But because of your stubbornness and
unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteousness judgment of God, who will render to each person
according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for
glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly
ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath an
indignation. (Rom 2:5-8 NASB)
Against
those who claim that Rom 2:5-8 is merely hypothetical and Paul is not
teaching our works will, in some way, determine our eternal destination (not
heavenly rewards merely), Matthew
Bates writes:
Paul repeatedly says good works will determine final salvation on the day of judgment.
We cannot ignore these texts . . . One attempt to avoid works as fundamentally
saving is to suggest that Paul was just speaking hypothetically in Romans 2:5-8 in order to encourage the helpless
sinner flee to Jesus. Paul says that God will repay each according to his or her
own works. But if God were actually to do this, all would be condemned because
all our deeds are imperfect. Therefore, Go will not do this. It’s hypothetical
. . . On the surface this hypothetical solution sounds plausible. But accepting
it is a dangerous theological gambit. The
hypothetical solution takes Paul to be saying the opposite of what he actually
says . . . 1. Immediate context. There is nothing in
the immediate context of Romans 2 to suggest that Paul is speaking
hypothetically. In fact there is evidence that he is not doing so in 2:25-29 (see below). It is true that the none-are-righteous
overarching context of Romans 1:18-3:20 must be considered as interpreting 2:5-16,
but it is not true that this uniquely favors
the hypothetical solution, because other solutions are possible. The
even-nearer context in Romans 2 must be prioritized, and it points at life in the Spirit, making this the more
probable overall solution.
2. Not
marked as hypothetical. Elsewhere in Romans, Paul marks his statements that are not to
be taken at face value. For example, in Romans 3:5 he says, “I speak in a human
way” (see also Rom. 6:19). But he does not do this in 2:5-8, nor should we
pretend that he has. We must take seriously Paul’s statement that each will be
judged for eternal life according to (and on the basis of) works (2:5-8) an will
be justified on the basis of law-doing (v. 13)
3. Positive
verdict. Paul speaks
of the possibility of both a positive and
a negative verdict in Romans 2:5-16. If Paul were speaking hypothetically only
about the grim prospect of condemnation by works so as to motivate us to flee
to Jesus, we would expect him to speak only of a guilty verdict against all
humanity—because that is the only possibility. But Paul indicates that the judgment
can go either way. Why would Paul announce a possible positive verdict—“God will render to each one according to his [or
her] works: to those who by steadfastness in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life” (Rom. 2:6-7 AT)-in the
judgment according to deeds if he is really trying to tell everyone that only a
guilty negative verdict can result?
The hypothetical solution cannot account for a possible positive verdict, but
the life-in-the-Spirit solution can.
4. The Holy
Spirit empowers good works. The Holy Spirit empowers holy living. Paul says in near context
(Rom. 2:25-29) and later on in the letter (Rom. 8:1-4, 12-13) that the Holy
Spirit enables us to perform good deeds and fulfill the law in the Christ. “A
Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His
praise is not from man but from God” (2:29). Such a person is praised by God
when judged because he “completes [telousa] the law” (2:27 AT). Note the
connection to Romans 2:13: “It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before
God, but the doers of the law who
will be justified.” In both cases doing or completing the law results in
righteousness or praise before God. Thus we are encouraged to see the Holy
Spirit as the key in both. A better solution than the merely hypothetical lies
ready at hand in Romans 2 itself. Good
works are saving when they are part of faith because the Holy Spirit empowers
us to perform them. (Matthew W. Bates, Gospel
Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ [Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2019], 183, 185, 188-89, italics in original)
