Romans 2

— which hast the form of knowledge &c.] That is, As having a complete scheme, or draught, of all Divine duties and precepts. Pyle, Dr. Wells.

In these four verses, 17—20, St. Paul makes use of the titles which the Jews assumed to themselves, from the advantages they had of light and knowledge above the Gentiles, to shew them how inexcusable they were in judging the Gentiles, who were even in their own account so much beneath them in knowledge, for doing those things which they themselves were guilty of. Locke.

Romans 2:2

2. Much every way: chiefly, &c.] The Apostle is his answer specifies the chief advantage which the Jew enjoyed. Dr. Wells.

— the oracles of God.] That is, the Holy Scriptures contained in the Old Testament, the sacraments and seals of the covenant, the prophecies and promises of the Messiah, and the whole revelation of the word and will of God. Burkitt.

In Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and others of the Greek writers, the word here rendered “oracles,” is used for a Divine speech or answer. Parkhurst.

Romans 2:3

3. For what if some did not believe? &c.] Here follows a second objection. Some might say, True, the Jews had the oracles of God, but some of them never believed those oracles, nor gave any credit to the promise of the Messiah contained in them: therefore they had no advantage by them. Be it so, saith the Apostle: yet shall the unbelief of some make the faith, or fidelity of God in His promises, of no effect to others? God forbid that such a thought should ever enter into your hearts: but on the contrary let God be acknowledged “true” and faithful to His word, though all men should prove “liars.” Burkitt. God is still pleased to stand to His promise made to Abraham: and whatever the perverse behaviour and base returns of mankind may be under the dispensations of Divine mercies or judgments, God is still the same merciful and wise governor. Pyle.

Romans 2:4

4. God forbid.] In the original, ‘May it not be!’ It is an emphatical form of deprecating or denying. Parkhurst. See the note on Gal. vi. 14.

— That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings,] Or mayest appear just and faithful in performing them; “and clear when Thou art judged,” that is, when Thou judgest and contended with any man, or enterest into judgment with him, or accuest him of sin. These words are a confession of David, that how severely soever God should deal with him for his sin, he could not accuse Him of too much rigour, but must justify Him in His proceedings, and clear Him from all imputations of injustice. They are accordingly here brought to shew, that though God should reject the Jews for their infidelity, they would have no reason to complain of His severity, or to charge Him with injustice or unfaithfulness. Dr. Whitby.

Romans 2:5

5. — hardness] A callousness, as it were, caused by a long custom of sinning. Bp. Fell. — treasures! up unto thyself wrath] The Greek word occurs in a similar sense at Prov. i. 18, ’they treasure up evils to themselves.’ Compare Amos iii. 10. Parkhurst. The sad and fatal consequences of the ungrateful return, made to God by sinners, is here denounced. As if the Apostle had said, The more patience God expends upon thee, if perverted and abused by thee, the greater wrath is treasured up for thee; which, the longer it has been treasured up, will break forth the more violently and fiercely for thy destruction. Burkitt. — the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.] The Apostle calls the day of judgment, “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 at length in the severest manner. Dr. Macknight. The day of judgment will be “the day of revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” because the righteousness of God’s proceedings, which is not always openly revealed in this life, will be then universally manifested and magnified, to the joyful satisfaction of all good men, and to the dreadful consternation and confusion of the wicked and impenitent world. Burkitt.

6. But if our unrighteousness &c.] A third objection here follows; namely, that if the unrighteousness of man tends so vainly to “commered,” that is, to illustrate and recommend, “the righteousness of God,” namely, His wisdom, grace, and power, in appointing

Anno DOMINI 50.

