Romans 2:5-10 sits inside this longer paragraph.
1Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. 2We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; 6who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” 7to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; 8but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, 9oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
10But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 11For there is no partiality with God. 12For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified 14(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) 16in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv5–9 5. But according to thy hardness, etc. When we…
5. But according to thy hardness, etc. When we become hardened against the admonitions of the Lord, impenitence follows; and they who are not anxious about repentance openly provoke the Lord.
This is a remarkable passage: we may hence learn what I have already referred to — that the ungodly not only accumulate for themselves daily a heavier weight of God’s judgments, as long as they live here, but that the gifts of God also, which they continually enjoy, shall increase their condemnation; for an account of them all will be required: and it will then be found, that it will be justly imputed to them as an extreme wickedness, that they had been made worse through God’s bounty, by which they ought surely to have been improved. Let us then take heed, lest by unlawful use of blessings we lay up for ourselves this cursed treasure.
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For the day, etc.; literally, in the day; but it is put for εἰς ἡμέραν, for the day. The ungodly gather now the indignation of God against themselves, the stream of which shall then be poured on their heads: they accumulate hidden destruction, which then shall be drawn out from the treasures of God. The day of the last judgment is called the day of wrath, when a reference is made to the ungodly; but it will be a day of redemption to the faithful. And thus all other visitations of God are ever described as dreadful and full of terror to the ungodly; and on the contrary, as pleasant and joyful to the godly. Hence whenever the Scripture mentions the approach of the Lord, it bids the godly to exult with joy; but when it turns to the reprobate, it proclaims nothing but dread and terror.
“A day of wrath,” saith Zephaniah, “shall be that day, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and wretchedness, a day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of mist and of whirlwind.” (Zephaniah 1:15.)
You have a similar description in Joel 2:2, etc. And Amos exclaims,
“Woe To You Who Desire The Day Of The Lord! What Will It Be To You? The Day Of The Lord Will Be Darkness, And Not Light.” (Amos 5:18.)
Farther, by adding the word revelation, Paul intimates what this day of wrath is to be, — that the Lord will then manifest his judgment: though he gives daily some indications of it, he yet suspends and holds back, till that day, the clear and full manifestation of it; for the books shall then be opened; the sheep shall then be separated the goats, and the wheat shall be cleansed from the tares.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Whilst thou givest thyself to pleasures, thinking to increase…
Whilst thou givest thyself to pleasures, thinking to increase thy goods, thou shalt find God’s wrath.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–10 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest…
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Ver. 5. Treasurest up unto thyself] Sicut mittentes pecuniam in gazophylacium, quod, ubi iam impletur, confringitur, saith Stella upon Luke. In treasuring, there Isa 1:1-31. Laying in; 2. Lying hidden; 3. Bringing out again, as there is occasion. Wicked persons, while by following their lusts they think they do somewhat to their happiness, shall in the end find, pro thesauro carbones, those burning coals, Psa 140:10.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–10 Treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of…
Treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath; this passage seems to respect Deu 32:34,35, or Job 36:13. You have a parallel place, Jam 5:3. The meaning is, Thou provokest more and more the wrath of God against thee; by heaping up sins, thou heapest up judgments of God upon thyself: just as men add to their treasure of wealth, so dost thou add to thy treasure of punishment.
Revelation of the righteous judgment of God; this is a periphrasis of the day of judgment, or of the last day: then will God visit for those sins that here escape punishment; then the justice and equity of his proceedings shall appear, and all shall have reason to approve thereof.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v6 The apostle in the foregoing verse had given a…
The apostle in the foregoing verse had given a description of the general day of judgment, which he called, A revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Here he acquaints us with the impartiality and uprightness of God in the distribution of rewards and punishments in that day, according to the merits and deserts of men: Who will render to every one according to his deeds; that is, according to the kind and quality, and according to the measures and degrees of every man’s works.
Where note, He doth not say, God will render to every man a reward for his works, but according to his works? Works are regula retributionis, non causa meredis: "Our works are the rule of God’s proceedings, but not the cause of his rewards." Having thus described the impartiality of the Judge, he next declares the universality of the persons that shall then be judged; namely, the righteous and the wicked: which shall both have their distinct rewards assigned them, according to the quality of their works.
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Observe, 1. The righteous persons described, and their reward declared; they are described by their well-doing, by their continuance in well-doing, by their patient continuance in well-doing; they are not weary in well-doing, they can undergo sufferings for the sake of well-doing, and they can patiently wait for the reward of well-doing till hereafter whilst others snatch at their reward here: Yet in the meantime they are seeking after, and securing of this their reward: They seek for glory, honour, and immortality; that is, they seek for a portion of glory and immortality in the world to come; they leave the world to the men of the world, and whilst they are scrambling for earth, they are making sure of heaven.
Next, Their persons being described, their reward is declared, eternal life; an eternity of glory and happiness in a future state, shall certainly be the reward of well-doers, and of patient continuers in well-doing.
Observe, 2. The wicked are here characterized, and their reward assigned: They are contentious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness; that is, they contend with God, and resist the light of his revealed truth; they refuse the offers of his grace, and kick against his word, disobeying offers of his grace, and kick against his word, disobeying the gospel of truth, but obeying unrighteousness. God will pour forth upon such, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.
Lord, who knoweth the power of thine anger, or who can bear the weight of thy wrath! It broke the back of angels, how shall sinners stand under it? It is styled fire in scripture, it is a consuming fire, and an unquenchable fire: It preys upon the sinner, but never devours him: It is unquenchable by anything but the blood of Christ. A mysterious fire, whose strange property is always to torment, but never to kill; or always to kill, but never to consume.
Observe, 3. With what equity, as well as impartiality, this distribution of God’s indignation and wrath will be made: Upon every soul that doeth evil; but upon the Jew first, and then of the Gentile. The Jew first, that is principally and especially; because the light and mercy which the Jews abused and sinned against, was far greater than that bestowed upon the Gentiles.
