THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH IN THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS Part II: The Obedience of Faith and Judgment by Works

THE previous study of the obedience of faith in Romans was an attempt to determine exegetically the meaning of Paul’s unique phrase u[pakoh> pi<stewj. It was concluded that the phrase is deliberately ambiguous, denoting simultaneously the obedience which is faith and the obedience which is the product of faith. Because of its essentially two-sided character, it was suggested that the notion of faith’s obedience provides the link between present justification by faith alone and future judgment according to works. Since faith, obedience, and judgment generally in Paul are such well-worn territory, the scope of this article is restricted to an examination of the relation of the obedience of faith to final vindication (justification) in the day of judgment. In particular our attention will be focused on the theology of Rom 2:13. In his seminal study of “The Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit,” G. Vos comments that the biblical idea of “salvation” is, strictly speaking, a future condition (“immunity from the condemnation of the last day”) which has been projected back into the present. Similarly: