ROMANS CHAPTER 2 VERSES 7-8 MESSAGES IN ROMANS – STRONG DIVISION BETWEEN THE TRUTH AND DISOBEDIENCE (PART 5)
Welcome to the next part of Romans chapter 2. Last time we got to the end of verse 6 and what remains in the Chapter is the division of all human beings into two classes, and then the position of the Jew before God’s scrutiny. Let us begin with verses 7 and 8. We will do just those two verses today.
{{Romans 2:7 “to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life, Romans 2:8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious AND DO NOT OBEY THE TRUTH, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”}}
These two verses portray eternal life and eternal death. It is important that we analyse them because we have to get this correct.
Look carefully at verse 7. In the NIV it reads this way – {{“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life.”}}
Straight away we have a potential problem. We must understand what lies behind verse 7. Just to take the verse at face value means you could go off preaching a gospel of good works for salvation. Being persistent in good works and seeking for eternal life is superficially understood by the verse for salvation, but that would be so wrong.
Paul is very clear that salvation comes through faith and is a free gift as he writes so strongly here – {{Ephesians 2:8-9 “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS, that no one should boast.”}}
We do not need to labour the point about what produces salvation as we all know it is through faith that accepts the free gift and there is no other way to be saved. Verse 7 does not mention faith but speaks of persistence (perseverance) in doing good and seeking for glory and honour and immortality. For the person who thinks doing good is what is required for eternal life, then he and she is wide of the mark and can not claim verse 7 as their position.
Is SEEKING for glory and honour and immortality then wrong if one is unsaved? No it is not. We have a gracious God, and as I understand the word of God, the one who genuinely seeks will not be left destitute. God is not willing that any should perish and I believe He honours the seeking soul. The following verses I believe support that -
(a). {{Deuteronomy 4:29 “but from there you will SEEK THE LORD your God, and you will find Him IF YOU SEARCH FOR HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND ALL YOUR SOUL.”}}
(b). David spoke to Solomon before he died aged 70 – {{1Chronicles 28:9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. IF YOU SEEK HIM, HE WILL LET YOU FIND HIM, but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”}}
(c). {{Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it shall be given to you. SEEK, AND YOU SHALL FIND. Knock, and it shall be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.”}}
Just to end the reward for the seeker we have this – {{John 12:20-24 Now there were certain Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. These therefore came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him saying, “SIR, WE WISH TO SEE JESUS.” Philip came and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip came and they told Jesus, and Jesus answered them saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit.”}}
They sought Jesus and they found Him. It does not seem that they actually met Jesus in person and there is a reason for that I won’t do now. However Jesus gave an answer to their seeking that I am sure would have been relayed to them by Philip. He spoke about the grain of wheat which had its immediate application to the Lord, but then also the application was to these Greeks. They wished to see Jesus; they were seeking Him. What better way to find the Lord than to die to oneself and become alive in the Lord Jesus – the message contained in the grain of wheat. Then you will be with Him forever.
Still staying with Romans 2 verse 7 – here is what I think is really behind this verse and what it means. When a person comes to the Lord Jesus for salvation, he is saved from the penalty of sin and becomes a member of God’s family, that is, a child of God. He is baptised into one Body through the Holy Spirit as Paul explained in 1Corinthians 12:13. He is given a new nature with its new desires and love and obedience and outcomes, even though the awful, old nature remains with us.
The desires we have with the new nature are manifold. We love to be with fellow Christians; we prefer the things of God to the things of the world; the bible becomes a desired book; prayer takes on a new meaning; we want to know Jesus more closely, and so the list goes on.
As part of the new person in Christ Jesus THEN we will consequentially (automatically) seek “perseverance in doing good, seek for glory and honour and immortality” – all those things in our Christian life.
