2:7 works, (a-9) Lit. 'good work,' singular. incorruptibility, (b-16) Not 'immortality;' the resurrection, or change, of the body is looked for; and it is thus a part of Christian truth. see 2 Timothy 1:10 . read more
The Failure of the JewsIn Romans 1 St. Paul showed that the Gentiles were under God’s judgment on account of sin. Now he is about to turn to the Jews. He asserts first, that God’s judgment will fall impartially upon all sinners (Romans 2:1-11). Each man will be judged by the light which he has (Romans 2:12-16). The privileges and knowledge of the Jews only aggravated the guilt of their flagrant disobedience (Romans 2:17-24); and circumcision would not protect them, for God looks at the heart... read more
(7) To them who.—Before the words “eternal life,” at the end of the verse, we must supply “He will render.” The phrase “glory, and honour, and immortality” is practically equivalent to “eternal life.” “Those who honestly seek for this life shall find it.” The stress is upon the words “by patient continuance in well doing,” From the point of view of rhetoric, no doubt exception might be taken to the tautology; but St. Paul was far too much in earnest to attend carefully to the laws of rhetoric,... read more
Judgment Romans 2:5-6 I. Belief in a Judgment is part of our faith in the sanity of the universe. Judgment is not an arbitrary enactment but an inevitable process: the sequel and corollary of our sense of responsibility. If goodness and right are anything more than words, there is Judgment to come out of all that is done on earth. Daniel Webster, the American, when asked what was the greatest thought that ever occupied his mind, replied, 'My personal accountability to God'. And I know of... read more
Chapter 6HUMAN GUILT UNIVERSAL: HE APPROACHES THE CONSCIENCE OF THE JEWRomans 2:1-17WE have appealed, for affirmation of St. Paul’s tremendous exposure of human sin, to a solemn and deliberate self-scrutiny, asking the man who doubts the justice of the picture to give up for the present any instinctive wish to vindicate other men, while he thinks a little while solely of himself. But another and opposite class of mistake has to be reckoned with, and precluded; the tendency of man to a facile... read more
CHAPTER 2 1. The Gentile Moralist and Reformer and His Condemnation. (Romans 2:1-6 .) 2. The Two Classes. (Romans 2:7-16 .) 3. The State of the Jew. (Romans 2:17-29 .) Romans 2:1-6 But in the heathen world there were such who gave witness against the immoral condition, the different vices. There were Moralists, Reformers and Philosophers like Socrates, Seneca and others. They judged and condemned certain evils. But God declares that they were not a whit better than the rest. The very... read more
2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for {d} glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:(d) Glory which follows good works, which he does not lay out before us as though there were any that could attain to salvation by his own strength, but, he lays this condition of salvation before us, which no man can perform, to bring men to Christ, who alone justifies the believers, as he himself concludes; see Romans 2:21-22 . read more
The Case of the Cultured Greek But there is a class of Gentiles who are quite keen in seeing these evils in others, and unhesitatingly judging them for them, while never considering that the same judgment rests upon their own heads. Is it so with my reader? Have you a stern measure for denouncing the evils of others, and a lesser one for yourself? Do you plead extenuating circumstances for yourself? Or do you persuade yourself that your refined, respectable methods of self-indulgence, your... read more
MAN LOST BY NATURE We saw in the last lesson that man if he would be saved must become righteous before God, and the righteousness which alone satisfies Him is that which he Himself supplies. We now learn what man’s condition is which makes this a necessity. In other words this lesson, constituting the second general division of the epistle, (1) gives us a Divine declaration about sin (Romans 1:18-21 ); (2) shows it to be punitive and degenerative in its effects (Romans 1:22-23 ); and (3)... read more
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Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Romans 2:5-11
God’s wrath is increasing against sinners while He waits (Romans 2:5). Each day that the self-righteous person persists in his self-righteousness God adds more guilt to his record. God will judge him one day (cf. Revelation 20:11-15). That day will be the day when God pours out His wrath on every sinner and the day when people will perceive His judgment as righteous. This judgment is in contrast to the judgment that the self-righteous person passes on himself when he considers himself guiltless... read more