Romanos 2
Ambrosiaster · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Romanos 2:1
Paul shows that the man who does evil and consents to others who do it is deserving of death, lest perhaps the one who does it and pretends not to approve of others who do it … might think he can be excused, because he can conceal his sin for a time.… It is not right to give in to someone who pretends to be better when in fact he is worse. Such a person appears to escape notice and to be worthy of honor, but in fact he will be punished. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:2
This means that we are not unaware that God will judge these people in truth, for we judge them ourselves. If what they do is displeasing to us, how much more will it be so to God, who is truly just and efficient in carrying out his work.… Paul is instilling fear, so that although the ungodly say that God does not care, in fact he will judge the wicked and most severely render to each one according to his deserts, not sparing any. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:3
Paul does not want them to hope that they can be pardoned, since that would be unjust, when they have been given the ability to judge evil and wrongdoing and to avoid it. If they cannot manage to avoid it in this life, they will not be able to escape the judgment of God in the future. For God, with whom there is neither flattery nor respect of persons, will judge them on his own authority.If someone thinks he ought to be immune from such punishment, let him say so. But if it is right that he should not escape, let him trust that God will judge and judge rightly, and that God, the Creator of the world, will offer proper attention and care to his creation. If God had made the world and then neglected it, he would be called a bad Creator, because he would be demonstrating by his neglect that what he had made was not good. But since it cannot be denied that God made good things—for it is unworthy and impossible for one who is good to make evil things—it is necessary to say that he is concerned about them. It would be a crime and a reproach to him if he were to neglect the good things which he had made. Life itself is governed by his servants the natural elements, who act according to his pleasure and plan, as the Lord himself says: "he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." Therefore, if he does all that, will he not take care to look after what he has made, so as to reward those who love him and condemn those who reject him? — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:4
Paul says this so that no one should think that he has escaped, just because God's goodness has allowed him to go on sinning. Nor should anyone think that God's patience is to be despised, as if he did not care about human affairs, but rather understand that God conceals himself, because his judgment is not promised in this life. It is for the future, so that in the next life the man who did not believe that God is a judge will repent. For in order to reveal the terror of future judgment and that his patience should not be despised, God said: "I have been silent. But shall I be silent for ever?" Thus the man who has been punished and has not repented will repent when he sees the future judgment of God, which he has spurned. Then he who thought that the longsuffering of God's goodness was something to laugh at will not hesitate to beg for mercy. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:5
The one who hopes he can get away with his sins not only remains unconvertible and intractable but in addition sins more seriously still, sure that there will be no future judgment. He has an impenitent heart, unaware that he is storing up wrath for himself on the day of wrath. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:6
Such a person must be punished more severely, even to the point of being tortured in eternal fire, because despite a long stay of execution, not only did he not want to change, but he increased his sinning, adding to his contempt for God. The day of wrath is for sinners, because it is the day on which they will be punished. Therefore the wrath is on those who receive punishment on the day when the just judgment of God is revealed. For it will be revealed and made known, even though it continues to be denied as long as it is in the future. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:7
Now Paul predicts the just judgment of God, as he has declared it will be for the good; that is to say, for those who, recognizing that the patience of God is designed partly for concealment and partly for greater revenge on those who do not correct themselves, repent of their previous works and live rightly, armed with confidence in their faith in God that they will not have to wait long before receiving their promised reward of eternal life. For God will give them glory and honor. And to avoid invidious comparisons with this life, where there is another kind of glory and honor, Paul added "immortality," so that people would realize that the glory and honor which they will obtain will be of a different order altogether.… For in this life honor and glory are frequently lost, for the one who gives them, what he gives and the one who receives them are all mortal. But on the day of God's judgment honor and glory will be given to the immortal so that they will be eternal. For this same substance will be glorified by a certain change of properties. Therefore, those who seek eternal life are not merely those who believe correctly but those who live correctly as well. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:8
