Romans 2:5-11
5 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, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God. [NASB]
Continuing from the thought of the previous passage, the hypocrites, who judge the deeds of others yet do those same things themselves, and who don’t realize that the purpose of God’s kindness, love, and patience is not to overlook sin but to drive to repentance, are described by Paul as being stubborn and unrepentant. The NASB uses “stubborn” to translate the Greek sklêrotês which usually means “hardness.” This Greek word has come into our medical vocabulary to describe a condition whereby hardening (sclerosis) has occurred. Of course, Paul isn’t saying these hypocrites have physical arteriosclerosis, but spiritually, they are as afflicted as Pharaoh when he refused to let the Israelites leave Egypt. “Stubborn” certainly conveys that picture.
Last time I mentioned there are those that don’t believe God will actually punish people for their sin. It seems Paul disagreed with this viewpoint too, since these hypocrites are “storing up wrath” which will come against them when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. Notice, God’s judgment is righteous. There is no hypocrisy with God. His intentions are always good and just, and His ways are above reproach. This is why God is the only one fit to judge the hearts of men. And there will be a day of reckoning, when God’s righteous judgment will fall. Indeed, God will punish according to each person’s deeds. This is almost a verbatim quotation of the last part of Proverbs 24:12 (and also Psalm 62:12) as it is in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), which would have been the Bible translation of Paul’s audience.
For those who understand the gospel of grace, verses 7 and 8 might seem a little confusing. Here Paul appears to be saying that those who do good and pursue the glory and immortality that come from good works gain eternal life, whereas those who are selfish and disobedient will receive wrath. If salvation is not by works (e.g., Ephesians 2:8-9), then what is Paul saying here? Don’t forget the context. He is addressing those who think by virtue of God’s benevolence they will escape punishment for their sin. Paul is saying quite firmly that God’s wrath is against those people, and God will judge according to works. The good news of the gospel is not that God no longer judges by works, but that God judges His people, Christians, not according to their own works, but according to the work of Christ. We receive God’s grace, because Christ took God’s righteous punishment on our behalf, even though His works were good.
But Paul is also building to a point here that he will reach in chapter 3. Yes, those who do good will receive eternal life. But who is there that, of themselves, is able to do works good enough to justify themselves before God? More on that to come!
For now, Paul is trying to stress to these hypocrites, who I believe are the Jewish members of his audience (see the Introduction), that God will bring calamity upon every evil-working soul, Jew first and then Greek (or non-Jew). The Jewish person is not exempt because of his Jewish identity. Likewise, when it comes to rewarding the righteous, God’s grace extends not only to the Jew, but to the Greek also. This would have been hard for any proud Jewish person in the Roman church to hear, but Paul makes it clear: There is no partiality with God. Peter learned this when he was summoned to Cornelius’s house in Acts 10:34, where he saw that the gospel message was to go equally to Gentiles as well as Jews.
This rift between Jew and Gentile was one of the major issues in the earliest days of the church. We see it in Acts 6 and the dispute over the daily distribution, for example. Clearly, there were Jewish Christians (not all) who found it hard to look upon their Gentile brethren as anything more than second-class. After all, weren’t the Jews God’s chosen people? Aren’t these Gentiles, then, just “hangers-on”? We’ll continue with this as we look at the next section of Romans 2.
A thought from the passage: Examine your heart. Do you truly believe there is no partiality with God, or do you find yourself treating other Christians as if God is partial? Does God love charismatics more or less than non-charismatics? Baptists more or less than Presbyterians? Reformed more or less than Arminian?
