5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:
7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life;
8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.
9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,
10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
11 For there is no partiality with God.
In this paragraph, ch. 2:5-11, Paul further develops the idea that we are not as good as we think we are. He posits there are people who seek to do good things. There are people who do not. Both will be rewarded for their actions - positive consequences for those who want to do good; negative consequences for those who search after evil. I think he is not referring to salvation here, but setting up the conclusion that all are sinners in the sight of God.
Vs. 5 - “because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart” - Stubbornness. This is on you, not on God. In the book of Job, we see the discussion: "For has anyone said to God, 'I have borne chastisement; I will not offend anymore; Teach me what I do not see; If I have done iniquity, I will not do it again'?” (Job 34:31-32) The speaker in this passage, Elihu, is saying that almost no one willingly acknowledges to God they deserve the punishment they are receiving. Who asks God to show them the correct way to live, and will follow that teaching? Almost no one. We usually say we don’t deserve this judgement.
The conversation continues: "Shall He recompense on your terms, because you have rejected it? For you must choose, and not I; Therefore declare what you know.” (Job 34:33) Since you have rejected God’s message intended to draw you back to Him, do you expect Him to judge you based on your standards. You need to decide if you accept God’s corrective guidance. I can’t make that decision for you.
“storing up wrath” - Without repentance there is no escape. (John 3:36; Psa. 73:15, 16) We are judged based on our sin and our behavior. When Jesus Christ came into the world, that metric changed.
Now we are judged based on one thing, and one thing only: Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? (Rev. 20:11-15)
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. (Acts:16:31)
The next six verses, 6-11, are a chiastic form (in essence, the verses are arranged in a big X - the beginning and ending both point to the middle or center. For example: a, b, c, c, b, a.
The sentences in verses 6 and 11 are related to the meting out of judgement.
Verses 7 and 10 are about the rewards for those who do good.
In the center, verses 8 and 9 deal with what happens to those who practice evil.
The emphasis is not on nationality, ethnic group, or economic status, but on the individual. Each person is judged alone. Your father or mother are not going to receive punishment for your behavior. You will take no hits because of your brother or sister. All will be judged by God based on His standard, not ours. There are no rationalizations, no easy outs.
***Vs. 6 - “who will render to each person...” - This is a line taken from Psa 62:12 and Pro 24:12. The verse in Proverbs is interesting, because people are saying, “We didn’t know!” God’s response is (paraphrased...) “Come on! Really?! You don’t think that God sees all and knows all - including your moral condition - hasn’t taken into account what drives you to act?” He knows your heart. He knows your soul. He takes that into account when judging your actions.
Vs. 7 - “eternal life” - Referring back to verse 6, eternal life will be made available to each person work at finding and living in honor, glory and doing good.
Vs. 8 - “wrath and indignation” - Referring back to verse 6: on the other hand, if you are overly selfish, and reject truth, and would rather guide your life by unrighteous principles, wrath and indignation await you. It is not that you will be indignant because of what is happening. Indignities will be unloaded upon you - you get this in “the old fashioned way, you earned it.” (From an old investment firm advertisement.)
Vs. 9 - “tribulation and distress for every soul” - Another way of saying “wrath and tribulation”. Obeying unrighteousness (v. 8) is equated with doing evil (v. 9). Wrath, tribulation and distress go hand-in-hand with doing evil. There is no way for you to pay for your evil.
Vs. 10 - “glory and honor and peace” - This verse echoes verse 7, above. Those who do good, who seek to do good, will be showered with immortality and peace, glory and honor.
I am fairly sure this section is not referring to salvation, but rewards (both positive and negative rewards) based on our deeds. Christians will be judged and rewarded by Christ based on how they have lived their Christian lives. They are saved, and this judgement does not take that away. (See: 2 Cor. 5:10). At the end of time, when all come before God, those whose names are not in Lamb’s Book of Life will be judged and rewarded for their deeds - and then cast into the lake of fire! (See: Rev. 20:11ff)
Vs. 11 - “there is no partiality with God” - There are two types of people: Jews and Gentiles. In the previous two verses, either tribulation or honor comes to both Jews and Greeks. The gospel went to the Jews in Jerusalem first, then the Samaritans (who could claim Jewish heritage, since they were descendants of the ten northern tribes.They were at least 1/1024th Jewish), and to the rest of the world - Gentiles. (See: Acts 1:8) If the gospel and salvation was presented to the Jews first, perhaps judgement comes to them first also.
I need to amend my initial statement in the previous paragraph. There are four types of people: Jews, Christian Jews, Gentiles, and Christian Gentiles. (So, maybe only two, after all - Christians and non-Christians.) God’s partiality doesn’t change - no favorites played here.
There is one criteria: Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior?
The answer is binary. Yes, or No. You must decide, not I.
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