You are to do? How pompous and arrogant. I can’t do anything without Him doing it through me. The best thing you ever did was still as a dirty rag to Him. I don’t do anything that pleases God. It’s Christ in me that does the doing as far as anything good is concerned.
>> Sadly, you stopped your bold printing three words too soon. That is where you fail.<<
Everything you call “works” or “what we must do” is legalistic and law. If you call it a command it becomes a legalistic requirement. Don’t play word games. If you claim it must be done it’s a law. It then is “works of law”.
>> we will be rewarded for what we have done<<
Good grief man. In Romans 2 he is talking to people who are being legalistic. Look at the beginning of the chapter. He starts out with “1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. He isn’t talking about how God judges us he’s talking about how they judge each other and have set up their legalistic approach to salvation. He’s rebuking the Romans. Read on in chapter 3.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
There you can see that he continued on to say that the Romans were being legalistic and goes on to say that the righteousness of God is without the law but is by faith.
Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Boasting that the works you do is excluded. Don’t try to put people back under the law of the RCC which Paul is clearly rebuking.
What a horrible outlook on our salvation. Don't you know we have been adopted into the Holy Family of God? Can you so easily toss aside all of the references I gave you that God will reward our deeds? Of course, He will. Why? Because we have been restored as sons of God through the New Covenant of Christ. In that, we have been graced by Christ with the ability to merit from God the approval due to His children.
When we were still separated from Him, He did not delight in our deeds (just as you take no delight in the accomplishments of the neighbor kids). Now, as restored sons and daughters, He does delight in us and our work for His Kingdom is not a mess of filthy rags before Him.
Your quote of the filthy rags comes from Isaiah and it is, again, about the Law. The way you misconstrue this fact is, unfortunately, very Protestant and the source of much misunderstanding between us.
May God bless you.
Maybe you should change your ways.
No. That's where you go way off the mark, exegetically. "Works of [the] law" had a specific meaning to Paul, other first century rabbis, and Paul's readers. It meant the ceremonial "works" of the Mosaic law, not any works of any law.