This was shared with me and I asked permission to post here. They were fine with that but requested they not be given attribution as they are PIMO. What are your thoughts on this article?
Firstly a distinction should be made between one that has heard the call to
be chosen, to be a new immortal creation, to rule with Christ in the age to come
and secondly one that has never heard of Christ Jesus and does by nature the
will of the father. Paul in Romans 2:12-16 is dealing with the later case, all those
billions of people that never new or heard of Jesus as Messiah. As for those
chosen to rule the world with Christ, Paul clearly states in 1Corinthians 6:9-20
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. In
context it is evident Paul is referring to the chosen, the elect, those in line to rule
the world, if they practice these things, will not inherit the kingdom in this
unique sense. Galatians 5:19-21 reiterates the same injunction for those that
wish to inherit the kingdom. These prohibitions are to be understood in this
strict context as excluding the practicer of such deeds as unfit to inherit or rule
in the millennium. There will be a new heavens as represented by the Messiah
and His co-rulers and coheirs, also a new earth symbolising the subjects in the
kingdom of Messiah Jesus and his co-rulers the Saints. See Romans 8:21 “that
the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the
glorious freedom of the children of God”. Isaiah 65:17 “For behold, I will
create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be
remembered, nor will they come to mind”.
As for those that never new about the Christ and never heard the call, to
these Paul is giving a Gospel or good news, (see verse 16), wherein they have the
opportunity to be subjects in the Kingdom or millennium, and are granted life
in the ages to come or everlasting life. There are indications of this good news
in the words of Jesus related at John 3:16-21 notice that verse 21 says “But those
who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing
what God wants.” And at John 9:41 Jesus replied, "If you were blind, you
would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your
guilt remains.” NET Bible. Also James adds “Therefore, whoever knows the
right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin. James 4:17. Jesus
further elaborates this idea of accountability according to one’s intimate
awareness of God’s will in contrast with the individual that is not, at Luke
12:47,48 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t
prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely
punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something
wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given
much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted
with much, even more will be required.” New Living Translation.
All these verses point to the conclusion that we are guilty of sin when we
are intimately aquatinted with the will of God and do not do it, conversely we
are not as guilty of sin when we are ignorant of the will of God. According to
Paul’s words at Romans 2:15 if individuals do by nature the will of God in
practising good deeds throughout their lives, it may serve to mitigate against an
adverse judgement, their consciences may serve to defend them on judgement
day. Strong’s Concordance gives the following definition; Original Word:
πολογέομαι Part of Speech:VerbTransliteration: apologeomai Definition:
to give an account of oneself, to defend oneself Usage: I give a defense, defend
myself (especially in a law court): it can take an object of what is said in defense.
Strongs 2. to defend a person or a thing (so not infrequent in secular authors):
Romans 2:15 (where according to the context the deeds of men must be
understood as defended).
To further support this conclusion let us take for example the parable of the
two sons reported at Matthew 21:28-32 New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the
first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He
answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are
entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show
you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors
and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and
believe him.
Here in this parable it is clear to see that humans are defined by what they
do, not merely by what they say they will do. So too, Christians that proclaim to
answer the Father’s call to work in the world doing the Father’s will and then by
their actions fail to do so, are not considered worthy by Jesus (proago in Greek
lead forth), to go before as to take precedence of one in entering into the
kingdom of God. I believe Jesus here is implying rulership in the kingdom for
those going in ahead of the others that will enter after them as subjects of the
kingdom.
In light of the above we may confidently answer our original question in
two ways, Firstly, those chosen to rule with Messiah in the kingdom to
come must believe in Jesus Christ and live a high moral life filled
with good works if they are to be saved.
However, there is the second group of individuals that will be
judged as to whether they listened to their God given conscience and
in so doing lived a good life filled with benevolent actions or deeds,
these too may be saved on judgement day even though they never
new of Jesus as Messiah and saviour.
What is for certain of both groups is they must have lived a life filled with
good deeds, good fruits the doing of the will of the Father in order to be saved.
