Bibelkommentare

Romans 2:1. Therefore, &c. — The apostle, having shown that the Gentiles could not entertain the least hope of salvation, according to the tenor of the law of nature, which they violated, proceeds next to consider whether the law of Moses gave the Jews any better hope; an inquiry which he manages with great address. For, well knowing that on reading his description of the manners of the Greeks, the Jews would pronounce them worthy of damnation, he suddenly turns his discourse to the Jews, by telling them that they who passed such a judgment on the Gentiles were equally, yea, more guilty themselves, in that, with the advantage of the greater light of divine revelation, they were guilty of crimes as great as those he had charged on the Gentiles; and that therefore, by condemning the Gentiles, they virtually condemned themselves. Thou art inexcusable, O man — Seeing that knowledge without practice only increases guilt; whosoever thou art, that judgest — That censurest and condemnest; for wherein thou judgest another — Greek, τον ετερον, the other — Namely, the heathen, and pronouncest them worthy of condemnation and wrath; thou condemnest thyself — As deserving the same: for thou that judgest doest the same things. According to Josephus, quoted here by Dr. Whitby, the Jews of that age were notoriously guilty of most of the crimes imputed to the Greeks and Romans in the preceding chapter. “There was not,” observes he, “a nation under heaven more wicked than they were. What have you done,” says he, addressing them, “of all the good things required by our lawgiver? What have you not done of all those things which he pronounced accursed? So that,” adds he, “had the Romans delayed to come against these execrable persons, I believe either the earth would have swallowed them up, or a deluge would have swept away their city; or fire from heaven would have consumed it, as it did Sodom, for it brought forth a generation of men far more wicked than they who suffered such things. It was sport to them to force women: and they exercised and required unnatural lusts, and filled the whole city with impurities. They committed all kinds of wickedness, omitting none which ever came into the mind of man; esteeming the worst of evils to be good, and meeting with that reward of their iniquity which was proper, and a judgment worthy of God.” The apostle, Mr. Locke thinks, represents the Jews as inexcusable in judging the Gentiles, especially because the latter, with all the darkness that was on their minds, were not guilty of such a folly as to judge those who were not more faulty than themselves, but lived on friendly terms with them, without censure or separation, thinking as well of their condition as of their own. For he considers the judging, which Paul here speaks of, as referring to that aversion which the Jews generally had to the Gentiles, in consequence of which “the unconverted Jews could not bear with the thoughts of a Messiah that admitted the heathen equally with themselves into his kingdom; nor could the converted Jews be brought to admit them into their communion, as the people of God, now equally with themselves; so that they generally, both one and the other, judged them unworthy the favour of God, and incapable of becoming his people any other way than by circumcision, and an observance of the ritual law; the inexcusableness and absurdity of which the apostle shows in this chapter.”

Romans 2:2-4. But we are sure — Greek, οιδαμεν, we know; though men may judge partially and perversely, yet God will judge uprightly; that the judgment of God — The sentence that he will pronounce upon persons, whether Jews or Gentiles, is according to truth — According to the true state of every man’s case; or according to the true character of persons, and the true quality of the actions and dispositions; (Romans 2:5-11;) against them who commit such things — However they may behave toward their fellow-creatures. Dr. Macknight, who understands the expression, according to truth, as signifying, “according to the true meaning of God’s covenant with the fathers of the Jewish nation,” observes, “By this declaration, the apostle reprobates the erroneous opinion confidently maintained by the Jews, who, fancying that by their natural descent from Abraham, they were entitled to the promises made to his seed, firmly believed that no Jew would be damned.” And thinkest thou this, &c. — Canst thou then, by the sentence which thou passest upon others, think to evade that which goeth forth against thyself? Or despisest thou — Dost thou go further still, and, from hoping to escape his wrath, dost thou proceed to abuse his love? The riches — Or the abundance; of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering — Exercised for such a length of time toward thee, who not only hast sinned, but dost sin, and wilt sin. The word, καταφρονεω, here rendered despise, also signifies to think against, to think wrong, or misconstrue; and the clause may be fitly translated, Dost thou misconstrue, or form a wrong opinion of, the goodness of God? God’s goodness, of which the Jews formed a wrong opinion, or which they despised, consisted chiefly in his having made them his church and people, in his having frequently, in an extraordinary manner, protected them against or delivered them from their enemies, conferred upon them innumerable blessings, temporal and spiritual, especially the latter, having from time to time raised up among them divinely-inspired prophets, to reveal his will to them, to instruct, warn, caution, and exhort them, and having intrusted with them his holy oracles. From these marks of the divine favour they vainly inferred that God would punish no descendant of Abraham for his sins in a future state. But in this they grievously erred, for the goodness of God, together with his other attributes here mentioned, was not intended to make sinning safe to the Jews, but to lead them to repentance for their sins. Forbearance (Greek, ανοχη) is that disposition in God by which he forbears to punish sin immediately upon its being committed; long-suffering — Or slowness to anger, signifies his deferring for a long time to punish; and here it seems chiefly to intend his patiently bearing long the ill use which the Jews made of the privileges they enjoyed as his church and people, and of the various blessings he had conferred upon them.

