God Will Render to Each According to His Works (Romans 2:7–10)

Rom. 2:7. To those who by patience in good work seek glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life

At the judgment each will be repaid according to his deeds. To whom what? To the righteous—paradise; to sinners—hell. He places the recompense of the righteous first, so as to give thought a consoling subject and somewhat to soften the threatening speech that he has been conducting and will conduct further. “Having said that the Lord will render to each, he began with the reward of the good, thus making his speech pleasant” (Blessed Theophylact). “In discourse about judgment and future punishment, being harsh and stern, the Apostle does not at once depict punishment as one should expect, but turns his speech to something more pleasant, to the reward of the good” (Holy Chrysostom).

To those who by patience in good work seek glory, honor, and incorruptibility, God will give eternal life. — “By patience in good work”. Good work means both each good deed as it comes, and good-doing in general, or a virtuous and holy life. With such a life patience is so essentially connected that without it one cannot take a single step. Patience is necessary at the beginning, in the course, and at the end, both of each deed and of all life. Everywhere there is required a straining of powers always ready to fall, an overcoming of obstacles within and without, devising of means and putting them into action. All of this cannot be sustained without patience. Patience is the substrate (foundation) of holy and God-pleasing life. This is why Holy Paul, passing over other connections of good work with saving life, mentioned only patience. For when it is present, then all is present: there is zeal, there is attention to every opportunity for good that arises, there is the determination rather to die than to neglect anything of the good set before us, and still more to permit anything contrary to it. Therefore patience in good work can mean steadfastness in good works or in good and holy life.

“Seeking glory, honor, and incorruptibility”. To seek glory is glory-seeking; to seek honor is honor-seeking. Both of these are not good impulses; how then eternal life for them? The seeking of glory and honor, when it is directed toward the vain and transient, human glory and honor that feed human self-centeredness, gives birth to vices: glory-seeking and honor-seeking. But when it is directed toward eternal glory and honor with God in the Kingdom of Heaven, then it does not give birth to vices but to good dispositions, which lead to good deeds that do not feed the self but require self-denial. To desire and seek that glory and honor, one must deny oneself and all that is high and exalted on earth and descend to the most humble and debased lot—cast away what is before one’s eyes and seize what is invisible and to the mind unknown. Between here and there is a whole abyss. How to cross it and who will carry us across? However this may be accomplished, it is evident that this is a great struggle. For one who seeks that which is there is wholly there in heart and mind, though visibly he remains here. The future goods are embraced by hope. But hope cannot be established without love; for it is strong only in that it is placed on the beloved and the loving one. And love cannot be born without faith; for only faith introduces into the contemplation of the beloved. Thus, the seeking of glory, honor, and incorruptibility has a high spiritual perfection, to which, inasmuch as it is such, eternal life must belong: for it already breathes it.

There will be glory and honor; but no one will be occupied with them. There will be a glorious and most honorable state: human nature itself will become glorious and honorable; but the attention of those possessing it will be taken up with something else—something higher, the contemplation of God, who is all-blessed and all-blissful. And here, on earth, those who seek what is there yearn for it; but their attention is not directed to it but to what leads to it reliably—to holy and God-pleasing life and to every kind of labor which is required for achieving such a goal. Therefore one can say that in their yearning they have inexpressible future goods, without defining them by any particular feature. But the Apostle calls them glory, honor, and incorruptibility, borrowing features from what is great among men, not depicting their essence, but teaching them to foresee the greatness through a certain hint. Holy Chrysostom says: “Note that when speaking of the future, the Apostle himself is not able to depict all the goods, but speaks of glory and honor. Since these goods surpass all human things and there is nothing on earth that could serve as their likeness, the Apostle, as best he can, explains through comparison with what is esteemed among us as brilliant—with glory, honor, and life, for these are most desired by men. But in reality the heavenly goods are not like that, but, being incorruptible and immortal, are incomparably more excellent.”

Thus: “seeking glory, honor, and incorruptibility”—means the same as seeking heavenly goods. — And that God will give them eternal life means that God will enrich them with these goods. The whole passage can be expressed thus: to those who, having resolved to live in a holy and God-pleasing manner, patiently and steadfastly go on this good path, being inspired by the hope of a future most radiant state, God will give eternal life—will let them eternally taste the inexpressible heavenly goods. Here the Apostle “both showed the labors of virtue and showed the crowns. By the words: ‘by patience in good work’—the labors are meant. For one must endure and make progress in virtue, and thus await its crowns. But labor is temporal, while the gain is eternal” (Blessed Theodoret). “To those, he says, who seek honor, glory, and incorruptibility and never let them out of their thoughts, God will give in the resurrection eternal life. How then are future glory, honor, and incorruptibility gained? By steadfastness in good work. For one steady in good work and firmly standing against every temptation truly gains both glory and honor and immortality or the enjoyment of incorruptible goods in an incorruptible body” (Blessed Theophylact).

