IF
“For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?” (Romans 2:25-27).
God is both good and severe (Romans 11:22). He is the Creator of heaven and of hell. He is not arbitrary or capricious. There is no variation or shadow of turning in Him (James 1:17). He is trustworthy because He is unchangingly righteous. His attitude toward you and His judgment of you are solely dependent upon the choices you make as a free moral agent.
IF you live obediently to His will, you are living your life as you ought (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14), and His favor is upon you.
IF you live disobediently to His will, you are not living your life as you ought (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14), and His favor is not upon you.
IF, in the days prior to the coming of the gospel, you were ignorant of His revealed will (as were the Gentiles) and yet lived a purer, more moral life than those who were knowledgeable of it (as were the Jews), His favor is upon you.
IF, in the days prior to the coming of the gospel, you were knowledgeable of His revealed will (as were the Jews) and yet lived on a lower moral and spiritual plane than those who were ignorant of it (as were the Gentiles), His judgment of you as a transgressor of His will is righteous and fully deserved.
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (Ezekiel 18:20). This righteous principle applies as long as human history endures.
You and you alone determine IF God praises you or punishes you.