At Mathew 7:16-23 Jesus makes it clear that powerful works such as prophesying
and expelling demons are not the will of the Father, rather “on that Day”, the
day of judgement, Jesus expressly tells us what the will of the father is at
Matthew 25:31-46.
Following is a list of scriptures to support the aforementioned discussion as
an important aspect of the gospel teaching.
Mathew 16:27 “For the Son of Man will come in His Father's
glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to
what he has done.”
John 5:27-29 “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all
who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out--the ones who have
done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who
have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation.”
2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done
while in the body, whether good or evil.”
Mathew 12:35-37 …35 “The good man brings good things out of his good
store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of
treasure. 36But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of
judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your
words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be
condemned.”…
Ephesians 6:8 “because you know that the Lord will reward each one
for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”
Revelation 20:12,13 “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing
before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened,
which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which
were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up
the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in
them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”
Revelation 2:23 “Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches
will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will
repay each of you according to your deeds.”
Romans 2:5,6 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant
heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God's
righteous judgment is revealed! He will reward each one according to his
works”
Ecclesiastes 12:14 For “God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
Ecclesiastes 3:17 “I said in my heart, "God will judge the righteous and
the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
Job 34:11 “For according to a man's deeds, He repays him;
according to a man's ways, He brings consequences.”
Psalms 62:12 “and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love. For you repay
men for what they do.”
Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not
bear the iniquity of the father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of the son.
The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.”
Jeremiah 32:19 “You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. You see
everything people do. You reward each of them for the way they live
and for the things they do.”
Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the LORD, search the heart; I test the mind to
reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.”
Psalms 33:15 “He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works.”
Psalms 28:4 “Repay them according to their deeds, and for their works of
evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them
what they deserve.”
Finally Paul makes it clear at Acts 24:15 (I have the same hope in God that
these men have, that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.) that
unrighteous people will also receive a resurrection that may result in life eternal
in the ages to come. The righteous (Dikaios literally the just) refers to the elect
and the unrighteous (or unjust) refers to greater mankind, the former pertain to
the first resurrection and the later belong to the second resurrection. The elect
are judged and resurrected at the paraousia and the rest of mankind is judged
and resurrected at the end of the thousand years. So entering into the kingdom
or the millennial reign belongs only to the just and the bar is set high as Paul
outlines at 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, This is not the case with the unrighteous, they
are judged on the basis of what works they do in life and judgement is mitigated
by how much or how little they new about Jesus and the purposes of God as
revealed by him. Let us heed the counsel at Romans 14:10 Why, then, do you
judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand
before God's judgment seat. And 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing
before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what
is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time
each will receive his praise from God.
As a post script we wish to harmonise the concept of salvation through
grace and the apparent contradiction of salvation on the basis of doing good
works.
To understand the apparent contradiction between Ephesians 2:8-10 (“For
by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are
his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God
prepared beforehand so we may do them,”) and the concept of salvation on
judgment day by means of works, we need to understand Paul’s words in
harmony with the following two scriptures, (Hebrews 9:27,28 “And just as
people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, so also, after
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him
he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.”) and
(Romans 3:25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy
seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his
righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the
sins previously committed.) These two scriptures help us see that the free
gift of grace is given for sins previously committed up until our
conversion. Then as Ephesians 2:10 says “we are re-created in Christ
Jesus for good works”, it is on the basis of these good works that we are
judged on judgment day. So it is a combination of both grace and good
works that save us the grace saves us from sin committed up until our
conversion as Hebrews 9:28 plainly mentions “after Christ was offered once to
bear the sins of many” however after our conversion it is a life filled with good
works that brings salvation, Jesus “will appear a second time, not to bear sin
but to bring salvation,” (Hebrews 9:28) Hence the first appearance of
Jesus Christ on earth was to forgive sins and the second coming of
Jesus Christ is to judge for salvation on the basis of our good works
just as Ephesians 2:10 states “For we are his workmanship, having been created
in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do
them,”. Mathew 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in His Father's
glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to
what he has done.
Is one saved only if he accepts Christ Jesus as his saviour, or
can one be saved on the basis of a lifetime of good works?
