Exposé of Romans Chapter Two
       
by Jameison-Faussett-Brown
In Process . . .
• Key
Verses
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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!
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Verse 4. the goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance--that is, is designed and adapted to do
so.
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Verse 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.
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Verse 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.
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Verse 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.
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Verse 9. Tribulation and anguish--the
effect of these in the sinner himself.
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Verse 10. to the Jew first--first in
perdition if unfaithful; but if obedient to the truth, first
in salvation (Ro
2:10).
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Verse 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.
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Verse 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.
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Verse 15. their thoughts the
meanwhile accusing or else excusing--that is, perhaps by
turns doing both.
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Verse 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.
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Verse 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).
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Verse 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).
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Verse 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.
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Verse 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).
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Verse 24. as it is written--(See Isa
52:5, Marginal reference).
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Verse 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."
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Verse 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.
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Verse 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?"
• Key
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition
prepared from text scanned by Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-Brown
Commentary is in the public domain and may be freely used and
distributed.
Bibliography
Information
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.
"Commentary on Romans 2". "Commentary Critical and
Explanatory
on the Whole Bible".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/jfb/view.cgi?book=ro&chapter=002>.
1871.
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