Learn hence, That the light under which men sin, puts extraordinary aggravations upon their sins, answerable whereunto will be the degrees of their punishment. The Gentiles will be condemned for disobeying the light of nature, the law of God written on their hearts; but much greater wrath is reserved for the Jews, unto whom were committed the oracles of God: But the greatest of all is reserved for Christians, who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to admired in all them that believe, 2Th 1:9-10.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–10 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart,.... The apostle…
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart,.... The apostle goes on to show, that such persons who promise themselves impunity on the score of prosperity, shall not always go unobserved and unpunished; for there is a day of wrath and righteous judgment hastening on, and will take place after they have filled up the measure of their iniquity. There is a natural "hardness" of the heart in every son and daughter of Adam; and there is an acquired habitual hardness, which is increased by sinning; and a judicial one, which God, for sin, sometimes gives persons up unto. An "impenitent heart" is not only an heart which does not repent, but such an one as cannot repent, being harder than the nether millstone. Now men, by such hardness and impenitence,
treasure up unto themselves wrath: they are the authors of their own destruction; by which is meant the wrath of God, in opposition to the riches of his goodness, despised by them; and is in reserve for wicked men: and is laid up
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against, and will be brought forth in
the day of wrath; which the Scriptures call "the evil day", Amo 6:3 Eph 6:13; the day fixed by God, when he will call men to an account for their sins, and stir up all his wrath against them:
and revelation; that is, the day of revelation, when Christ shall be revealed from heaven in flames of fire, the sins of men shall be revealed, and the wrath of God against them:
of the righteous judgment of God; so some copies read; that is, the day of the righteous judgment; so the Arabic version reads, "and of the appearance of God, and of his righteous judgment"; for the judgment will be at the appearance of Christ, who is God, and at his kingdom, Ti2 4:1. The Alexandrian copy reads, "and of the retribution of the righteous judgment of God"; and so the Ethiopic version seems to have read, rendering the words, "if so", or "seeing thy retribution may come upon thee", and "if the judgment of God may befall thee"; for when the judgment of God shall come, as there will be a revelation of men's sins, and of the wrath of God against them, there will be a just retribution according to their works. Or "the revelation of the righteous judgment of God"; that is, when the judgment of God, which is now hid, shall appear; and which is said to be "righteous", because it will be carried on in a righteous manner, and proceed upon, and be executed according to the strictest rules of justice and equity.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5–10 Treasurest up wrath - Although thou thinkest thou art…
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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5–10 Verse 5. But after thy hardness] Occasioned by thy…
Verse 5. But after thy hardness] Occasioned by thy long course of iniquity. And impenitent heart - produced by thy hardness, through which thou art callous to the calls and expostulations of conscience. Treasurest up - continuest to increase thy debt to the Divine justice, which will infallibly inflict wrath - punishment in the day of wrath - the judgment day, in which he will render to every man according to his works. The word treasure the Hebrew uses to express any kind of store or collection: - Treasure or plenty of rain. De 28:12: The Lord shall open unto thee his good TREASURE, to give the RAIN unto thy land. Treasure of punishment. De 32:34, De 32:35 : Is not this sealed up among my TREASURES? To me belongeth VENGEANCE and RECOMPENSE. Treasures of mines, i.e. abundance of minerals. De 33:19: They shall suck of the ABUNDANCE of the seas, and of TREASURES hid in the sand. So treasures of gold, silver, corn, wine, oil, c., mean collections or an abundance of such things: the word is used by the Greek writers precisely in the same sense. By wrath we are to understand punishment, as in Ro 1:18 and it is used so by the very best Greek writers. See Kypke.
The treasure of wrath, in this verse, is opposed to the riches of goodness, in the preceding. As surely as thou despisest, or neglectest to improve the RICHES of God's GOODNESS, so surely thou shalt share in the TREASURES of his WRATH. The punishment shall be proportioned to the mercy thou hast abused.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 8 Rom 2:5-7. But after thy hardness — Greek, κατα…
Rom 2:5-7. But after thy hardness — Greek, κατα τηυ σκληροτητα, according to thy obduracy, or insensibility of mind; and impenitent — Αμετανοητον, inconsiderate, unreflecting, and unrelenting heart, by reason of that stubbornness and obstinacy in sin which thou hast contracted; treasurest up wrath — Although thou thinkest thou art treasuring up all good things; unto thyself — Not to him whom thou judgest: that is, Thou provokest God more and more to aggravate thy punishment. In our language, a treasure signifies a collection of things useful or precious. But the Hebrews gave that appellation to a heap, or an abundance of any thing, whether good or bad. Hence, Pro 10:2, we read of treasures of wickedness. Reader! think what a treasure of good or evil, of felicity or misery, a man may lay up for himself in this short day of life! Against the day of wrath — The day of retribution, when God will fully execute wrath on impenitent sinners. Wrath is here, as often elsewhere, put for punishment, the effect of wrath. The apostle calls the day of retribution the day of wrath, to make the wicked sensible that as men greatly enraged do not suffer their enemies to escape, so God, highly displeased with the wicked, will assuredly punish them in the severest manner at length. Probably the apostle had in view, 1st, The awful vengeance which the divine wrath was about to bring on the Jews in the destruction of their city and temple, the depopulation of their country, and the dissolution of their commonwealth, which, 1Th 2:16, he calls, wrath coming upon them to the uttermost. 2d, It appears, however, by what follows, that he spoke principally of the day of final judgment; and revelation of the righteous judgment of God — When God will make manifest to all the world the justice of his proceedings, both toward the righteous and the wicked. Bengelius reads, wrath, and revelation, and righteous judgment: just opposite to the three gracious attributes above mentioned; wrath opposed to goodness; revelation, when God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, opposed to his present forbearance; and righteous judgment, when he will no longer defer to punish, opposed to his present longsuffering. Who will render to every man — Both good and bad, both Jew and Gentile; according to his deeds — Not according to his external privileges, or his pretences and presumptuous expectations, but according to the real nature and quality of his works. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing — By persevering in a constant course of holiness and righteousness, notwithstanding all the oppositions and difficulties they meet with; (see Mat 24:13; Rev 2:10;) seek for glory — That state of splendour and brightness in which the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Mat 13:43. Honour — Approbation, commendation, and praise from God and Christ, and all the heavenly host, mentioned 1Pe 1:7. And immortality — Αφθαρσιαν, incorruptibility, everlasting life, health, and vigour of both body and mind. The words include the consummation and perfection of all those glorious qualifications and enjoyments which are bestowed on the saints in heaven. This the saints seek for; that is, desire and labour after; for, though love to God and Christ is the principal spring of their obedience, yet that love does not exclude the faith which is the evidence of things not seen, or that hope of heavenly glory and felicity which is as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast; and which, partly at least, influenced Christ himself amidst all his labours and sufferings, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame. Eternal life — Which God will render to such.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5–9 But after thy hardness - The word “after” here…
But after thy hardness - The word “after” here κατά kata means in respect to, or you act according to the direct tendency of a hard heart in treasuring up wrath. The word “hardness” is used to denote insensibility of mind. It properly means what is insensible to the touch, or on which no impression is made by contact, as a stone, etc. Hence, it is applied to the mind, to denote a state where no motives make an impression; which is insensible to all the appeals made to it; see Mat 25:24; Mat 19:8; Act 19:9. And here it expresses a state of mind where the goodness and forbearance of God have no effect. The man still remains obdurate, to use a word which has precisely the meaning of the Greek in this place. It is implied in this expression that the direct tendency, or the inevitable result, of that state of mind was to treasure up wrath, etc.
Impenitent heart - A heart which is not affected with sorrow for sin, in view of the mercy and goodness of God. This is an explanation of what he meant by hardness.
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Treasurest up - To treasure up, or to lay up treasure, commonly denotes a laying by in a place of security of property that may be of use to us at some future period. In this place it is used, however, in a more general sense, to accumulate, to increase. It still has the idea of hoarding up, carries the thought beautifully and impressively onward to future times. Wrath, like wealth treasured up, is not exhausted at present, and hence, the sinner becomes bolder in sin. But it exists, for future use; it is kept in store (compare 2Pe 3:7) against future times; and the man who commits sin is only increasing this by every act of transgression. The same sentiment is taught in a most solemn manner in Deu 32:34-35. It may be remarked here, that most people have an immense treasure of this kind in store, which eternal ages of pain will not exhaust or diminish! Stores of wrath are thus reserved for a guilty world, and in due time it “will come upon man to the uttermost,” 1Th 2:16.
Unto thyself - For thyself, and not for another; to be exhausted on thee, and not on your fellow-man. This is the case with every sinner, as really and as certainly as though he were the only solitary mortal in existence.
Wrath - Note, Rom 1:18.
Day of wrath - The day when God shall show or execute his wrath against sinners; compare Rev 6:17; 1Th 1:10; Joh 3:36; Eph 5:6.
And revelation - On the day when the righteous judgment of God will be revealed, or made known. Here we learn:
(1) That the punishment of the wicked will be just. It will not he a judgment of caprice or tyranny, but a righteous judgment, that is, such a judgment as it will be right to render, or as ought to be rendered, and therefore such as God will render, for he will do right; 2Th 1:6.
(2) The punishment of the wicked is future. It is not exhausted in this life. It is treasured up for a future day, and that day is a day of wrath. How contrary to this text are the pretences of those who maintain that all punishment is executed in this life.
