Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Trouble, distress and suffering will come through God's indignation and wrath upon every person who does evil, with Jew first and Gentile also meaning person by person with no respect of persons and no exemption for any nationality under the same law. It will happen in the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment when God renders to every person according to deeds and character, fulfilled when Christ comes soon with His reward after probation ends. Those condemned are the contentious who do not obey truth but obey unrighteousness, who judge others while doing the same things and despise the goodness and longsuffering that leads to repentance, thereby treasuring up wrath for themselves. That punishment is just and proportionate to light and opportunity, falling more conspicuously on the greatly favored who knowingly contend against God, whose settled character rejects love, law and mercy and leaves them unfit for heaven to suffer the second death with no vindication for continued transgression. Set opposite is glory, honor, peace and eternal life to everyone who works good and by patient continuance seeks glory and immortality, which is brought within reach by faith in Christ, taking hold of His nature and becoming partakers of the divine character as sons and daughters of the heavenly King.
Wording and Setting
Tribulation and anguish are indignation and wrath bringing trouble, distress and suffering upon every soul that does evil. This is God's rendering to every person according to deeds, with indignation and wrath and distress upon every evildoer set opposite eternal life to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and honor and immortality, and opposite glory, honor and peace to everyone who works good. To cripple or abuse lent gifts is offensive to God and brings this judgment.
Of the Jew first and also of the Gentile means the teaching is individual, counting person by person with no respect of persons and no exemption. Jew and Gentile alike stand under the same righteous judgment, and people of every nationality stand amenable to the same law, since not hearers of the law are just but doers of the law shall be justified, and all who sin are judged whether without law or in the law. God shows no partiality but renders to every man according to his deeds, giving a life running parallel with the life of Jehovah to those who seek glory and honor and immortality.
In its setting in Romans 2:1-11 the verse forbids measuring the characters of fellow church members and condemning them for faults. Judgment has been given only to Christ, because He lived humanity and alone understands human weakness and human striving to attain Christian perfection. The church today is the militant church, not the triumphant, composed of wheat and tares with counterfeit Christians in every church, and the work of judgment has not been committed into human hands but is left until the harvest.
The time is the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, when He renders to every man according to his deeds. It is fulfilled when Christ comes soon and quickly with His reward to give every man according as his work shall be, rendering trouble and suffering on everyone who does evil. It comes after the test of taking sides for or against the law and when the season of mercy and probation is ended, in the great day of the Lord, when retribution comes upon every person who does evil according to deeds done in the body. The goodness, forbearance and longsuffering of God leads to repentance, but hardness and impenitence treasures up wrath against that day, including judging others while doing the same things and despising the riches of His goodness.
Sin Punished Without Partiality
God renders to every person according to deeds, works and character formed, and by that judgment according to truth the destiny of each is decided. There is no respect of persons with Him, whether Jew first or Gentile, and no exemption by position, color or poverty, for all who sin are judged whether without law or in the law. Not hearers of the law are just before God but doers of the law shall be justified, and He makes a difference between those who serve Him and those who serve Him not. Tribulation and anguish come upon every soul that does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile, as indignation and wrath in the righteous judgment of God.
Those punished are the contentious who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness. They contend against the truth and stir up strife, failing to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness and love. They are self-sufficient and obstinate and do not reveal Christ in character.
They treasure up wrath to themselves against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God by hardness and impenitent heart. They judge others while doing the same things, and they despise the riches of goodness and forbearance and longsuffering that leads to repentance. By refusing the invitation to the gospel feast, neglecting to know God, missing following Jesus step by step onward and upward, taking the path of disobedience, and throwing away the opportunity to be grafted into the living vine and partake of the divine nature to bear fruit, they sustain terrible loss and bring indignation and wrath upon themselves.
The punishment is just and merciful and proportionate to light and opportunity received. Those greatly favored with opportunity to know the truth, great light, peculiar advantages and gifts to let light shine to others, who knowingly contend against God and His truth, turn from His way to their own way, do what they know is contrary to truth, fail to do the good they might have done, misuse opportunities and lead others astray, receive more conspicuous punishment. This heavier punishment upon those distinguished above others by mercy and grace displays God as a God of justice whose ways are equal, and when the test of taking sides for or against the law is over and the season of mercy and probation is ended He moves in straight justice to give every man as his works have been, with uncompromising suffering upon the disobedient who made void His law and reward to the obedient for well doing. The wicked have rejected love, law and mercy, and by their own choice and settled character are unfit for heaven and incurable, for they would rather be destroyed than remain in the holy presence. The love and justice of God combined work for the good of the universe and even for the good of the rebellious sinner by causing the sinner to suffer the penalty of sin, which is the second death, death without hope of a resurrection, rather than being placed in heaven as holy, happy angels, and no soul continuing in transgression will be vindicated. Each must answer for himself, so that in the day of anguish even Noah, Job and Daniel could not save sons or daughters.
