that reason why we should not judge men be a good one, that in so doing we shall judge men before the time, because the proper time for this is the day of judgment; then there is a good reason why we should not take upon us to judge professors with respect to their state; for this is one great and principal part of the work of the last judgment, and one special end of the day of judgment, to make an open distinction between the sincere and hypocrites, to separate between sheep and goats, between wheat and tares, between good grain and chaff, between gold and dross, as is manifest by Malachi 3:2, "But who may abide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap;" and Matthew 3:12, "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Yea, in most of the descriptions we have in Scripture, this is all the work that is mentioned. This is all that is mentioned in the description we have of the day of judgment, in the explication of the parable of the good seed and tares in the 13th chapter of Matthew (Matthew 13); and this is all the business that is mentioned in that famous description that Christ gives of the day of judgment in the 25th chap. of Matthew (Matthew 25); and this is all the business mentioned in that description we have in the 20th chap. of Revelations (Revelation 20), which is the most famous of any we have in the Bible, excepting that in the 25th of Matthew (Matthew 25).

Yea, judging of persons' state, and sentencing or damning them, is chiefly intended by Christ when he forbids us to judge them; for this is most properly judging them, or judging and condemning their persons. We may blame a man for many things he does, yet not condemn or sentence the man in doing the part of the Great Judge of men that is chiefly forbidden, which is either to justify them or condemn them as wicked or righteous.

As to that text, Judges 12:6, "Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said, Sibboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right; then they took him and slew him at the passages of Jordan;" though that be an undoubted truth, that want of experience has a tendency to cause men to lisp, and greatly to fail and blunder in talking of experimental religion, which may very fitly be compared to the failing of the Ephraimite in pronouncing Shibboleth, yet we cannot infer from it that we are warranted to go as far in judging men's state by what we think of their rightly expressing themselves in spiritual and experimental language, any more than we can infer that it is committed to us to proceed upon it as far as they did in the wrong pronunciation of Shibboleth. We cannot carry the inference so far, because the thing here principally typified is not the language of false professors, as it sounds in the ears of fellow-professors in this world, but in the ears of their Judge, and of the saints or assessors with him at the passage of the Jordan, i.e. in their passage out of this world into the next, or when they are attempting to pass out of this world into the heavenly Canaan. In Christ's ears, no man can learn the language of the Canaanites but those that are indeed Canaanites, even as no man can learn the song of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, but only those that are redeemed from the earth. What is wanting, is the heart and the practice, which are the essential part of the song; and it is the language of the heart and practice that are the essential part of the language of a Christian. And these are the things by which we are often told professors of religion shall hereafter be judged, by him that searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins, and renders to every man according to his works.

When Christ and his apostles so much warned against judging others, they doubtless had especially respect to judging their hearts. And Christians in those days understood this to be the thing so strictly prohibited, and a practice marked out as so presumptuous; as is confirmed by the manner of the apostle James, introducing what he says in the 2d chap. of his epistle, at the 4th verse (James 2:4); speaking of their preferring of a man of gay appearance to the man in mean apparel, he says, "Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? "

The eleven disciples, though they were all true converts, did not know but that Judas was also converted, and always supposed him to be so, though they had such abundant opportunity of conversation with him, and Christ all along treated him as if he had been a true disciple, and even sent him forth to preach the gospel, because he therein acted as minister of the visible church. He did not take it upon him to act as an Omniscient Judge at that time, but as setting an example for his disciples and ministers how to behave themselves in the visible church. The psalmist, though so wise a man, and a man so greatly acquainted with the Word of God, and a man of such great experience, did not find out that Achitophel was not a convert, though he had so long been so intimately acquainted with him, but always looked upon him as a saint, and an eminent saint, and delighted in him as such. Psalms 55:13; Psalms 55:14, "But it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance; we took sweet counsel together; we went to the house of God in company."

And besides, we are nowhere directed to judge of men chiefly by the account they give of their experiences, but chiefly by their works; and it is evident it was not the manner of the apostles to judge of Christians' sincerity chiefly by the account they gave of the manner of the work in their hearts, but by their behavior.

And the signification of the word Shibboleth seems to intimate the same thing, which is an ear of corn. This seems to intimate that it is the fruit, or ear, that is the grand characteristic by which the true friends of Jephthah may be known from hypocrites, or the wheat known from tares. It is the fruit that we shall be judged by at last; our fruits shall be weighed in the balance, and, if they are found wanting, we shall be slain in this Jordan, and never suffered to go over into Canaan. It is probable that, according to the dialect of Ephraim, an ear of corn was called Sibboleth, and so that was the name of the fruit of Jephthah's enemies; but Shibboleth was the name of the fruit of Jephthah's friends, according to the dialect of Gilead. This, therefore, signifies that if at last our fruit be found to be not the fruit of the friends of Christ, but that of his enemies, we shall be slain.

It seems very probable that the devil, though he sees and hears a great deal more what men do and say than we, and has incomparably more experience, yet does not know who are converted, and who not. Thus he did not know that Peter was converted, and therefore hoped to overthrow him. So he did not know that Job was, as God told him, a perfect and an upright man; he questioned it, though he was so eminent a saint, he doubted whether he would not fail in the trial (unless we may suppose that the devil seeks to overthrow particular Christians, only as he seeks to overthrow the church of God, which he does what he can to destroy, though God has promised that it shall never be destroyed).

Rom. 3:10-18