We do good, not for salvation, but to please the Lord. We seek to bring glory to the Lord by what we do, and by what we say, but we all know how we fall short too many times. We also seek the Lord’s honour but work to be honourable ourselves so we have our Saviour’s approval. We do seek immortality. Let me ask you, “Are you looking forward to the Lord’s personal presence, whether by passing through the gateway of death, or by entering the door that is opened in heaven at the Rapture in Revelation 4:1?” I think some in churches love this world too much.
I will also say this. Where is your priority in these things? How does your life measure up? The staggering walker who does not walk properly with the Lord is not too keen to enter into His presence. Did you know there is a special reward for those keenly desiring the coming of the Lord; for those who would love His appearing. This is the verse – {{2Timothy 4:8 “In the future there is laid up for me THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”}}
A week ago I was reminded of a verse that has application here – {{1John 2:28 “Now, little children, abide in Him so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”}}
That is a powerful verse of challenge. The outstanding words here are “confidence, shrink away and shame”. We all need to take account of ourselves, and if we have slipped, that must be rectified. Confidence comes through proper conviction and that stems from knowing God’s approval. Confidence is a growing process of correctness. Confidence combats slackness that will allow us to stand upright before God and not shrink away to hide in shame because we lived a pretty poor life for the blessed Lord.
In Romans 2:7 it begins with the word “perseverance” or “persistence”; “patient continuance” in the AV - the word meaning a joyful endurance and constancy. All those descriptive words just used, ought to be what characterises the Christian life. The true Christian does not start the race and then gives up when it starts to get tough. He is not one who puts his hand to the plough, then at the end of a couple of furrows, gives it away. He is not one who is hot and cold. He endures through the storms and does not lower the flag. Paul likened the Christian life to that of a soldier and tells Timothy/us to fight the good fight.
You will notice verse 7 ends with “eternal life”. Now you must not put the cart before the horse here because perseverance in doing good, and glory, and honour, and immortality, will not lead to eternal life; nor will they gain eternal life. Eternal life is NOT THE OUTCOME of achieving that list of items. Eternal life is the start of the process and then all those items naturally proceed from that as we live the Christian life.
It is hard to understand eternal life. Can you get your mind around a universe that is infinite? It is estimated there are about two trillion galaxies already discovered, our whole Milky Way galaxy being just one of them. We can’t understand that and must honour the infinite God who created an infinite Universe. Eternal life is just the same. We can no more appreciate eternal life and understand it than we can the Universe.
Do you find it surprising that the bible says far more about hell than about heaven and so very little is given to make us understand heaven? I can just pass on to you three verses and you may have more. If you do, share them with me. The three verses I had in mind are these –
(a). {{1John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him just as He is.”}}
(b). {{1Corinthians 2:9 but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.”}}
(c). The third one is not heaven but the eternal New Jerusalem. This is it – {{Revelation 21:4 “and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death. There shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things have passed away.”}}
That is lovely isn’t it, and we don’t want to leave verse 7 but we must. We come to verse 8 – {{Romans 2:8 “but to those who are selfishly ambitious AND DO NOT OBEY THE TRUTH, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”}}
[[In ordinary life great rewards are often garnered by the most undeserving. On certain competitive radio programmes they give large prizes to people who are stupid beyond description, and who in no wise deserve the things they carry off. I once heard with my own ears a quiz master ask a contestant, “At what moment in history did a quarter of the entire population of the earth die when a man killed his brother?” The person who was supposed to answer had been so flippant with wise cracks a few moments before, that it was impossible to change his stupidity when questioned. He hummed and hared while the questioner filled in the awkward silence with such clues as, “Cain’t you tell? Are you Abel? And when the dimwit suddenly cried out, “Oh . . . when Cain killed Abel,” the crowd broke into a roar of applause and the pleased moron received a diamond ring, the watch, the washing machine, and a trip to Hollywood. And do you think for one moment that there was any relationship whatsoever between the reward he received and the stupidity he had exhibited? No. It is impossible to deduce merit from reward. (Donald Grey Barnhouse)]]
Paul lists three actions of the wicked in this verse. The first is “selfish ambition” (NASB); “self-seeking” (Strong’s, Holman, NIV, ESV); “contentious” (AV). Self-seeking has always been prominent in all human beings. It is called “Looking after number 1,” that is, looking after yourself to the detriment of others. Human beings are inherently selfish creatures, a quality evolutionists call “survival of the fittest.” We know it to be sin. You don’t have to look hard to see this everywhere. It revolves around what you can get for yourself by fair means or foul. It is all part of the fallen human nature and will remain on earth until the new heavens and the new earth wherein will dwell righteousness.