The judgment applies to the Jewish people who betrayed the sacred trust committed to them, would not listen to reproof, and sinned in defiance of the law of the kingdom at Satan's instigation through selfishness, self-exaltation and oppressive power. It applies to rulers whose selfish, covetous unfaithfulness discouraged many and gave the Gentile world occasion to misinterpret God and His law. It condemns all who have had truth laid before them yet continue the things condemned by Scripture. It falls in the great day of the Lord upon those professing to be Christians yet accepting the principles of Satan, departing from the commandments and in daily life living a lie, and those who remain unready for the appearing and continue to act like the wicked and cherish the principles of the wicked will be punished with the wicked, while those who betray the truth and cause the messages to become uncertain cannot be shielded from disasters by sea and by land.
Reward Promised and Applied
Opposite the doom of tribulation and anguish stands glory, honor and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, and glory, honor and immortality, even eternal life, to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality. That eternal life is a life running parallel with the life of Jehovah, given as God renders to every man according to his deeds with no respect of persons. The contrast is between indignation and wrath upon the contentious who obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness, and eternal life and peace upon the doers of good.
Eternal life is brought within reach by faith in Christ, by taking hold upon His nature and becoming partakers of His divine character. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, believers become members of the royal family as sons and daughters of the heavenly King, made one with Him, purchased by His blood. Though He is now longsuffering even to evildoers and supplies the necessities of all, He makes a difference between those who serve Him and those who serve Him not, revealing peculiar love toward His faithful and obedient children. The Holy Spirit alone frees from sin's slavery to bring life to those dead in sin, so that the converted are freed to obey the law from the heart.
In the church this sets condemnation upon selfishness, pride, ambition and strife over who will be first or greatest. The spirit that seeks the highest place makes a man lowest, grieves the Holy Spirit and leaves the soul strengthless. To stand in the great day with Christ as refuge and high tower requires putting away all envy and all strife for the supremacy, utterly destroying the roots of these unholy things so they do not spring up again, placing oneself wholly on the side of the Lord under the broad shield of Omnipotence with humility of heart.
The warning gives encouragement to earnestly work for wealthy and honorable men in the highways as well as for those in the byways. They are to be sought out and educated wisely, taught to seek the eternal weight of glory, to accept Christ as righteousness and sanctification and redemption and the robe of His righteousness He proffers them, and to keep the commandments. If they accept, they will escape threatened wrath and tribulation and anguish and instead receive glory, honor, peace and eternal life. That is the highest honor which the world can neither give nor take away, a life that measures with the life of God and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ending in being crowned as overcomers in the kingdom of heaven.
The same impartial reward means white and black people stand on common ground by creation and by redemption, with the cross of Calvary making distinctions of society fade away. God accepts and forgives sinners of the black race as He accepts and forgives sinners of the white race, holding out to both on the same terms the same offer of salvation by faith in Jesus. That offer includes reception as His sons and daughters, uplifting from ignorance and degradation, promise of the same heaven, and hope of a place in the redeemed family when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven and the righteous dead rise to meet Him. Therefore no one has right to pass the colored people by, but those inspired to help, educate and teach them to be self-supporting must be encouraged and helped.
Those bought by Christ's blood must work faithfully in His service as co-workers with Christ, devoting to God the gifts lent them and doing all to the glory of God in every temporal or spiritual duty in the moral vineyard, estimating the value of the soul by the price paid for it. To cripple or abuse those gifts is offensive to God, and neglect of the least duty injures the cause, is registered in heaven and weighed and found wanting, and brings distress and suffering and terrible loss. The same judgment falls on refusing the invitation to the gospel feast, neglecting to know God and to be grafted into the living vine to partake of the divine nature and bear fruit to His glory, and on appropriating tithes and all money entrusted for a special purpose even to meet an emergency with thought of replacing it later. Obstacles, difficulties, opposition and trials are God's chosen methods of discipline and appointed conditions of sure progress, forming character after the divine pattern through sincere and faithful work tested by truth practiced in the life, in words and in actions in strict obedience to all the commandments.
