Romans 2:6
6 Who [hos] will render [apodidomi] to every man [hekastos]
according [kata] to his [autos] deeds [ergon]: KJV-Interlinear
6 He
will render to each one according to his works: ESV
Who, refers to God.
Who will render, ‘apodidomi,’ means to give as in the fulfillment of an
obligation, a payment, a wage, a reward.
And in this, God has made it clear throughout the scriptures, that there
is a reward for good and a punishment for bad.
To every man, means just that. Each person is evaluated individually, based
on their own conduct, and never on the conduct of others. You are not responsible for your ancestors,
or family members or parents and so forth.
Your life is founded on your own conduct.
And it is defined here as, according to his
deeds. Deeds, ‘ergon,’ does not refer only
to your activity or the things that you do, but incorporates everything that
goes into the conduct of your life.
That means your thoughts, intents, motivations, attitudes,
as well as everything that you do in life.
This all, over time, establishes a pattern for you and your life, and
determines exactly who and what you are as a person.
Everyone occasionally does good things, but an
occasional act does not establish ones pattern of life.
Everyone occasionally does bad things, but an
occasional act does not establish ones pattern of life.
Your pattern of life, your overall conduct, is based
on how you live and think over the long term, never only on the short term.
That does not mean that a person can be a jerk all
their life and then change at the end of their life, or the reverse, and then
be rated on their longest stretch of behavior.
God knows when your changes are real and when they are temporary.
But obviously, your commitment to either your spiritual
life or to your temporal life, determines the course of your life, and that in
turn determines your reward, or lack of it.
And by the way, reward is not limited to salvation
only or the lack of it, but to the entire scope of rewards, or lack of them,
that God has set aside for each individual.
And finally, rewards are available for everyone. Everyone can be a winner, just as everyone could
be a loser, spiritually speaking.
In the spiritual life there is not just one winner and
then the rest, but everyone has the opportunity to come in first place and be
the winner and receive the winners prize.
God has an endless supply of first place prizes.
You will either receive yours, or you won’t, and that
depends entirely upon your spiritual conduct, or lack of it.
