Romans 2

Romans 2:1

By this it appears how little can be said in excuse of those seducers among you, who judge and condemn the orthodox Christians as breakers of the law, only because they are not circumcised, &c., when they who thus condemn them observe not the law, no, not in that very particular which circumcision peculiarly noted, the abstaining from abominable uncleannesses, but live and go on in those sins, ch. i. 29, and so condemn themselves in judging others.

[a] whosoever thou art that judgest] Ὁ κρίνων, thou that judgest, here and in the end of the verse, and ver. 3, is clearly the Gnostic Judaizer, who teaches the observation of the Mosaical law, and accuses the orthodox Christians, who are not circumcised, for breakers of the law; and yet himself runs riotously into those sins, for the abstaining from which, circumcision was designed and instituted by God. This judging and condemning of the Gentile Christians was by them taken up from the Jews, who having themselves guilt enough of sins, as well as the Gentiles, would yet discriminate themselves from all others by this or the like character of legal observances, as by that which should justify them, or free them from judgment, under which the Gentiles, which knew not the Mosaical law, and were not circumcised, were to lie, and be accursed. This was the thing that John Baptist warns them of, to bring forth meet fruits of repentance, and not to say within themselves, We have Abraham to our father, which they were apt to believe should stand them in stead in the absence of all those fruits. This was the great error of that people, consequent to their opinion of their absolute election, whereby they resolved that it was not their just or pious performances that were looked on by God, or required to their justification, but their being Abraham’s seed, within the covenant,

¹ Ap. Stobæ. p. 291. Ser. 42. HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. C

Romans 2:2

Whereas it is most infallibly certain and acknowledged by all, that God passes judgment rightly, not sparing a Jew for his outward ceremonies when he punishes a Gentile that lives as well as he, but punishing sin, rewarding disobedience (if it be not reformed and forsaken) wheresoever he finds it, without any acceptance of persons, or consideration of external performances or privileges or advantages in any.

[b] truth] The Hebrew אבייה signifies both truth and justice, and is rendered by ἀλήθεια and δικαιοσύνη, and here one of them is put for the other, ἀλήθεια, truth, for δικαιοσύνη, justice, so as on the other side ἄδικον μαμμωνᾶ, the unjust mammon, is opposed to the true riches. See note [f] on Matt. xxiii.

Romans 2:3

And then how is it possible that thou shouldst judge the pure Christian to be a breaker of the law, and thereupon in a damnable estate, only for not being circumcised, and yet deem thyself safe, when thou art guilty of those filthinesses which were most eminently prohibited by the law of circumcision?

Romans 2:4

Or shall God’s great patience and longanimity in deferring his vengeance on unbelievers, and his forbearing so long to punish thy sinful course, be cast away upon thee, be despised and not made use of by thee? Dost thou not consider that all this longsuffering of God to thee is purposely designed to bring thee to reformation, and if it work not that effect will tend to thy heavier ruin?

Romans 2:5

Wilt thou thus go on in obdurate resisting of all God’s methods, and be never the better by his deferring these judgments so long, but only to add more weight to thy ruin when it comes?

Romans 2:6

Who shall not consider circumcision or uncircumcision, but punish or reward every man according to his actions.

Romans 2:7

To them that by constancy of pure Christian performances, and by patient bearing of the persecutions that fall upon them for that profession, go on in pursuit of that reward which Christ hath promised to such, he shall bestow another life upon the loss of this, eternal bliss in the world to come:

8—10. But to schismatical factious men, which are as it were born and composed and made up of contention, (as the Gnostics are,) that resist the right way, deny the Christians the liberty of not being circumcised, and themselves live in all unnatural sins, those that do thus renounce the gospel, and live contrary to the law, to such all judgments must be expected, desolations and destructions here in a most eminent manner, and eternal misery attending them. And as the Jew shall have had the privilege to be first rewarded for his good performances, (as appears by Christ’s being first revealed to him, in whom consequently and proportionably he shall have all spiritual grace and crown, if he embrace Christ, and live exactly and constantly according to his directions,) so must he also expect to have his punishment and destruction first, and that a sad one at this present by

³ according to, κατά. ⁴ Or, retribution of: for the King’s MS. reads, ἀνταπνδύσεως.

⁵ patience of the good work, ὑπομονὴν ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ. ⁶ those that are of, or, from contention, τοῖς ἐξ ἐπιθείας. ⁷ worketh, κατεργαζομένοι. ⁸ Ἕλληνες, Greek. ⁹ Greek.

