Romans 2.6-God Judges Men According to Their Works
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 8, 2007
Romans: Romans 2:6-God Judges Men According to Their Works
Lesson # 46
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 2:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter two.
By way of review, we have noted the following:
In Romans 2:1, Paul addresses the self-righteous attitude of the Jews towards the Gentiles and in the process presents the first of twelve principles regarding the judgment of God, namely, that they will be judged according to the standards which they set for the Gentiles.
Then, in Romans 2:2, Paul presents a second principle of divine judgment, namely, that God judges men according to truth.
The third principle of divine judgment appears in Romans 2:3, which contends that God’s judgment is inescapable.
Next, in Romans 2:4, we have the fourth principle that God’s judgment is delayed because of His kindness, tolerance and patience towards men in desiring that they might be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
Last evening we noted the fifth principle, which appears in Romans 2:5 and states that God’s judgment is measured out according to the accumulation of guilt.
This evening we will study the sixth principle of divine judgment in Romans 2:6, which is that God judges men according to their works.
Let’s read Romans 2:1-11 and then concentrate this evening on Romans 2:6.
Romans 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
Romans 2:2, “And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”
Romans 2:3, “But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?”
Romans 2:4, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”
Romans 2:5-8, “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”
Romans 2:9-11, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek for there is no partiality with God.”
Now, let’s study in detail Romans 2:6.
Romans 2:6, “who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
The following is the corrected translation of Romans 2:6:
Romans 2:6, “who will recompense each and every one without exception according to their works.”
In Romans 2:6, the apostle Paul is quoting Psalm 62:12, which is why the New American Standard capitalizes the letters.
Psalm 62:12, “and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.”
“Who” refers to the presiding Judge at the judgment of all unbelievers and all believers, namely, the incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Will render” is the verb apodidomi (a)podivdwmi) (ap-od-eed-o-mee), which means, “to recompense someone whether positively in the sense of reward or negatively in the sense of retribution depending upon what the individual deserves.”
Therefore, in Romans 2:6, Paul is teaching his readers that the Lord Jesus Christ will reward believers who produce works that are in obedience to Him.
On the other hand, unbelievers will receive retribution for the works they produced out of disobedience to Him and which works do not measure up to His perfect work on the Cross out of obedience to the Father.
“To each person” refers to both, Jew or Gentile, saved or unsaved and denotes “no exceptions,” which would make clear to the self-righteous Jew that God will deal with him just as he does with the Gentile.
“According to their deeds” means that the standard by God will judge men is according to their works.
“Deeds” is the noun ergon (e&rgon) (er-gon), which refers to actions, labor, or tasks and is used in context with reference to believers and unbelievers.
In relation to the believer, the noun ergon refers to an action, task or labor, which is produced by the Holy Spirit in the believer who is obedient to the Word of God.
This obedience is motivated by love for the Lord Jesus Christ and is reflected in one’s conduct towards one’s fellow believer or human being.
In relation to the unbeliever, ergon refers to an action, task or labor, which is not produced by the Holy Spirit but rather from the old sin nature through disobedience.
This disobedience is selfishly motivated from appropriation or to justify oneself before God and is reflected in one’s conduct towards one fellow human being.
Romans 2:6-11 does “not” teach that salvation is by works since that would contradict other passages of Scripture, which teach that salvation is by grace through faith alone in Christ alone (See John 3:16-18; 5:24; Acts 16:27-31; Romans 1:16; 3;28; 4:1-6; 5:1; Galatians 3:24; Titus 3:5-7).
Galatians 2:16, “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
In Romans 2:6-11, Paul is “not” teaching that salvation is by works but rather he is explaining another basic principle regarding divine judgment since this is what he has been teaching about in Romans 2:1-5.
In Romans 2:6-11, Paul is discussing the “basis for judgment” and “not” the basis for salvation and in doing so, he describes the “manifestations” of those who are saved or those who are not.
Romans 2:6-11 is in the context of Paul addressing the universal need for the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
In Romans 3:21-5:21, Paul addresses how to acquire the righteousness of God, which is through imputation after exercising faith alone in Christ alone.
