Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Two
DOING GOOD OR EVIL
Scripture Reading: verses 5-11
BUT AFTER THY HARDNESS AND IMPENITENT HEART TREASUREST UP UNTO THYSELF WRATH AGAINST THE DAY OF WRATH AND REVELATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF GOD; WHO WILL RENDER TO EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: TO THEM WHO BY PATIENT CONTINUANCE IN WELL DOING SEEK FOR GLORY AND HONOUR AND IMMORTALITY, ETERNAL LIFE: BUT UNTO THEM THAT ARE CONTENTIOUS, AND DO NOT OBEY THE TRUTH, BUT OBEY UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, INDIGNATION AND WRATH, TRIBULATION AND ANGUISH, UPON EVERY SOUL OF MAN THAT DOETH EVIL, OF THE JEW FIRST, AND ALSO OF THE GENTILE; BUT GLORY, HONOUR, AND PEACE, TO EVERY MAN THAT WORKETH GOOD, TO THE JEW FIRST, AND ALSO TO THE GENTILE: FOR THERE IS NO RESPECT OF PERSONS WITH GOD.
It is difficult to read a passage like this without being reminded that this Epistle is a legal document, presenting both sides of a great question. On one hand is the guilt of fallen man. On the other is the goodness of God that leads to repentance.
There is no compromise between the two, and this passage presents the logical sequence of a life of rebellion against God contrasted with the expectation of the path of the just.
Of course, we must remember that all the terms of the Gospel are not covered in this one passage. Too often there is a tendency for a student of the Bible to expect to find the whole truth in every passage. The reason is our mistaken idea that the Bible is a book of texts. Too often we forget the context. In this Epistle we have a theological argument that ranges from the creature’s initial guilt to the grand climax of conformity to the image of Christ for every one that truly believes. We are now dealing with the premises or foundational facts of this great argument. This is the fundamental truth: the way of transgressors is hard and the way of sinners inevitably leads to judgment’s dark pit. This is equally clear: the path of the just is as the shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day. These are the simple, truthful elements of this passage.
However, these elements will surely present a challenge to every heart. It is a challenge as to whether we are willing to go in the path of obedience to God, which is a path of well-doing and faith; a path that reaps eternal reward by coming into God's blessing. Or, on the other hand, are we willing to follow our own corrupt heart, turning our back on the goodness of God that leads to repentance, pursuing a life of evil which leads inevitably to the indignation and wrath of God Himself? There is no compromise between the two.
Perhaps, in these days of easy assent to the terms of the Gospel, we have largely lost the significant distinction between doing good and doing evil. We are living in an age of superficial evangelism, when it is often taught that in order to be a Christian all one has to do is say, “I am sorry for my sins and Christ died for me” and there the matter comes to an end. Whether I later give evidence of the reality of my faith by having a revolutionary change in my way of living, seems to be regarded as of secondary or little importance. The result of all this is that we have many professed Christians whose lives are not in keeping with the claims of their faith. What is the reason for this? Could it be that in preaching the Gospel, men fail to clearly set forth the truth that is presented in this second of Romans, namely, that God
will render to every man according to his deeds:1 To them who by patient continutince in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil.2
The truth is that the test of our profession is our manner of life. No matter what one may profess in relation to the acceptation of the Gospel, if our manner of life is evil, then we belie our profession, and according to these words, our expectation is for judgment. However, if ones faith is real and heart is truly contrite, and if the atoning work of Christ for redemption is accepted and the Gospel of Christ is obeyed, then we immediately pass out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. This means that we no longer walk in darkness; no longer do the deeds of darkness; but rather walk in the light and instead of doing evil we do good. It is not a question of earning heaven by good deeds. “By the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in God’s sight.” As far as God is concerned, we are justified by faith – a faith that obeys God’s Holy Word. By the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross we are “made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” That grand truth concerns the relationship of ones soul with God. By the work of His Spirit through baptism we are born again, and through the work of Calvary we are accepted in the presence of God – all sins are put away, and ones place in heaven secured forever. And God’s Word gives assurance that no one who truly believes in and obeys Jesus Christ shall never be plucked out of His hand.