Romans 2:5-7. But after thy hardness — Greek, κατα τηυ σκληροτητα, according to thy obduracy, or insensibility of mind; and impenitent — Αμετανοητον, inconsiderate, unreflecting, and unrelenting heart, by reason of that stubbornness and obstinacy in sin which thou hast contracted; treasurest up wrath — Although thou thinkest thou art treasuring up all good things; unto thyself — Not to him whom thou judgest: that is, Thou provokest God more and more to aggravate thy punishment. In our language, a treasure signifies a collection of things useful or precious. But the Hebrews gave that appellation to a heap, or an abundance of any thing, whether good or bad. Hence, Proverbs 10:2, we read of treasures of wickedness. Reader! think what a treasure of good or evil, of felicity or misery, a man may lay up for himself in this short day of life! Against the day of wrath — The day of retribution, when God will fully execute wrath on impenitent sinners. Wrath is here, as often elsewhere, put for punishment, the effect of wrath. The apostle calls the day of retribution the day of wrath, to make the wicked sensible that as men greatly enraged do not suffer their enemies to escape, so God, highly displeased with the wicked, will assuredly punish them in the severest manner at length. Probably the apostle had in view, 1st, The awful vengeance which the divine wrath was about to bring on the Jews in the destruction of their city and temple, the depopulation of their country, and the dissolution of their commonwealth, which, 1 Thessalonians 2:16, he calls, wrath coming upon them to the uttermost. 2d, It appears, however, by what follows, that he spoke principally of the day of final judgment; and revelation of the righteous judgment of God — When God will make manifest to all the world the justice of his proceedings, both toward the righteous and the wicked. Bengelius reads, wrath, and revelation, and righteous judgment: just opposite to the three gracious attributes above mentioned; wrath opposed to goodness; revelation, when God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, opposed to his present forbearance; and righteous judgment, when he will no longer defer to punish, opposed to his present longsuffering. Who will render to every man — Both good and bad, both Jew and Gentile; according to his deeds — Not according to his external privileges, or his pretences and presumptuous expectations, but according to the real nature and quality of his works. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing — By persevering in a constant course of holiness and righteousness, notwithstanding all the oppositions and difficulties they meet with; (see Matthew 24:13; Revelation 2:10;) seek for glory — That state of splendour and brightness in which the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Matthew 13:43. Honour — Approbation, commendation, and praise from God and Christ, and all the heavenly host, mentioned 1 Peter 1:7. And immortality — Αφθαρσιαν, incorruptibility, everlasting life, health, and vigour of both body and mind. The words include the consummation and perfection of all those glorious qualifications and enjoyments which are bestowed on the saints in heaven. This the saints seek for; that is, desire and labour after; for, though love to God and Christ is the principal spring of their obedience, yet that love does not exclude the faith which is the evidence of things not seen, or that hope of heavenly glory and felicity which is as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast; and which, partly at least, influenced Christ himself amidst all his labours and sufferings, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame. Eternal life — Which God will render to such.

