Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Romans. Tonight is study #13 of Romans 2, and we are continuing to read Romans 2:6-11:

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.

In this passage, where God is speaking of the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, we are not surprised to read that God will render or repay every man “according to his deeds,” and the Greek word translated as “deeds” is also translated as “works.” So it is according to man’s works.

Then we read in Romans 2:7:

To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

The word “well” can be translated as “good,” and “doing” is that word “works,” so it is literally saying, “…who by patient continuance in good works seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.”

On the other hand it says in Romans 2:8:

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;

What kind of evil? Evil works. We see this in several places in the Bible where the Lord is sitting as Judge, and all come before Him, and that judgment process is to determine whether a man’s work is good or evil. We see it in 2Corinthians 5:10:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

The elect appear to receive the things done in the body, the works that we have done while we have lived on the earth in our physical bodies. What is the character of the work? What are the nature of the works? Have they been good or evil?

Now some people might think, “Well, it is a mixed bag because there have been both evil and good works.” Most people would say they are mostly good, and less evil. But when God is looking at an individual, He is looking in the overall sense of whether that person has done “good works” or “evils works,” and we can understand why that is because the Word of God tells us that even if we could keep the whole Law…and just to biblically define what a “good work” is, it is to obey God’s commandment. It is to hearken to and to do the will of God. A “work” can be defined as actively obeying the commandments of God, and failing to do so is an evil work. In James, we are told that if a person were to keep the whole Law and yet, offend in one point, He has broken the whole Law of God. And, yes, that would be a “mixture of good and bad,” and man would say, “Well, 99% of the time this man did good works.” And according to man’s evaluation, this man should certainly enter into the kingdom of God. He should be found to be a righteous man, and an overall good man. “But nobody’s perfect,” they would say. But he did offend, and let us read it just to make sure I have said it right. It says in James 2:8:

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

You see, the command is to “love thy neighbour as thyself,” and if you do it, you have done well. You have done a good work. Then it goes on to say in James 2:9-11:

But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.

It is very strict. It is very simple to understand. God has set a Law, and one transgression of that Law brings upon the transgressor its “wage,” and “the wages of sin is death,” and he will die. There is no argument. There is no basis to dispute and argue it by saying, “But I have kept all the other Laws.” That would be like someone going before a judge, and he has been found guilty of murder, but he tries to argue, “But in my whole life, I have not stolen anything committed adultery or lied.” But the judge will say, “Well, that is fine, but you are guilty of murder, and you are a lawbreaker, and now you must pay the penalty.”

And the penalty the Bible requires for every transgression and breaking of a commandment of God is death. That applied to Adam and Eve: “…for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Dying, they would die. And their sin was not murder. You know, man has his own laws, and man’s law is “soft” because man knows deep down that he is a lawbreaker, so he tries to make it easy on the offender. And now it is getting easier and easier. There is hardly ever a death penalty for murder anymore, and sometimes they may get twenty years, rather than life in prison. That is the nature of man. He really does not understand judgment and righteousness and the standard of law. But God does, and He upholds His righteous standard, and does not bend it or soften it because that would be unjust. If God says, “The wages of sin is death,” and then someone commits sin, but does not receive the wage the Law stipulated, it is an unrighteous Law. It is unjust. Then someone else comes along and they apply it to him – that is what people in the world do because they are respecters of persons. God’s Laws are applied equally to all mankind. Breaking one Law of God will make a person an offender and guilty of all the Law, then we can know absolutely, when we read Romans 2 or 2Corinthians 5 where this idea comes to the surface, that no man, of his own merit, could be blameless. Again, we read in Romans 2:7-10:

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:

Again, it is impossible for any person to be judged and searched by the gaze of God as He searches the heart and not be found guilty of at least one sin. The Bible says, “None are righteous, no not one,” and “There is none that doeth good, no, not one,” and “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” And this means that when God speaks of giving glory, honor, and peace to every man that works good, it cannot be a result of that man’s works. There would be none. No one would receive the reward of eternal life and immortality. No one would receive these blessings of God, but we know that some do. But the great majority do not. And we understand why so many are found to have been engaged in evil works of unrighteousness. That is the nature of man.

But we wonder, “What about these few that are found to have done good works?” And we do not read this only in this passage, but it says in Matthew 7:21-23:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Not every that sayeth, “Lord, Lord.” We are also Christians that say, “Lord, Lord,” but there are those professed Christians that are putting forth their works before the Lord: “You say it is the one who does your will. Lord, Lord, look, I have done your will. I have prophesied. I have cast out devils and done many wonderful works in your name.” But Christ will say, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” And, perhaps, they had done some good works, but it is like the fly in the ointment of the apothecary – one sin ruins it all. And, of course, people have many more than one sin. They are sinners, and it is impossible to get right with God by doing good works if you have committed just a single sin. If you committed one sin as a child, and then you grew up to do every good work imaginable, you are still a lawbreaker and a sinner. God’s righteous Law requires payment for that sin, and the payment is death, and you must pay. That is why no one is justified by the works of the Law in the sight of God.