He points out to his readers in Romans 3:21-26 that the righteousness of God is imputed through faith in Christ and that is available to both Jew and Gentile as he states in Romans 3:27-31.
Therefore, Romans 2:6-11 is dealing with the “basis for judgment” and “not” the basis for salvation.
Romans 2:6-11 is contrasting the lifestyle of those who are regenerate (i.e. born again) with the lifestyle of those who are unregenerate.
A “regenerate” person received the imputation of eternal life and divine righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ whereas an “unregenerate” person does not possess either since they have rejected Jesus Christ as Savior.
A regenerate person has the capacity to have a lifestyle of obedience to God since he possesses divine righteousness and eternal life whereas those who are unregenerate do not have the capacity to manifest a lifestyle of obedience to God since they do not possess either divine righteousness or eternal life.
When I say “capacity” I’m implying that it is possible for a regenerate person to not have a lifestyle of obedience to God, which would manifest that he possesses divine righteousness and eternal life since he still has the capacity to sin because he still has an old sin nature and a volition.
An unregenerate person does not have the capacity to have a lifestyle of obedience to God since they do not possess either divine righteousness or eternal life.
Therefore, in Romans 2:6-11, Paul is contrasting God’s dealing with each person according to his works in the sense that God rewards those who are righteous through faith in Jesus Christ for their actions that are the result of habitual obedience and He punishes the unrighteous for their actions that are the result of habitual disobedience.
It is possible for a regenerate person to not manifest that he is saved since in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 Paul warns believers that their works can be burned up and yet they are still saved.
Also, the Lord in His Vine and the Branches metaphor in John 15:1-11 warns believers that it is possible for them to not bear fruit meaning that they can perform works that are not motivated by obedience to God.
He also warns in His parable of the Seed and Soils in Luke 8:1-15 that it is possible for believers to not bear fruit meaning works produced by obedience to God.
Romans 2:6-11 echoes previous statements made by the Old Testament prophets.
Isaiah 3:10-11, “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done.”
Jeremiah 17:10, “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”
Romans 2:6 echoes the Lord’ statement in Matthew 16:27 and John 5:28-29.
John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
The Lord Jesus Christ will recompense the unbeliever according to their works at the “Great White Throne” judgment, which will take place at the end of human history and is the judgment of all unregenerate humanity in human history for the rejection of Christ as Savior (Revelation 20:11-15).
Revelation 20:11, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.”
Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”
Revelation 20:13, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.”
Revelation 20:14, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”
Revelation 20:15, “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Unbelievers will “not” be judged according to their sins at the Great White Throne Judgment since Jesus Christ died for all men, Jew and Gentile and for every sin that they have committed-past, present and future.
The unbeliever will be judged according to their self-righteous human good works, which do not measure up to the perfect work of the impeccable Christ on the Cross (Rev. 20:11-15).
The unbeliever goes to the lake of fire because of his rejection of Christ as his Savior since 1 Timothy 2:4, John 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 3:9 clearly indicate that God desires all men to be saved, thus, He has made provision for all men to be saved through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The Lord Jesus Christ will recompense the believer at the “Bema Seat Evaluation,” which takes place immediately after the Rapture of the Church and is actually an “evaluation” of the church age believer’s life after salvation to determine if they merit rewards or not (Romans 14:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 John 2:24).
2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
“Judgment Seat” is the noun bema, which was taken from Isthmian games where the contestants would compete for the prize under the careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure that every rule of the contest was obeyed.
Just as the victorious Grecian athlete appeared before the Bema to receive his perishable award, so the Christian will appear before Christ’s Bema to receive his imperishable award.
The Bema Seat is not a place and time when the Lord will mete out punishment for sins committed by the child of God but rather, it is a place where rewards will be given or lost depending on how a believer has lived his life for the Lord.
The church age believer’s sin are never brought up since Christ died for their sins (1 John 2:12).
1 John 2:12, “I am providing information in writing at this particular time for the benefit of all of you, little children in view of the fact that for the benefit of all of you, your sins have been forgiven-past, present and future on the basis of His merit.”
However, the believer who does not execute the Father’s plan by habitually remaining out of fellowship through disobedience will experience loss of rewards and temporary shame and embarrassment when he stands before the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation.
1 John 2:28, “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”