Rom. 2:8. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath and fury

“Just as in one group of people God promised those goods not simply to anyone nor to those who do not practice virtue with effort, but to those resolved to bear its labors; so too regarding vice he issues such threats not to those who by some circumstance stumbled into vice, but to those giving themselves over to vice with great zeal” (Blessed Theodoret). “Selfishly ambitious”, έριθεία,—zealousness, by which all efforts are employed so that someone does not get ahead of one. “Zeal, effort; with zeal—with effort” (Blessed Theophylact). Active effort proceeds from strong desire; and that comes from love of the desired; and love means wholehearted devotion. Thus, zeal here means willing love and earnest devotion to a life contrary to truth and good—enslavement to passions.

“With zeal they resist the truth”. When someone wants to hold another back, and that one strains to slip out of his hands, evidently this latter resists the former. God’s truth, calling us to faith and virtue, restrains the impulses of our empty wisdom and our vicious desires. Whoever stands in truth, loving it with all his soul, resists these impulses; but whoever yields to them and follows them resists truth, wrests himself from its hands, says to it: Go away, I do not wish to know your ways. In this straining for freedom from the empty wisdom and desires of his own lies the essence of a life opposed to God, in sin and passions. Though it is slavery in essence, the slave through self-deception thinks he stands on the rights of freedom and fancies it for himself, looking down from above at those devoted to virtue as lowly slaves not daring to have their own opinion or permit themselves any free action. Here truth can mean any truth—both that which determines faith and that which prescribes a good life. In that case righteousness too will mean all righteousness—both that required of the mind and that required of the heart. But by the course of the discourse it will be nearer to understand here active truth—the same as righteousness. For both before and after the Apostle speaks of righteous life and that opposite to it.

When the Apostle says: “resist the truth”,—he makes understood that they know truth as truth and consciously resist it. And when he says: “obey unrighteousness”,—he makes understood that they know unrighteousness as unrighteousness and consciously obey it. How they know both, he explains below: their conscience teaches them. And that such action contrary to conscience is possible we all know from ourselves. Holy Chrysostom says: “By the word: ‘with zeal’—the Apostle proves that they fell into vices through stubbornness and heedlessness. But see, there is yet another charge against them: ‘they resist the truth—they obey unrighteousness!’ What excuse can one have who flees from light and loves darkness? The Apostle did not say: those who are compelled and suffer violence, but: those who ‘obey’ unrighteousness,—thus making known that their fall and transgression is not from necessity but from choice.”

“Wrath and fury”. If before “eternal life” we are to understand: he will give—then here too the same can be understood. In that case by the words: “wrath and fury”—we must understand a state opposite to eternal life, or the totality of eternal unbearable torments. And without: he will give—one can thus read: and to these—wrath and fury. Wrath and fury properly express God’s rejection: “Depart from me” (Matt. 7:23). This rejection in itself is the most fearful punishment; but following it are enhanced by the soul’s torments that follow and bodily tortures. The Apostle wanted to make understood by these words that those enslaved to unrighteous desires and passions await the uttermost torments. For it is customary for one who burns with wrath and fury to wish on the angry one the uttermost evil.

Rom. 2:9. Tribulation and distress upon every human soul that works evil, both of the Jew first and of the Greek

Once more he repeats what he has already said, confirming it as if: Yes, so it will be and otherwise it cannot be. He wishes to imprint more forcefully that truth, that there will be a judgment and at it everyone will give an account of his deeds and receive corresponding recompense. Only a small nuance in this depiction is observed in that Jews and Greeks are mentioned separately. By this a transition is made to the condemnation afterward of Gentiles and Jews (Blessed Theodoret); to this, however, he proceeds below—from verse 17.

“Tribulation and distress”—will come or fall: “tribulation”—soul-torment, “distress”—bodily torment. But tribulation, tearing at the soul, also torments the body; and distress, tormenting the body, also anguishes the soul. Both words, one can think, express all-sided sufferings and torments, deeply felt. — “Upon every soul”—not the same as on every face or every person: for “person” stands right there. The Apostle wished to point out that both external and internal sufferings and torments—all converge in the soul. It will suffer both for itself and for the body: for all comes from it. In it sin originates, in it agreement to sin is pronounced, it is pleased by it and adopts the habit of it. It ought to suffer for all. One can also see here the thought that at the judgment attention will be given to the soul alone with its deeds, without any external earthly distinctions. Holy Chrysostom says: “This means that, whether someone is rich, a ruler of a free state or an absolute monarch,—the word of judgment respects no one; honors have no place at the judgment.”

Only one distinction will have weight at the judgment—whether one is a Jew or a Greek; but that too not in something external, but also in the internal state. A Jew had tangible assurance that God exists, the Creator, Providence, and Judge, and had fuller and clearer knowledge of his will and commandments. The Greek had both of these too, but in a lesser degree of clarity and fullness. Therefore that one is more guilty, forgetting God and transgressing his commandments, than this one. And his punishment is stricter than his. Holy Chrysostom says: “The Apostle threatens the Jew with the severest punishment: ‘the Jew first and the Greek’. Whoever received greater instruction must endure greater punishment for transgression. The more learned and capable we are, the heavier will be our punishment for sins. If you are rich, more offerings are required of you than of the poor; if wise—more obedience; if clothed with authority, show the most brilliant merits. So in all else you will give account according to the measure of your powers.”

One cannot overlook the note of Blessed Theophylact on the Greek word corresponding to our: “works evil”. “The Apostle did not say, he says, εργαζόμενος— doing, but: κατεργαζόμενος— doing evil with zeal,—such a one as not only works evil but remains in evil and does not repent”. To the judgment all will come, but condemnation will befall only the unrepentant. Repentance casts out the evil from the soul; therefore, though this evil is recorded against a person, he does not carry it in himself. The repentant will come to judgment not having evil in himself; but what about that evil which is recorded against him? This God’s mercy will decide. We believe, however, that the tears of repentance wipe out even that record, by the power of the Mystery of Repentance, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom. 2:10. But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, both to the Jew first and to the Greek

He adds as if in consolation for the Jews whom he condemned more strictly, saying as if: Do not grieve that the strictest punishment is assigned to you; for the richest reward is assigned too. — “Glory and honor and peace”—one can, without determining the meaning of each word separately, suppose that by them the Apostle expresses the whole fullness of the reward, conforming to what is esteemed as high and consoling on earth; for truly in themselves those goods are incomprehensible and inexpressible for us. They are supremely great and supremely blessed, but what exactly they are, no one can understand or speak of. For there is nothing known to us to compare them with: everything high and consoling for us is nothing compared to them.

“Glory and honor”—somewhat explained above. What: “peace”? Peace within oneself, peace with everyone, and peace above all with God. When peace is established and reigns, those who have the happiness of living under its dominion enjoy ceaselessly a delightful state, pouring joy of life everywhere. Perhaps the Apostle added here: peace—to what was before said “glory and honor”, so as to denote the height of that blessedness and at the same time point out that that glory and honor have nothing divisive and disturbing, as they do here on earth. So Holy Chrysostom: “Whatever goods one may have on earth, possession of them is bound up with many anxieties; a rich man, a ruler, a king if not with others then with himself is often in discord, with his own thoughts conducts fierce war. But in possession of heavenly goods nothing of the sort happens; on the contrary, all is quiet, peaceful, he enjoys true peace.” — The same Theophylact writes: “earthly goods always have enemies, are bound up with anxieties, subjected to envy and intrigues, and, even if no one threatens them from without, the one possessing them is always anxious in his thoughts; but glory and honor with God are enjoyed with peace and free from anxiety in thought, as not subjected to intrigues.”

Blessed Theophylact, having directed attention above to the Greek expression: κατεργαζόμενος— struggling to do evil, arranges to direct it to the Greek expression for the word: “doing”—and here: έργαζομένω— simply doing good, even without struggle. The Apostle wished as if to hint that it is easier to receive reward than to undergo punishment, so as to encourage and drive away despair and hopelessness in those who feel themselves weak. Only begin to do at least something good—and you will already be among those for whom glory and honor await.

“To the Jew first and to the Greek”. Is this just? That greater punishment for the Jew doing evil is just, the justice of this is evident: for, having more inducements and means to do good, not only did he not do it, but turned to the opposite, to what was openly forbidden as evil. As for reward, it should have been less for him for the very same reason, that he was surrounded by greater inducements and means to good, and therefore it was easier for him to do it. For the Gentile it was harder to resist evil and stand firm in good; therefore, if he turns out to be good, he should receive the greater reward. So it would seem; but if the Jew had more inducements to do good, he also had a broader sphere of good-doing. Remaining fully faithful to the Law, he did more good, and therefore bore more labor. This is even in that part of good which was instilled along with the written Law by conscience. But the Law laid upon the Jew much that conscience does not say, which, however, must be steadfastly fulfilled and required labor, which made the Law felt as a heavy yoke. To one who bore this yoke faithfully and patiently is it unjust to give more? Not one measure of zeal and straining of moral powers determines the worth of the agent, but also the sphere of action. Moreover, though Judaism was not the ultimate dispensation of God for the advancement of mankind, it could not remain without trace for the soul, could not fail to leave upon it a mark that placed a sharp distinction between it and a soul naturally only good. There was the beginning of sanctifying power from the Lord Saviour. For Judaism was characterized by faith in the coming Saviour. Therefore a Jew faithful to his Judaism could not fail to stand higher than any Gentile faithful only to the natural laws of conscience. Holy Chrysostom reasons: “Which Jew does the Apostle mean here and about which Gentiles does he speak? About those living before the coming of Christ. For the discourse has not yet reached the coming of grace; on the contrary, the Apostle is treating of the most remote times. — By Gentiles Paul means here not idolaters, but people who fear God, obedient to the natural law, who, except for keeping Jewish rites, preserved all that pertains to godliness.” We add: they believed in God the Creator, Providence, and Rewarder, placed all their hope in him alone, and feared to offend him by transgressing anything that conscience suggested to them as pleasing to God—and, being thus disposed always, were enriched with works of righteousness and love, of which they recognized the obligation.