Romans 2:6

6. — according to his deeds.] According to the kind and quality, and to the measures and degrees, of every man’s works. Burkitt. And in proportion to the knowledge which he has had of the Divine will. Pyle. 8. — unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, &c.] That is, unto them who are disobedient and rebellious against God; and who refuse to observe the precepts of virtue and holiness, but give themselves up to the dictates of impiety and vice. Schleumer. As “truth” is here opposed to “unrighteousness,” it must signify, not only the truth discovered by revelation, but those truths likewise respecting religion and morality, which are discoverable by the light of nature, and which among the heathens were the only foundations of a righteous conduct. “Unrighteousness” in this passage denotes all those impious false principles, which atheists, infidels, and scepticks propagate, with a view to destroy the obligations of religion and morality, and to defend their own vicious practices. Dr. Macknight. — obey unrighteousness,] Here St. Chrysostom notes, that the Apostle does not say ‘who are forced to,’ but “who obey unrighteousness;” ’that thou mayest learn, that they offend of choice, and not of necessity, and therefore are unworthy of pardon.’ Dr. Whitby. 9. — upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first,] That is, principally and especially, because the light and mercy, which the Jew abused and sinned against, was far greater than that bestowed upon the Gentile. The light under which men sin, puts extraordinary aggravations upon their sins; answerable whereunto will be the degrees of their punishment. The Gentiles will be condemned for disobeying the light of nature, the law of God written on their hearts; but much greater wrath is reserved for the Jews, unto whom were committed the oracles of God: but the greatest of all is reserved for Christians, who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Burkitt.

Romans 2:11

11. For there is no respect of persons with God.] God will impartially dispense recompenses in just proportion according to the deeds of men. “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done,” Col. iii. 25. And see 1 Pet. i. 17. Dr. I. Barrow. If we examine the passages of Scripture where God is said to be no respecter of persons, we shall find that this perfection is ascribed to Him, not directly as He is the Creator, but rather as He is Ruler and Judge, and dispenser of rewards and punishments. His giving to His creatures more or less, His placing them bare or there when He calls them into being, is a matter of favour, and no account should be asked or expected; and what is called “respect of persons,” hath nothing to do with it. But in His behaviour to His creatures, consequent to their behaviour towards Him, in this He acts by the rules of justice and equity, and in this his justice and equity shall be so manifest, as to clear Him from all imputations of partiality. Dr. Jortin. “Persons,” according to Beas, are men as distinguished from one another by their external qualities, their country, kindred, sex, dignity, office, wealth, and profession of religion. This declaration concerning God, as Judge, the Apostle made, to shew the Jews their folly in expecting favour at the judgment, because they had Abraham for their father, and were themselves members of God’s Church. Dr. Macknight.

Romans 2:12

12. For as many as have sinned without law &c.] That is, without the knowledge of a written law, shall receive notwithstanding a just judgment for their sin, as being therein convicted by a law of nature; and as many as The Gentiles cannot escape, nor yet the Jews, whom Anno DOMINI 60.

Romans 2:14

14. For when the Gentiles, &c.] As if he had said, For if the Gentiles perform the same moral and substantial duties, by their industrious use of the light of reason and nature, that a Jew does by direction of the written law, they are so far a law unto themselves: that is, their own reason and consciences, by which they honestly judge between what is good and evil, lawful and unlawful to be done, is the same moral rule to them as the written law is to you. Pyle.

Without the death of Christ no flesh could have been saved. But who can say, to how many, and in what different ways, the merits of that death may be applied? For His sake the sins may be pardoned of all those, who in honesty and uprightness did their best, according to the knowledge vouchsafed them, during the dispensation under which they lived. He, who holds up his hand at the bar of eternal judgment, will not be there tried by a law which he never knew. The Apostle here is express, that the Jews, who have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law; and the Gentiles, who were without that law, shall be judged by the rule which they had derived in part by tradition from their ancestors, and improved and enlarged by their own reasonings and disquisitions. But then, as the Apostle argues also at large, every man, whether Jew or Gentile, who is tried by a law of works, will in strictness of speaking be cast; because it will be proved against him, that he has broken it. All the world are become guilty before

Romans 2:15

15. — their thoughts the mean while &c.] Rather, their reasonings between, or among, one another. “Between themselves,” as in the margin. Farshurst. Doing those things, whereby they shew the duties of the law to be written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing them witness to it, and their own thoughts or reasonings within themselves at the same time, according to their moral or immoral behaviour, accusing or else excusing, approving or condemning themselves and one another, as their actions are good or bad; according to which they shall be recompensed in the day when God shall judge the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ according to the doctrine of the Gospel, which by the command of God I preach to the world. T. Edwards.