Trouble, distress and suffering will come through God's indignation and wrath upon every person who does evil, with Jew first and Gentile also meaning person by person with no respect of persons and no exemption for any nationality under the same law. It will happen in the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment when God renders to every person according to deeds and character, fulfilled when Christ comes soon with His reward after probation ends. Those condemned are the contentious who do not obey truth but obey unrighteousness, who judge others while doing the same things and despise the goodness and longsuffering that leads to repentance, thereby treasuring up wrath for themselves. That punishment is just and proportionate to light and opportunity, falling more conspicuously on the greatly favored who knowingly contend against God, whose settled character rejects love, law and mercy and leaves them unfit for heaven to suffer the second death with no vindication for continued transgression. Set opposite is glory, honor, peace and eternal life to everyone who works good and by patient continuance seeks glory and immortality, which is brought within reach by faith in Christ, taking hold of His nature and becoming partakers of the divine character as sons and daughters of the heavenly King.
Wording and Setting
Tribulation and anguish are indignation and wrath bringing trouble, distress and suffering upon every soul that does evil. This is God's rendering to every person according to deeds, with indignation and wrath and distress upon every evildoer set opposite eternal life to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek glory and honor and immortality, and opposite glory, honor and peace to everyone who works good. To cripple or abuse lent gifts is offensive to God and brings this judgment.
Of the Jew first and also of the Gentile means the teaching is individual, counting person by person with no respect of persons and no exemption. Jew and Gentile alike stand under the same righteous judgment, and people of every nationality stand amenable to the same law, since not hearers of the law are just but doers of the law shall be justified, and all who sin are judged whether without law or in the law. God shows no partiality but renders to every man according to his deeds, giving a life running parallel with the life of Jehovah to those who seek glory and honor and immortality.
In its setting in Romans 2:1-11 the verse forbids measuring the characters of fellow church members and condemning them for faults. Judgment has been given only to Christ, because He lived humanity and alone understands human weakness and human striving to attain Christian perfection. The church today is the militant church, not the triumphant, composed of wheat and tares with counterfeit Christians in every church, and the work of judgment has not been committed into human hands but is left until the harvest.
The time is the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, when He renders to every man according to his deeds. It is fulfilled when Christ comes soon and quickly with His reward to give every man according as his work shall be, rendering trouble and suffering on everyone who does evil. It comes after the test of taking sides for or against the law and when the season of mercy and probation is ended, in the great day of the Lord, when retribution comes upon every person who does evil according to deeds done in the body. The goodness, forbearance and longsuffering of God leads to repentance, but hardness and impenitence treasures up wrath against that day, including judging others while doing the same things and despising the riches of His goodness.
Sin Punished Without Partiality
God renders to every person according to deeds, works and character formed, and by that judgment according to truth the destiny of each is decided. There is no respect of persons with Him, whether Jew first or Gentile, and no exemption by position, color or poverty, for all who sin are judged whether without law or in the law. Not hearers of the law are just before God but doers of the law shall be justified, and He makes a difference between those who serve Him and those who serve Him not. Tribulation and anguish come upon every soul that does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile, as indignation and wrath in the righteous judgment of God.
Those punished are the contentious who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness. They contend against the truth and stir up strife, failing to cultivate kindness, sympathy, compassion, goodness and love. They are self-sufficient and obstinate and do not reveal Christ in character.
They treasure up wrath to themselves against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God by hardness and impenitent heart. They judge others while doing the same things, and they despise the riches of goodness and forbearance and longsuffering that leads to repentance. By refusing the invitation to the gospel feast, neglecting to know God, missing following Jesus step by step onward and upward, taking the path of disobedience, and throwing away the opportunity to be grafted into the living vine and partake of the divine nature to bear fruit, they sustain terrible loss and bring indignation and wrath upon themselves.
The punishment is just and merciful and proportionate to light and opportunity received. Those greatly favored with opportunity to know the truth, great light, peculiar advantages and gifts to let light shine to others, who knowingly contend against God and His truth, turn from His way to their own way, do what they know is contrary to truth, fail to do the good they might have done, misuse opportunities and lead others astray, receive more conspicuous punishment. This heavier punishment upon those distinguished above others by mercy and grace displays God as a God of justice whose ways are equal, and when the test of taking sides for or against the law is over and the season of mercy and probation is ended He moves in straight justice to give every man as his works have been, with uncompromising suffering upon the disobedient who made void His law and reward to the obedient for well doing. The wicked have rejected love, law and mercy, and by their own choice and settled character are unfit for heaven and incurable, for they would rather be destroyed than remain in the holy presence. The love and justice of God combined work for the good of the universe and even for the good of the rebellious sinner by causing the sinner to suffer the penalty of sin, which is the second death, death without hope of a resurrection, rather than being placed in heaven as holy, happy angels, and no soul continuing in transgression will be vindicated. Each must answer for himself, so that in the day of anguish even Noah, Job and Daniel could not save sons or daughters.
