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Romans 2:5 – A Storehouse of Wrath

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Will

But in accordance with your hardness and your unrepentant heart you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Truth to Learn

On the Day of Judgment God will show His wrath rather than His mercy.

Behind the Words

The word translated “hardness” is skleroteta, from which we get our medical term sclerosis, meaning hardening. It literally means “hardness like a stone” but in reference to our heart, as it is here, it refers to “stubbornness or obstinacy.”

The word translated “unrepentant” is from the Greek ametanoeton, which is a compound word made up of the privative a, meaning “not” and a form of metanoeō, which means “to have a change of heart, to change one’s thinking, to repent.”

The word translated “treasure up” is a form of thesauridzō, from which we get our word thesaurus, meaning “a treasury.” The notion is of storing up or hoarding things simply for the purpose of having them. This word is in the present active indicative form, implying present action. Paul is saying, “you are continually hoarding up wrath for yourself.”

Meaning Explained

Paul has just informed his readers that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance without which we would never respond properly to the result of our sin. All sin is abhorrent to God, and He must exact the payment for sin, which is death. Through His own goodness, however, he draws us to repentance, which is necessary in order to receive the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of His own Son. So we see that not only does God provide the payment for our sins (for which we have no one to blame but ourselves), but He also draws us to that payment by leading us to repentance.

Unfortunately there are many who will refuse to be drawn to repentance because they are too proud and will not submit to the sovereignty of God. For these, Paul now explains what will ultimately happen.

He says, “because of your stubbornness and refusal to repent you are hoarding up wrath for yourself.” This wrath will come, “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” If you read through the book of Revelation you will see that our loving God will one day pour out His wrath upon the sinful, unrepentant inhabitants of this earth. And, the ultimate result of that wrath will be the casting of unrepentant souls into the lake of fire.

Those who refuse to submit to God’s authority will be given over to all kinds of sinfulness, as we learned in the previous chapter. They will also receive the judgment for that sinfulness in the Day of Judgment. Only when it is too late will they realize that they were wrong and that they were fighting against the all-powerful Judge of the universe.

Application

Let us not be that way! Instead, let us voluntarily submit to Almighty God and repent of our sinfulness, claiming the blood of Christ as the payment for our sins.

So, what will it be; Pride and Punishment or Submission and Mercy? The choice is yours to make today! Don’t wait!

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 2:5 – A Storehouse of Wrath

Posted on September 8, 2009 by admin

Romans 2:5

But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Truth to Learn

On the Day of Judgment God will show His wrath rather than His mercy.

Behind the Words

The word translated “impenitent” is from the Greek ametanoeton, which is a compound word made up of a, meaning “not” and a form of metanoeō, which means “to have a change of heart, to change one’s thinking, to repent.”

The word translated “treasure up” is a form of thesauridzō, from which we get our word thesaurus, meaning “a treasury.” The notion is of storing up or hoarding things simply for the purpose of having them. This word is in the present active indicative form, implying present continuous action. Paul is saying, “you are continually hoarding up wrath for yourself.”

Meaning Explained

Application

Let us not be that way! Instead, let us voluntarily submit to Almighty God and repent of our sinfulness, claiming the blood of Christ as the payment for our sins.

So, what will it be; Pride and Punishment or Submission and Mercy? The choice is yours to make today! Don’t wait!

In God’s service, for His glory,

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2 Peter 3:11 – Earthly or Heavenly?

Posted on June 28, 2009 by admin

2 Peter 3:11

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives

Truth to Learn

We are either of the earthly family or the heavenly family. No one can be a member of both.

Behind the Words

The words “what kind of people” come from potapos, made up of the interrogative poios, meaning “what such” or “what sort” and a modified form of dapedon, meaning “a soil.” Actually, potapos is a corruption of the earlier podapos which meant, “From what country?” Hence, potapos is asking the question, “What kind of people?” but it is implying, “Are you earthly or are you heavenly?”

Meaning Explained

In light of the fact that the world will be judged by fire and all that remains of this earthly realm will go up in flames, we should focus our intentions on righteousness and holy living.

I can remember years ago being in a business management class in which we were all trying to figure out what our real goal in life was to be. We were told to imagine our own funeral, and we were to write our own eulogy, saying all those things for which we wanted to be remembered. Although a really good exercise in helping a person focus on what’s really the central driving ambition in life, it served primarily to help people focus on themselves and on what they wanted.

All the earthly ambitions of everyone in that room, everything written down in those eulogies, every accomplishment, every accolade, and every monument erected in honor of someone in that room will be “let loose” and will burn up completely until there is nothing left but the smell of smoke.

Jesus, in his sermon on the mount in Matthew 6:19-21, said this about earthly riches,

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Peter is saying essentially the same thing in today’s verse. Each of us will stand before the judge of all mankind some day. Those who have rejected Him will stand condemned and will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented eternally. We who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior will stand in Christ’s righteousness with our sins forgiven. However, we will still have our works judged, and those who have done God’s bidding in this life will receive crowns as rewards for their faithfulness and service. Any who have accepted the salvation that was offered them in this life but who have squandered their time here in self indulgence and self satisfaction, will enter into glory with nothing to offer the King of Kings.

Application

Will you be ushered into the glorious presence of the King or will you be cast into the lake of fire?

If you are ushered into the presence of the King, will you have anything to offer Him?

In God’s service, for His glory,

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