EVEN RESPECTABLE MEN, JUDGES, PHILOSOPHERS, RABBIS AND JEWS COME UNDER GOD'S JUDGMENT AS SINNERS (2:1-16). Having demonstrated the sinfulness and inexcusability of the majority of mankind, Paul now turns to those who are, as it were, standing listening and nodding their approval. The philosophers h... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL CHALLENGES ALL WHO JUDGE OTHERS TO CONSIDER WHAT IT INVOLVES FOR THEMSELVES (2:1-5). ‘For this reason you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judges, for in that in which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who are judging are practising the same things.' ‘For this rea... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practise such things.' He then warns them to remember that there is Another Who will judge, Who will judge absolutely fairly and take everything into account. ‘We know.' It is something recognised by all such judges. Outwa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And do you reckon this, O man, who judges those who practise such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?' So let them just think about it. They have set themselves up as judges of others. Do they therefore really think that when they practise such things as they have co... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?' These men themselves do what they condemn in others, and yet somehow they feel that God will do nothing about it. They even argue that God is good and forb... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But after your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. But rather than repenting their hearts are hard and impenitent. They ignore God's pleadings and carry on in their old ways. As a result they are trea... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Who will render to every man according to his works.' In this verse the thought from Romans 2:5 continues. At the day of wrath and of the righteous judgment of God all will receive according to what they have done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10), ‘because God will render to every man acco... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD WILL BE IMPARTIAL IN JUDGMENT (2:6-11). As mentioned above this new section is in the form of a chiasmus. The chiasmus was found regularly in the works of Moses, and in other books of the Old Testament, forming an a b c c b a pattern or equivalent, with the repetition of a phrase sometimes comi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life,' For God will in that day render to those who by patient endurance in well-doing seek for glory (from God) and honour (in God's eyes) and incorruption, eternal life. In view of the reference to incorrup... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But to those who are factious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation; tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek,' In contrast to this ideal man are those who are ‘factious'. The basic meaning of the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But glory and honour and peace to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,' But lest the Jew think that he is prejudiced against them by suggesting that they are first on God's target list, Paul then points out that the same priority applies to those who work good. For, a... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For there is no respect of persons with God.' Whether Jew or Greek, judge, philosopher or common man, all will be treated the same. There will be no unjust partiality. The Jew therefore stands in no better case than anyone else. Nor does the philosopher. All will be examined on the same basis, wit... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law,' The principle is simple. All will be judged on the basis of whether they have sinned or not. Those who are Gentiles and have sinned outside the Law of Moses... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL WILL BE JUDGED ON THE BASIS OF THEIR OWN MORAL CODE (2:12-16). Paul now stresses that all men, as well as the Jews, have a moral code by which they live, and by which they will be judged, and that all will be judged by their own moral code. Thus none will have grounds to complain.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified,' And this is because the question is not whether men have been willing to hear and listen to the Law being read out, thus being ‘hearers of the Law', and have nodded their approval. That makes no man in... [ Continue Reading ]
‘(For when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness with it, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing... [ Continue Reading ]
‘In the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.' This verse continues the thought in Romans 2:13 where it is not the hearers of the Law who are to be seen as just in the eyes of God, but the doers of the Law, who, if they fulfil the Law perfectly, will be... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEW AND THE LAW OF GOD. ‘But if you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory (boast) in God, and know his will, and approve the things which are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in da... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPECIAL CASE OF THE JEW. PAUL IS ANSWERING THE QUESTION - ‘DOES NOT HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW AND THE UNDERSTANDING THAT GOES WITH IT, ALONG WITH THE FACT THAT HE IS CIRCUMCISED INTO GOD'S COVENANT, PUT THE JEW IN A SPECIAL POSITION IN GOD'S EYES?' (2:17-29). The next hurdle that Paul had to do f... [ Continue Reading ]
‘You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself?' The question is sarcastic. They claim to teach others how to live, but they do not themselves live as they teach. Thus they seemingly fail to teach themselves. ‘You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?' For example the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘You who say that a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?' Another sin central to the covenant was adultery. Again Paul probably knew that adultery was fairly widespread among Jews, even the most strict. The pull of the flesh is strong. ‘You who abhor idols, do you act as temple-... [ Continue Reading ]
‘You, who are boasting in the law, are through your transgression of the law dishonouring God.' This may in fact be a question (‘are you through your transgression dishonouring God?') or a statement ('you are through your transgression dishonouring God'). But whichever it is, it is applying what he... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written.' Indeed he declares that as a result of their activity the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, and claims Scriptural support, without citing it. It may be that he had in mind Isaiah 52:5, ‘those wh... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision is become uncircumcision.' Paul then puts circumcision in perspective. His reply is that circumcision does indeed profit those who are doers of the Law from the heart, for it m... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL NOT CIRCUMCISION ENSURE THAT THE JEW IS TREATED DIFFERENTLY BY GOD? (2:25-29). The Jew then goes on to his second argument. If the possession of the Law and the benefits described above will not ensure that the Jew is treated differently by God, what then about the fact that he is circumcised?... [ Continue Reading ]
‘If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, will not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision?' This then leads on to a more startling claim by Paul, and that is that if the uncircumcision keep the ordinance of the Law, then his uncircumcision will be reckoned as circumc... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And will not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?' Then logically if someone was naturally uncircumcised because he was not a Jew, but fully fulfilled the Law, would he not be in a position to ac... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly (hiddenly), and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.' Paul now concludes his argument by descr... [ Continue Reading ]