(3) How foolish as well as wicked is it to lay up such a treasure for the future; to have the only inheritance in the eternal world, an inheritance of wrath and wo!
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5, 9 The apostle is evidently speaking to the converted Jews,…
The apostle is evidently speaking to the converted Jews, and not to the Gentiles. For the Gentiles believed in certain judges in hell, who passed sentence on every one as soon as he departed out of life. This is what the learned call poetical theology, and considered as fabulous. But besides a particular judgment at the hour of death, the Hebrews believed in a general judgment of all men, or at least of all the just, in the valley of Jehosaphat; as may be seen in the prophets, and the books of Wisdom and Machabees. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 8, 9, 10 treasurest up unto thyself wrath against--rather "in."
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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5–9 5. Hardness—Unsusceptibility to divine impressions, from the fact that…
5. Hardness—Unsusceptibility to divine impressions, from the fact that the conscience, though alive to others’ sins, is dead as to his own.
Treasurest—As God has a riches of goodness, so the sinner may accumulate treasures of wrath.
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Day of wrath—(See note on Rom_2:16.)
Revelation—Literally, an uncovering. While the sinner is accumulating the judgment is covered, but the day will remove the concealment and disclose the reality.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–10 5. after] according to, in a way traceable to.
5. after] according to, in a way traceable to.
hardness] insensibility, whether to love or reason.
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treasurest up] Possibly this word alludes to the “riches” of Rom_2:4; q. d., “the Divine store of loving-kindness is exchanged by the sinner for the Divine store of holy wrath”.
unto thyself] Emphatic; more than merely “for thee.” The wrath is pure retribution, the result of sin. The sinner is the cause of his own doom.
against the day of wrath] Lit. in the day of wrath; a pregnant phrase; “which will take effect in the day.” On “wrath,” see note on Rom_1:18 : “The day:”—i.e. the definite time of the Lord’s Appearing, to raise the dead (Joh_6:39-40; Joh_6:44; Joh_6:54; Joh_11:24); to judge the world (Joh_12:48; Act_17:31); and to receive the saints to final glory (2Ti_4:8). In one remarkable passage (1Co_4:3) the Greek of the word “judgment” (in E. V.) is lit. “day;” and a probable account of this use of the word is the inseparable connexion of thought, in the early church, between the day and the judgment of the Lord.
revelation of the righteous judgment of God] The “wrath” is as pure, just, and Divine as the mercy. Its “revelation” will be only the revelation of the absolute equity of “the Judge of all the earth.” This deep righteousness of the Divine anger is its most awful element.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–9 (5) The one condition upon which the goodness of…
(5) The one condition upon which the goodness of God will come into operation, you directly contravene. Instead of being penitent, you are impenitent, and therefore the load of wrath which you have been accumulating against yourself remains unremoved. It is only waiting for the day of judgment to discharge itself upon you.
Treasurest.—The treasuring up of wrath is opposed to that heavenly treasure spoken of in Mat_6:20. The guilt of man is accumulated little by little. I The punishment will be discharged upon him all at once, in one overwhelming tide.
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Against the day of wrath.—Strictly, in the day of wrath—i.e., wrath to be outpoured upon the day of wrath. “The great and terrible day of the Lord” is a conception running through all the prophetic writings. (Comp. also, in the New Testament, Luk_17:30; Act_2:20; 1Co_1:8; 1Co_5:5; 2Co_1:14; 1Th_5:2; 1Th_5:4; 2Th_2:2; 2Pe_3:10; 2Pe_3:12; Rev_6:17; Rev_16:14.)
Revelation.—There is a double revelation of God’s wrath, the one inchoate, the other final. The former revelation, that described in the last chapter, is seen in the depraved condition of the heathen world; the latter revelation is represented as a judgment or trial reserved for the consummation of all things.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 10 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up…
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The "day of wrath" is the day of judgment, the final display of eternal righteousness, when the "forbearance" will be over; ever represented, notwithstanding the world"s redemption, under a terrible aspect for the persistently impenitent. (cf. 2Th_1:9) It may be here observed again that it is o krinwn against whom these indignant denunciations are hurled, and this on the very ground of his thus setting himself up to judge while being himself guilty. Of him it is implied, not only that he shares the guilt of mankind, but also that he especially will not escape the final judgment. Of others who, conscious of their own failings, seek sincerely alter good, this is not said, however liable to condemnation on their own mere merits they may be. Indeed, the contrary is emphatically asserted in the verses that follow; nay, even eternal life is assured to such, whoever they may be, and under whatever dispensation, though it does not fall within the scope of the argument to explain in this place why or how. It is important for us to see this clearly for an understanding of the drift of the chapter, and of St. Paul"s whole doctrine with respect to human sin and its consequences.
Vers. 5-16. "The righteous judgment of God.
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In the previous verses we saw how the goodness of God is too often received; how there are many who despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering. It is especially to such persons that St. Paul addresses his account of God"s righteous judgment from the fifth verse to the sixteenth. Those who despise God"s goodness have a great fact to face. Those who live as if there was no God, who evade his commandments, who evade his offer of salvation, cannot evade his righteous judgment. As there is one event to all in the universal certainty of death, so we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. It is good even for Christians to be reminded of the judgment to come. We live too little under its power. We realize too imperfectly that one day we shall have to give an account of our stewardship. We realize too imperfectly our responsibility toward those around us. How little we enter into Paul"s views of the judgment, when he said, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men"! (2Co_5:11) The subject of God"s righteous judgment is an important one both for Christian and for sinner.
I THE JUDGE. He is a righteous Judge. It is most important that, in thinking of the judgment, we should think of this aspect of God"s character. "The righteous judgment of God" (ver. 5). We are not to think of the judgment as necessarily a terror in itself. It is, what the laws of human society ought to be, a terror to the evil-doer, but a praise to them that do well. If we think of the judgment with terror, the fault lies, not with God, but in ourselves. God is a righteous Judge. His judgment is a righteous judgment. There are some who cherish hard thoughts of God, who think of him as a stern and relentless Judge. For such hard thoughts there is no foundation anywhere in God"s dealings with men. His character is what we should call a character of perfect fairness. His judgment will be perfectly fair. There may be some one who will say, "I did not know that such a course of action was wrong; I had not the Law of God to guide me." St. Paul meets just such a case: "As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law" (ver. 12). The judgment will be entirely according to our opportunities and privileges. If God condemns us or inflicts punishment upon us, it will only be because we deserve it. Every man will get a fair hearing. "There no respect of persons with God (ver. 11). Every man will get a fair chance Those who have the Bible in their hands cannot say that they have not had a fair chance. We have all got the offer of salvation. We have all heard of the love of Jesus. We have all heard the invitations of the gospel What could God have done for us that he has not done? He has done all he could do for our salvation, when "he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He has done all he could, so long as man remains a free agent, to warn us to flee from the wrath to come, to win our hearts to himself. He is slow to anger, plenteous in mercy, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; and yet he will by no means clear the guilty. He gives us every chance, that by his goodness he may lead us to repentance. It may be observed here that the idea of righteousness is so bound up in the idea of the judgment of God, that St. Paul uses one word in the original to express what we describe by two words
II THE PERSONS JUDGED. That judgment no one can escape. "Who will render to every man according to his deeds" (ver. 6). Many escape here on earth the just reward of their deeds. Gross crimes are perpetrated, and the murderer escapes the just sentence of the law; the defrauder and the betrayer and the slanderer occupy positions of respectability in life. But they go down to the grave with their sins upon their soul, to pass on into the presence of that tribunal from which earthly rank and earthly wealth can purchase no escape. As the apostle tells us in the eleventh verse, "there is no respect of persons with God." God looks upon the heart; he looks upon the motives; he looks upon the character. Thus regarding men, thus judging them, he sees but two classes. What are these? The rich and the poor? No. The learned and the unlearned? No. The Christian and the heathen? No. The Protestant and the Roman Catholic? No. In God"s sight it is character and conduct not country, or class, or creed that divide men. St. Paul speaks of the two classes thus: "Every soul of man that doeth evil" (ver. 9), and "Every man that worketh good" (ver. 10). Or, again, he describes them, "Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality" (ver. 7), and "Those that are contentious or, "self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness" (ver. 8). To one or other of these classes every one of us belongs.