The judgment applies to the Jewish people who betrayed the sacred trust committed to them, would not listen to reproof, and sinned in defiance of the law of the kingdom at Satan's instigation through selfishness, self-exaltation and oppressive power. It applies to rulers whose selfish, covetous unfaithfulness discouraged many and gave the Gentile world occasion to misinterpret God and His law. It condemns all who have had truth laid before them yet continue the things condemned by Scripture. It falls in the great day of the Lord upon those professing to be Christians yet accepting the principles of Satan, departing from the commandments and in daily life living a lie, and those who remain unready for the appearing and continue to act like the wicked and cherish the principles of the wicked will be punished with the wicked, while those who betray the truth and cause the messages to become uncertain cannot be shielded from disasters by sea and by land.
Reward Promised and Applied
Opposite the doom of tribulation and anguish stands glory, honor and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, and glory, honor and immortality, even eternal life, to those who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality. That eternal life is a life running parallel with the life of Jehovah, given as God renders to every man according to his deeds with no respect of persons. The contrast is between indignation and wrath upon the contentious who obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness, and eternal life and peace upon the doers of good.
Eternal life is brought within reach by faith in Christ, by taking hold upon His nature and becoming partakers of His divine character. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, believers become members of the royal family as sons and daughters of the heavenly King, made one with Him, purchased by His blood. Though He is now longsuffering even to evildoers and supplies the necessities of all, He makes a difference between those who serve Him and those who serve Him not, revealing peculiar love toward His faithful and obedient children. The Holy Spirit alone frees from sin's slavery to bring life to those dead in sin, so that the converted are freed to obey the law from the heart.
In the church this sets condemnation upon selfishness, pride, ambition and strife over who will be first or greatest. The spirit that seeks the highest place makes a man lowest, grieves the Holy Spirit and leaves the soul strengthless. To stand in the great day with Christ as refuge and high tower requires putting away all envy and all strife for the supremacy, utterly destroying the roots of these unholy things so they do not spring up again, placing oneself wholly on the side of the Lord under the broad shield of Omnipotence with humility of heart.
The warning gives encouragement to earnestly work for wealthy and honorable men in the highways as well as for those in the byways. They are to be sought out and educated wisely, taught to seek the eternal weight of glory, to accept Christ as righteousness and sanctification and redemption and the robe of His righteousness He proffers them, and to keep the commandments. If they accept, they will escape threatened wrath and tribulation and anguish and instead receive glory, honor, peace and eternal life. That is the highest honor which the world can neither give nor take away, a life that measures with the life of God and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ending in being crowned as overcomers in the kingdom of heaven.
The same impartial reward means white and black people stand on common ground by creation and by redemption, with the cross of Calvary making distinctions of society fade away. God accepts and forgives sinners of the black race as He accepts and forgives sinners of the white race, holding out to both on the same terms the same offer of salvation by faith in Jesus. That offer includes reception as His sons and daughters, uplifting from ignorance and degradation, promise of the same heaven, and hope of a place in the redeemed family when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven and the righteous dead rise to meet Him. Therefore no one has right to pass the colored people by, but those inspired to help, educate and teach them to be self-supporting must be encouraged and helped.
Those bought by Christ's blood must work faithfully in His service as co-workers with Christ, devoting to God the gifts lent them and doing all to the glory of God in every temporal or spiritual duty in the moral vineyard, estimating the value of the soul by the price paid for it. To cripple or abuse those gifts is offensive to God, and neglect of the least duty injures the cause, is registered in heaven and weighed and found wanting, and brings distress and suffering and terrible loss. The same judgment falls on refusing the invitation to the gospel feast, neglecting to know God and to be grafted into the living vine to partake of the divine nature and bear fruit to His glory, and on appropriating tithes and all money entrusted for a special purpose even to meet an emergency with thought of replacing it later. Obstacles, difficulties, opposition and trials are God's chosen methods of discipline and appointed conditions of sure progress, forming character after the divine pattern through sincere and faithful work tested by truth practiced in the life, in words and in actions in strict obedience to all the commandments.