Romans 2:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If you are rich, more almsgiving will be required of you than of the poor man. If you are more intelligent, more obedience will also be required. If you are clothed with authority, outstanding good works are needed. In all other things too, you must act according to the measure of your strength and ability.

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.

We may think that both words express all-sided sufferings and torments, deeply felt. Upon every soul is not the same as upon every person or every man, for man stands there in the same phrase. The Apostle wished to indicate that both outward and inward sufferings and torments all converge in the soul. It will suffer both for itself and for the body, because everything comes from it. In it sin is conceived, in it consent to sin is pronounced, and it delights in sin and appropriates the habit of it. It is fitting that it suffer for all. One may also see here the thought that at the judgment only the soul with its deeds will be taken into account, without any external earthly distinctions. Saint Chrysostom says: "This means that whether someone is rich, a ruler of a free state, or an autocratic king, the word of judgment respects no one. Dignities have no place at the judgment." Only one distinction will have weight at the judgment, whether one is a Jew or a Greek. Yet this too is not according to anything external, but according to one's inner state. The Jew had a more tangible assurance that there is God, the Creator, Provider, and Judge. He had a fuller and clearer knowledge of His will and commandments. The Gentile also had both, but in a lesser measure of clarity and fullness. Therefore the former is more guilty when he forgets God and transgresses His commandments than the latter. Accordingly, the former receives stricter punishment than the latter. Saint Chrysostom says: "The Apostle threatens the Jew with a heavier punishment: 'of the Jew first, and also of the Greek.' Whoever has received greater instruction must endure greater punishment for transgression. The more knowing and powerful we are, the more heavily we shall be punished for sins. If you are rich, more offerings are required of you than of the poor. If you are intelligent, more obedience is required. If you are clothed with authority, show more splendid services. So also in everything else you will give account according to your powers." One must not leave without attention Blessed Theophylact's remark on the Greek word corresponding to our "who does evil." He says: "The Apostle did not say ἐργαζόμενος, doing, but κατεργαζόμενος, doing evil with diligence. Such a man not only does evil, but remains in evil and does not repent." Though all will stand before the judgment, only the unrepentant will fall under condemnation. Repentance casts evil out of the soul. Therefore, even if this evil is recorded against a man, he does not carry it in himself. The repentant man will stand before the judgment as one who has no evil in himself. But what of the evil recorded against him? God's mercy will decide this. Yet we believe that the tears of repentance also erase that record, by the power of the Mystery of Repentance, according to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.