III THE EVIDENCE. Here again we see how righteous will be the judgment of God. There will be no circumstantial evidence needed, however strong its chain of many links may often be. There will be no need to depend on the testimony of others. There will be no danger of the Judge being led astray by the impassioned pleading or the fallible logic of a human advocate. Our own deeds will be there to speak for themselves. "Who will render to every man according to his deeds. " Ah, how solemn is the thought that we are now writing the evidence by which we shall be judged on the judgment-day! In the red sandstone there are found, in some places, marks which are clearly the impressions of showers of rain, and these so perfect that it can even be determined in what direction the shower inclined, and from what quarter it proceeded and this ages ago! So also scientific men have been able to trace out from the fossil remains, buried for ages in the earth, the shape and characteristics of animals whose species are long since extinct. So our deeds leave their record behind them, and that record in the judgment-day will testify to what our character was when we were here on earth. The judgment-day will be a day of revelation (ver. 5). It will reveal the righteous judgment of God. It will unveil many mysteries in God"s dealings which we did not understand before. It will reveal the true character of men. Then "God shall judge the secrets of men" (ver. 16). Then shall all hidden things be brought to light, all deceits discovered, all hypocrisies unmasked. Then, too, shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Their character, often here hidden under a cloud, often misunderstood, often misrepresented, shall then be vindicated for all eternity and before all the world. "The fire shall try every man"s work of what sort it is." This also makes God"s judgment a righteous judgment, that the evidence shall be the evidence of men"s own deeds.
IV THE RESULT OF THE JUDGMENT. To some will be given eternal life (ver. 7). That will be to those who have lived according to the light they had. No mere profession will save us. Neither will our own good works save us. But our works are the evidence whether or not we are believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; those whom God"s goodness has led to repentance; those who have kept his commandments; those who have not been weary in well-doing, but "by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality;" those who have denied themselves, and taken up their cross and followed Christ; they "shall have right to the tree of life, and shall enter through the gates into the city". (Rev_22:14) To others oh, what a dark future! "Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish" (vers. 8, 9). God"s judgment is a righteous judgment. "He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption." The apostle speaks of "treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath" (ver. 5). That is what every one is doing who goes on in the path of unbelief, impenitence, disobedience, godlessness. What folly to lay up a treasure like that! C.H.I.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv5–7 But after thy hardness.
Rom_2:5
But after thy hardness.
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Hardness of heart
I. What it is.
1. Not mere callousness or insensibility of feeling.
2. But entire obduracy of soul--not of one faculty, but of all. The same word is sometimes translated blindness and sometimes hardness. There are two words, πῶρος a stone, and πώρωσις, blindness or hardness (Mar_3:5; Rom_11:25). This hardness, therefore--
(1) Is blindness of the mind.
(2) Is fixedness of the will in opposition to God and His truth.
(3) Admits of degrees.
(a) Disobedience and secret opposition to truth.
(b) Zealous opposition and hatred of it, manifesting itself at length in blasphemy and persecution.
II. This hardness is a sinful state.
1. From its very nature.
2. In its higher form it is the state or character of the lost and of Satan.
3. It is self induced.
(1) As it is the natural effect of our depravity.
(2) As it is the natural consequence of the indulgence of sin.
As the natural consequence of the cultivation of virtue is virtue; of kindness is kindness, and so the natural consequence of the indulgence of sin is sin--a sinful hardening of the heart.
III. It is none the less a Divine judgment and a premonition of reprobation. Any degree of it is reason to fear such reprobation. The higher forms of it are direct evidence of it.
1. God exerts no efficiency in hardening the heart of sinners, as He does in working grace.
2. But it is the punitive withdrawing of the Spirit; the inevitable result of which is obduracy. God let Pharaoh alone and the result was what it was.
3. In its last stage it is beyond the reach of argument, motive, discipline, or culture; and beyond our own power to cure or remove.
Conclusion:
1. Dread it.
2. Withstand it.
3. Pray against it.
4. Avoid it by not grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
Hardness of heart
This is the state of a person insensible alike to entreaties, expostulations, warnings, admonitions, and chastisements (Jer_5:3). Men become obdurate--
1. By separating themselves from God, the Source of all life, just as a branch dries up when detached from the tree, or as a limb withers when the connection between it and the heart ceases.
2. By a life of pleasure and sin, the effects of which may be compared to those of the river north of Quite, petrifying, according to Kirwins account, the wood and leaves cast into its waters; or to those of the busy feet of passers-by causing the crowded thoroughfare to grow hard. (C. Neil, M. A.)
Hardening the heart
On a winter evening, when the frost is setting in with growing intensity, and when the sun is now far past the meridian, and gradually sinking in the western sky, there is a double reason why the ground grows every moment harder and more impenetrable to the plough. On the one hand, the frost of evening, with ever increasing intensity, is indurating the stiffening clods: on the other hand, the genial rays which alone can soften them are every moment withdrawing and losing their enlivening power. Take heed that it be not so with you. As long as you are unconverted, you are under a double process of hardening. The frosts of an eternal night are settling down upon your souls; and the Sun of Righteousness, with westering wheel, is hastening to set upon you for evermore. If, then, the plough of grace cannot force its way into your ice-bound heart today, what likelihood is there that it will enter tomorrow? (R. M. McCheyne, M. A.)
Conscience deadened
As the old historian says about the Roman armies that marched through a country burning and destroying every living thing, they make a solitude, and call it peace, so men do with their consciences. They stifle them, forcibly silence them, somehow or other; and then when there is a dead stillness in the heart, unbroken by no voice of either approbation or blame, but doleful like the unnatural quiet of a deserted city, then they say it is peace. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
And impenitent heart.
The impenitent heart is one which
1. Has not repented.
2. Is not easily brought to repentance.
3. Is disinclined and unwilling to repent.
4. Is unable to repent. (T. Robinson, D. D.)
Impenitence
I. Its nature.
1. We shall better understand this if we consider what is the nature of penitence, which is a clear view of our nature and conduct as tried by the pure and perfect law of God. Connected with this there is--
(1) A consciousness that we are deservedly under the wrath of God, and the curse of that law which our sins have violated.
(2) Alarm at sin and its consequences.
(3) An ingenuous disposition to confess sin to God, without extenuation or self-defence.
(4) Grief for sin.
(5) A disposition to forsake it.
(6) And there will be no true repentance where there is not faith in Christ, as the only way by which sin can be forgiven.
2. Now, impenitence means, of course, the opposite to this. The man who is not convinced of sin, etc., is impenitent, hard-hearted towards God and religion.
3. Mark the guilt of this. It really contains in itself every aggravation that sin admits of. It is--
(1) Rebellion against the authority of God, who commands men everywhere to repent.
(2) Great insult to God: for in proportion to the excellence of any being whom we may offend should be the promptness of our mind to confess the offence and mourn over it.
(3) Great contempt of the law of God, that, after we have trampled it under foot, we should have no grief for the injury we have done it.
