City Life Starter

I. The Word: Romans 2:5-11

5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.

II. Study Questions

1. What is the meaning of “sklero” (Greek)?

2. According to Leon Morris, why does “work” also important in the life of a believer?

3. Which the context of “there is no partiality with God?”

In today’s reading, the Apostle Paul is continuing on the topic of the righteous judgment of God and the inevitability of facing our righteous God, by all humanity.  In modern Christianity, there are many groups who reject the message of the righteous judgment of God, or they have  distorted the message of the Gospel to be something other than what we find in God’s Word.  Recently, I heard one popular Christian speaker who communicated to the masses that God’s love supersedes our sins and since he already knows that we will sin, he already forgave us.  If this logic is correct, what stops you and I from continuing to sin?  We should not even be bothered with righteous living, but go on with whatever seems right in our own eyes, as we have seen in previous chapter.  As we will discover later in Romans, Paul declares, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2) We will all have to face the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corin. 5:10) and the righteous God will judge each one according to his deeds.

Commentary

5-6 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.  Who “will render to each one according to his deeds”

Hardness, or sklerotes (Greek) appears only once in the New Testament.  This word derives from skleros, which means callousness but it figuratively means stubbornness.  Impenitent or ametanoetos (Greek) is described as admitting no change of mind and unrepentant.  Paul is using these words in combination to metaphorically point out the heart that rejects or forsake God and His ways.  The result of this rejection would lead to treasuring up or storing up the wrath of God for the day of wrath.

It is important to point out here that God’s judgment “will render to each one according to his deeds.” According to Leon Morris, “It is the invariable teaching of the Bible and not the peculiar viewpoint of any one writer or group of writers that judgment will be on the basis of works, though salvation is all of grace.  Works are important. They are the outward expression of what the person is deep down.  In the unbeliever the expression of unbelief and that whether by way of legalism or antinomianism.”

7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality

In this verse, Paul addresses those who have accepted God and His ways and the result it aligns with the message of the Gospel.  “God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whomsoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) According to C.K. Barrett, “those who with patient endurance look beyond their own well-doing… those who view their own activity with patient endurance attest thereby that they are seeking what is not to be found in any human being and doing… the reward of eternal life, then, is promised to those who do not regard their good works as an end in themselves, but see them as marks not of human achievement but of hope in God.  Their trust is not in their good works, but in God, the only source of glory, honor, and incorruption.” (Barrett)

8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;

In verse 8-9, Paul introduces those who do not seek the things of God by revealing the contrast in the previous verse.  As we have seen in the previous chapter, the theme of self-seeking rather than seeking God, lead to devastating results as repeated here, but in this case Paul is fixated on the judgment that follows.  Not only have they rejected God, they have placed themselves on the opposite side where their allegiance to evil is contrary to God and His Word, verdict is tribulation and anguish but more importantly, the wrath of God.

10-11 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God.

In previous verses, the emphasis was on those who reject God, but here Paul turns again to those who are right with God as in verse 7.  Clearly, Paul’s intent here is to help his readers recognize that there are benefits of following God and His ways.  Glory and honor, stresses outward rewards, while peace is a more inward reward of the heart. Following God leads to peace with and within Him.

Finally, statement “of the Jew first and also of the Greek” is directed toward those who reject God (v. 9) and those who accept God (v. 11), the only difference is the choice of their decision to follow God.  There will be no differential treatment, whether the person is a Jew or a Gentile.  The righteous God will judge all humanity, not with favoritism to a certain race, culture, socio-economic status, etc… that without partiality.