TEACHINGS:
In this Chapter 2 verse 6 Paul teaches us that God will repay each person for doing good of whom he will give eternal life. For those who do evil, judgment. Those who obey the Law will be made righteous not just those who hear the law.
God’s Righteous Judgment
2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”[Psalm 62:12; Prov. 24:12 ] 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
[To be declared righteous is to be justified. That is why it is not right to judge ahead of time who will go to heaven or who will not but that we as Christians have to work our salvation by following the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ]
The Jews and the Law
17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”[Isaiah 52:5 (see Septuagint); Ezek. 36:20,22 ]
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the[ Or who, by means of a] written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
NOTES:
2:1–3:20 After his general indictment of the Gentile, Paul
shows that in spite of special revelation Jews enjoy no advantage in moral
status before God (Rom 3:1–8). With the entire human race now declared guilty
before God (Rom 3:9–20), Paul will then be able to display the solution for the
total problem: salvation through God’s redemptive work that is revealed in
Christ Jesus for all who believe (Rom 3:21–31).
2:1–11 As a first step in his demonstration that Jews enjoy
no real moral supremacy over Gentiles, Paul explains that the final judgment
will be a review of performance, not of privilege. From this perspective
Gentiles stand on an equal footing with Jews, and Jews cannot condemn the sins
of Gentiles without condemning themselves.
2:6 Will repay everyone according to his works: Paul reproduces
the Septuagint text of Ps 62:12 and Prv 24:12.
2:11 No partiality with God: this sentence is not at
variance with the statements in Rom 2:9–10. Since Jews are the first to go
under indictment, it is only fair that they be given first consideration in the
distribution of blessings. Basic, of course, is the understanding that God
accepts no bribes (Dt 10:17).
2:12–16 Jews cannot reasonably demand from Gentiles the
standard of conduct inculcated in the Old Testament since God did not address
its revelation to them. Rather, God made it possible for Gentiles to know
instinctively the difference between right and wrong. But, as Paul explained in
Rom 1:18–32, humanity misread the evidence of God’s existence, power, and
divinity, and “while claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Rom 1:22).
2:15 Paul expands on the thought of Jer 31:33; Wis 17:11.
2:17–29 Mere possession of laws is no evidence of virtue. By
eliminating circumcision as an elitist moral sign, Paul clears away the last
obstacle to his presentation of justification through faith without claims
based on the receipt of circumcision and its attendant legal obligations.
2:24 According to Is 52:5 the suffering of Israel prompts
her enemies to revile God. Paul uses the passage in support of his point that the
present immorality of Israelites is the cause of such defamation.
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