But there is also a converse truth, and it is just as potent: if our faith is real, and if we have really been born of God, then a revolution will take place in our conduct. We will no longer serve sin; we will serve the Lord Jesus who died for us and rose again. After a person has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and has obeyed the Gospel3, his friends and neighbors ought to be able to observe a man who no longer does the evil he used to do. He should be a changed man; something very real has taken place in his life. It is a moral revolution. Now he is doing good instead of evil. That is the plain Gospel story and we twist it out of proper focus when trying to make it easy for people to get into heaven by nodding the head in assent to the terms of the Gospel, when the power of the Gospel itself is not realized. It is a true danger, and that is why the truth of this passage in Romans two should come home to everyone of us. no matter what may be professed with the lips, if one is an evildoer there can only be one sure expectation – God’s judgment. And we must always remember that with God there “is no respect of persons.”4 On the other hand, if we follow that which is good, not priding ourselves on our own self-righteousness, but standing on the ground of the redemption wrought on Calvary, then our expectation is for “glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life."”
Footnotes:
1 Those who fancy that Paul’s special brand of salvation was by faith without any works at all find here an insurmountable denial that he taught any such thing. On the other hand, it is plainly stated in this passage of holy writ that one of the great principles of eternal judgment is that God will judge people according to their works. Moreover, Paul’s reason for so emphatically stating this principle in the beginning of Romans is apparent. Its inspired author was about to write the great dissertation which would stress salvation by faith in Christ, and was about to include many things in it that are capable of being misunderstood and abused; accordingly, he took caution here at the very outset to guard against those very misapplications of his words which he doubtless foresaw, and which misapplications have in these present times become the basic platform of a so-called “gospel” utterly unknown to Paul, at variance with practically the entire New Testament, and contradictory of Romans 2:6. We do not refer to the Gospel of salvation by faith, or faith in Christ, or by grace, or by the grace of God, salvation in those terms being Pauline indeed; but reference is made to salvation by faith alone, faith only, or by faith and nothing else. The great heresy founded on the theory of an imputed righteousness solely as a result of faith alone contradicts Romans 2:6 in this place as well as other plain words of Scripture. Romans 2:6 makes it clear that on the judgment day every man will be rewarded according to his deeds. Only the good will be saved; and only the bad will be lost. This was the same doctrine Paul wrote the Corinthians: “For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Also, if Paul’s teaching with reference to salvation by faith in Christ had been intended to negate the teaching of this verse, it is inconceivable that he would have thrust this statement into such prominence. Out of regard to the ages-old conflict of religious views in this sector of thought, and in recognition of their importance, both practically and theoretically, some little space is here devoted to a further consideration of this theme. Let us briefly consider faith and works. The New Testament declares definitely and positively that a man is justified by faith and that he is justified by works. That this is surely true appears from the following two verses, both of them from the New Testament, and placed here side by side for comparison: “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). “Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith” (James 2:24). In the light of these two verses, it is just as true that one is saved by works alone as by faith alone; but, of course, the Word of God says neither. Therefore, any proposition to the effect that man is saved, or justified, by work alone, or by faith alone, contradicts a plain statement of the Word of God. Whatever the correct view may be, it must, of necessity, be one that does not contradict any statement of the Scriptures; and from the two verses cited, it is revealed as a certainty that the justification of sinners in Gods sight is contingent on both faith and works. Significantly, Paul brought both faith and works together in a single text addressed to the Galatians: “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). First, attention is directed to a class of New Testament statements which, on first glance, appear to contradict James’ statement (James 2:24) that men are justified by works; but it must continually be borne in mind that James did not say people are justified by works alone. These are statements to the effect that man’s salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9), “not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves” (Titus 3:5), and “therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Rom. 3:20). In all such references to works which are alleged to have no part in justification, different classes, or kinds, of works are in view. Therefore, to determine what kind of work entered into the justification mentioned by James, it is necessary to classify works in the same manner that they were classified by the sacred writers. Seven classes of works are distinguished in the New Testament: 1) Works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21), the same being principally the indulgence of lusts, passions, etc. 2) The works of Satan, specifically, lying and murder (John 8:44), all sins being in one sense works of Satan, but these being specifically so-called by Christ Himself. 