(Please read Romans 2:12-16)
can one be saved on the basis of a lifetime of good works?
(Please read Romans 2:12-16)
Firstly a distinction should be made between one that has heard the call to
be chosen, to be a new immortal creation, to rule with Christ in the age to come
and secondly one that has never heard of Christ Jesus and does by nature the
will of the father. Paul in Romans 2:12-16 is dealing with the later case, all those
billions of people that never new or heard of Jesus as Messiah. As for those
chosen to rule the world with Christ, Paul clearly states in 1Corinthians 6:9-20
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. In
context it is evident Paul is referring to the chosen, the elect, those in line to rule
the world, if they practice these things, will not inherit the kingdom in this
unique sense. Galatians 5:19-21 reiterates the same injunction for those that
wish to inherit the kingdom. These prohibitions are to be understood in this
strict context as excluding the practicer of such deeds as unfit to inherit or rule
in the millennium. There will be a new heavens as represented by the Messiah
and His co-rulers and coheirs, also a new earth symbolising the subjects in the
kingdom of Messiah Jesus and his co-rulers the Saints. See Romans 8:21 “that
the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the
glorious freedom of the children of God”. Isaiah 65:17 “For behold, I will
create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be
remembered, nor will they come to mind”.
As for those that never new about the Christ and never heard the call, to
these Paul is giving a Gospel or good news, (see verse 16), wherein they have the
opportunity to be subjects in the Kingdom or millennium, and are granted life
in the ages to come or everlasting life. There are indications of this good news
in the words of Jesus related at John 3:16-21 notice that verse 21 says “But those
who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing
what God wants.” And at John 9:41 Jesus replied, "If you were blind, you
would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your
guilt remains.” NET Bible. Also James adds “Therefore, whoever knows the
right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin. James 4:17. Jesus
further elaborates this idea of accountability according to one’s intimate
awareness of God’s will in contrast with the individual that is not, at Luke
12:47,48 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t
prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely
punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something
wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given
much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted
with much, even more will be required.” New Living Translation.
All these verses point to the conclusion that we are guilty of sin when we
are intimately aquatinted with the will of God and do not do it, conversely we
are not as guilty of sin when we are ignorant of the will of God. According to
Paul’s words at Romans 2:15 if individuals do by nature the will of God in
practising good deeds throughout their lives, it may serve to mitigate against an
adverse judgement, their consciences may serve to defend them on judgement
day. Strong’s Concordance gives the following definition; Original Word:
πολογέομαι Part of Speech:VerbTransliteration: apologeomai Definition:
to give an account of oneself, to defend oneself Usage: I give a defense, defend
myself (especially in a law court): it can take an object of what is said in defense.
Strongs 2. to defend a person or a thing (so not infrequent in secular authors):
Romans 2:15 (where according to the context the deeds of men must be
understood as defended).
To further support this conclusion let us take for example the parable of the
two sons reported at Matthew 21:28-32 New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the
first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He
answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are
entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show
you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors
and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and
believe him.
Here in this parable it is clear to see that humans are defined by what they
do, not merely by what they say they will do. So too, Christians that proclaim to
answer the Father’s call to work in the world doing the Father’s will and then by
their actions fail to do so, are not considered worthy by Jesus (proago in Greek
lead forth), to go before as to take precedence of one in entering into the
kingdom of God. I believe Jesus here is implying rulership in the kingdom for
those going in ahead of the others that will enter after them as subjects of the
kingdom.
In light of the above we may confidently answer our original question in
two ways, Firstly, those chosen to rule with Messiah in the kingdom to
come must believe in Jesus Christ and live a high moral life filled
with good works if they are to be saved.
However, there is the second group of individuals that will be
judged as to whether they listened to their God given conscience and
in so doing lived a good life filled with benevolent actions or deeds,
these too may be saved on judgement day even though they never
new of Jesus as Messiah and saviour.
What is for certain of both groups is they must have lived a life filled with
good deeds, good fruits the doing of the will of the Father in order to be saved.
