6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. Romans 2:6-11
This is a passage that a lot of people that profess salvation is ‘works based’ will turn to as a support for that stance. Although Scripture everywhere teaches that salvation is not on the basis of works, it consistently teaches that God’s judgement is always on the basis of a person’s deeds. Paul describes the deeds of two distinct groups: the redeemed and the unredeemed.
The deeds of the redeemed are not on the basis of their salvation but the evidence of it. They are not perfect and prone to sin, but there is undeniable evidence of righteousness in their lives. The unredeemed religious person will assert that their salvation is because they ‘do good’ and when they fall, they confess to a priest, ritualistically walk through some atonement exercise, and then go about their way…never having experienced the soul saving action of putting all of their trust in Jesus Christ as their sin bearer. The other type of unredeemed is scarier, this is a person who believes they have ‘believed’ in the Lord Jesus, but their heart was never transformed, and they show very little to no fruit of salvation in their lives following. Even the demons know and believe who Jesus is, but what they don’t do is surrender and put their trust in Him. This is just like the second unredeemed person I just described.
APPLICATION
Discipleship is so important. The evil one would like nothing more than to see everyone have this ‘unredeemed’ version of response to the gospel. Discipleship is an opportunity to connect with and guide people to see that what maybe they thought they have, they don’t have. I love how Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 13:5.
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!