Romans 2:8-11. But unto them that are contentious — Like thee, O Jew, who thus fightest against God. The character of the unbelieving Jews was disobedience, stubbornness, and impatience. Mr. Locke thinks the original expression, οι δε εξ εριθειας, the contentions, here spoken of, are Jews who refused to obey the gospel. “But as the apostle is speaking of the punishment of the wicked Gentiles, as well as of the wicked Jews, εριθεια, contention, must be a vice common to both. Accordingly, εριθειαι, contentions, are mentioned among the works of the flesh, to which wicked men in general are addicted, Galatians 5:20. And Suidas tells us, that εριθεια, contention, is η δια λογου φιλονεικια, contention by words, by keen disputing. Wherefore the contentious are persons who spread evil principles, and maintain them by keen disputings. This was the vice of many of the heathen, who disputed themselves into a disbelief of the plainest principles of morality, and argued even in support of atheism. Agreeably to this account of the contentious, the apostle represents them here as enemies of the truth, and as friends of unrighteousness.” — Macknight. Who obey not the truth — Both those who did not walk according to the light of nature, chap. Romans 1:18, and those who disobeyed the gospel, are here intended. The former, because, as truth is here opposed to unrighteousness, it must signify not only the truths discovered by revelation, but those likewise respecting religion and morality, which are discoverable by the light of nature, and which, among the heathen, were the only foundations of a virtuous conduct. The truth, as it is in Jesus, or the gospel, however, seems to be especially intended, this being styled, the truth of God, Romans 3:7; Romans 15:8; the word of truth, Ephesians 1:13, and elsewhere; the knowledge of it being the knowledge of the truth, 1 Timothy 2:4; 1 Timothy 4:3; the belief of it, the belief of the truth, 2 Thessalonians 2:13; obedience to it, obedience to the truth, Galatians 3:1; Galatians 5:7; walking according to it, walking in the truth, 1 John 2:4; the gospel itself being emphatically styled the truth, Ephesians 4:21; and to know it being to know the truth, 1 John 2:21. This being so, they that are here said not to obey the truth seem to be especially, first, the unbelieving Jews, and, secondly, the Gentiles, who spake against the truth, and rejected it. And both these obeyed, and gave themselves up to error and falsehood; the Gentiles by changing the truth of God into a lie, Romans 1:25, and the Jews by adhering to their vain traditions, which made void the commands of God, supposing them to be derived from Moses, when they were indeed only the doctrines of men. But obey unrighteousness — Live in known sin; acting contrary to the clear dictates of reason and conscience. Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish — He seems to allude to Psalm 78:49, He cast upon them, the Egyptians, the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and finely intimating that the Jews would, in the day of vengeance, be more severely punished than even the Egyptians were, when God made their plagues so wonderful. Upon every soul of man that doeth evil — That contradicts the light of his dispensation, or holds in unrighteousness the portion of truth made known to him. Of the Jew first — Here we have the first express mention of the Jews in this chapter. And it is introduced with great propriety. Their having been trained up in the true religion, and their having had Christ and his apostles first sent to them, were circumstances which placed them in the foremost rank of the criminals that obeyed not the truth.

It must be observed, however, that “in this and the following verse, the apostle, by using the most general expression possible, every soul of man, and by twice introducing the distribution of Jew and Greek, which, according to the ideas of the Jews, comprehended all mankind, (see note on chap. Romans 1:16,) has left his reader no room to doubt that he is discoursing of the judgment of all nations, of heathen as well as of Jews and Christians. Therefore, not only what he says of the punishments, but what he observes of the rewards to be distributed at that day, must be understood of the heathen, as well as of those who have enjoyed the benefit of revelation.”

We see also, by these two verses, (Romans 2:9-10,) and Romans 1:16, that the apostle carefully lays it down as a fundamental position that there was now, under the gospel, no other national distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles, save only a priority of right in the Jews to the offer of the gospel, and the allotment of rewards or punishments, according as they obeyed or not. But glory, (just opposite to wrath,) — From the divine approbation; honour, (opposite to indignation,) — By the divine appointment; and peace — Implying a secure and quiet possession of all good, now and for ever, opposed to tribulation and anguish. To every one that worketh good — Sincerely performs his duty to God and man; to the Jew first, &c. — To one as well as another. For there is no respect of persons with God — That is, in passing their final sentence, and in distributing rewards and punishments, he is determined by their real characters, and will reward every one according to his works, not according to their outward condition; such as their country, kindred, sex, dignity, office, wealth, and profession of religion. This declaration concerning God, as Judge, the apostle made to show the Jews their folly in expecting favour at the final judgment, because they had Abraham for their father, and were themselves members of God’s church. And it must appear the more important and seasonable, considering that the Jews thought no Israelite should be deprived of future happiness, whatever his faults had been; unless he were guilty of apostacy, idolatry, and a few other very enormous crimes. But this impartial and equitable proceeding at the final judgment is very consistent with God’s distributing to persons here advantages and opportunities of improvement, according to his own good pleasure.

