23 You who take pride in the law, are you doing wrong to the honour of God by behaviour which is against the law?
But as for you who have the name of Jew, and are resting on the law, and take pride in God,
Put out of your minds the thought that I will say things against you to the Father: the one who says things against you is Moses, on whom you put your hopes.
Who are Israelites: who have the place of sons, and the glory, and the agreements with God, and the giving of the law, and the worship, and the hope offered by God:
How is it that you say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? But see, the false pen of the scribes has made it false. The wise men are shamed, they are overcome with fear and taken: see, they have given up the word of the Lord; and what use is their wisdom to them?
And he said to him, Why are you questioning me about what is good? One there is who is good: but if you have a desire to go into life, keep the rules of the law. He says to him, Which? And Jesus said, Do not put anyone to death, Do not be untrue in married life, Do not take what is not yours, Do not give false witness, Give honour to your father and your mother: and, Have love for your neighbour as for yourself. The young man says to him, All these things have I done: what more is there?
And he said to him, What does the law say, in your reading of it? And he, answering, said, Have love for the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and for your neighbour as for yourself. And he said, You have given the right answer: do this and you will have life. But he, desiring to put himself in the right, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer.
But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas. Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass; For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like. But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts. If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value. The religion which is holy and free from evil in the eyes of our God and Father is this: to take care of children who have no fathers and of widows who are in trouble, and to keep oneself untouched by the world.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Romans 2
Commentary on Romans 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
Ro 2:1-29. The Jew under Like Condemnation with the Gentile.
From those without, the apostle now turns to those within the pale of revealed religion, the self-righteous Jews, who looked down upon the uncovenanted heathen as beyond the pale of God's mercies, within which they deemed themselves secure, however inconsistent their life may be. Alas! what multitudes wrap themselves up in like fatal confidence, who occupy the corresponding position in the Christian Church!
4. the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance—that is, is designed and adapted to do so.
5. treasurest up unto thyself wrath against—rather "in."
the day of wrath—that is wrath to come on thee in the day of wrath. What an awful idea is here expressed—that the sinner himself is amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating stock of divine wrath, to burst upon him in "the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God!" And this is said not of the reckless, but of those who boasted of their purity of faith and life.
7-10. To them who, &c.—The substance of these verses is that the final judgment will turn upon character alone.
by patient continuance in well-doing, &c.—Compare Lu 8:15: "That on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience"; denoting the enduring and progressive character of the new life.
8. But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, &c.—referring to such keen and determined resistance to the Gospel as he himself had too painfully witnessed on the part of his own countrymen. (See Ac 13:44-46; 17:5, 13; 18:6, 12; and compare 1Th 2:15, 16).
indignation and wrath—in the bosom of a sin-avenging God.
9. Tribulation and anguish—the effect of these in the sinner himself.
10. to the Jew first—first in perdition if unfaithful; but if obedient to the truth, first in salvation (Ro 2:10).
12. For as many as have sinned—not "as many as have sinned at all," but, "as many as are found in sin" at the judgment of the great day (as the whole context shows).
without law—that is, without the advantage of a positive Revelation.
shall also perish without law—exempt from the charge of rejecting or disregarding it.
and as many as have sinned in the law—within the pale of a positive, written Revelation.
shall be judged by the law—tried and condemned by the higher standard of that written Revelation.
13-15. For not the hearers, &c.—As touching the Jews, in whose ears the written law is continually resounding, the condemnation of as many of them as are found sinners at the last involves no difficulty; but even as respects the heathen, who are strangers to the law in its positive and written form—since they show how deeply it is engraven on their moral nature, which witnesses within them for righteousness and against iniquity, accusing or condemning them according as they violate or obey its stern dictates—their condemnation also for all the sin in which they live and die will carry its dreadful echo in their own breasts.
15. their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing—that is, perhaps by turns doing both.