Romans 2:16

16. In the day when God shall judge &c.] This verse is either to be connected with the twelfth; and so it states, that the rewards and punishments, of which the Apostle has spoken, are to be distributed to Jew and Gentile in the day of judgment. Burkitt, Dr. Whitby. Or it is to be connected with the thirteenth verse, in which connexion it states, that in the day of judgment “not the hearers, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Bp. Bull, Dr. Wells.

— the secrets of men] That is, of men’s hearts, as well as their open actions. Burkitt, Dr. Wells. Their inward moral dispositions and qualifications, in contradistinction to their external and formal profession of religion: agreeably to the 28th and 29th verses. Pyle.

— according to my Gospel.] Or as my Gospel testifies He will: for the heathen are not to be judged according to the tenons of the Gospel, but according to the light of nature, ver. 12. Dr. Whitby. Concerning the phrase “my Gospel,” see the note on chap. i. 1.

Romans 2:17

17. Behold, thou art called a Jew, &c.] The Apostle goes on to prove farther, and illustrate what he said before, as is evident from the words, “Behold, thou” to whom I speak “art called a Jew:” he therefore may be supposed to speak this farther to convince him, that he, doing the same things, shall not escape the judgment of God, and that the hearing of the law, which he doth not practise, will be so far from justifying him before God, that it will add to his condemnation. Dr. Whitby.

Romans 2:19

19. — of the blind,] The Jewish doctors, in contempt of the Gentiles, always spake of them as persons who were “blind,” and “in darkness,” and “foolish,” and “babes,” and boasted of themselves as “guides,” to whose direction the Gentiles, in matters of religion,

their circumcision shall not profit, if they keep not the law. Anno DOMINI 60.

Romans 2:21

21. Thou therefore which teachest another, &c.] The Apostle proceeds to the end of this chapter to convince the Jews, that they were in as sinful and wretched a condition as the despised Gentiles, and therefore stood in need of the grace of Jesus Christ to justify them as well as they. And because the Jews were so apt to “rest in” their external privileges, he recounted in the foregoing verses the several privileges which they enjoyed: but here he takes occasion to aggravate their sins committed, because they not only sinned against light and knowledge, against the convictions of their own consciences, and contradicted the dictates of their minds, as the Gentiles did; but besides all this, rebelled against the precepts of the written law, which was all in their hands. Burkitt.

Romans 2:22

22.— dost thou commit sacrilege?] Thus robbing God of His honour another way. Of all the sins here enumerated the Jewish doctors were notoriously guilty; and of most of them they were accused by our Lord. As first, that “they said and did not,” that “they laid heavy burdens upon others which they would not touch with their own fingers,” Matt. xxiii. 3, 4. That “they made His Father’s house a den of thieves,” Matt. xxi. 13; John ii. 16. That they were guilty of adultery by unjust divorces, Matt. xix. 9. And the theft and merchandise, of which they are accused in the above passages, being about holy things, may be well also styled “sacrilege:” though being accused of this sin in the times of the Prophet Malachi, Mal. iii. 8, 9, doubtless they were more guilty of it in these worst of times. Accordingly Josephus pronounces them guilty, not only of “theft, treachery, adultery, sacrilege, but of rapines and murders, and new ways of wickedness invented by them, of all which the temple was made the receptacle.” Dr. Whitby.

Agreeably to the passage in Matt. xxiii. 3, 4, the Apostle seems in these expressions to aim particularly

Romans 2:24

24. For the name of God is blasphemed &c.] The vices of the Jewish nation are now so scandalous, that you have brought the same contempt upon the Mosaical religion, as was done formerly by David, 2 Sam. xii. 14; and by your forefathers in Ezek. xxxvi. 20, 23. Pyle. See also Isai. iii. 5.

