Romans 2:6-16 Meaning

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching

But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” “But glory and honour,” he says, “to every one that doeth good.” God therefore has given that which is good, as the apostle tells us in this Epistle, and they who work it shall receive glory and honour, because they have done that which is good when they had it in their power not to do it;

Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Direct teaching

rendering to each one according to his own action.

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Supporting witness

...hings which I destroyed, I make myself a prevaricator." And in saying this he pronounces on them as Gentiles, because before the fullness of faith came, they were under the elements of the world, believing then in the law and the prophets.

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness

... form of a servant, that is, to become man; and He undertook the substance of flesh and body which, according to His manhood, came to Him from the bondage of His forefathers' sins by being born. At that time, moreover, He emptied Himself, in that He did not refuse to take upon Himself the frailty belonging to humanity. Because if He had been born only man, He would not have been emptied in this respect. For man, when he is born, is increased, not emptied. For in beginning to be what he could not possess so long as he did not exist, as we have said, he is not emptied, but rather increased and enriched. But if Christ is emptied in being born, in taking the form of a servant, how is He only man? Of whom could it more truly have been said that He was enriched, not emptied, at the time He was born, except because the authority of the divine Word, resting for a while in taking humanity upon itself, and not exercising itself with its real strength, casts itself down and puts itself off for the time, while bearing the humanity which it has undertaken? It empties itself in descending to injuries and reproaches, in bearing abominations, in enduring unworthy things. And yet, with this humi

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Metaphrase of Ecclesiastes Supporting witness

and that you believe that all shall be judged severally in the future, and that every man shall receive the just recompense for his deeds, whether they be good or whether they be evil.

Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness

...ant, that is, to become man, and to undertake the substance of flesh and body. As this came to Him, according to His manhood, from the bondage of His forefathers' sins, He undertook it by being born. At that time also He emptied Himself, because He did not refuse to take on the frailty that belongs to humanity. Because if He had been born man only, He would not have been emptied in this respect. For man, being born, is increased, not emptied. For in beginning to be that which he could not possess as long as he did not exist, as we have said, he is not emptied, but rather increased and enriched. But if Christ is emptied in being born, in taking the form of a servant, how is He only man? Of whom could it more truly have been said that He was enriched, not emptied, at the time He was born, except because the authority of the divine Word, resting for a while in taking humanity upon itself, and not exercising itself with its true strength, casts itself down and puts itself off for the time, in bearing the humanity which it has undertaken? It empties itself in descending to injuries and reproaches, in bearing abominations, in experiencing unworthy things. And yet, with this humility,

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

who also will come at the consummation of the world with power and great glory, to judge the quick and the dead, and to recompense to every one according to his works.

Clement of Rome, Second Epistle (attributed) Supporting witness

For He is faithful who has promised that He will bestow on every one a reward according to his works.

Ignatius, Epistle to the Magnesians (Short Version) Supporting witness

For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be.

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Supporting witness

and further, from the judgment of their Maker upon them according to the time each has lived, and according to the rules by which each has regulated his behaviour — a judgment which no one can doubt will be just.

Commodianus, Writings Supporting witness

and He will award punishments according to your deeds.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

Romans 2:16 So that both the gospel and Christ must be His, to whom appertain the law and the nature which are to be vindicated by the gospel and Christ — even at that judgment of God which, as he previously said, was to be according to truth.

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his deeds.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

But this remains, that we should treat of the judgment of God, which will then be established when our Lord shall return to the earth to render to every one either a reward or punishment, according to his desert.

Tertullian, Ad Nationes Supporting witness

Again, we affirm that a judgment has been ordained by God according to the merits of every man.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

I now come to the superstitions that are peculiar to the Romans, since I have spoken about those that are common. The wolf, the nurse of Romulus, was given divine honors. And I could tolerate this, if it had been the actual animal whose image she bears. Livy says that there was an image of Larentina, and indeed not of her body, but of her mind and character. For she was the wife of Faustulus, and because of her prostitution she was called a wolf among the shepherds, that is, a harlot. From this also the brothel gets its name. The Romans no doubt followed the example of the Athenians in representing her in this way. For when a harlot named Leaena had killed a tyrant among them, and it was unlawful for the image of a harlot to be placed in the temple, they set up the image of the animal whose name she bore. Therefore, just as the Athenians set up a monument from the name, so the Romans did from the profession of the person they honored. A festival was also dedicated to her name, and the Larentinalia was established. Nor is she the only harlot whom the Romans worship, but also Faula, who was, as Verrius writes, the mistress of Hercules. Now how great must that immortality be thought t

Ignatius of Antioch, Connection to Romans 2:6 Supporting witness

and will come at the end of time with his Father’s glory to judge the living and the dead.

Anonymous, Connection to Matthew 16:27 Supporting witness

who will render to every man according to his works;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness

...the day of retribution, when the Lord will reward each person according to their deeds—that is, the judgment. The acceptable year of the Lord is this current time, in which those who believe in Him are called by Him and become acceptable to God—that is, the entire period from His coming until the end of all things, during which He gathers those who are saved as the fruits of His plan of mercy. According to the language of the prophet, the day of retribution follows the acceptable year; and the prophet would be considered false if the Lord preached for only a year if he refers to it. For where is the day of retribution? For the year has passed, and the day of retribution has not yet come; but He still "makes His sun rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and unjust." The righteous suffer persecution, are afflicted, and are killed, while sinners live in abundance, and "drink with the sound of the harp and psaltery, but do not regard the works of the Lord." However, according to the prophet's words, they should be linked, with the day of retribution following the acceptable year. The words say, "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of retribut

