_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 add... [ Continue Reading ]
_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... [ Continue Reading ]
_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_ Althou... [ Continue Reading ]
_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... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 expre... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 w... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 a... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 d... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold_ Here he applies the matter he had discussed in the preceding verses more closely to the Jews, and proves, that, notwithstanding all their pretences and privileges, they were transgressors of the law, and so could not be justified by works, any more than the Gentiles. And here therefore he r... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou therefore which teachest another_ And valuest thyself upon thy ability to do it, trusting therein for acceptance with God; _teachest thou not thyself?_ He does not teach himself, who does not practise what he teaches. This, and what follows, is mentioned, to show that the knowledge, which the... [ Continue Reading ]
_For circumcision verily profiteth_ He does not say _justifieth._ How far it profited is shown in the third and fourth Chapter s: _if thou keep the law_ Here, as in many other passages, the apostle speaks to the thoughts of the Jewish readers. They fancied that circumcision, by showing that they wer... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he is not a Jew_ In the most important sense, that is, one of God's beloved people; or a true child of Abraham, to whom the promise belongs, and one that God will own for a true member of his church; _who is one outwardly_ Only; or one of Abraham's posterity, according to the flesh, and enjoys... [ Continue Reading ]