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THE EPISTLE OF
PAUL THE APOSTLE
TO THE ROMANS
Commentary by DAVID BROWN
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CHAPTER 2
@Ro
2:1-29. THE JEW UNDER LIKE CONDEMNATION WITH THE
GENTILE.
From
those without, the apostle now turns to those within
the pale of revealed religion, the self-righteous Jews,
who looked down upon the uncovenanted heathen as beyond
the pale of God's mercies, within which they deemed
themselves secure, however inconsistent their life may be.
Alas! what multitudes wrap themselves up in like fatal
confidence, who occupy the corresponding position in the
Christian Church!
4. the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance--that is,
is designed and adapted to do so.
5.
treasurest up unto thyself wrath against--rather
"in."
the day of wrath--that
is wrath to come on thee in the day of wrath. What an
awful idea is here expressed--that the sinner himself is
amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating
stock of divine wrath, to burst upon him in "the day
of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God!"
And this is said not of the reckless, but of those who
boasted of their purity of faith and life.
7-10.
To them who, &c.--The substance of these verses is
that the final judgment will turn upon character
alone.
by patient continuance
in well-doing, &c.--Compare @Lu
8:15: "That on the good ground are they, which in
an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it,
and bring forth fruit with patience"; denoting
the enduring and progressive character of
the new life.
8. But
unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth,
&c.--referring to such keen and determined resistance
to the Gospel as he himself had too painfully witnessed on
the part of his own countrymen. (See @Ac
13:44-46 17:5,13 18:6,12; and compare @1Th
2:15,16).
indignation and wrath--in
the bosom of a sin-avenging God.
9.
Tribulation and anguish--the effect of these in
the sinner himself.
10. to
the Jew first--first in perdition if unfaithful; but
if obedient to the truth, first in salvation (@Ro
2:10).
12.
For as many as have sinned--not "as many as have
sinned at all," but, "as many as are found
in sin" at the judgment of the great day (as the
whole context shows).
without law--that
is, without the advantage of a positive Revelation.
shall also perish
without law--exempt from the charge of rejecting or
disregarding it.
and as many as have
sinned in the law--within the pale of a positive,
written Revelation.
shall be judged by the
law--tried and condemned by the higher standard of
that written Revelation.
13-15.
For not the hearers, &c.--As touching the Jews, in
whose ears the written law is continually resounding, the
condemnation of as many of them as are found sinners at
the last involves no difficulty; but even as respects the
heathen, who are strangers to the law in its positive and
written form--since they show how deeply it is engraven on
their moral nature, which witnesses within them for
righteousness and against iniquity, accusing or condemning
them according as they violate or obey its stern
dictates--their condemnation also for all the sin in which
they live and die will carry its dreadful echo in their
own breasts.
15. their
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing--that
is, perhaps by turns doing both.
16. In
the day, &c.--Here the unfinished statement of @Ro
2:12 is resumed and closed.
shall judge the secrets
of men--here specially referring to the unfathomed
depths of hypocrisy in the self-righteous whom the apostle
had to deal with. (See @Ec
12:14 1Co 4:5).
according to my gospel--to
my teaching as a preacher of the Gospel.
17-24.
Behold--"But if" is, beyond doubt, the true
reading here. (It differs but in a single letter from the
received reading, and the sense is the same).
18.
approvest the things that are excellent--"triest
the things that differ" (Margin). Both senses
are good, and indeed the former is but the result of the
latter action. (See on Php 1:10).
20.
hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law--not
being left, as the heathen are, to vague conjecture on
divine things, but favored with definite and precise
information from heaven.
22.
thou that abhorrest idols--as the Jews did ever after
their captivity, though bent on them before.
dost thou commit
sacrilege?--not, as some excellent interpreters,
"dost thou rob idol temples?" but more
generally, as we take it, "dost thou profane holy
things?" (as in @Mt
21:12,13, and in other ways).
24. as
it is written--(See @Isa
52:5, Marginal reference).
25-29.
For circumcision--that is, One's being within the
covenant of which circumcision was the outward sign and
seal.
verily profiteth, if
thou keep the law--if the inward reality correspond to
the outward sign.
but if,
&c.--that is, "Otherwise, thou art no better than
the uncircumcised heathen."
26.
Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the . . .
law, &c.--Two mistaken interpretations, we think,
are given of these words: First, that the case here
supposed is an impossible one, and put merely for
illustration [HALDANE, CHALMERS, HODGE]; second
that it is the case of the heathen who may and do please
God when they act, as has been and is done, up to the
light of nature [GROTIUS, OLSHAUSEN, &c.]. The first
interpretation is, in our judgment, unnatural; the second,
opposed to the apostle's own teaching. But the case here
put is, we think, such as that of Cornelius (@Ac
10:1-48), who, though outside the external pale
of God's covenant, yet having come to the knowledge of the
truths contained in it, do manifest the grace of the
covenant without the seal of it, and exemplify the
character and walk of Abraham's children, though not
called by the name of Abraham. Thus, this is but another
way of announcing that God was about to show the
insufficiency of the mere badge of the Abrahamic covenant,
by calling from among the Gentiles a seed of Abraham that
had never received the seal of circumcision (see on Ga
5:6); and this interpretation is confirmed by all that
follows.
28. he
is not a Jew which is one outwardly, &c.--In other
words, the name of "Jew" and the rite of
"circumcision" were designed but as outward
symbols of a separation from the irreligious and ungodly
world unto holy devotedness in heart and life to the God
of salvation. Where this is realized, the signs are full
of significance; but where it is not, they are worse than
useless.
Note,
(1) It is a sad mark of depravity when all that is
designed and fitted to melt only hardens the heart (@Ro
2:4, and compare @2Pe
3:9 Ec 8:11). (2) Amidst all the inequalities of
religious opportunity measured out to men, and the
mysterious bearing of this upon their character and
destiny for eternity, the same great principles of
judgment, in a form suited to their respective discipline,
will be applied to all, and perfect equity will be seen to
reign throughout every stage of the divine administration
(@Ro
2:11-16). (3) "The law written on the heart"
(@Ro
2:14,15)--or the Ethics of Natural Theology--may be
said to be the one deep foundation on which all revealed
religion reposes; and see on Ro
1:19,20, where we have what we may call its other
foundation--the Physics and Metaphysics of Natural
Theology. The testimony of these two passages is to the
theologian invaluable, while in the breast of every
teachable Christian it wakens such deep echoes as are
inexpressibly solemn and precious. (4) High religious
professions are a fearful aggravation of the
inconsistencies of such as make them (@Ro
2:17-24). See @2Sa
12:14. (5) As no external privileges, or badge of
discipleship, will shield the unholy from the wrath of
God, so neither will the want of them shut out from the
kingdom of heaven such as have experienced without them
that change of heart which the seals of God's covenant
were designed to mark. In the sight of the great Searcher
of hearts, the Judge of quick and dead, the renovation of
the character in heart and life is all in all. In view of
this, have not all baptized, sacramented disciples of the
Lord Jesus, who "profess that they know God, but in
works deny Him," need to tremble--who, under the
guise of friends, are "the enemies of the cross of
Christ?"
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