_THEY THAT SIN, THOUGH THEY CONDEMN IT IN OTHERS, CANNOT EXCUSE THEMSELVES, AND MUCH LESS ESCAPE THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, WHETHER THEY BE JEWS OR GENTILES. THE GENTILES CANNOT ESCAPE, NOR YET THE JEWS, WHOM THEIR CIRCUMCISION SHALL NOT PROFIT, IF THEY KEEP NOT THE LAW._ _Anno Domini 58._ THE Apostle h... [ Continue Reading ]
_ROMANS 2:1_. The representation of the moral state of the heathen world, in the foregoing chapter, is a proof of the necessity of the Gospel, or of a further dispensation of grace or favour, for the salvation of mankind: and how rich the favour wherewith God visited the world! To have destroyed the... [ Continue Reading ]
IS ACCORDING TO TRUTH— The Apostle is here speaking of the general punishment of sin, in whomsoever it is found. The _judgment of God is according to truth against them_ [—all of them, Jews or Gentiles] _who do such things:_ and he has his eye, not upon the rejection of the Jews, in this world, but... [ Continue Reading ]
GOODNESS AND FORBEARANCE, &C.— Taylor observes, that _goodness_ is here to be understood of the mercy and goodness of God, which bestowed superior light and advantages upon the Jews. _Goodness_ is used in the same sense with regard to the Gentiles, chap. Romans 11:22. We may observe, that the Apostl... [ Continue Reading ]
DEEDS— u917?ργα, _works;_ as it is rendered in other places.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY PATIENT CONTINUANCE— _Patient,_ in this verse, seems to be opposed to _contentious_ in the next: the former referring to the patience of Christians under Jewish persecutions, the latter to the bitter persecuting spirit of the Jews. See Locke.... [ Continue Reading ]
DO NOT OBEY THE TRUTH— Though by _the truth_ the Gospel be here meant, yet St. Paul seems plainly to have used the term _truth_ with an eye to the Jews; for, though some few of them received the Gospel, yet even a great part of these few joined with the rest of their nation in opposing _this great t... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON EVERY SOUL, &C.— We see by these two verses, and chap. Romans 1:16 how carefully St. Paul lays it down, that there was now under the Gospel no other national distinction between Jews and Gentiles, but only a priority in the offer of the Gospel; which may farther satisfy us, that the distinction... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS NO RESPECT OF PERSONS WITH GOD— That is, in passing the final sentence he is determined by their real characters. See the note on Acts 10:34. This is perfectly consistent withan inequality in distributing advantages, and opportunities of improvement, according to the sovereign pleasure of t... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT LAW—WITHOUT LAW— _Without the law,_ &c. Those _under the law,_ St. Paul says, _shall be judged by the law;_ and this is easy to conceive: because they were under a positive injunction, wherein life and death were annexed as the reward and punishment of obedience and disobedience. But of the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR NOT THE HEARERS, &C.— This, and Romans 2:14 are a comment upon the 20th verse. In Romans 2:13 he remarks upon the _latter_ part of the 12th, that _enjoying_ the advantages of revelation will not save us, unless we duly_improve_ them. Romans 2:14 he remarks upon the _former_ part of the 12th, and... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THEIR HEARTS, &C.— This is the force and stress of the Apostle's argument. He is proving that the Gentiles have a rule of action; and where is that rule?—_It is written in their hearts,_ inscribed upon their mental faculties; a sense of moral good and evil is common to all mankind; and a secret p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SECRET OF MEN— Not, we conceive, their secret bad actions, but, agreeably to the preceding discourse, their moral state and circumstances under different degrees of light; which are _secrets_ now to us, or of which we are by no means competent judges. We cannot judge what capacities, opportuniti... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, &C.— If the unbelieving Jew was at all disposed to admit evidence and conviction, the Apostle has said enough to awaken his conscience in the preceding part of this chapter; and therefore here he throws off the cover, and openly argues with him in the most plain and nervous manner, that his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND APPROVEST THE THINGS, &C.— The words Τα διαφεροντα, signify _things excellent, convenient, controverted,_ or _differing:_ in either of these senses the term may be understood here; though the last (namely, their _difference_ in respect of lawful and unlawful) may be pitched on, I think, says Mr.... [ Continue Reading ]
GUIDE OF THE BLIND, &C.— _Blind,—in darkness,—ignorant,—babes,_— were appellations which the Jews gave to the Gentiles; signifying how much inferior to themselves they thought them in knowledge. The word μορφωσις, rendered _form,_ Romans 2:20 seems to mean the same with the word τυπος, ch. Romans 6:... [ Continue Reading ]
DOST THOU STEAL?— Grotius on this text proves from Josephus, that some of the Jewish priests lived by rapine, depriving others of their due share of the tithes, and even suffering them to perish for want: that others were guilty of gross uncleanness: and as for sacrilegiously robbing God and his alt... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR— It is most evident that γαρ, _for,_ cannot here signify that the following words are a reason for what was asserted in those immediately preceding. It seems little more than an expletive, as the particle _now_ is frequently among us. _Circumcision_ is here put for being a _Jew,_ as being one of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW— Mr. Locke renders the original words δικαιωματα του νομου _the rectitudes of the law,_ in an appropriated sense of the word _rectitude!_ This rule of their actions, all mankind uncircumcised as well as circumcised had, and it is that which the Apostle, in ch. Romans 1:3... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHALL NOT UNCIRCUMCISION, &C.— The Apostle here supposes that a heathen may be an honest, sober, good, kind, benevolent and holy man through the secret influences of the Spirit of God: for were it impossible for the Gentiles in any sense to fulfil the law of love, it would not be supposable that... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE PRAISE IS NOT OF MEN— Perhaps here is a reference to the etymology of the word_Jew,_ it being derived from thename of _Judah,_ which signifies _praise._ See Genesis 29:35; Genesis 49:8. We have observed, in the note on Romans 2:1 that there is a secret comparison of the Jews and Gentiles, whic... [ Continue Reading ]