---
title: Romans 2:6
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-2-6/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-2-6.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 2:6
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 2:6

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "he will pay back to each one according to his works"

## JW Usage

Romans 2:6 is one of the Watchtower's strongest works-salvation proof-texts. Read in isolation, "he will pay back to each one according to his works" appears to anchor a strict remuneration principle: God repays based on what each person has done. The Watchtower system treats this as the basis of final judgment — works are constitutive, not merely evidential.

## Protestant Usage

The verse is real Pauline doctrine — God really does repay according to deeds. The question is whether deeds are the BASIS of justification or the EVIDENCE of a person already justified by Christ's righteousness. Paul's own answer comes five chapters later: "a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Romans 3:28). The Greek chōris ("apart from") cannot be flexed to mean "in cooperation with." So Romans 2:6 sets the law's standard; Romans 3:20 records the verdict (no one meets it); Romans 3:21-26 reveals the rescue (Christ's righteousness credited by faith). Final-judgment-by-deeds is the public evidence of who has been justified by Christ — not a second, parallel basis of salvation.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Doers of the Law — Romans 2:13](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/romans2-13-doers-justified.md) — Paul's principle vs Paul's conclusion [Salvation]