(4) Total rejection of the whole scheme of mercy in the gospel.
II. Its consequences.
1. The time when the punishment will be inflicted. It is very true that the moment we die we enter into heaven or hell. But neither the happiness of the righteous nor the punishment of the wicked will be complete till the judgment. This is called--
(1) The day of wrath, and it wilt be to the wicked nothing but that.
(2) A day of revelation. There will be a revelation--
(a) Of God, in the wisdom of His plans, in His mercy to His people, in His justice of the punishment of the wicked.
(b) Of Jesus Christ. No more shall it be doubted that He is the great God and our Saviour.
(c) Of man. Millions of saints shall come out from their obscurity, and shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Millions of flaming but hypocritical professors shall stand at that day unmasked.
(d) Of secrets--all the secrets of mens history.
(3) But the text speaks of it as the revelation of righteous judgment that shall come on the wicked. There will be a revelation--
(a) Of judgment itself. The punishment of the wrath of God is now revealed only partially; never, impenitent sinner, till the day of judgment will the greatness of thy iniquity be revealed.
(b) Of righteous judgment; a complete manifestation of the justice of God in the punishment of the wicked. There shall be no infidels in hell: there shall none go from the judgment seat impeaching the justice of God.
(c) Before the world. So that, while the righteous shall be honoured, the wicked will be punished before the universe.
2. Its nature. Thou treasurest up wrath. Whose wrath? If it were the wrath of an angel there would be something tremendous in it. But--
(1) It is the wrath of God--something more terrible than the imagination can compass! Solomon tells us that the wrath of a king is as the roaring of a lion. But what is the wrath of a king to the wrath of God? But, perhaps, it may be said that it is only a taste of His wrath. The Scripture says wrath will come on the wicked to the uttermost; it will be unmixed wrath. Now God blends mercy with judgment: then mercy will retire.
(2) It will be wrath felt, not merely threatened. Now it is threatened, and the wicked sport with the threat; but then it will be felt.
(3) It will be everlasting wrath. What must it be to endure the unmitigated wrath of God for a moment, for an hour, for a week, for a year, for a century, for a thousand years, for a million of ages! But if, at that distance, there should be one gleam of hope appearing through the vista of darkness, hell would cease to be hell; hope would spring up; and the very idea of the termination of torment would sustain the soul under it. But oh, eternal wrath! To be obliged to cry out, How long? and to receive no answer but Forever! And after millions of ages have passed, and the question is again asked, How long? still to receive no answer but Forever!
(4) This wrath is said to be wrath to come, and because it is to come, sinners will not believe it; because it is to come, they think it never will come. But it is perpetually drawing near. It is nearer this day than it was last Sabbath day.
3. The proportion of the punishment. In the Hebrew Scriptures anything that is accumulative is accounted treasure. Hence, we read of the treasures of wickedness. The expression treasurest up wrath seems to be put in opposition to the riches of His goodness. What an idea! Treasures of love! Heaps of wrath! And you will observe the sinner is represented as the author of his own punishment. The idea conveyed is this, that there is an accumulation continually going on as long as he sins. And then, as this proportion will be according to the sin committed, so it will be according to the mercies abused and neglected. The sins of the poor heathen are light compared with ours, and the punishment will be light too. (J. Angell James.)
Treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath.--
Amassing wrath
He who perseveres in sin is not only continuing in a dangerous state, but treasuring up unto himself wrath. As a man amasses a fortune by saving up certain sums from year to year, and more and more as he goes on, so this man goes on making the wrath that will come upon him at last heavier and heavier, by adding fresh sins day after day. God does not forget; He is ready to forgive, so entirely and freely to forgive that He calls it forgetting, but He does not let things pass by forgetfulness, and therefore our deeds are treasured up against the day of judgment, and He will then render to us according to them. Prudence would always lead us to think what we are treasuring up for ourselves, for whatever we do, we may be sure we are treasuring up something. Our daily life is adding by little and little to some kind of stock that is laid up for us. In this world, if we are regular and temperate in our living, we lay up for ourselves, ordinarily, health and length of life. If, on the contrary, we are irregular, self-indulgent, or intemperate, we lay up for ourselves an accumulating stock of weakness and disease, and a debt to our nature which we may have to pay by the cutting off of many days from our time here. If we are honest and industrious, we lay up for ourselves a treasure of good character, which will serve us more and more as we grow older; if we are dishonest and idle, we lay up for ourselves a bad character, which will tell more and more against us. If we are kind and good-tempered, we lay up a treasure of the goodwill of our fellows; if we are proud and quarrelsome, we lay up enmities and dislikes, which may grow even to our ruin, and which may any day show themselves, all gathered into a mass, when we should most wish to be clear of them. And we know very well how it is sometimes when any person goes on behaving ill towards ourselves, disregarding our advice, disobeying our orders, reckoning upon our not choosing to punish; we go on a long time, it may be, to give him a chance of doing better, but at last he heaps up such an abundance and weight of misconduct, that we can bear it no longer, and we dismiss him from his employment with disgrace. So it is with a man who deals thus lightly with God, and presumes on His forbearance. God warns him again and again, but yet for a while does not execute judgment upon him. But at last comes the day of reckoning, and it is found that he has been all along heaping up for himself an evil treasure, a treasure of wrath against the day of wrath. The pleasures that are gone have left a sting behind them, the unjust gains, that seemed for a while to abide, are a witness against the covetous (Jam_5:2-4). (C. Marriott, B. D.)
Treasuring up wrath
This proves that sins will be punished according to their accumulation. A man is rich according to his treasures. The wicked will be punished according to the number and aggravation of their sins. There are two treasures, which Paul opposes to each other--that of goodness, of forbearance, and long suffering--and that of wrath; and the one may be compared to the other. The one provides and amasses blessings for the creature, the other punishments; the one invites to heaven, the other precipitates to hell; the one looks on sin to pardon it on repentance, the other regards obstinate continuance to punish it, and avenge favours that are despised, God alone prepares the first, but man himself the second. (R. Haldane.)
Accumulating wrath
It is related that some years ago, in a mountainous region on the continent of Europe, an avalanche of snow--i.e., an enormous mass of snow--came down from one of the overhanging rocks in such a vast body as entirely to dam up a river into which it fell. What was the effect produced? As the river could no longer flow, it went on forming itself into an extensive lake--threatening, whenever it should burst through its snowy barrier, to carry desolation and ruin upon men and villages in the country beneath. The larger the quantity of water suspended, the greater would be its violence when it obtained its liberty: and so it proved. The devastation caused was said to be terrible in the extreme. It is thus with every unconverted sinner. The longer he lives, the greater is the amount of wrath he is accumulating, or treasuring up, against his day of destruction. (C. Clayton, M. A.)
And revelation of the righteous Judgment of God.--
The revelation of Gods righteous judgments
1. Further on in this epistle the contrast between darkness and light is employed to depict the difference between the present time and that which will succeed the second coming of Christ (Rom_13:12). We may have been compelled to tread a dangerous path under the guidance of an imperfect light, and we can recall the difficulty of distinguishing between substance and shadow, the bewildering sense of insecurity, and our thankfulness when the day enabled us to see things as they really were.
2. The imagery then, of the apostle is exceedingly appropriate to our present condition. We are not in absolute darkness, for we have the Word of God, which is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. The road of safety is indeed sufficiently plain. But if we look beyond and around us, there are painful problems which we cannot solve, and huge difficulties which we cannot surmount. We cannot discern as yet the true proportions and nature of things; but when the day of eternity breaks, then the blinding, perplexing shadows will disappear.
