Romans 2:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Fury," he says, "and wrath and tribulation." He did not say, "will be rendered by God," but left the statement incomplete, so that we would understand, "there will be." For it is proper to God to give life, while punishment is the consequence of our negligence.

Third, in the Hebrew places of prayer, Gentiles also could hear the worship and instruction. Fourth, there was then no people so widely dispersed as the Hebrews, who were scattered through all the countries of the world then known. Consequently, through the Hebrews themselves the teaching of Christ could much more easily and quickly resound throughout the whole world.

According to Christ's direction, the holy apostles began their preaching precisely with the Hebrews. The Savior had appeared from among them and in their midst. Therefore they had the right to hear the preaching of salvation in Christ before the Gentiles (Mt 10:5-6).

Even before the appearance of Christianity, the Hebrews very clearly recognized their special position as the chosen people of God and were proud of it. Yet in life they were no better than other Gentiles.

Therefore the holy Apostle says to them: Behold, you are called a Jew, and you rest in the Law, and boast in your one true God. You know His will and understand better than the Gentile. You are confident of yourself, that you, precisely you, are a guide of the blind, a light for those in darkness, an instructor of the ignorant.

How then do you, who consider yourself a teacher of others, not teach yourself? (Rom 2:17-21). You boast in the Law given to you by God through Moses, yet by transgressing the Law you dishonor God (Rom 2:23).

Know that God will render to each according to his deeds, both to you, the Hebrew, and to the Gentile. But the Hebrew will receive more, both rewards and punishments, because to whom much is given, from him more will be required (Lk 12:48).

Chapter 2, verse 8: To those who are obstinate and do not obey the truth, but give themselves over to unrighteousness, fury and wrath. Verse 9: Tribulation and distress upon every soul of man who does evil, first of the Jew, and also of the Greek. Verse 10: But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

You see, again: first to the Jew. The one who showed greater and longer fidelity and devotion to the one true God, and who more zealously than others followed the Savior of the world when He appeared, receives greater consolation and reward.

But the Lord is just to all. He does not deprive of His mercies those who came to Him for labors at the ninth hour, or even at the eleventh hour. That is, at the end of their earthly life, or later than many laborers.

Therefore from Him glory, honor, and peace are also given, after the Jew, to the Greek, that is, to every Gentile who does good. For in every nation the one who fears God and acts righteously is acceptable to God (Acts 10:35). That is, he is worthy to be received into the Christian Church, and through it into the Kingdom of God.

From the section examined concerning the accountability of the Jews, the following words of the Apostle Paul should be singled out for special notice: "He," that is, the Lord God, "will render to each according to his deeds... For not the hearers of the Law are righteous before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified" (Rom 2:6, 13).

Why are these words remarkable in the mouth of the holy Apostle Paul? Because he is considered, and indeed is, the chief and insistent preacher of justification by faith alone, without the works of the Law. Yet here he makes the fate of men depend on righteous recompense to each according to his deeds, and promises justification only to the doers of the Law.

Let the Lutheran false teachers, who so love to appeal to the Apostle Paul, understand that he sets as the condition of salvation not faith simply, but faith that brings forth works. Or, as he says elsewhere, faith working through love, that is, through deeds of love for God and neighbor (Gal 5:6).

"Nothing unclean will enter the Kingdom of God," one interpreter of Paul's words observes on this occasion. "Therefore, when you hear, 'Only believe and you will be saved,' stop your ears. This is the speech of the serpent" (Bishop Theophan).

All this is, as it were, gathered by him to be presented at the future judgment, just as the righteous gather unfading treasures of virtue. Blessed Theodoret says: "The Apostle spoke beautifully: you are storing up for yourself, showing that none of our words or deeds will be given over to oblivion."

Now this treasure is not visible, but it will be revealed on the day of judgment. Perhaps some will see this treasure of theirs only then, contrary to their own desire.

The Apostle suggests all these thoughts so that all who hear him and live impiously may be contrite, grieve over their condition, and strive in every way to change their life. For a dreadful lot awaits them. But calm, glory, and honor have been prepared for those who strive toward good and do good.

This is for all without distinction of peoples: Jews, Greeks, and other nations. For before the face of God all are equal. But one may ask: according to what law will men be judged? For in this respect there is a deep difference between Jew and Gentile. The Apostle answers this question in the following verses.

Thus rivalry here means a self-willed love and zealous devotion to a life contrary to righteousness and goodness, servility to the passions. Through rivalry they oppose the truth. When someone wishes to restrain another, and the latter tears himself from his hands, it is evident that the latter resists the former. God's truth, which calls us to faith and virtue, restrains the impulses of our vain thinking and our corrupt desires. Whoever stands in the truth, loving it with his whole soul, resists these impulses. But whoever has yielded to them and followed them opposes the truth. He tears himself out of its hands and says to it, "Depart. I do not wish to know your ways." In this zeal for the freedom of one's vain thinking and desires consists the essence of the God-opposing life in sin and passions. Although in essence it is slavery, the enslaved man, through self-deception, thinks that he stands on the rights of freedom. In his fantasy he appropriates it to himself, looking down on the zealots of virtue as low slaves. He thinks they dare neither to have their own judgment nor to allow themselves any free action. Truth here may mean every truth, both that by which faith is defined and that by which a good life is commanded. In that case, righteousness will likewise mean every righteousness, both that required of the mind and that required of the heart. But according to the course of the speech it is closer to understand here active truth, the same as righteousness. For both before and after this, the Apostle speaks of a righteous life and of what is opposed to it. When the Apostle says, "they oppose the truth," he makes it understood that they know the truth as truth and consciously oppose it. And when he says, "they obey unrighteousness," he makes it understood that they know unrighteousness as unrighteousness and consciously obey it. How they know both, he explains below: their conscience teaches them. That such action against conscience is possible, we all know from ourselves. Saint Chrysostom says: "By the word 'through rivalry,' the Apostle proves that they fell into vices through stubbornness and carelessness. But here is yet another fault in them: they oppose the truth, and obey unrighteousness. What excuse can one have who flees the light and loves darkness? The Apostle did not say, those who are compelled and suffer violence, but those who obey unrighteousness. By this he makes known that their fall and transgression come not from necessity, but from free choice." Indignation and wrath. If before "eternal life" we supply "He will repay," then the same may be supplied here. In that case, under the words "indignation and wrath" one must understand the state opposite to eternal life, or the whole sum of eternal and unbearable torments. Even without "He will repay," one may read thus: but to these, indignation and wrath. Indignation and wrath properly express God's rejection: depart from Me; cf. Mt 7:23. This rejection is in itself the most fearful punishment. Yet it is intensified by the anguish of soul and bodily torments that follow it. By these words the Apostle wished to make it understood that extreme torments await those who are enslaved to unrighteous desires and passions. For one burning with indignation and wrath usually desires the utmost evil for the one under his wrath.