Barnpreacher
Puritan Board Junior
Here are Piper's thoughts on the CoW in A Godward Life (p. 172-73):
I wanted to post those thoughts because I wanted your thoughts on Piper's interpretation of Romans 2:7-10.
Thoughts on Piper's interpretation of this passage?
What made Adam's sin so evil was that God had shown him unmerited favor and offered himself to Adam as an everlasting Father to be trusted in all his counsel for Adam's good. The command was that Adam trust God's goodness. Adam's test was whether he would prove the trustworthiness of God in reckoning God more to be desired than the prospect of Satan's offer. There was no hint that Adam was to earn or deserve. The atmosphere was one of testing faith in unmerited favor, not testing willingness to earn or merit. The command of God was for the obedience that comes from faith...Christ rendered to God the obedience of faith that Adam forsook. He fulfilled the Law perfectly in the way that the Law was meant to be fulfilled from the beginning, not by works, but by faith (Romans 9:32). Thus he obtained life for his people, not by wages, but by fulfilling the covenant conditions of a faithful Son.
I wanted to post those thoughts because I wanted your thoughts on Piper's interpretation of Romans 2:7-10.
What is in question is how the judgment "according to works" here in Romans 2:6-10 fits together with that. I said that, in general, there are two possible answers to this question. One says that eternal life would be based on perfect obedience if anybody had it. But nobody does, and so the only way to eternal life is by faith in Christ. The other way says that God never promised eternal life on the basis of good deeds, but always makes good deeds the evidence of faith that unites us to God in Christ, who is the basis of eternal life.
Let me try to say it another way, using verse 7 in particular. Verse 7 says, "To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, [God will give] eternal life." What does that mean?
The first answer would say, it means that God would give eternal life on the basis of perfect obedience if anybody had it. But nobody does, and so the point of the verse is simply to stress the hopelessness of man without the gospel of grace.
The other answer would say, it means that God does indeed give eternal life to those who persevere in obedience not because this obedience is perfect or because it is the basis or the merit of eternal life, but because saving faith always changes our lives in the power of the Holy Spirit so that true believers persevere in doing good. In other words, a changed life of obedience to God's truth (verse 8) is not the basis of eternal life, but the evidence of authentic faith which unites us to Christ who is the basis of eternal life.
Now, I think this second way of viewing these verses is correct. This is why verse 6 says, "[God] will render to every person according to his deeds," not "on the basis of" his deeds, or "because of the merit of his deeds." Eternal life is always based on Jesus Christ and through our faith. But since faith, by the Holy Spirit, always sanctifies or changes us into the image of Christ (one degree at a time, 2 Corinthians 3:18), there will be deeds that "accord with" this saving faith. So while eternal life will be awarded only to believers, it will be awarded "according to" - there will be an accord with -their deeds. There will be a way of life that God can put on display to demonstrate to the world that this person's faith was real.
Thoughts on Piper's interpretation of this passage?