The word “ambitious” in the NASB is also on the mark. Ambition is a grave motivator of all sorts of sin. We see it particularly in politics and the workplace. Decent people are undermined, slandered, cheated on, cut out of deals, etc. It is far worse today than it was when I was young. I find it hard to trust people and not be left stranded. You can trust people less and less. It is symptomatic of our age.
The second expression mentioned in verse 8 is the most important of the three. It is “do not obey the truth”. The two aspects of those words are obedience and truth. What was the great failure of Adam and Eve? Simply, it was disobedience. Saul disobeyed in the time of Samuel. Disobedience is what turns men and women from God and breaks the bond of connection. The same happens for Christians also because obedience breaks fellowship and results in failure.
Obedience is one thing but Paul connects disobedience to the truth and this is a critical part. The Lord Jesus Christ is THE TRUTH and without Him there is no real truth. He put His finger on this matter when He said, {{John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, AND DOES NOT STAND IN THE TRUTH BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUTH IN HIM. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”}}
The bible is clear about the strong division that exists in this world such as light and darkness; truth and error; righteousness and wickedness; good and bad, and so many more. There are only two paths; two journeys and two destines. If one does not belong to Christ he belongs to the devil. That is clear cut. The devil hates truth so all his followers hate the truth. The unconverted man and woman can not walk according to truth. God’s word is truth so when the truth is rejected, then it is supplanted by error. The world has rejected the truth of God and is going to reap the consequences of its rejection.
[[The unsaved person may think that there is no unrighteousness in his life but that is because he is measuring himself with his own yardstick. I once heard of a small boy who had heard the story of David and Goliath in Sunday School. The next day he came into the room where his mother was sewing and said, “Mother I am just as tall as a Goliath. I am 9 nine feet high.” The mother smiled and asked him how he found that out. He pulled a short stick from behind his back and held it up saying, “I made myself a yardstick. There are 3 feet in a yard and I am 3 yards high, so I am 9 feet high.” Without hesitating for a moment on the question of the lad’s faulty knowledge of arithmetic, let me state he is more guilty than was the boy. The boy had the simplicity of childhood and the ignorance of life to give some justification to his error and I am sure he was met with a smile and a hug from his fond mother who explained to him that a yardstick could not just be made by anybody at his own whim. But people keep on making yardsticks at their own whim.]]
The third measure of the unsaved man is his obedience to unrighteousness. The NIV just puts it as “follow evil” which is actually “follow wickedness”. There is a verse in Isaiah I have quoted often and again I will do so. {{Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!”}}
The unconverted man who thinks his path is correct, does not view following wickedness as wickedness. He thinks he is right in what he does but it is sin that does the leading. He walks in step with the devil but thinks he walks in light. The whole lot is a sad situation but man does not want to hear or understand. Only the Holy Spirit can break through.
Verse 8 ends with the final outlook for those not in Christ - the disobedient and the truth haters and the lovers of wickedness. It is an awful end. The various translations use “wrath and indignation”; “wrath and fury”. It will be God’s anger against sin, the wrath of God for all eternity. It is horrible. {{Ezekiel 22:31 “Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord GOD.”}}
We will end there with these two verses of the greatest contrast. May the Lord draw near to us in comfort and secure in us His great promises but also make us aware of the needy, the ones who need to be saved.
PART 6 WILL FOLLOW
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