3. These remarks will serve to introduce our topic. God is greatly misunderstood even by His own people. Witness the eases of Job, of Jeremiah, and of some of the Psalmists (Psa_73:1-28). And if it be so with religious people, much more must it be true of the ungodly. But a day is coming when it shall be seen that He is holy in all His ways, and righteous in all His works.
I. Consider some of the difficulties which perplex us.
1. Those which concern Gods dealings with ourselves. Not unfrequently it happens that trials befall a Christian which he cannot interpret, and he is almost tempted to think that God is not the wise and loving Father he has been led to suppose. It may be, too, that the explanation will never come in this world. God would have His children trust Him without explanation. And then the only refuge is in the words What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
2. Those connected with Gods sovereignty and mans responsibility.
(1) If there be one thing in Scripture more plain than another, it is that the offer of salvation is made to every man. And the blame of rejection is distinctly thrown upon the sinner: Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life. Now all this points to the responsibility of man. He might come, but he refuses to come. Here, then, is one side of the truth. On the other side we are just as plainly taught that no man cometh unto Christ unless the Father draw him; that repentance and faith are both the gift of God; and that Christians can take no credit to themselves for the position in which they are placed, but that they are elect according to the foreknowledge of God, etc. In the matter of salvation He acts according to the good pleasure of His will. Many are called, but few are chosen. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Here, then, we have another side of the truth--the sovereignty of God.
(2) Now you ask me to make these two statements consistent. I cannot comply with your demand. What I know is this, that I am bound to hold both truths without anxiety about consequences; and that there is a witness for both facts in the hearts of men. Never yet was a Christian found who would not admit that his salvation originated with God; and the man without faith in Christ, though he will say nothing, his conscience bears witness that he has been resisting by an act of his own will the gracious influences of Gods Holy Spirit; and that if he should perish in his sins, he will have no one to blame for his ruin but himself. With these testimonies we may be satisfied, and look for the solution of the difficulty hereafter. The revelation that is coming will be a revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
(3) With respect to this particular subject we may represent the two doctrines as two massive pillars standing face to face as if they were rivals. There they stand; and we look up at them, trying to trace out a point of contact. But they rise beyond our vision, and their majestic shafts are soon lost in dark mysterious clouds, and the eye can follow them no longer. But somewhere beyond the clouds--somewhere in the world of light above--we believe that they unite in some grand arch, and that there all appearance of antagonism disappears; and we believe also that that meeting point will be seen at the manifestation of Jesus Christ.
3. Those connected with the broad subject of the Divine dealings with the human race.
(1) There is one in the fact that so many centuries have elapsed since the sacrifice of Calvary, and yet so small a portion of the human race have heard the gospel.
(2) There is another in the fact that those who die in their sins will be punished eternally. This topic is one so inexpressibly painful and puzzling that we do not much wonder at the theories which evade the force of the Scriptural statements.
II. With respect to these difficulties consider--
1. That they are altogether inseparable from our present condition. Much as we should like to have everything made plain to us, it cannot be so; and it is well, too, that it should be so. We are in the night, not in the day; we have a glimmer, but not the full light: the full light comes in with the appearing of Christ. Moreover, this is the season of training. If everything were intelligible, where would be the exercise of faith?
2. That we are led to look forward to a day of explanation, a day of revelation is coming, which will be a day of revelation of the righteousness of the decisions and of the appointments of God. Wait for that day patiently. Its bright light will solve all problems, and scatter the darkness of those mysteries which now perplex and distress the Christian mind.
III. What conclusions shall we draw from our subject?
1. That the belief of the coming of a day of explanation will operate to check all hasty theorising, all judging before the time. Men yield to this temptation and invent systems of doctrine in the vain hope of escaping from the grand inconsistency of Holy Scripture. Like men in old times, occupied with squaring the circle, perpetual motion, or the method of turning everything into gold, they busy themselves with an unprofitable, because impossible, task. Yet again, men in their impatience to solve the problem of the Divine dealings with man have rejected the statements of Holy Writ. These theorists are bidden wait for the day of explanation that is coming. Thus there is in this view of the text a remedy for our natural impatience.
2. But more than this: there is much comfort in looking forward to such a time. A loving child may have most perfect confidence in his father. He is sure that what that father does is right and wise; yet he may be puzzled with the captious remarks of his fathers enemies. So he looks forward to the day of explanation. He knows that then the character and acts of his parent will receive a most triumphant vindication, and that the mouths of all detractors will be silenced, and silenced forever. Even so the Christian looks forward with delight to the second appearing of the Lord--the day of the revelation of the righteousness and holiness of God.
3. Yet in all perplexities we have an unfailing remedy available now. We can look to the Cross of Jesus Christ. Every murmur ought to be stilled, every doubt ought to be suppressed, every misgiving silenced--when we stand on the slope of Calvary. (G. Calthrop, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv5–10 5. But. Instead of being led to repentance by…
5. But. Instead of being led to repentance by God's mercy, the sinner has abused it with a hard and impenitent heart, and thus has aggravated his sin. Treasured up … wrath. By continuing in sin he has made his guilt and condemnation greater. Against the day of wrath. The day, surely to come, when God's judgments will be inflicted. Revelation of the righteous judgment. This will only be fully revealed at the day of judgment. That day is meant.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v5 Rom_2:5.—Thou art hoping to escape the judgment of God,…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_2:5.—Thou art hoping to escape the judgment of God, but instead art heaping up treasure of wrath. It is not God who treasures up, but thy destruction is from thyself.
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Rom_2:6.—Account will be taken of the aim which has governed the moral action.
Rom_2:7. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, [to such] eternal life.—Future glory is contrasted with present shame.
Rom_2:8.—ἐριθείαν denotes the spirit which seeks the victory of the party which one has espoused from self-interest in contrast to the spirit which seeks the possession of truth.
Rom_2:9. Affliction and distress.—Metaphor from a wrestler, who finds breathing difficult.
Rom_2:12.—Sin brings retribution both to those without law and to those under the law; but sentence will vary according to divine justice and mercy.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_2:5-12
Good and evil workers.—Many distinctions obtain in human societies. It is sometimes amazing to see how men and women separate themselves from one another. The man with a banking account, though it be only small, does not feel himself called upon to associate with one who has to live on his daily wages. The professional man stands aloof from the tradesman. Poets in their rhymes smile at the claims of long descent, and sing, “Kind hearts are more than coronets.” But let a kind heart, enshrined in a physical form, covered with shabby clothes, present itself at the poet’s door, and will it receive a hearty welcome? Kind hearts are nice when they beat in breasts covered with pearls. Still, as of old, Lazarus lies at the gate desiring the crumbs, while the coroneted sit inside the palace at the banquet. We ask, Is the man respectable? Does the woman move in good society? There is no respect of persons with God. Can the same be said of those who profess to be His children? God looks at the internal, and not the external. Character, not reputation, is what God estimates. All classes of society, all races of men, Jews and Gentiles, are reduced to the two general classes—the workers of good and the workers of evil. To which do we belong?
I. Good workers.—Draw a contrast between the good workers and the evil workers.
1. The former have a noble aim. Here reference is made, not to the act of aiming, but rather to the object aimed at. And what is that? It is immortal glory and honour. I paint for eternity, says the painter. His eternity is a few years of time. What is the good of his glory and honour when death has stripped his supple fingers of their power to handle the brush, and has robbed the brain of its ability to conceive beautiful combinations? The Christian’s glory and honour are not bounded by the eclipsing darkness of death, for they are immortal—not subject either to oblivion or disappointment. We get our earthly glories and honours; and we find how true are the words, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” There are crowns in all walks of life, and heavy, aching heads are the lots of the prize-winners. Disappointments strew the pathway of earth’s glories as thickly as the leaves in Valombrosa. A few years hence oblivion will sit serenely smiling, ironically musing over the scene where our triumphs were gained. Truly “he aims too low who aims beneath the sky.” The noble aim for all is immortal glory and honour.