Romans 2:12. For as many as have sinned — And have not repented and brought forth fruit worthy of repentance; as many as have lived and died in the commission of known sin: he speaks as of the time past, for all time will be past at the day of judgment; without law — Without having had any written law, any express and outward revelation from God; shall also perish — Be condenmed and punished; without law — Without regard had to any written law, or supernatural revelation, being proved guilty by the law written in their hearts. The expression, shall perish, shows the agreement of the manner of suffering with the manner of sinning. He could not so properly say, shall be judged without law. Some understand it of the annihilation of the heathen; but both reason and Scripture assure us they shall be punished for their sins, though in a less degree than those who disobey the greater light of revelation. Since none of mankind ever lived without the law of nature, it is evident the expressions, ανομως, without law, in this clause, and εν νομω, in, or under law, in the following clause, cannot be understood of that law. Neither can they be understood of the law of Moses, seeing it is affirmed in the latter clause, that as many as have sinned in or under the law, shall be judged by the law. For the Jews are not to be judged by the law of Moses. See note on Romans 2:13. In this context, therefore, νομος, law, signifies divine revelation in general. Thus, the oracles of God, with which the Jews were intrusted, Romans 3:2, have the name of ο νομος, the law, often given to them in Scripture; as Psalm 19:7; John 10:34; John 12:34; John 15:25; Romans 3:19; in all which passages, and many others, the law signifies the whole of the divine revelations, taken complexly, as they stand recorded in the Jewish Scriptures. But when these Scriptures are distinguished into parts, as Luke 24:44, where the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms are mentioned; the law, in that division, denotes the five books of Moses only, as it does likewise, Romans 3:21, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. In this restricted sense, the word νομος, generally, though not always, has the article prefixed, the law. And as many as have sinned in, or under, the law — That is, revelation, whether the patriarchal, the Jewish, or the Christian, shall be judged by the law — By the revelation wherewith they were favoured. Though the word κριθησονται sometimes signifies, shall be condemned, in this passage it is rightly translated, shall be judged, because the apostle’s intention is to show, that all who have enjoyed the benefit of an external revelation shall be more severely punished, if wicked, than the Gentiles, who have not had that advantage: an idea which is better conveyed by the expression, shall be judged, than it would have been by shall be condemned. For judgment implies an accurate consideration of all circumstances, whether of aggravation or of alleviation, and the passing such a sentence as appears to the judge equitable, upon due consideration of the whole case. And the meaning here is, that their guilt being aggravated by the advantages which they enjoyed, they shall be punished in proportion to it. See Macknight.

Romans 2:13. For not the hearers of the law — Those who are only hearers; are — Even now; just — δικαιοι, righteous, that is, accounted and dealt with as righteous persons; before God — Here the apostle condemns the folly of the Jews, who thought themselves sure of eternal life, because God had favoured them with a revelation of his will: as Dr. Whitby has shown by many important quotations, in a note on this verse. But the doers of the law — Whether natural or revealed, that is, they who walk according to the light of the dispensation they are under, “who steadily and universally, in the tenor of their lives, act agreeably to its precepts; they, and they only, shall be justified [acquitted and rewarded] — In the day of final audit and account; whether their knowledge of it were more or less express.” So Doddridge. A most sure and important truth this, which respects the Gentiles also, though principally the Jews. The apostle speaks of the former, Romans 2:14, &c.; of the latter, Romans 2:17, &c. It must be observed, however, that the apostle does not speak of a perfect, unsinning obedience, either to the law of nature, or to any revealed law, whether patriarchal, Jewish, or Christian; but of that obedience of faith, productive of holiness, or that sincere obedience to the dispensation men are under, which, on the ground of the covenant of grace, established for all mankind immediately after the fall, God is pleased graciously to accept instead of that unsinning obedience, which to man, in his fallen state, is impossible. This obedience of faith, with regard to the heathen, implies their believing that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and on the ground of this faith, coming to him in prayer for his favour and blessing, and with praise for his benefits, and diligently seeking an acquaintance with him, and with his will concerning them. And with respect to Jews and Christians, it implies a true and lively faith in, and sincere obedience to, the truths, precepts, and promises of the dispensation they are under. The reader must observe, therefore, that merited justification, whether of Jews or heathen, spoken of Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16; or, justification according to the tenor of the law, by performing all the deeds or works enjoined thereby, without the least failure, is not here intended; but a gratuitous justification, founded, not on the accused person’s innocence, or righteousness, but proceeding merely from the mercy of his Judge, who is pleased, out of pure favour, to accept of his faith, producing sincere love and obedience, in the place of perfect righteousness, and to reward it as if it were that righteousness, and all for the sake of Christ.

