that all might be judged who have not believed the truth, but have found pleasure in unrighteousness.
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
This verse states the outcome of everything the chapter has just described. It raises two hard questions: what does "condemned" mean here, and is God unjust to send the delusion that comes just before it?
What "condemned" means here
Some older translations use the word "damned" here. One writer says that word is wrong — but the outcome behind it is no lighter:
"Damned" in the Authorised Version is a false rendering. But the result of being "judged" is damnation, because only unbelievers come into judgment. That is why the Psalmist pleads, "Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you." Salvation is by grace through faith. God has already pardoned the believer. He has also condemned sin in the flesh by Christ as a sacrifice for sin. So there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Who is judged
The people in view are not those who never heard. They are people who once held the message and let it go:
God punishes them for not believing the gospel, which they must have known. He punishes them for not loving the truth, which could have saved them. They are not judged for ignorance, like people who never heard. They are apostates — judged for giving up what they once professed to accept as the truth. God's gospel leads to God's Christ; their gospel leads to antichrist... Truth that is not loved is sure to become distasteful and opposed.
Where the unbelief starts
The verse names two things: not believing, and taking pleasure in unrighteousness. One writer traces both back to something earlier — they heard the truth and did not love it.
Those who will fall prey to all this deceit of unrighteousness are the very people who heard the truth and did not love it. They did not love it, so they did not believe it. Instead they had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now the deceit of unrighteousness captures them. They believe the lie, and they all fall under the judgment of God. Once God sent them the truth... Now God sends them a strong delusion. He does for them what He once had to do for rebellious Israel, when He "blinded their eyes and hardened their heart." Is God unrighteous in acting this way? On the contrary; He is acting in righteousness of the strictest and most exact kind.
One writer answers a common claim: that what a person believes is his own business:
Men may say they have a right to believe what they please, but it is false. We have a right to believe only what is right. Those who refuse truth on purpose and choose falsehood are plainly the people who "have pleasure in unrighteousness." Grace may bear long with them, but the end must come in judgment.
God's hand behind the delusion
The delusion of verse 11 and the sentence of this verse belong together. God's answer matches a choice people have already made — and the same writer shows why anyone escapes at all:
The apostle then gives the moral reason for so stern a judgment... God's sending a working of error is judicial hardening. Satan follows with his deceiving marvels of power to drag down all his followers to ruin. It is divine retribution. They renounced the truth and salvation with it; they loved the lie. They must perish. The elect of that day escape solely by divine grace, as is true of all the elect in any day.
No later opportunity
This verse describes people who already heard the truth. So writers use it to answer a common question: is there another chance later?
People often ask whether they "get a second chance" after the rapture. This gives the clear answer. No! Nothing here is said about those who have never heard the truth. But take any to whom it has been presented, and who have not received it. Not only will they "not get a second chance" — God Himself will step in, so that they are conditioned to believe what is false.
One writer turns it into a question for the reader today:
Suppose you have not believed God in the day of the Holy Spirit. Suppose you have not believed the gospel now, in the day when God is telling of His love... Then every possible influence and power under heaven, out of hell, and on the earth will be against you. Do you suppose you will believe the truth then? ... Far better to have the truth now. Christ is the truth.
Summary
- Love — the trail starts in the will, not the mind. They did not love the truth, so they never believed it.
- Refusal — they heard the truth and let it go. God judges them not for ignorance, but for giving up what they once professed.
- Retribution — the delusion God sends is judicial hardening. It answers a settled refusal exactly, and it is not cruelty.
- Judgment — "judged" is the better word, but the result is still condemnation. Only unbelievers come into judgment.
- Grace — anyone who escapes, escapes by grace alone. So the moment to receive the truth is now, not later.