2. High endeavour. They place before themselves a great object, and strive with a great spirit—they endeavour. They do not say man is the creature of circumstances, and sink down in despair. In spite of opposing circumstances, through calm and storm they seek immortal honour and glory; the flag waves on the summit; and though the ground shakes with the thunder of the cannon, they pursue their upward course of high endeavour.
3. Patient continuance. Endurance is the crowning quality, and patience is all the passion, of great hearts. The patience of human workers is sometimes wonderful; but the patience of God’s true saints is ever marvellous. Here is sublime heroism. What do I see in my vision? A long crowd of witnesses pressing through the highways of life, whose patience is crowned by the inheritance of the promises.
4. Obtain satisfactory results. Glory, honour, and peace will be awarded in the final day. Who obtains these results? Who follows in the train of characters with such lofty motives and wondrous endeavours? Can earthborn spirits contend? Are their souls equal to the mighty emprise? The answer is, “Ye must be born again.” Only spirits ennobled and renewed by the Holy Spirit can keep company with this sublime army.
II. Evil workers are:
1. Without settled aim, for they are contentious. They may have a material aim—riches, fame, power, pleasure—but they have no true moral aim. They set before themselves no high standard of duty.
2. Have no high endeavour. They obey unrighteousness. They never seek to rise above the leadings of a lower nature. Instead of leading, they are led.
3. Have impenitent continuance. This is their great crime. With hard and impenitent hearts they are storing up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath. There is no heroism about such continuance. The hard and impenitent heart goes on petrifying itself with great ease. The impenitent heart obeys unrighteousness and ignores the truth.
4. Come to a sad ending. The structure they have been building falls upon their own heads with crushing force. They have been storing up in themselves wrath against God. Thus they have been storing up against themselves wrath from God. All God’s worlds have moving through them the same divine laws and methods of operation. We sow wheat, we reap wheat—tares, tares. We sow wrath, we reap wrath; and fearful will the harvest be. In these days we ignore both the wrath and the righteousness of God. We say, God is merciful, and will be compassionate, and all will come right. Certainly all will come right, according to the will of the divine righteousness. “The gods be good unto us,” cried Sicinius, when misfortune, born of folly, was hard at hand. “No,” replied Menenius; “in such a case the gods will not be good unto us.” Shall we cry, God be good unto us, when wrath, generated by the hard and impenitent heart, is at hand? Ah! let us learn from the old heathen. Let us fly the wrath to come. Whatever the day of God’s wrath may mean, let us not venture to approach that day without due preparation. Let us feel that only he can abide the great day of His wrath in whom Christ dwells, the hope of glory. Turn to Christ; seek for His grace, power, and presence.
The fairness of the divine administration.—“For there is no respect of persons with God.” This cannot mean that God makes no difference between man and man. He does make a difference; and not one, but many. Our world is a world of differences. Heights, depths, colours—mountain, valley, rock—sea, forest, stream—sun, moon, and stars,—these are some of the material or physical differences that make our world what it is. Then in man there is race, nation, colour; gifts of body and mind; riches and poverty. Nor can this mean that He treats men at random, without reason or plan, irrespective of character. Nor does it mean that He has no fixed plan, but takes every man as he comes, allowing each to do as he pleases. These are the things on which the unbelief of the present day lays great stress, resolving every difficulty as to truth and righteousness and judgment to come by the reiteration of the text, “God is love.”
But let us consider what the apostle means by saying that God is no respecter of persons. It means two things:—
I. That God has no respect to the outward appearance or circumstances of a man in dealing with him.—God takes him for what he is, not for what he seems.
II. That in regard to justice and grace God does not follow man’s estimates at all, either outward or inward.—God has His own standard, His own way, of procedure in treating the sinner, whether for condemnation or acceptance. The usual elements which decide man’s judgment have no place in God’s.
1. God’s estimate or rule in regard to justice is that the doers of the law, the whole law, the unmodified law, shall live by it.
2. God’s estimate or rule in regard to grace is that any man, whoever he be, who will consent to be indebted to the Son of God and His work for acceptance shall be accepted. This is the way in which grace shows itself to be no respecter of persons.
The apostle’s object is to declare these three things:
1. God’s purpose of dealing with the sons of men. He is not going to let them alone, nor to allow them to have their own way.
2. God’s plan of dealing with them. He does so as God, sovereign and righteous, yet gracious.
3. His willingness to receive any.—H. Bonar.
Patient continuance.
I. A seeker.—All men are seekers more or less, for the reason that no good thing is to be obtained without seeking. Wealth must be obtained by the exercise of patience and labour. Little by little must one penny be added to another. Patience must be the reward of content, honour the end of probity. And so eternal things must be the result of toil, of search, of self-denial, a constant journey to the end. We have—
II. The method of seeking.—“Who by patient continuance.” The Christian life is not an isolated or a spasmodic effort, not an individual act. A life alternating between fervour and languor will lead nowhere. Steady, unremitted work pays best both in worldly and spiritual matters.
III. The reward to be attained.—“Eternal life.” At first sight these words seem disappointing. They represent something less than was sought. Men have sought eternal “honour” and eternal “glory.” But we are not told here that this search will be realised. The honour and glory are left out, and “eternal life” alone is mentioned as the gift of God.
The fact teaches—
1. That we are not to limit our desires in spiritual things. Aim high, hope for the most glorious idealities of life; they will all fall short of what is in store for them that love God. But it teaches—
2. That after all eternal life includes all things. The glorious gift of the Son of God shall itself possess all that is worth having. Eternal life! Shall not the most ambitious be satisfied with his immortality—with the eternal absence of all harm, and all sin, and all evil? Surely we should in our wildest dreams desire nothing more than eternal life at the footstool of God’s throne—“And it doth not yet appear.” We do not know what that eternal life shall include. And if God has given us the pledge of that, we may surely rest content.—Homilist.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_2:5-12
What is law?—The little word “law” must not be understood here after a human fashion—that it teaches which works are to be done and which are to be left undone, as is the case with the laws of men, which can be obeyed by works without the feeling of the heart. God judges according to the intent of the heart, and will not be satisfied by words, but all the more punishes as hypocrisy and lying those works which are done without the feeling of the heart. Therefore Paul says that nobody is a doer of the law by the works of the law.—Luther.
Meritorious and gratuitous.—Paul distinguishes between meritorious and gratuitous justification, the former being that which is unattainable by works of the law, the latter that which is attainable, as James says, not by faith only, but by works also (Rom_2:15). That there is a natural revelation made to the heathen is proved by Paul by three arguments:
1. By many virtuous acts performed by the heathen;
2. By the natural operation of their consciences;
3. By their reasonings with one another, by which they excused or accused one another.—Macknight.
The best for him who does the best.—These suppositions agree both with Scripture and reason:
1. All men can do all that God requires of them;
2. All who do the best they can derive help from God as far as is needful;
3. They all have Christ as their Redeemer, though He was never revealed to them. Who knows whether the lot of the savage be not better than that of the philosopher, and the lot of the slave than that of the king? But this much we know, that every one ought to be contented with that state in which his wise and good Creator has placed him, and to conclude that it will be the best for him if he makes the best use of it. Upon this supposition the divine impartiality stands fully justified.—Jortin.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Rom_2:5. Burke and Pitt.—“I have no fear for England,” said Pitt; “she will stand till the day of judgment.” “What I fear,” replied Burke, “is the day of no judgment.” So it is with us. It is the lack of judgment which makes the day of judgment so great a terror. The forgetting of the great life beyond the grave, and the consequent living as if this life were all, is due to lack of insight and shallow thinking. Eternity is disregarded because time is wasted, and so the judgment day, when all is to be accounted for, is a terrible day to think about.
