who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:
Parallel translations
- WEB who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”
- KJV Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
- BSB God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”
- NASB who will repay each person according to his deeds:
- NLT He will judge everyone according to what they have done.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God will repay each person according to his works. Final judgment will be just and will take deeds into account.
Overview
Quoting Psalm 62:12 / Proverbs 24:12, Paul affirms that God judges according to works. This does not contradict justification by faith; rather, works are the evidence and fruit that reveal the heart's true state. Genuine faith produces a life of perseverance in good, while unbelief shows itself in self-seeking rebellion. Judgment is according to works, but salvation is by grace through faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 62:12Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work.
- Jer 32:19great in counsel, and mighty in work; whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
- Matt 16:27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
- 2 Cor 5:10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
- Jer 17:10“I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Rev 22:12“Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.
- Rev 20:12I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
- Job 34:11For the work of a man he will render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
- Isa 3:10–11Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
- 1 Cor 3:8Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
- Rev 2:23I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
- Ezek 18:30“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
- Gal 6:7–8Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
- Matt 25:34–46Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
- Prov 24:12If you say, “Behold, we didn’t know this”; doesn’t he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, doesn’t he know it? Shall he not render to every man according to his work?
- Rom 14:22Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.
- Prov 24:2for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about mischief.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 2:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.