What is the meaning of recompense?

When it is known that the word for “reward” is not the ordinary one so rendered, but occurs only here in the New Testament (though not infrequently in the LXX. i.e. Greek translation of the Old), and that it signifies recompense with the underlying thought of compensation, it will be felt how beautifully suited it is to the way that grace would light up the otherwise unenviable condition of the Christian bond-slave, as from verse 22.

He believes then in the probability of retribution as distinct from purificatory suffering. He does not wait to ask whether there are to be any to behold it for whose warning it may be needed. He does not inquire whether "gratuitous" or not. He speaks of "retribution," i.e., "repayment, recompense." Perhaps he does not believe that "retribution" could ever be "gratuitous," so that he need not consider it. Perhaps he is right.

Vengeance is truly a terrible word when it comes from the mouth of God, and if we turn to verse 4 of Isaiah 63 we shall find it referred to again. It means retribution exacted for wrongs committed, and all the wrongs that men have committed are primarily against God. A day is coming when God Himself will bring retribution on the heads of sinful men; judging "the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained," as Paul told the Athenians, recorded in Acts 17. When that comes to pass, it will "comfort all that mourn," because their mourning will be not for their own personal troubles, but rather for the evil and chaos that will fill the earth, the sinfulness of men having then reached its climax. When men have filled the cup of their iniquity to the brim, God will strike by the advent of Christ. And to those who mourn, though few in number, what a comfort that will be!

In the day of judgment men will be "judged according to their works." Every sin will receive its just recompense; there will be the infliction of "few stripes" or "many stripes." Penalty will be strictly commensurate with desert.

— “And to give the recompense.” Both the judgment and recompense are characteristic actions of the kingdom. The distribution of reward is both common and special. The recompense of rest and glory is bestowed upon all God’s saints alike. But there are special crowns and rewards. In the very conception of a kingdom varying degrees and stations of honour are necessarily thought of.‎ “The recompense” is not only therefore God’s answer to the state of His afflicted people here, but embraces also the several and distinctive positions which they will occupy in the kingdom. The reward in this latter is proportioned to the faithfulness, suffering, and service of each individual saint.‎ ‎

There is a good deal about redemption in the Old Testament, and one of the words used for it has the meaning, it is said, of, "freeing, whether by avenging or repaying."

Yet there is a right thought of recompense — a reward, of "mercy" (2 Tim. 1:18) which love will not be denied in giving, — which is really but the gift of God. This can never become to the soul as hire, the motive to service, and for this reason, that it is the reward of true devotedness alone, and not self-seeking: to work for the reward is to lose it. Issachar's captain must in this way also be Nathaniel.

As to his finding "mercy of the Lord in that day," it is no doubt the day of rewards. And rewards are not strictly that which is deserved: that would be wages. It is because God's very character is merciful that he gives rewards. Note in Matthew 25:28 that though the one servant had gained ten talents for his master, by use of his master's goods, yet after he brought it to the master, we find that he still had it in his own possession. The master had allowed him to keep it, and in fact gave him more. This is certainly mercy, a reward not really deserved at all. Then is added the many things in which Onesiphorus had previously ministered to Paul. It was not forgotten by him: how much less with God!

Secondly, the Lord reminds us that the one who is engaged in this service of love "receives wages". He does not necessarily "earn" them, as if he merely secured the just equivalent of his labours, but he "receives" wages; it may, indeed, be more than he has earned. The Lord will not be a debtor to any man, and retains His sovereignty in rewarding His servants.

If God were to deal with me as a creature I must stand before Him until every one of my sins can be counted up, for each one to receive a just recompense of reward. How perfectly simple it is! If God from Sinai gave certain laws for the government of His people Israel, and not one of those laws could be infringed without a certain penalty, it must needs be the same still to any who take that ground. If you are standing on that ground before God, take care! He will not pass by one single transgression without a just recompense of reward, and you must receive it. If I go before Him to prove my own righteousness, He must weigh me in His scales, must weigh every thought and imagination of my heart.