At Mathew 7:16-23 Jesus makes it clear that powerful works such as prophesying
and expelling demons are not the will of the Father, rather “on that Day”, the
day of judgement, Jesus expressly tells us what the will of the father is at
Matthew 25:31-46.
Following is a list of scriptures to support the aforementioned discussion as
an important aspect of the gospel teaching.
Mathew 16:27 “For the Son of Man will come in His Father's
glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to
what he has done.”
John 5:27-29 “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all
who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out--the ones who have
done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who
have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation.”
2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done
while in the body, whether good or evil.”
Mathew 12:35-37 …35 “The good man brings good things out of his good
store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of
treasure. 36But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of
judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your
words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be
condemned.”…
Ephesians 6:8 “because you know that the Lord will reward each one
for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.”
Revelation 20:12,13 “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing
before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened,
which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which
were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up
the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in
them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”
Revelation 2:23 “Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches
will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will
repay each of you according to your deeds.”
Romans 2:5,6 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant
heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God's
righteous judgment is revealed! He will reward each one according to his
works”
Ecclesiastes 12:14 For “God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
Ecclesiastes 3:17 “I said in my heart, "God will judge the righteous and
the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
Job 34:11 “For according to a man's deeds, He repays him;
according to a man's ways, He brings consequences.”
Psalms 62:12 “and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love. For you repay
men for what they do.”
Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not
bear the iniquity of the father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of the son.
The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.”
Jeremiah 32:19 “You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. You see
everything people do. You reward each of them for the way they live
and for the things they do.”
Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the LORD, search the heart; I test the mind to
reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.”
Psalms 33:15 “He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works.”
Psalms 28:4 “Repay them according to their deeds, and for their works of
evil. Repay them for what their hands have done; bring back on them
what they deserve.”
Finally Paul makes it clear at Acts 24:15 (I have the same hope in God that
these men have, that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.) that
unrighteous people will also receive a resurrection that may result in life eternal
in the ages to come. The righteous (Dikaios literally the just) refers to the elect
and the unrighteous (or unjust) refers to greater mankind, the former pertain to
the first resurrection and the later belong to the second resurrection. The elect
are judged and resurrected at the paraousia and the rest of mankind is judged
and resurrected at the end of the thousand years. So entering into the kingdom
or the millennial reign belongs only to the just and the bar is set high as Paul
outlines at 1 Corinthians 6:9-20, This is not the case with the unrighteous, they
are judged on the basis of what works they do in life and judgement is mitigated
by how much or how little they new about Jesus and the purposes of God as
revealed by him. Let us heed the counsel at Romans 14:10 Why, then, do you
judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand
before God's judgment seat. And 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing
before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what
is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time
each will receive his praise from God.
As a post script we wish to harmonise the concept of salvation through
grace and the apparent contradiction of salvation on the basis of doing good
works.
To understand the apparent contradiction between Ephesians 2:8-10 (“For
by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is
the gift of God it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are
his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God
prepared beforehand so we may do them,”) and the concept of salvation on
judgment day by means of works, we need to understand Paul’s words in
harmony with the following two scriptures, (Hebrews 9:27,28 “And just as
people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, so also, after
Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him
he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.”) and
(Romans 3:25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy
seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his
righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the
sins previously committed.) These two scriptures help us see that the free
gift of grace is given for sins previously committed up until our
conversion. Then as Ephesians 2:10 says “we are re-created in Christ
Jesus for good works”, it is on the basis of these good works that we are
judged on judgment day. So it is a combination of both grace and good
works that save us the grace saves us from sin committed up until our
conversion as Hebrews 9:28 plainly mentions “after Christ was offered once to
bear the sins of many” however after our conversion it is a life filled with good
works that brings salvation, Jesus “will appear a second time, not to bear sin
but to bring salvation,” (Hebrews 9:28) Hence the first appearance of
Jesus Christ on earth was to forgive sins and the second coming of
Jesus Christ is to judge for salvation on the basis of our good works
just as Ephesians 2:10 states “For we are his workmanship, having been created
in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do
them,”. Mathew 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in His Father's
glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to
what he has done.
