Romans 2:22

Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? THOU THAT SAYEST A MAN SHOULD NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DOST THOU COMMIT ADULTERY? THOU THAT ABHORREST IDOLS - as the Jews certainly did, even after their captivity, though bent on them before, DOST THOU COMMIT SACRILEGE? [ hierosuleis (G2416)] - not, as some excellent interpreters, 'dost thou rob idol temples?' (which the word would naturally mean in Pagan usage,) but 'dost thou profane sacred things?' The other the Jews did not, but this they too frequently committed (see Nehemiah 13:10; Malachi 1:13;...

22._Thou who abhorrest idols, etc. _He fitly compares sacrilege to idolatry, as it is a thing of the same kind; for sacrilege is simply a profanation of the Divine Majesty, a sin not unknown to heathen poets. On this account _Ovid _(Metamor. 3,) calls_Lycurgus _sacrilegious for despising the rites of Bacchus; and in his _Fasti _he calls those sacrilegious hands which violated the majesty of Venus. But as the Gentiles ascribed the majesty of their gods to idols, they only thought it a sacrilege when any one plundered what was dedicated to their temples, in which, as they believed, the whole of religion centered. So at this day, where superstition reigns, and not the word of God, they acknowledge no other kind of sacrilege than the stealing of what belongs to churches, as there is no God but in idols, no religion but in pomp and magnificence. (83) Now we are here warned, first, not to flat...

17-24 The apostle directs his discourse to the Jews, and shows of what sins they were guilty, notwithstanding their profession and vain pretensions. A believing, humble, thankful glorying in God, is the root and sum of all religion. But proud, vain-glorious boasting in God, and in the outward profession of his name, is the root and sum of all hypocrisy. Spiritual pride is the most dangerous of all kinds of pride. A great evil of the sins professors is, the dishonour done to God and religion, by their not living according to their profession. Many despise their more ignorant neighbours who rest in a dead form of godliness; yet themselves trust in a form of knowledge, equally void of life and power, while some glory in the gospel, whose unholy lives dishonour God, and cause his name to be blasphemed....

DOST THOU COMMIT ADULTERY? - There is no doubt that this was a crime very common among the Jews; see the Matthew 12:39 note; John 8:1 notes. The Jewish Talmud accuses some of the most celebrated of their Rabbies, by name, of this vice. (Grotius.) Josephus also gives the same account of the nation. THOU THAT ABHORREST IDOLS - It was one of the doctrines of their religion to abhor idolatry. This they were everywhere taught in the Old Testament; and this they doubtless inculcated in their teaching. It was impossible that they could recommend idolatry. DOST THOU COMMIT SACRILEGE? - Sacrilege is the crime of violating or profaning sacred things; or of appropriating to common purposes what has been dev

EXPOSITION ROMANS 2:1 (_b_) _Those who judge others, not excepting the Jews. _Here a new stage of the argument, in proof of the position propounded in Romans 1:18, begins, and is continued to the end of the chapter. The position to be proved is that all mankind is guilty before God (see note on Romans 1:18). So far this has been shown with regard to the mass of the heathen world; its general moral corruption, prevalent and condoned, having been pointed out finally as a glaring proof; the main point of the argument having been to trace this state of things to man's own fault, in that he had refused to retain and act on a knowledge of God originally imparted to him through nature a

THOU THAT SAYEST A MAN SHOULD NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,.... Adultery here is to be taken not figuratively for adulterating the word of God, and mixing it with their own inventions; but literally for the sin of adultery, and that not in heart only, but in act: DOST THOU COMMIT ADULTERY? an iniquity which greatly prevailed among the Jews at this time of day; hence Christ calls them "an adulterous generation", Matthew 12:39; and that to such a degree, that by the advice of their great Rabbi, R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, they left off the trial of the suspected woman, cases of this nature being so very numerous: and this sin prevailed not only among the common people, but among their principal doctors; as may be learnt from their own writings, and from that conviction of this iniquity which the Scribes and Pharisees were brought under by Christ, when the woman, taken in adultery, was

COMMIT SACRILEGE Or, rob temples....

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The Gentile Moralist and Reformer and His Condemnation. (Romans 2:1 .)_ 2. The Two Classes. (Romans 2:7 .) 3. The State of the Jew. (Romans 2:17 .) Romans 2:1 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 things they condemned they were guilty of themselves. One of their own writers declared, “I see the good and approve of it and follow the ev

Now Paul accosts the Jew, reproving his PRIDE OF LAW, MADE VOID BY DISLOYALTY. Romans 2:17. His pretensions (But if thou bearest the name of Jew, etc.), provoke the questions of Romans 2:21 : the commandments he inculcates on others, he so violates that God is dishonoured, and His name is blasphemed among the Gentiles. The blasphemy of Isaiah 52:5 was occasioned by the insolence of Gentile oppressors; this by the hypocrisy of Israel. Romans 2:25. How worthless the outward possession of the Law, and the physical mark of circumcision, without the corresponding inner reality: law-keeping uncircumcision is virtually cir

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PRIVILEGE (Romans 2:1-11)...