Romans 2:11

For God’s rewards and punishments are not conferred by any uncertain rule of arbitrary favour or displeasure, neither depend they upon any outward privileges or performances, as either having or not having received the law, being or not being circumcised, but are exactly proportioned according to men’s inward qualifications or demeanours.

Romans 2:12

For all those of the Gentile world, who having not received the Mosaical law of circumcision, have sinned against that knowledge of God which hath otherwise been afforded them, shall be adjudged to perdition, though not by the law of Moses, (it shall never be laid to their charge that they have not been circumcised,) or though they be punished, yet shall not they have that aggravation of their sin and punishment which belongs to those which have received the law of Moses, they shall only be judged for their not observing the law of nature, (see Theophylact,) the law of Moses being not able to accuse them. And those who having received the law of Moses, and in it the sign of the covenant, circumcision, do not yet live according to it, (such are these unbelieving Jews and Judaizing Gnostics,) all the benefit that they shall reap by their having received the law and circumcision shall be to have that their accuser, by which they may be condemned the deeper, instead of their advocate to plead for them.

Romans 2:13

For, to speak to the latter first, (see note [b] Matt. vii.,) it is a dangerous unchristian error to think that the hearing or knowing their duty, the having the law delivered to them, (yea, and the seal of the covenant, circumcision in their flesh,) without conscientious practice of the duties thereof, shall

Romans 2:14

And for the former, it is clear, for when the other people of the world, which have not had that revelation of God’s will and law which the Jews had, do without that revelation, by the dictate of their reason, and those natural notions of good and evil implanted in them, (and by those precepts of the sons of Adam by parents transmitted to children, and so, without any further revelation from heaven, come down unto them,) perform the substantial things required in the law of Moses, and denoted by circumcision and other ceremonies; this is an argument and evidence that these men do to themselves supply the place of Moses’s law.

Romans 2:15

And that obligation to punishment, which is ordinarily caused by the law, these men demonstrate themselves to have, without help of the Mosaical law; from whence also it is, that as conscience (which, according to the nature of the word, is a man’s knowing that he hath done or not done what is by law commanded) is constantly witness either for or against them, that they have done or not done their duty; so the general notions and instincts of good and evil that are in them, without any light from the Mosaical law, do either accuse them as transgressors of the law of God, or else plead for them that they have not culpably done any thing against it. From whence it appears to be most just, even by their own confession, that they that have sinned without law, transgressed the law of nature, should also be punished, though they never heard of this Mosaical law, (which was the thing affirmed, ver. 12, from whence to ver. 16 all that hath been said is but a parenthesis.)

[c] their thoughts the mean—] The λογισμοὶ μεταξύ ἀλλήλων here are the practical κοινοὶ ἔννοιαι, common notions of good and evil, which are among the generality of men, even heathens, without any light from the Mosaical law, and are called λογισμοὶ, reasonings, because reason, when it comes to a maturity, if it be not precorrupted with false doctrines and prejudices, will be able to conclude that this ought to be done, and not that, and so give us the principles of all moral actions.

Romans 2:16

And when I speak of perishing and judging, ver. 12, I speak of that doom which shall involve all, both Jews and Gentiles, at that great day, when Christ Jesus, being by his Father seated in his regal power, shall at the end of all come forth again to judge the world, not according to outward privileges or performances, but inward qualifications and demeanours, being, as he is, a searcher of hearts; for then shall the Jews be dealt with either in judgment or mercy, as they have lived or not lived according to

[d] my gospel] Paul’s preaching every where whither he came, is literally to be styled his εὐαγγελίον, or gospel; and so it seems to signify here. So in the Epistle of Clemens Romanus (contemporary to that apostle) ad Corinth. after the mention of blessed Paul’s Epistles, he bids them mark τί πρῶτον ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἔγραψε, “what he hath first written to you (Corinthians) in the beginning of the gospel,” that is, at the time when the gospel was by him first preached among them.

Romans 2:17

And thus shall the process be to the Judaizing Gnostics, in this or the like form. Thou that callest thyself, or sayest thou art a Jew, though indeed thou art not; thou that dependest on the outward performances of the law, circumcision, &c. as if justification were to be had by that, and could not be had without it; thou that boastest that God is thy father or favourer in a peculiar manner, because thou adherest so faithfully to his law, even in opposition to Christ’s reformations (see note [g] Matt. v.);

[e] called a Jew] Ἐπονομάζεσθαι is somewhat more than ὀνομάζεσθαι: it signifies an addition to one’s proper name, and so it was here. The Gnostics assumed to themselves the name of Jews, pro-

