eternal life is a gift but what does romans 2:6-7 mean?

why does st.paul teach in romans 2:7 that you get for your deeds and patient continuance eternal life. sounds like matthew 25 with sheep and goats who did good deeds.
but then in same letter he says atleast two times that etenal life is a gift? one time its even called free gift. how can it be free but in romans 2:7 doesnt sound like free. sounds to me like if i tell you to sacrifice your entire life to follow Jesus and you get a gift, its like you earn wage not gift. what does st.paul mean in romans 2:6-7?

Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Is it works or a burden to obey the Father? Just as we obey our parents in this age, obeying our heavenly Father is our duty having nothinng to do with earning Salvation, salvation is free, a gift, and cannot be earned.

Not to obey after receiving the gift of salvation is simply being ingracious, and no longer made righteous by the faith given us.

My impression was that he was addressing the Jews when he use the word "You" in that passage, reinforced by Romans 2:17.

So his objective in v6-7, by addressing the Jews, was to tell them that, under the Law, God will bless you if you do good, but curse you if you do bad.

Eternal life is a gift but like all gifts they are not “gifted” unless accepted. You can have a birthday“gift” for someone but it isn't really “gifted” until you give it to them and they receive it. I see the gift of eternal life the same way. You either receive it or you don't and it's a question everyone should ask themselves. Once you accept this gift fully, you can then live fully accepting that you are forgiven and do not then fear the judgement in your heart to come like some that do not have the gift as they convict themselves with no advocate.


If you believe and accept eternal life then it has been given to you and you have received it. Therefore, faith in that gift will convict your heart that your sins are forgiven. If you do not really accept this gift of eternal life, then faith will not be present in that gift so when you sin, you will convict yourself as you will not have the faith to know that you are indeed forgiven as that is the promise. Without forgiveness, conviction and then the judgement comes.


Is there democracy in Heaven? Like on earth, some are great and some are small so maybe those who do “a few good things” get smaller or lesser glories in the eternal life depending on their level of faith. Faith can throw mountains in the sea.

Paul in Romans two is building a case in which he concludes in Romans 3 that there is none righteous, no not one. There are none that seek God but all have gone astray. You can't force v.7 to fit a scheme of works righteousness when all of chapters one thru three establishes our need for a Savior, which climaxes with...

(Rom 3:21) But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
(Rom 3:22) the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
(Rom 3:23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Rom 3:24) and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
(Rom 3:25) whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.