Remembering Romans 2:6

Romans 2:6, “Who will render to every man according to his deeds”, is one of the most important, yet mostly ignored verses in the Book of Romans.  I remember an encounter with this verse in a Bible Study in Boston where I was an invited guest.  Things were getting uncomfortable as we moved through this chapter, reading about the judgment of God falling upon hypocritical believers, and how we store up wrath for ourselves when we are stubborn and unrepentant before God.  Then reading verse 6, it summarizes what has been said and introduces further principles of judgment – detailing glory, honor, and immortality for doing good, and wrath, indignation, and tribulation for doing evil.  Suddenly the host broke the tension by saying, “Don’t worry, grace is coming!” referring to Romans 3:21ff. I have heard people refer to Romans chapter 2 as a “Flyover” chapter because leaders hurry through the material to get to the “good stuff.”  As a result, important concepts about no partiality with God (vs. 11), Paul introducing justification by works (vs 13), God seeing and judging our deepest secrets (vs. 16), and how believers’ actions blaspheme the reputation of God among non-believers–all get short-changed.  It’s as if nothing matters for our Christian walk once we fully realize that we have been saved by grace.  The rest of the chapter says that circumcision, and by implication, baptism, is worthless if we don’t practice the Law and that is something that further encourages us to say, “Don’t worry, grace is coming!” To say this, is the wrong approach to the important theological truths being introduced in Romans...

Biblical Success

Purpose seems to be largely made up of two questions: Why I exist (noun)? and What is my objective (verb)?  Success is determined by whether or not I accomplish these things. If success is determined by whether or not purpose is accomplished, then purpose drives success.  And therefore, being Biblically successful means determining a Biblical purpose and executing on it. In examining my existence, I ask, why am I here?  Romans 8:28-30 tells us a bit about God’s purpose, His purpose for us, and why we exist.  While the emphasis in these verses has nothing to do with anything we do, the elect are on some level Biblically successful in that they exist for His purposes.  We are called, foreknown, predestined, conformed, called, justified, and glorified.  This is all certainly part of our purpose; because of what He has done we can exist with a very Biblical purpose; for Him and His purposes.  This is why we exist. Being Biblically successful also means accomplishing our aim or purpose, and that the objective of that purpose was Biblical.  Therefore, in addition to existing for Him, I must also determine for myself Biblical intentions and objectives. These intentions and objectives are revealed in Scripture.  He enables us to understand this revelation, to get to know Him, and frame up what He wants from us.  There are many ways to say this, and many synonyms for the following words, but the Bible seems to indicate our intentions and objectives ought to focus on: holiness, ministry, and profit. We ought to be determined to conduct ourselves in holiness (2Corinthians 1:12), ‘put on’ holiness...