Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Romans 2:6

"who will render to every man according to his works:" — Romans 2:6 (ASV)

The apostle speaks plainly in order to startle Jews out of their lethargy of self-deception. What the nation is doing by its stubbornness and impenitence is to invite retribution, which is slowly but surely building up a reservoir of divine wrath that will be crushing when it breaks over the guilty in the day of reckoning. Then the judgment will be revealed to all, in contrast to the indirect working of God’s wrath in the present scene (cf. ch. 1). At that time a second principle of divine judgment will become apparent, emphasizing performance: “to each person according to what he has done” (lit., “according to his works”). What Paul has in mind here is the final reckoning (cf. the word “day”). National judgment may fit into a temporal scheme, but personal judgment belongs to the frontier of the ages to come.

In amplifying this second principle of judgment Paul makes room for only two broad classes—those who persist in doing good and those who follow an evil course (vv.7–10). The first group, pictured as seeking glory, honor, and immortality, are promised eternal life. What can the apostle mean by his breathtaking assertion about attaining “eternal life”? At the very least, it is safe to say that he is not contradicting what he says later about the impossibility of having salvation by means of the works of the law (3:20). In fact, the statement of v.7, rightly understood, teaches the opposite. The reward of eternal life belongs to those whose good deeds result from their hope in God. Paul is simply portraying the motivation and the tenor of the life of faith that will culminate in eternal fellowship with God. The good works that believers perform do not bring them salvation, but they attest to the salvation they have received by faith (6:22; Ephesians 2:8–10).

On the other side of the ledger is a pattern of evil defined in terms of self- seeking and rejection of the truth, leading to divine wrath in terms of trouble and distress. The statement “who reject the truth and follow evil” echoes 1:18. Destiny does not depend on whether one is Jew or Gentile. The Jew is mentioned first simply because of God’s prior dealing with that nation in history. Mention of the two divisions of humankind leads naturally to the pronouncement of Paul’s third principle: God’s judgment is impartial; he “does not show favoritism” (v.11). This is the truth that Peter learned in the Cornelius incident (Acts 10:34). Paul’s explanation of what it involves belongs to the following paragraph.