3) The works of men, including all human achievements from building of the Great Wall of China to walking on the moon. 4) The works of the law of Moses (Rom. 3:20). 5) The works of moral goodness. The moralist follows a path of behavior parallel in many places to the Christian life; but between the two ways there is a river wide and deep, the river of the blood of Christ. Both Cornelius and the rich young ruler are New Testament examples of morally upright persons who were unsaved. 6) The works of human righteousness (Rom. 10:3) are those religious activities of people which derive their authority from people alone and not from God, being the ceremonies and doctrines people themselves devised and having not the Creator as their author. Such are the traditions, precepts, and commandments of men denounced by Christ Himself (Matt. 15:9). 7) A seventh New Testament classification of works is called the “work of faith” (1 Thess. 1:3). This work is clearly in a class by itself and may be defined as any action whatever undertaken or discharged by man in obedience to a divine commandment. Here is the key to untangling the most persistent theological problem from the days of Martin Luther and the Reformers until the present. The doctrine of justification by faith alone was first advocated by Martin Luther; but he ran into what seemed an impossible contradiction of his theory in James 2:24, which was said to have raised some question in Luther’s mind for a while regarding the canonicity of James. Modern reverberations of the supposed conflict between Paul and James (though actually between Luther and James) have continued to echo through succeeding generations, the wide-spread heresy that salvation “through faith” releases people from the necessity of obeying the Lord’s commandments, especially the commands requiring baptism, the Lord’s supper, etc. And how is the problem resolved? Quite simply. Where Paul stated that people are not justified by works, let it be determined which works he meant; and where James wrote that a man is justified by works, let it be determined what kind of works he meant. It is perfectly easy to discover both. In his repeated affirmations that men are not saved by works, Paul never had reference to the work of faith (No. 7, above); and James never had in mind anything except the work of faith. Thus Paul’s teaching was directed against any notion that keeping the works of the law of Moses could save, or any personal morality apart from Christianity could justify. Another type of works which Paul categorically rejected as being the basis of salvation was called the work of human righteousness, and referred to religious practices of mere human authority (No. 6, above). A little diligence on the part of any student will show what a vital distinction this is. James gave examples of how certain persons were justified by works; and in every case, the “work” was an obedient act to a divine command, as when Abraham offered Isaac, etc. That Paul also accepted the principle stated by James that justification is due to such actions of obedient faith is clear from Romans 2:6 in this chapter and from Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:26. In fact, Romans 2:6 is absolutely equivalent to saying that man is justified by works, not the other kinds, but the works of faith. Romans 2:6 harmonizes absolutely with James 2:24. Therefore, Paul’s frequent words, to the effect that people are not saved by works, never have reference to the “work of faith” which he himself announced as one of the glories of the Thessalonian church (1 Thess. 1:3). If he had meant any such thing, he never could have written Romans 2:6. When James spoke of justification by works, he did not refer to any of the works set at naught by Paul. When James stated that Abraham was justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar, that inspired author made it impossible to misunderstand the kind of works that justified Abraham. What kind of work was the offering of Isaac? It was an act of obedience to God’s command; had it not been that, it would have been murder, hence a work of the devil; and that is exactly the difference that turns upon the question of who commanded a given action. Specifically, this principle applies to every humanly derived innovation in worship and to all human religious ordinances without divine authority. But for the Christian, the kind of works by which he is justified are, as in Abraham's case, the doing of what God has commanded. Such things as repentance, baptism, the Lord’s supper, etc., are thus not acts of human righteousness, nor works of human beings in any sense whatever, but are the work of faith. Thus there can be no excuse for minimizing the