Romans 2:5 says, But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; I believe Paul was stating here that when we know the will of God, which is for all to be saved, and we become hard hearted toward others we will face the wrath of God. This also applies to being unrepentant toward our own sins. Matthew Henry says that the wrath of God is not like our wrath, full of heat and passion, as there is no fury in God as stated in Isaiah 27:4, but it is a righteous judgment, His will is to punish sin, which is contrary to His nature. Once again, it is sin, in whatever form it takes, that God hates, and not the sinner. We cannot feel otherwise. We are to become a new creature, or person if you rather, with a new heart filled with a compassion for the lost of the world. We are called to hate sin but love the sinner as God does. We cannot effectively reach lost people if we hate them and feel superior to them. Verse six adds, Who will render to every man according to his deeds: Paul here I believe gets to the truth of why we, as followers of Christ, should not attempt to judge others. God will judge all men according to their deeds, but as followers of Christ, our deeds will be filtered by the blood of Christ. Paul was not saying that our deeds will determine our everlasting fate, but that God knows not only what we have done, but our attitude behind the actions. God alone is qualified to judge anyone. If we attempt to justify ourselves in any way other than through salvation by Christ, we are doomed. When we acknowledge that our salvation is a free gift from God, we cannot sit in judgment of others. Verse seven continues, To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: Paul tells us how we should live as followers of Christ. We are to be patient, doing things for God's glory, because we have everlasting life through Christ. We can never give up on presenting the gospel to the world.
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