Romans 2:18

Thou that undertakest to know all the mysteries of God’s will, (and thence art by thyself called a Gnostic, or knowing person,) and upon examination, to approve and practise the highest perfections by the skill which thou hast in the law of Moses;

[f] approves] That δοκιμάζειν, to prove or try, signifies so to examine and prove as to approve, appears by some other places where the word is used. So 1 Cor. xi. 28, Let a man prove or examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, &c. where it is certain that if upon examination he find himself unworthy, he must not so eat; for if he do, he eats damnation to himself, ver. 29; and therefore it must signify the approving himself to God and his own conscience. So Rom. xiv. 22, Happy is he who doth not judge or condemn himself, ἐν ᾧ δοκιμάζει (not, in what he examines himself, but) in what, upon deliberation, he so likes, approves, as to think fit to act accordingly; that is, happy is he that, when he is resolved of the matter of the action, that it is lawful, doth it with such care that he hurt not others, that he hath nothing to blame in himself when he hath done it. So Gal. vi. 4, Let every man δοκιμάζειν, prove his own work, that is, so prove, examine his own actions, as to approve them to himself, his own conscience, and to God, and then he shall have glorying or rejoicing (that is, he shall be able to comfort himself) εἰς ἰαυτὸν μόνον, toward himself alone, that is, by looking on himself absolutely, and not only in conjunction or comparison with other men, which is meant by καὶ οὐκ εἰς τὸν ἕτερον, and not towards another, to which belongs the reason rendered in the next verse, For every one shall bear his own burden. So Eph. v. 10, Walk as children of light, δοκιμάζοντες τί ἐστιν εὐάρεστον τῷ Κυρίῳ, examining, proving what is acceptable to the Lord; but this so, that they also approve themselves to study and pursue it, or else they do not walk like children of light, like Christians. The truth is, this is not so familiar a phrase, the proving what is acceptable to God, as the former is, of proving and approving himself or his own works: yet because the examining and the approving of God’s will is a direct undertaking and obligation to practise it, and because it is a ridiculous thing, and that which will never stand in any stead, to examine what is well pleasing to God, and, when he hath done so, to act or practise the contrary, therefore the apostle, that exhorts to this as to a duty which will stand them in some stead, and as an evidence of their walking as children of light, (not as the partial condition or a means to perform God’s will, but as the knowing God’s will in the scripture, when it is looked on as a good thing, is the practising of it,) must be supposed to contain in this phrase of proving, the approving also, and not only so, but also the performing (at least in endeavour and study) what is acceptable to the Lord, and shall to them appear to be so, and not only the examining what is thus acceptable. And then one other place, Rom. xii. 2, will by the same reason be clearly intelligible also in this sense, where they are exhorted by all the exceeding mercies and compassions of God to present themselves to God a living and well pleasing sacrifice, and instead of conformity with the world, to be transfigured, that is, eminently and visibly changed, by or in the renovation of their mind, εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν, (which notes this to be an effect, if not the end, of this renovation of mind,) that they may

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Romans 2:19

And so by that advantage takest thyself to be a most knowing person, fit to lead all others, and despising the orthodox Christians for blind and ignorant (see note [a] James iii.);

Romans 2:20

Assumest great matters to thyself, as having a scheme or abstract of all knowledge and true religion (see note [c] 2 Peter i.) by the knowledge and understanding which thou hast, and by the glosses which thou givest of the law;

[g] form] Μόρφωσις, σχηματισμός, εἰκών, saith Phavorinus, (out of Hesychius,) “a scheme” or “image” of a whole matter; but this, saith he, ἐπίπλαστον, οὐκ ὃν δέ, “that which is feigned,” or believed, or pretended to be so, “but is not;” and for this he cites this place of the apostle, and so indeed very pertinently, the Gnostic here thinking that he hath a scheme or complete form of all knowledge, and truth, and mysteries of religion, when he hath it not, but is far from it. Theophylact hath another notion of it for ζωγράφησις, “painting to the life,” and interprets the place of the Jewish doctor, who ζωγραφεῖ καὶ μορφοῖ τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐν ταῖς τῶν μαθητῶν ψυχαῖς, “forms and draws to the life the knowledge of good and the truth in the hearts of disciples.”

Romans 2:23

Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

Romans 2:24

For the unbelieving Gentiles, seeing and judging by your evil lives, are aliened from Christianity, have an evil opinion of the profession, and of Christ, whom you worship, and so those scriptures which mention the dishonour of God’s name among the Gentiles, Isaiah lii. 5, Ezek. xxxvi. 20. 23, may fitly be accommodated to you.