Romans 2:14-15. For when the Gentiles — That is, any of them who have not the law — Not a written revelation of the divine will; do by nature — That is, by the light of nature, without an outward rule, or by the untaught dictates of their own minds, influenced, however, by the preventing grace of God, which hath appeared to all men, Titus 2:11; or, the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world: the things contained in the law — The moral duties required by the precepts of the law, the ten commandments being only the substance of the law of nature. These, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves — That is, what the law was to the Jews, they are by the light and grace of God to themselves, namely, a rule of life. All the ancient Greek commentators, as Whitby has shown, interpreted this passage not of the Gentiles who had been converted to Christianity, but of those Gentiles who had not been favoured with a revealed law, and therefore were neither proselytes to Judaism nor Christianity. Who show — To themselves and others, and, in a sense, to God himself, the work of the law — In its most important moral precepts, in the substance, though not in the letter of them; written in their hearts — By the same divine hand which wrote the commandments on the tables of stone; their conscience also bearing witness — For or against them, or testifying how far they have complied with their light or law. There is not one of all its faculties which the soul has less in its power than this. And their thoughts — Or their reasonings or reflections upon their own conduct; the meanwhile — Or, as the expression, μεταξυ αλληλων, is translated in the margin, between themselves, or by turns, according as they do well or ill; accusing — Checking and condemning them when they have acted contrary to their light; or else excusing — Approving and justifying them when they have conformed to it. Hence the apostle meant it to be inferred, that it was not the having, or knowing the law, (Romans 2:13,) nor the condemning others for the transgression of it, could avail a man, but the doing of it, or walking according to it. We may observe further on this verse, that, as the law in this context signifies divine revelation, the work of the law must be men’s duty, which revelation discovers by its precepts, which is also in part discovered by men’s natural reason and conscience, influenced by the light and grace of God; on which account it is said to be written on their hearts. Thus, in the compass of two verses, the apostle hath explained what the light of nature is, and demonstrated that there is such a light existing. It is a revelation from God written originally on the heart or mind of man; consequently is a revelation common to all nations; and, so far as it goes, it agrees with the things written in the external revelation which God hath made to some nations. We are compelled, however, when we come to consider matters of fact, to acknowledge that this light of nature has been dreadfully obscured and corrupted, even in the most learned and civilized heathen nations upon earth, as the apostle has proved at large in the latter part of the preceding chapter. And long before the ages referred to by him, All flesh had corrupted its way, Genesis 6:5; Genesis 6:11; darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people, Isaiah 60:2; there was none that understood, (Romans 3:11;) and all were alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that was in them, Ephesians 4:18, &c.

Romans 2:16. In the day, &c. — This relates to Romans 2:12, the intermediate verses, from the 13th, being a parenthesis; when God shall judge the secrets of men — Not only their outward actions, good and evil, which are manifest to all men, but their most secret and hidden ones, with their internal desires and designs, their intentions, purposes, schemes, contrivances, with the various workings of their passions, imaginations, and thoughts; for he will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, Ecclesiastes 12:14; will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart, 1 Corinthians 4:5. On secret circumstances depends the real quality of actions, frequently unknown to the actors themselves, Romans 2:29. Men generally form their judgments, even of themselves, merely from what is apparent. By Jesus Christ — To whom the Father hath committed all judgment; according to my gospel — According to the tenor of that gospel which is committed to my trust, and is preached by me: or as I testify in my preaching the gospel, Acts 17:31; 2 Timothy 2:8. For it is not the apostle’s intention to signify that all men shall be judged by the gospel, but only that the gospel teaches such a judgment.