How then can someone be saved? It is by the faith of Christ. That is how a man or woman is justified, and it is not the individual’s works, but it is the work of Christ performed at the foundation of the world. In James 2, we read of Abraham, and it says in James 2:20-24:

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

That would seem to be a huge contradiction with Galatians 2:15: “No man is justified by the works of the law.” But God just said, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” Oh, the Lord did not make it easy for the reader for the Bible. No wonder there were some that wanted to rip the book of James out of the New Testament because it seemed like it was such a blatant contradiction of what we read in Romans of being “justified by faith.” And the cry of the Reformation was, “Justification by faith alone,” but it says here, “…by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” And this statement must be reconciled with the rest of the Bible, or we cannot have truth. We cannot ignore it and act as if James 2:24 is not in the Bible, and then hope no one ever brings it up. We must reconcile and harmonize it with Galatians 2:16 and other Scriptures that absolutely declare that man cannot be justified by works.

And there is only one solution, and that solution is that our father Abraham was justified by the work of Christ when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar. In other words, the faith and work of Christ was applied to Abraham, and he was already born again at this time when God told him to take his son, his only son, and to offer him for an offering. Abraham obeyed and took his son, but he was not justified by his work of offering Isaac. He was justified by the work of Christ. I have said this before, and it helps me to understand this, and I hope it will help you. It was such a grand thing that Abraham did. It was such an incredible act of faith and trust in God to take his son and be willing to slay him and offer him up to God. It was such a tremendous act of faith that people are blinded by it, and they do not see what God is doing, and that is the trap that the Lord has laid. But to understand what is really being said, let us apply a more ordinary “work” that people do every day. God could have written the verse this way: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he saddled his ass and packed his lunch?” And people would say, “What are you talking about? What was the good work in saddling his ass and packing his lunch?” There is none. But, you see, the “work” that justified him had nothing to do with him anyway, and it could have applied to any child of God. And that is why God goes on to speak of Rahab the harlot, likewise, being justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way.

So, again, the Lord takes a “snapshot” in the life of someone He has saved, and in salvation, that person has become justified by the work of Christ. And then He just says, “At this point in time, when she did this…” And, again, it was an act of faith, so people get enamored and caught up with the act (work) itself, rather than the careful language that God has used.

And it could also apply to Sarah this way: “Was Abraham’s wife Sarah not justified by works when she did the dishes and took out the trash?” It does not matter what follows after the point of salvation, because after God has saved someone, He has justified them by the work of Christ and you can finish that statement with any work they did in their life from the point they were saved. It could be you, or me, or anyone who has become saved: “Was not Bob justified by works when he painted his house, changed the oil in his car, or mowed the grass?” Yes, they were justified by the work of Christ.

Do you see how the Lord wrote the Bible in an extremely difficult way? Certainly, if there was ever a trap to snare someone into a wrong understanding and into a gospel of works, it would be to think there is some contribution a person can make to his salvation. And here it is in the book of James, regarding Abraham and Rahab, and regarding the language we read in Matthew 7.

Also, in Revelation 2 where it refers to the righteous remaining righteous still, and so forth, we read in Revelation 2:12-14:

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

The word “give” is the word “render” that we saw in Romans 2. Now someone could make a case for “works” here, just like people that look for verses that seem to teach “free will” and verses that seem to indicate that someone can be saved by accepting Christ and through their own belief. And someone could make a similar case that you can get into heaven and have a right to the tree of life because you have obeyed God and done good works and kept His commandments. After all, there it is: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

These verses scream out for the doctrine of harmonizing the Bible, but some people are content not to do that when they find a verse that they like: “The Bible tells me to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, so I will believe and then I know am saved.” And that fits in with this idea of “works,” because faith is a work. There are others that just like the idea of doing good works. I do not know why they would cling to that because we are sinners, and they must be blind to the true nature of man’s heart. But some people like that idea, and they can string together a bunch of verses. But, again, there are many verses that say just the opposite: “No man is justified by the works of the law;” or the verse that says, “ For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” These are apparently opposing declarations from the Word of God and yet, they are not in opposition. They do fit together. What we must realize is that when God saves someone, He gives them a new heart and a new spirit, and in that new heart and spirit, we are without sin. And to be without sin means that we are obedient to God. We are keeping the commandments of God. We are in accord with the Law. This is what God has done for us in salvation, and from that point, it could be said, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” God moves within us to will and to do of His good pleasure (or to keep His commandments). And that is what all these verses have in view. It is actually looking at someone after they have become saved and the Lord has made that change in our soul, giving us life and perfection in our souls. And now, even the sins in the flesh have been paid for, and God does not see any iniquity of any kind upon us. What He sees are the good works, without exception.

Of course, when we do sin after salvation, that sin, too, is paid for, and it is cast into the sea, as far as the east is from the west, and it is gone forever, never to be brought to mind. God does not see it as He sits as Judge and looks for the good and evil. When an elect child of God is before Him, He only sees the good. He only sees the new operation of the heart that has been instilled within us. We are new creatures, and He does not observe any iniquity. Therefore, there is “glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.”

We will talk about that verse more another time, regarding why God says that a couple of times in this passage. But it was important for us to get clarity regarding how God is judging. He does not see the sin of the elect as we all make our appearance before the judgment seat of Christ. This is the reason we will endure. We will “stand” throughout, and we will abide until the last day, and then the judgment will be passed: “I find no fault in them.” There are those that will have done well: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”