16. In the day, &c.—Here the unfinished statement of Ro 2:12 is resumed and closed.
shall judge the secrets of men—here specially referring to the unfathomed depths of hypocrisy in the self-righteous whom the apostle had to deal with. (See Ec 12:14; 1Co 4:5).
according to my gospel—to my teaching as a preacher of the Gospel.
17-24. Behold—"But if" is, beyond doubt, the true reading here. (It differs but in a single letter from the received reading, and the sense is the same).
18. approvest the things that are excellent—"triest the things that differ" (Margin). Both senses are good, and indeed the former is but the result of the latter action. (See on Php 1:10).
20. hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law—not being left, as the heathen are, to vague conjecture on divine things, but favored with definite and precise information from heaven.
22. thou that abhorrest idols—as the Jews did ever after their captivity, though bent on them before.
dost thou commit sacrilege?—not, as some excellent interpreters, "dost thou rob idol temples?" but more generally, as we take it, "dost thou profane holy things?" (as in Mt 21:12, 13, and in other ways).
24. as it is written—(See Isa 52:5, Marginal reference).
25-29. For circumcision—that is, One's being within the covenant of which circumcision was the outward sign and seal.
verily profiteth, if thou keep the law—if the inward reality correspond to the outward sign.
but if, &c.—that is, "Otherwise, thou art no better than the uncircumcised heathen."
26. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the … law, &c.—Two mistaken interpretations, we think, are given of these words: First, that the case here supposed is an impossible one, and put merely for illustration [Haldane, Chalmers, Hodge]; second that it is the case of the heathen who may and do please God when they act, as has been and is done, up to the light of nature [Grotius, Olshausen, &c.]. The first interpretation is, in our judgment, unnatural; the second, opposed to the apostle's own teaching. But the case here put is, we think, such as that of Cornelius (Ac 10:1-48), who, though outside the external pale of God's covenant, yet having come to the knowledge of the truths contained in it, do manifest the grace of the covenant without the seal of it, and exemplify the character and walk of Abraham's children, though not called by the name of Abraham. Thus, this is but another way of announcing that God was about to show the insufficiency of the mere badge of the Abrahamic covenant, by calling from among the Gentiles a seed of Abraham that had never received the seal of circumcision (see on Ga 5:6); and this interpretation is confirmed by all that follows.
28. he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, &c.—In other words, the name of "Jew" and the rite of "circumcision" were designed but as outward symbols of a separation from the irreligious and ungodly world unto holy devotedness in heart and life to the God of salvation. Where this is realized, the signs are full of significance; but where it is not, they are worse than useless.
Note, (1) It is a sad mark of depravity when all that is designed and fitted to melt only hardens the heart (Ro 2:4, and compare 2Pe 3:9; Ec 8:11). (2) Amidst all the inequalities of religious opportunity measured out to men, and the mysterious bearing of this upon their character and destiny for eternity, the same great principles of judgment, in a form suited to their respective discipline, will be applied to all, and perfect equity will be seen to reign throughout every stage of the divine administration (Ro 2:11-16). (3) "The law written on the heart" (Ro 2:14, 15)—or the Ethics of Natural Theology—may be said to be the one deep foundation on which all revealed religion reposes; and see on Ro 1:19, 20, where we have what we may call its other foundation—the Physics and Metaphysics of Natural Theology. The testimony of these two passages is to the theologian invaluable, while in the breast of every teachable Christian it wakens such deep echoes as are inexpressibly solemn and precious. (4) High religious professions are a fearful aggravation of the inconsistencies of such as make them (Ro 2:17-24). See 2Sa 12:14. (5) As no external privileges, or badge of discipleship, will shield the unholy from the wrath of God, so neither will the want of them shut out from the kingdom of heaven such as have experienced without them that change of heart which the seals of God's covenant were designed to mark. In the sight of the great Searcher of hearts, the Judge of quick and dead, the renovation of the character in heart and life is all in all. In view of this, have not all baptized, sacramented disciples of the Lord Jesus, who "profess that they know God, but in works deny Him," need to tremble—who, under the guise of friends, are "the enemies of the cross of Christ?"