Romans 2:25

25. For circumcision verily profiteth &c.] Here, as in many other passages, the Apostle speaks to the thoughts of his Jewish readers. Dr. Macknight. The sense is, But ye say, We are circumcised, and have the seal of God’s covenant in our flesh. Deceive not yourselves: this is but an idle vaunt: in vain shall ye stand upon the outward ceremony of circumcision, while ye do not regard the truth and substance of that which is signified by it. Did ye live answerably to the law of God, ye might seem to have some reason to boast of your circumcision: but if ye be willing transgressors and violators of the law, your circumcision gives you no privilege above the uncircumcised. Bp. Hall. “Circumcision” is here put for being a Jew, as being one of the chief and most discriminating rites of that people. Locke.

Romans 2:26

26. Therefore if the uncircumcision &c.] Nay, an honest heathen, that was never received into the Church by circumcision, if he fulfils the moral duties of religion to the best of his natural power, shall be accounted with God as if he were circumcised. Pyle, Bp. Hall.

— the righteousness of the law.] The word, rendered “righteousness,” is in the plural number. It means the precepts or ordinances of the law, whether moral, as in this place; or ceremonial, as in Luke i. 6; Heb. ix. 1, 10. Parkhurst, Dr. Whitby.

Romans 2:27

27. And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature.] That is, Shall not the Gentile, notwithstanding his natural uncircumcision. Dr. Wells.

— judge thee.] Rise up in judgment against thee. Bp. Hall. And condemn thee. Dr. Whitby. Be an argument to aggravate thy punishment for transgressing the revealed law of God. Pyle.

— who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?] Who, notwithstanding the advantage of having the law and circumcision, art a transgressor of the law. Locke.

The sum of these three verses is, that the obedient Gentile shall condemn the disobedient Jew, and be sooner accepted by God, with whom there is no respect of persons, but with respect to their qualifications: that no church privileges, no external prerogatives, nor the

Anno DOMINI 60. c. Iss. 32 & Ezek. 34, 20, 23. The circumcision of the heart. The Jews’ prerogative. Anno DOMINI 50.

Romans 2:28

28. For he is not a Jew, &c.] For in God’s account “he is not a Jew,” that is, a son of Abraham, to whom the promises appertain, “who is one” only “outwardly;” nor is that “circumcision,” in God’s account, “which is” only “outward in the flesh.” Dr. Wells.

From the institution of the rite of circumcision to the manifestation of the promised Seed, it became to the natural descendants of the patriarch Abraham, what baptism hath been ever since to the spiritual progeny of Him, who is, in a much higher sense, “the Father of us all!” it became the sacrament of initiation into the true Church and faith. Now in a sacrament the outward and visible sign is intended to introduce us to the inward and spiritual grace, figured by it as a sign, conveyed by it as a means, and insured by it as a pledge. What the inward and spiritual grace, signified by circumcision, was, not only St. Paul, but Moses himself will tell us: see Deut. x. 16; and xxx. 6. And could the Jews have read their law without that vail, which infidelity had drawn over the eyes of their understanding, they had then saved an Apostle the trouble of informing them, that “he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,” &c. As he is not a Jew, so neither is he a Christian, who is one outwardly; but he is a true Jew, and he is a true Christian, who is so inwardly: from whose heart and members the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are cut off; who is dead and buried to sin, and risen again to righteousness. This blessed work, sacramentally shewn forth and begun in baptism, is to be continued through life by the successive renovations of repentance, by daily accessions of knowledge, faith, and charity, carrying on a gradual growth in grace, until it be perfected. Bp. Horne.

Chap. III. In answer to an objection from the Jews, the Apostle shews the advantage of a written and revealed law to the Jewish nation above the mere law of nature to the Gentiles. But he contends that by their notorious transgressions of that revealed law, the Jews had rendered themselves equally obnoxious to the Divine wrath with the Gentiles; so that all were upon the same level, and had all one and the same gracious condition of Christ’s redemption. Pyle.

Ver. 1. What advantage then hath the Jew?] But you will say, if the uncircumcised person, keeping the righteousness of the law, is to be reckoned as circumcised, chap. ii. 26: and if the inward circumcision be that alone, which is acceptable to God, ver. 28, 29;

WHAT advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?