Additional Note E: JUDGMENT
Additional Note E: JUDGMENT
The judgment of God is a reality with which Paul spends some time. He gives attention first of all to the general principle, setting forth the position uniformly taken up in the New Testament that judgment is on the basis of works (Matt. 7:21; 16:27; 25:31–36; John 5:28–29; 2 Cor. 5:10; 11:15; Gal. 6:7–9; 2 Tim 4:14; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 2:23; 22:12, etc.). He goes on to show that this has consequences for everybody, Jew or Gentile. Romans 2 presents difficulties. Paul has put considerable emphasis on the truth that salvation is God’s free gift. But if people are saved by grace through faith, why should they be judged by their works? How does this judgment relate to salvation by grace? A number of suggestions have been offered.
1. Direct Contradiction. Some hold that Paul is setting forth two completely incompatible ideas. Of 2:6–16 Foreman says, “At two crucial points it does not fit Paul’s teaching about faith and righteousness.” But Paul is engaging in a sustained argument that all are sinners and need God’s help (1:18–3:20). It is not easy to think that he would lose sight of a central tenet in the middle of his argument. In any case the view has not commended itself widely; it so obviously does not fit the passage.
2. Purely Hypothetical. Others think that Paul is not speaking of the way things are, but setting out in forthright terms the way things would be apart from grace. Leenhardt speaks of “the conduct of a humanity responding to God’s general revelation” (p. 78), and adds, “the state of humanity here envisaged has never been realized in our human history.” Knox sees Paul as “speaking largely hypothetically” (p. 409). But Paul says God “will render”, not “would render”. His words point to a fact, not a hypothesis.
3. Law, Not Gospel. “He is expounding the law, not the gospel” (Hodge, p. 50). This comes close to no. 2, for salvation is not by way of the law, which makes it hypothetical. But Paul is speaking of a real judgment, and one that applies to everybody.
4. The Entrance and the Life. Godet puts it this way: “justification by faith alone applies to the time of entrance into salvation through the free pardon of sin, but not to the time of judgment…. God demands from [the sinner], as the recipient of grace, the fruits of grace” (vol. I, p. 196; he further says, “faith is not the dismal prerogative of being able to sin with impunity”). A variant of this position sees the reference to “goodness of life, not however as meriting God’s favour but as the expression of faith”.183 This accords better with the apostle’s thought and may well be the way we should understand what he says here.
5. Justification Is with Power. When God justifies anyone, this is more than mere words; it is a work of power (1:16); the saved person is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). When he is judged he is judged for what he is, that is, by his works. Judgment shatters all illusions.184
It seems that either 4 or 5 gives a satisfactory meaning to the passage. For Paul there can be not the slightest doubt that salvation is by grace; there is no other foundation than Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). But equally, what is built on that foundation is of importance, and people differ in what they build. Judgment Day will sift out the “gold, silver, costly stone”, and separate it from the “wood, hay or straw” (1 Cor. 3:12; cf. vv. 13–15). It is important not to surrender the great truth that God saves by grace, but it is important also to bear in mind that final judgment is a reality. We are accountable.185