great imperatives of the Gospel of Christ on the basis that people are saved by faith, for they are also saved by the work of faith and will be thus judged eternally (Rom. 2:6). People are saved by faith when they believe and obey the Gospel. Titus 3:5 has this: “Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” This passage is frequently cited in support of the view that such acts of obedience as baptism are not necessary, but the specific reference to baptism in the last clauses of that verse proves that the ordinance of baptism, even when submitted to by believers, is not to be considered in any sense a work of human righteousness. On the contrary, it is a work of faith, having been commanded and required of all people by none other than Christ Himself. “Works done in righteousness” is a reference to religious actions outside of God’s commands, that is, to works other than those of faith. To set aside one of Jesus’ own commands on the basis that such is a work of human righteousness is to ignore distinctions made by the holy apostles themselves. Therefore, it is not out of harmony with the true teachings of Scripture to declare that people are saved by faith and that they are also saved by works, or the work of faith. Note the following passages of the Word of God: “If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19:17). “Men and brethren, what shall we do? . . . Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to work” (Phil. 2:12). “Repent and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place” (Rev. 2:6). “Faith without works is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). Then may people trust God, believing in Christ with all their hearts, and obey the Gospel. Even when they have done that, and everything else within their power to do, people do not become their own savior; although, in a sense, those who obey are scripturally said to “save themselves” (Acts 2:40). No amount of righteous living or good works can place God in the position of owing salvation to any person. Salvation is the free gift of Almighty God; but it is also conditional, there being revealed in the New Testament pre-conditions which must be fulfilled by people in order to comply with the terms upon which the free salvation is given. Faith is such a pre-condition; and the obedience of faith is another.
2 Here is another unequivocal declaration of a master principle underlying God’s judgment: God will reward well-doing and punish disobedience. These verses connect closely with Romans 2:6 and show the manner of God’s judging people according to their works. Together, these verses declare dogmatically that well-doers shall inherit eternal life and that the disobedient shall receive wrath and tribulation. We see a definition of eternal life in Romans 2:7. So far as this text shows, eternal life consists of glory, honor, and incorruption – a happy existence in the heavenly kingdom. Eternal life is conditional, for eternal life must be sought by patience and well-doing. In the 8th and 9th verses, Paul affirms that tribulation and anguish will be visited upon those who do evil. If damnation is conditional, then salvation also must be conditional. One cannot be conditional and the other unconditional, if doing wrong causes a person to be lost, then to be saved, he must leave off the wrong and do right. If being lost is conditional, so is being saved. Doing and obeying are made to be the basis of being saved, and obeying not is established as the basis of being lost; and such was no new concept with the apostle Paul. It invariably entered into all his letters. For example, he wrote the Thessalonians: “Rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus, who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thess. 1:7,8). It should be noticed in the above reference that Paul did not set up a special category for disobedient believers, who through faith and nothing but faith would be saved anyway. Nor yet was there provision made for another class of disobedient who had had God’s forensic righteousness transferred to them through faith only.
3 For more on salvation, see God’s Salvation in A Religion Library section of StudyJesus.com
4 This is another principle of judgment: There is no respect of persons with God. This crystal-clear statement of God’s impartiality hardly needs an interpretation. It simply means that God will judge people on the basis outlined in these verses, upon the basis of their deeds, whether good or bad, and not upon the basis of any fancied exemptions. The Jew will not be able to claim exemption on the basis of his descent from Abraham; and the Christian will be unable to claim exemption because he was a member of “good old Mother Church.” As in all the Scriptures, the writings of the apostles complement each other and corroborate the doctrines taught. Thus, Peter’s comment on this same principle is just what one would have expected. He wrote: “Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34,35). Respect of persons ... How reassuring it is to know that God will give just judgment, not after the prejudices of people, but according to truth and righteousness; and, although there is ground here for great assurance, there is likewise the basis of dreadful apprehension, when the essential unworthiness of all flesh in God’s sight is contemplated.
