Romans 2:10-11
Romans 2:10-11 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. (11) For God shows no partiality.
In the photo above, there is glory and honor for all these students who successfully finished the work requirements for their diplomas. In a like manner, Paul asserts in verses 6-10 that eternal life will be rewarded to all whose works pass God’s standard and wrath for those who do not meet this standard. While most assume that verses 7 and 10 refer to the improved works of regenerated believers in Christ and verses 8 and 9 refer to the works of unbelievers, the immediate context, as well as Biblical truths revealed elsewhere, indicate that not a single human being in the history of the world has ever met God’s standard of righteousness in and of themselves even after regeneration. Therefore, no human being has ever met the standard of good that Paul is referring to in verse 10, and no one will receive eternal life based on their own works. Paul is simply stating two important truths in verses 7 through 10. First, if anyone ever did meet God’s perfect standard for doing good, he would give them eternal life with or without the Law. Second, since no one ever has met or is capable of meeting this standard, mankind has a huge problem that the Law of Moses can never solve. God does not show partiality and the Law does not give the Jews any advantage in receiving eternal life. Paul explains here what he later says clearly in Romans 3:10 and Romans 3:20. In these two passages he says there is none righteous and that no one will be justified through works of the law.
In the bad news that Paul covers in Romans 1:18 through Romans 3:20, Paul is asserting that man cannot look inward for the righteousness required to stand before God justified and receive eternal life. The message is to abandon all hope for human works, either through the Law or without the law, to aid in making a person right with God. Praise God that the good news of the gospel gives human beings a way to be made right with God and Paul explains it beginning in Romans 3:21.
5 comments:
Hey Jazzy,
Just thought I'd say hi. Yeah, I'm still around. Glad to see you're still plugging away.
Hope the New Year has been good for you so far.
I don't suppose you are terribly happy about tomorrow's events in D.C. I must admit (no surprise) that I'm pretty happy about it all.
I truly hope our new Pres proves his naysayers wrong. Considering our current state of affairs, we really need him to succeed. It's beyond politics.
Hope you are well.
BTW - Rupture is still around, but I've been posting most everything on a new, less contentious site. I was getting tired of arguing with people. Of course, no one visits my new digs, but, that's okay.
Terry S.
Terry,
Good to hear you are O.K. I certainly hope for the best as well. However, prosperity does not come from a bankrupt federal government intervening and bailing out a never ending list of industries and "spreading the wealth around".
The first domino in this situation was caused by the government forcing lending institutions to loan money to people who couldn't pay it back. I will let you guess which party was responsible for that. However, there is much blame to go around......
That is why I try to keep my eyes on the eternal things and spiritual things. The peace and joy I get from this solid rock makes the foolish and temporary things of this world insignificant.
I will check out your new site.
Jazzy,
I won't get into the right or left of things here. Suffice it to say that, as I see it, there is plenty of blame to go around.
I have turned much of my attention to producing what I hope will be a rather elaborate video/slide show history of my wife's large Italian family.
It has involved a good deal of geneological research, studying Italian, Sicilian and American history, finding and studying hundreds of photos, learning how to use different software - Photoshop, etc., and communicating with a lot of people. I find this more interesting and rewarding than dueling with people on line about religion and politics.
I still offer my two cents worth at Blog Critics Magazine, but I'm not nearly so vehement about things as I was even a year ago.
Of course, I count as my biggest disappointment my failure to lure you back across the aisle. C'est la vie!
I'll check out your other sites later. I have a bit of work to tend to in the mean time.
Stay well.
Terry S.
Wayne,
Many say that the Puritans spent too much time on the "bad news" and the law and not enough time on the good news. Maybe they are right. Who am I to judge. But I have watched American Christianity slowly change the message over my 35 years of ministry. Why are Christians surprised that people are not turning to Christ when they have removed any reason to turn to Christ from the message? Why would the gospel be "good news" if there is no need for salvation? If people don't know they are in danger, why would they look for rescue?
We don't have to preach hellfire and brimstone in order to be faithful to the message of the kingdom. But the gospel includes repentance and if there is no mention of sin, there is no need for repentance.
Sorry. I got to preaching there for a second.
Dave,
Thanks! I agree with preaching the bad news and repentence. I do not agree with preaching law and law-keeping as per the teachings of Galatians and Hebrews. Since the NT tells us in many places that the Old Covenant is obsolete and to worship in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
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