One of the good things about Romans is it clarifies the role of our works in our salvation and the role of grace. Many evangelicals, believe that all it takes is the confession of Christ as the Savior and you go to heaven. That's why they feel that even a murderer can confess on his death bed and be saved, but a good person who doesn't confess Christ is going to hell. Romans will contradict this. Twenty percent of Romans is about grace, but thirty percent is about works. In this chapter Paul shows that a person who is good, who has never heard the gospel, is in a better position than one who has the gospel but doesn't live it.
In the first 16 verses of this chapter, Paul teaches that all will be judged according to gospel standards because everyone has, as Moroni says, the light of Christ and knows right from wrong. What Paul says the Lord is concerned about is the condition of the heart. Isaiah says that the Lord looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart. Our inner intentions are more important than our outer motions. If our heart isn't right, our works will do us no good. The Lord wants us to do the right things for the right reasons. Verses 6- 7 sums it up: "[God] will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life."
We can't get to heaven based on words alone. Billy Graham, the great evangelical preachers, once said there is a difference between cheap grace and cheap conversion and genuine repentance.
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