Chapter 2:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Luther
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Acts 1 Corinthians
Romans 2
Verse 1. Therefore - The apostle now makes a transition from the
gentiles to the Jews, till, at ver. 6, he comprises both. Thou art
inexcusable - Seeing knowledge without practice only increases
guilt. O man - Having before spoken of the gentile in the third
person, he addresses the Jew in the second person. But he calls
him by a common appellation, as not acknowledging him to be a
Jew. See verses 17, 28. Whosoever thou art that Judgest -
Censurest, condemnest. For in that thou Judgest the other - The
heathen. Thou condemnest thyself; for thou doest the same things
- In effect; in many instances.
Verse 2. For we know - Without thy teaching That the judgment of God
- Not thine, who exceptest thyself from its sentence. Is according
to truth - Is just, making no exception, ver. 5, 6, 11; and reaches
the heart as well as the life, ver. 16.
Verse 3. That thou shalt escape - Rather than the gentile.
Verse 4. Or despisest thou - Dost thou go farther still, - from hoping to
escape his wrath, to the abuse of his love?. The riches - The
abundance. Of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering -
Seeing thou both hast sinned, dost sin, and wilt sin. All these are
afterwards comprised in the single word goodness. Leadeth thee -
That is, is designed of God to lead or encourage thee to it.
Verse 5. Treasurest up wrath - Although thou thinkest thou art treasuring
up all good things. O what a treasure may a man lay up either
way, in this short day of life! To thyself - Not to him whom thou
Judgest. In the day of wrath, and Revelation, and righteous
judgment of God - Just opposite to "the goodness and forbearance
and longsuffering" of God. When God shall be revealed, then
shall also be "revealed" the secrets of men's hearts, ver. 16.
Forbearance and Revelation respect God, and are opposed to each
other; longsuffering and righteous judgment respect the sinner;
goodness and wrath are words of a more general import.
Verse 6. Prov. xxiv, 12
Verse 7. To them that seek for glory - For pure love does not exclude
faith, hope, desire, 1 Cor. xv, 58.
Verse 8. But to them that are contentious - Like thee, O Jew, who thus
fightest against God. The character of a false Jew is disobedience,
stubbornness, impatience. Indignation and wrath, tribulation and
anguish - Alluding to Psalm lxxviii, xlix, "He cast upon them,"
the Egyptians. "the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation,
and trouble;" and finely intimating, that the Jews would in the day
of vengeance be more severely punished than even the Egyptians
were when God made their plagues so wonderful.
Verse 9. Of the Jew first - Here we have the first express mention of the
Jews in this chapter. And it is introduced with great propriety.
Their having been trained up in the true religion, and having had
Christ and his apostles first sent to them, will place them in the
foremost rank of the criminals that obey not the truth.
Verse 10. But glory - Just opposite to "wrath," from the divine
approbation. honour - Opposite to "indignation," by the divine
appointment; and peace now and for ever, opposed to tribulation
and anguish.
Verse 11. For there is no respect of persons with God - He will reward
every one according to his works. But this is well consistent with
his distributing advantages and opportunities of improvement,
according to his own good pleasure.
Verse 12. For as many as have sinned - He speaks as of the time past, for
all time will be past at the day of judgment. Without the law -
Without having any written law. Shall also perish without the law
- Without regard had to any outward law; being condemned by the
law written in their hearts. The word also shows the agreement of
the manner of sinning, with the manner of suffering. Perish - He
could not so properly say, Shall be judged without the law.
Verse 13. For not the hearers of the law are, even now, just before God,
but the doers of the law shall be justified - Finally acquitted and
rewarded a most sure and important truth, which respects the
gentiles also, though principally the Jews. St. Paul speaks of the
former, ver. 14, &c.; of the latter, ver. 17, &c. Here is therefore no
parenthesis; for the sixteenth verse also depends on the fifteenth,
not on the twelfth. Rom. ii, 16, 15, 12.
Verse 14. For when the gentiles - That is, any of them. St. Paul, having
refuted the perverse judgment of the Jews concerning the
heathens, proceeds to show the just judgment of God against
them. He now speaks directly of the heathens, in order to
convince the heathens. Yet the concession he makes to these
serves more strongly to convince the Jews. Do by nature - That is,
without an outward rule; though this also, strictly speaking, is by
preventing grace. The things contained in the law - The ten
commandments being only the substance of the law of nature.
These, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves -
That is, what the law is to the Jews, they are, by the grace of God,
to themselves; namely, a rule of life.
Verse 15. Who show - To themselves, to other men, and, in a sense, to
God himself. The work of the law - The substance, though not the
letter, of it. Written on their hearts - By the same hand which
wrote the commandments on the tables of stone. Their conscience
- There is none of all its faculties which the soul has less in its
power than this. Bearing witness - In a trial there are the plaintiff,
the defendant, and the witnesses. Conscience and sin itself are
witnesses against the heathens. Their thoughts sometimes excuse,
sometimes condemn, them. Among themselves - Alternately, like
plaintiff and defendant. Accusing or even defending them - The
very manner of speaking shows that they have far more room to
accuse than to defend.
Verse 16. In the day - That is, who show this in the day. Everything will
then be shown to be what it really is. In that day will appear the
law written in their hearts as it often does in the present life.
When God shall judge the secrets of men - On secret
circumstances depends the real quality of actions, frequently
unknown to the actors themselves, ver. 29. Men generally form
their judgments, even of themselves merely from what is
apparent. According to my gospel - According to the tenor of that
gospel which is committed to my care. Hence it appears that the
gospel also is a law.
Verse 17. But if thou art called a Jew - This highest point of Jewish
glorying, after a farther description of it interposed, ver. 17-20,
and refuted, ver. 21-24, is itself refuted, ver. 25, &c. The
description consists of twice five articles; of which the former
five, ver. 17, 18, show what he boasts of in himself; the other five,
ver. 19, 20, what he glories in with respect to others. The first
particular of the former five answers to the first of the latter; the
second, to the second, and so on. And restest in the law -
Dependest on it, though it can only condemn thee. And gloriest in
God - As thy God; and that, too, to the exclusion of others.
Verse 19. Blind, in darkness, ignorant, babes - These were the titles
which the Jews generally gave the gentiles.
Verse 20. Having the form of knowledge and truth - That is, the most
accurate knowledge of the truth.
Verse 21. Thou dost not teach thyself - He does not teach himself who
does not practice what he teaches. Dost thou steal, commit
adultery, commit sacrilege - Sin grievously against thy neighbour,
thyself, God. St. Paul had shown the gentiles, first their sins
against God, then against themselves, then against their
neighbours. He now inverts the order: for sins against God are the
most glaring in an heathen, but not in a Jew. Thou that abhorrest
idols - Which all the Jews did, from the time of the Babylonish
captivity. Thou committest sacrilege - Doest what is worse,
robbing Him "who is God over all" of the glory which is due to
him. None of these charges were rashly advanced against the Jews
of that age; for, as their own historian relates, some even of the
priests lived by rapine, and others in gross uncleanness. And as
for sacrilegiously robbing God and his altar, it had been
complained of ever since Malachi; so that the instances are given
with great propriety and judgment.
Verse 24. Isaiah lii, 5
Verse 25. Circumcision indeed profiteth - He does not say, justifies.
How far it profited is shown in the third and fourth chapters. Thy
circumcision is become uncircumcision - is so already in effect.
Thou wilt have no more benefit by it than if thou hadst never
received it. The very same observation holds with regard to
baptism.
Verse 26. If the uncircumcision - That is, a person uncircumcised. Keep
the law - Walk agreeably to it. Shall not his uncircumcision be
counted for circumcision - In the sight of God?
Verse 27. Yea, the uncircumcision that is by nature - Those who are,
literally speaking, uncircumcised. Fulfilling the law - As to the
substance of it. Shall judge thee - Shall condemn thee in that day.
Who by the letter and circumcision - Who having the bare, literal,
external circumcision, transgressest the law.
Verse 28. For he is not a Jew - In the most important sense, that is, one
of God's beloved people. Who is one in outward show only;
neither is that the true, acceptable circumcision, which is apparent
in the flesh.
Verse 29. But he is a Jew - That is, one of God's people. Who is one
inwardly - In the secret recesses of his soul. And the acceptable
circumcision is that of the heart - Referring to Deut. xxx, 6; the
putting away all inward impurity. This is seated in the spirit, the
inmost soul, renewed by the Spirit of God. And not in the letter -
Not in the external ceremony. Whose praise is not from men, but
from God - The only searcher of the heart.
Chapter 2:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Luther
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Acts 1 Corinthians
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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