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Monday 25 June 2012

Romans 2:5-11 - Judgement

Verse 5 applies to all who refuse to repent and turn to Christ. There will come a day when God's righteous judgement is revealed. The full consummation of this will happen when Christ returns, but "mini judgements" happen at various points in history. Things happen that bring to light the sin of man, of organisations, of companies, of nations, even of churches, and judgement is executed. Every single person on this planet is ultimately answerable to God. We also need to remember that we too will have to answer for our actions. Even though we are forgiven in Christ, the New Testament is also clear, including Paul, that we will have to answer for what we have done in life (eg 1 Cor 3:10-15).
Then in verse 7 we get the statement that those who are persistent in doing good will receive eternal life. Is this teaching salvation by works? No, but it does mean what it says. If someone says they believe in Christ but there is no hint of this in their life, then they are a liar or are deceived. Our salvation includes both forgiveness of sins, and being reborn. Repentance means turning from our own way of life to Christ. If someone is self-seeking he will receive God's wrath.
God's judgement is based on truth. So those who do evil, whether Jew or Gentile, will receive trouble and distress, but those who do good will receive glory, honour and peace. There is no favouritism. This passage does give support to the notion that the passage is aimed primarily at the Jews, for they thought they had a privileged position. However, it fits equally well with the idea that the passage is describing how things work in general. For any "model" of how God works that neglects the special place of the Jews is in error.

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