1. The Judgment Is According To Truth (2:2). We are going to be judged according to the truth which is the word of God (John 17:17). Jesus said, "He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my sayings bath one that judgeth him. The word which I spake the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). Creed books, dogmas, and personal opinions will not be the standard of judgment but the Bible.

2. God Has Been Longsuffering With Us (2:4). If we are lost, it will not be because God desires our damnation. It will be because we have despised the "riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance."

3. We Will Be Lost Because Of Our Own Hardness Of Heart (2:5). God desires that all should be saved (2 Pet. 3:9), but God will not tamper with our free choice to serve or reject Him. God has provided everything for our salvation. If we are lost, it will be because we have rejected God and not because God has rejected us.

4. God Will Render To Every Man According To His Deeds (2:6). "God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness shall. be saved" (Acts 10:34-35)..God judges on the basis of our obedience to the gospel.

5. The Destiny Of The Righteous (2:7). "To them that by well doing seek after glory, honor, incorruption, eternal life."

6. The Destiny Of The Wicked (2:8-9). "But to them that are factious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." The souls of the wicked shall suffer tribulation and anguish. (This, incidentally, destroys the concept that the souls of the wicked are not raised on the judgment day.)

Truth Magazine XXIV: 14, p. 235
April 3, 1980