Romans 2:25

For men that thus live it is madness to think that circumcision will stand them in any stead: for circumcision is a sacrament to seal benefits to them who are circumcised, if the condition required of them (that is, the sanctity and purity signified thereby) be performed also; but if not, there is no special advantage comes to them by being circumcised, that is, by thus complying with the Mosaical law.

Romans 2:26

And by the same reason, if those who are not observant of the law, or circumcised, viz. the Christians of the Gentiles, live those lives of purity and sanctity which that sacrament was set to engage men to, they shall be accepted by God as well as if they had been circumcised.

Romans 2:27

And those that having not been circumcised, nor received the law of Moses, (see note [g] Matt. v.,) but only those natural dictates and directions which are common to all men, if they yet do the things commanded in the law of the Jews, that is, the moral substantial part of it, they shall condemn thee, who being in that legal state, and observing not the sense and meaning, but only the letter of the law, art outwardly circumcised, but dost not perform that purity which that ceremony was set to signify, and to engage all that are circumcised to observe it.

[h] by the letter] The notion of διὰ is here to be observed, and is best expressed by in. So in Pausanias, διὰ φόβων γίνεσθαι, in metu versari, “to be in a condition of fears or dangers.” So here, ch. iv. 11,

Romans 2:28

For he is not the child of Abraham, such as to whom the promises pertain, who is born of his race or seed, and no more; nor is that the available circumcision which is external, that mark imprinted on the flesh:

Romans 2:29

But he is the Jew indeed, the true child of Abraham, (who shall be accepted by God,) though he be not so by birth, who in the purity of the heart performs those substantial laws required by God of the Jews, and revealed to them more distinctly than

¹² ordinances, δικαιώματα: see note [b] ch. viii. ¹³ the uncircumcision which is of nature, ἡ ἐκ φύσεως ἀκροβυστία. ¹⁴ which art by, or, with, or, in the letter, &c. a transgressor of the law? τὸν διὰ γράμματος καὶ περιτομῆς παραβάτην νόμου; ¹⁵ in the visible part, ἐν τῷ φανερῷ. ¹⁶ in the visible part, in the flesh, ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκί. ¹⁷ in the hidden part, ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ. ¹⁸ from, &c.

Romans 2:31

Caring not how they behave themselves towards other men, honestly or no, whether they injure others or no, unfit for friendships, for leagues, or bargains, who do not well in consort with others, have nothing of trust or kindness or constancy in them, void of all kindness to their nearest friends, Luke xxi. 16, unreconcilable to all against whom they have conceived any malice, men without all bowels of compassion in persecuting of others.

[l] without understanding] Ἀσυνέτους, τοὺς ἀσυνειδήτους λέγει ὁ ἀπόστολος, saith Phavorinus, “The apostle means those that have no conscience;” knowledge and conscience, σύνεσις and συνείδησις being all one, and so the want of that is the want of conscience. This, it seems, was the judgment of that learned grammarian of this place, to which, no doubt, he refers by the word ἀπόστολος. Hesychius renders it only ἄφρων, foolish, but so as foolish signifies unreasonable actions, and as ἄνοια, Luke vi. 11, signifies designing malice and mischief against Christ, and as Titus iii. 3. Ἀνόητοι signifies those that were guilty of unreasonable practices. And this according to the use of σύνεσις, which is sometimes the mind, the understanding, Mark xii. 33, with which God is to be loved as well as known; and so the not knowing him thus may be set for the greatest impiety. Of σύνεσις see more in note [e] on 1 Cor. i.

[m] covenantbreakers] Ἀσύνθετος, ὁ ἀσύμφωνος, καὶ ταῖς συνθήκαις μὴ ἐμμένων, “not apt to agree with others, one that stands not to pacts, bargains,” saith Phavorinus; and so Hesychius, being rightly pointed, ἀσυνθέτους, μὴ ἐμμένοντας ταῖς συνθήκαις, and ἀσυνθετώτατον, ἀπιστότατον, καὶ ἀβεβαιότατον, unfaithful and unconstant.

Romans 2:32

Who having received the faith of Christ, the Christian profession, (taking upon them to be most skilful in mysteries, to know more than any others,) of which it is one acknowledged part, that of such sins as these eternal damnation is the just reward, do yet not only favour themselves in the commission of them, (to which they may have some temptations from the flesh,) but, as if their very understandings were debauched and corrupted, do approve and patronise (see Theophylact) them in others, and think the committing such things so far from crimes in them that they make them parts of their religion, special mysteries and depths of their theology, very pious and commendable in any of their followers.

CHAP. II.

THEREFORE thou art inexcusable, O man, 1 [a] whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.