Rom_2:12. The judgment day.—A clergyman once heard an infidel jestingly say, “I always spend Sunday settling my accounts.” The minister turned round and said, in accents of solemnity never to be forgotten, “You may find, sir, that the day of judgment will be spent in exactly the same manner.”
Rom_2:12. Afraid of the Bible.—A celebrated infidel once said, “There is one thing which mars all the pleasure of my life.” “Indeed,” replied his friend, “what is that?” “I am afraid the Bible is true,” was the answer. “If I could know for certain that death is an eternal sleep, I should be happy—my joy would be complete. But here is the thorn that stings me—this is the sword that pierces my very soul: if the Bible is true, I am lost for ever.” This is the Bible upon the truths of which many have lived, and in the belief of which many have died. Oh, how terribly afraid would they have been if any one had been able to show that it was untrue! For upon its truths all their hopes are built. An untrue Bible would mean an untrue Christ; and a Christless death would be a death of doom to them.
Rom_2:12. The great hereafter.—During the enlistment of soldiers for the army, a young man, though strongly urged to join the volunteers, hesitated, and finally declined. He was able-bodied and patriotic. He had always been regarded as brave. The suggestion that personal cowardice might be the reason called forth from him this frank confession: “No; it is not dying that troubles me; I could stand up and be shot for my country,—it is the hereafter.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 8, 9 5. “Pursuant to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou…
5. “Pursuant to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” The great Judgment Day will know no difference between the infidel and the sinning church member. They will all be sent down to hell together when they meet the righteous judgment of God, here contrasted with the false, pusillanimous judgments of men in the pulpit and in the pews, “who will give to each one according to his works,” not according to his profession. In that awful day every tub will stand on its own bottom. God receives no man’s face (Gal 2:6). No clerical dignities and offices there. The worldly preacher and officer will go down with all worldly people, as you know none but the church will stand, and that means the ecclesia, from ek, “out,” and kaleoo, “call.” Hence none are members of God’s church but those who have responded to the call of the Holy Ghost, come out of the world and separated themselves unto God for time and eternity.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv5–10 but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up…
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God ;
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 The righteous judgment of God:
The righteous judgment of God:
v. 5. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
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v. 6. who will render to every man according to his deeds:
v. 7. to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life;
v. 8. but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
v. 9. tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile;
v. 10. but glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.
The goodness of God, far from being an excuse for false security, rather, when abused, results in an aggravation of man’s guilt. He that persists in hardening his heart against the merciful intentions of God and deliberately keeps a heart that will not be converted, will, according to, in the proportion and measure of his obduracy and unrepentant heart, heap up for himself anger in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the justice and righteousness of God in His judgment. The Day of Judgment, whose coming is certain beyond the shadow of a doubt, will be the day of wrath for such a person, 2Co 1:14; Mat 11:22; Joh 6:39; 1Co 3:13; Heb 10:25. He adds sin upon sin, abuses the rich gifts of the divine goodness for the gratification of his fleshly lusts, fills out the hours of the time of grace with transgressions of the divine Law, and will thus finally reap the storm of God’s righteous wrath and eternal punishment.
This thought is now put at the head of another set of clauses, in which the certainty, the inevitableness, the impartiality, and the completeness of God’s righteous judgment is described. God will render, will pay, to every one without exception according to his deeds, Mat 25:31-46. The works of men will afford the evidence of the faith or unbelief of their hearts, they will be the visible exhibits of the condition of their minds. The apostle illustrates this meaning in both directions. To some God will render, in accordance with their steadfastness, their patient continuance, their life-work in doing good, glory and honor and incorruptibility, as to them that strive after eternal life. God will acknowledge their patient persistence in doing good by granting glory, by having the righteous shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Mat 13:43; honor, the distinction of reigning with Christ, 2Ti 2:12; incorruptible being and existence, an undefiled and unfading inheritance, 1Pe 1:4. Just as the believers are constantly zealous for every good work, so they also strive earnestly to be saved; and these manifestations of their faith are rewarded by the payment of God’s merciful gift, eternal life.
The apostle now pictures the opposite side. To them that are actuated by contention and partisan spirit, that are of a mean, selfish disposition, whose entire manner of living is controlled by selfishness, who therefore disobey the truth, the norm and rule for human conduct as laid down by God, and give ready obedience to unrighteousness, to the perversion and transgression of the divine truth: to these God also gives their well-earned reward, lasting indignation, which is always renewed by further anger over their unbelief and disobedience.
The apostle now makes an emphatic restatement of the double payment which the Lord dispenses, in reverse order. Tribulation or affliction from without, anguish or inward distress, the torture of an evil conscience, will come upon every soul of a person that performs, that deliberately and delightedly works, evil, upon every single person, of the Jew first, in accordance with the advantages which his nation enjoyed, but of the Greek as well. But glory and honor and peace, full, complete well-being, perfect happiness, will be the lot of him, of every person, that does that which is good, his inclination not being so active toward the evil as toward the good; and here also both the Jew and the Greek are included, for the reward of God is general. St. Paul here tells what will happen on the great Day of Judgment, just as the Lord gives information concerning the events of that day in other passages, Mat 16:27; Joh 5:29; 2Co 5:10; Gal 6:7-9; Eph 6:8; Col 3:24; Rev 2:23; Rev 20:12. The position and relation of every person toward Christ is shown by his works, and therefore reference will be made to them on the last day. By rewarding the good works of the believers with the gracious gift of eternal life, the Lord merely crowns His own work in them with His full acknowledgment in the presence of the whole world. Only by faith in the Savior are good works possible, and faith itself is a gift of God; and therefore the Last Judgment will be a glorious proof of the fact that salvation comes to men "all of grace."
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 8, 10 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul continues to remind the people that all people are wicked.
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But it is to the extent of your hardness and unrepentant heart
Paul uses a metaphor to compare a person who refuses to obey God to something hard, like a stone. He also uses the metonym "heart" to represent the person's mind or inner being. AT: "It is because you refuse to listen and repent" (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
hardness and unrepentant heart
This is a doublet that you can combine as "unrepentant heart." (See: Doublet)
you are storing up for yourself wrath
The phrase "storing up" implies a metaphor that usually refers to a person gathering his treasures and putting them in a safe place. Paul says, instead of treasures, that the person is gathering God's punishment. The longer they go without repenting, the more severe the punishment. AT: "you are making your punishment worse" (See: Metaphor)
on the day of wrath ... the day of the revelation of God's righteous judgment
Both of these phrases refer to the same day. AT: "when God shows everyone that he is angry and that he judges all people fairly" (See: Doublet)
pay back
"give a fair reward or punishment"
to every person according to his actions
"each person according to what that person has done"
have sought
This means that they act in a way that will lead to a positive decision from God on judgment day.
praise, honor, and incorruptibility
They want God to praise and honor them, and they want to never die.
incorruptibility
This refers to physical, not moral, decay.
translationWords
hard
repent
heart
wrath
reveal
righteous
judge
good
praise
honor
eternity
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6–8 2:6-11 Paul uses a chiasm (“X” arrangement) to make…
2:6-11 Paul uses a chiasm (“X” arrangement) to make his point:
A God judges everyone the same (2:6)
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B Life is the reward for doing good (2:7)
C Wrath is the penalty for evil (2:8)
C′ Wrath for doing evil (2:9)
B′ Life for doing good (2:10)
A′ God shows no favoritism (2:11)
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.