Hippolytus, Against Plato Supporting witness

...us and the unrighteous alike, will be brought before God the Word. For the Father has committed all judgment to Him. And in fulfillment of the Father's counsel, He comes as Judge, whom we call Christ. For it is not Minos and Rhadamanthys who are to judge the world, as you imagine, O Greeks, but He whom God the Father has glorified. We have spoken elsewhere about Him more particularly, for the profit of those who seek the truth. He, in carrying out the Father's righteous judgment for all, assigns to each what is righteous according to his works. And while standing before His judgment, all, both men and angels and demons, will speak with one voice, saying, "Righteous is Your judgment." And the justification of this voice will be seen in the awarding to each of what is just. For to those who have done well, eternal bliss will be assigned righteously. And to the lovers of iniquity, eternal punishment will be given. And the fire that is unquenchable and without end awaits these latter, and a certain fiery worm that does not die, and does not waste the body, but continues bursting forth from the body with unending pain. No sleep will give them rest. No night will soothe them. No death

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness

But, according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the day of judgment and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every one according to his work: to those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and immortality, eternal life;

Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness

It is not therefore matter of surprise that the same God should have sown in the hearts of all men those truths which He taught by the prophets and the Saviour, in order that at the divine judgment every man may be without excuse, having the requirements of the law written upon his heart,— a truth obscurely alluded to by the Bible in what the Greeks regard as a myth, where it represents God as having with His own finger written down the commandments, and given them to Moses, and which the wickedness of the worshippers of the calf made him break in pieces, as if the flood of wickedness, so to speak, had swept them away.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...four-footed animals, and try to sow children. But God gave the ungodly over, as the Apostle says in Romans 1:26-27, to shameful passions: "For even their women exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature. Likewise also their men, leaving the natural use, burned in their desire for one another, men with men doing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the due reward of their error." Yet nature has not allowed even the most lustful animals to put seed into the passage of excrement. For urine is discharged into the bladder, softened food into the belly, tears into the eye, blood into the veins, dirt into the ears, and mucus is carried into the nostrils. But at the end of the rectum the seat is joined, through which excrement is expelled. So only the unusual nature found in hyenas devised this extra part for excessive intercourse. For that reason it is also somewhat hollow for a short distance, so that it may serve itching parts. But after that, the hollow closes up. For it was not made for generation. From this it is clear to us, and openly admitted, that intercourse with males must be avoided, and fruitless sowings, and preposterous Venus, and the unions of a

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

...if he is fit to share in the Spirit? For Abraham is father not only of the Hebrews, but also of the Gentiles. And if the woman who is adulterated, and the man who committed fornication with her, are punished with death, Deuteronomy 22:22, then the command that says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife," plainly speaks about the Gentiles, so that if anyone, according to the Law, has kept away from his neighbor's wife and from his sister, he may openly hear from the Lord: "But I say, do not covet." The addition of this phrase, "I," shows the greater force of the command. And that Carpocrates makes war against God, and Epiphanes too in the book On Justice that is commonly circulated, is clear from what he adds in these words: "From here, if anyone should say it is ridiculous, this word of the lawgiver must be heard: 'You shall not covet,' even to what he says still more ridiculously: 'the things of your neighbor.' For He Himself, who gave desire so that it might preserve generation, commands it to be taken away, though He takes it away from no animal. And the phrase, 'your neighbor's wife,' by which He forces sharing into private ownership, He spoke even more ridiculously." T

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Background

... why the law is called "the strength of sin," we will now explain briefly as best we can. Now it is written that "the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners." In those times, then, before Moses, there was no written law for transgressors. So Pharaoh, not knowing the strength of sin, sinned by oppressing the children of Israel with unjust burdens, and he despised the Godhead, not only himself, but also all who were with him. But, so that I do not explain it in a roundabout way, I will state the matter briefly like this. There were certain people of the Egyptian race mixed in with the people of Moses when that people was under his rule in the wilderness. And when Moses had gone up the mountain to receive the law, the impatient people, I do not mean those who were the true Israel, but those who had been mixed with the Egyptians, set up a calf as their god, according to their old custom of worshiping idols. They did this with the idea that by such means they might save themselves from ever having to pay the proper penalties for their sins. In this way they were completely ignorant of the strength of their sin. But wh

Origen, Against Celsus Background

So then, there are generally two laws set before us. One is the law of nature, of which God would be the lawgiver. The other is the written law of cities. When the written law is not opposed to the law of God, it is right for citizens not to abandon it under the excuse of foreign customs. But when the law of nature, that is, the law of God, commands what is opposed to the written law, consider whether reason does not tell us to say a long farewell to the written code, and to the desire of its lawmakers, and to give ourselves to God the lawgiver, and to choose a life agreeable to His word, even if in doing so it is necessary to face dangers, countless labors, and even death and dishonor. For when there are some laws in harmony with the will of God which are opposed to others that are in force in cities, and when it is impossible to please God and those who administer laws of that kind at the same time, it would be absurd to despise those acts by which we may please the Creator of all things, and to choose those by which we shall become displeasing to God, though we may satisfy ungodly laws and those who love them. But since it is reasonable in other matters to prefer the law of natu

Archelaus, Disputation with Manes Background

and was pleased to give through Moses a written law to men, since verily the equity of the natural law filled to be retained in all its perfection in their hearts.

Peter of Alexandria, The Genuine Acts of Peter Background

the other from the law, which is in accordance with the commandment, which we had implanted in us as a natural law, stirring up our thoughts to good, when we delight in the law of God according to our mind, for this is the inner man;

Unknown, Unknown Work Background

Such are the laws of the Word, the consolatory words not on tables of stone which were written by the finger of the Lord, but inscribed on men's hearts, on which alone they can remain imperishable.