Those who doubt that there will be a future judgment of God through Christ, and who for that reason despise his patience, do all they can to discredit it as being true and certain. For they believe in wickedness. It is wickedness to deny what God has foretold. Paul mentions three things which are fitting punishments for unbelief—wrath, fury and tribulation. The locus of wrath is not in the one who judges but in the one who is judged. God is said to get angry and to take vengeance, but in reality the nature of God transcends such passions. But this is said so that we should believe that God judges sin and that he will finally take revenge. So Paul adds "and fury." This means that God will seek vengeance, adding to his anger in response to the injury which has been done to him. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:9
"Tribulation" refers to the punishment which the condemned sinner will suffer. Evil is not just a matter of deeds but of unbelief as well.… Paul always puts the Jew first, whether he is to be praised or blamed, because of his privileged ancestry. If he believes he will be all the more honored because of Abraham, but if he doubts he will be treated all the worse, because he has rejected the gift promised to his forefathers. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:10
Just as Paul mentioned three woes for unbelievers, so now he mentions three benefits for believers: genuine honor as sons of God, unchanging glory and peace. Those who live rightly may be quiet in the future, undisturbed by any commotion. For everyone who keeps himself from wrongdoing has a judge who will be favorable to him. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:11
Paul shows that neither Jews nor Greeks will be rejected by God if they believe in Christ, but that both are justified by faith. Likewise, he says that those who do not believe are equally guilty, since circumcision without faith is worthless but uncircumcision with faith is acceptable. For God does not stick to any privilege of race, so as to accept unbelief on account of ancestors and reject believers because of the unworthiness of their parents. Rather he rewards or condemns each one on his own merits. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:12
How can someone sin without the law, when Paul says that everyone is subject to the law of nature? By "law" he means the law of Moses, to which the Jews are bound although they do not believe. The Gentiles are also under the judgment of the natural law, but only insofar as they have chosen not to attach themselves to it. Thus the Gentile unbelievers are doubly in trouble, because they have neither assented to the law given through Moses, nor have they received the grace of Christ. Therefore it is quite right that they should perish. So just as the person who sins without the law will perish, so also the one who has kept the law without knowing it will be justified. For the keeper of the law maintains his righteousness by nature. For if the law is given not for the righteous but for the unrighteous, whoever does not sin is a friend of the law. For him faith alone is the way by which he is made perfect. For others mere avoidance of evil will not gain them any advantage with God unless they also believe in God, so that they may be righteous on both counts. For the one righteousness is temporal; the other is eternal.The Gentiles even if they keep the natural law will perish if they do not accept the faith of Christ. For it is a greater thing to confess faith in the one Lord, since God is one, than it is to avoid sinning (for the first of these has to do with God, the second with us). The Jews who live under the law will be accused and judged by the law, insofar as they have not accepted the Christ promised to them in the law. And if you wonder about this, the fate of the Jews will be worse than that of the Gentiles, for it is worse to lose what was promised than not to receive what was not hoped for in the first place. The unbelieving Gentile has not entered the kingdom of God, but the unbelieving Jew has been removed from it. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:13
Paul says this because those who hear the law are not justified unless they believe in Christ, whom the law itself has promised. This is what it means to keep the law. For how does someone who does not believe the law keep it, when he does not receive the One to whom the law bears witness? But the one who appears not to be under the law because he is uncircumcised in his flesh, if he believes in Christ, may be said to have kept the law. And he who says he is in the law, i.e., the Jew, because what is said in the law does not penetrate to his mind, is not a doer of the law but a hearer only, for he does not believe in the Christ who is written about in the law, as Philip said to Nathanael: "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote." — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:14
Paul calls the Gentiles Christians because he is the teacher of the Gentiles, as he says elsewhere: "For I speak to you Gentiles." These people are uncircumcised and do not keep new moons or the sabbath or the law of foods, yet under the guidance of nature they believe in God and in Christ, i.e., in the Father and the Son. To keep the law is to acknowledge the God who gives the law. This is the first part of wisdom: to stand in awe of God the Father, from whom all things come, and the Lord Jesus his Son, through whom all things come. Therefore nature itself acknowledges its Creator by its own judgment, not by the law but by reason, for the creature recognizes its Maker in itself. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:15
The meaning here is that those who believe under the guidance of nature do the work of the law not through the letter but through their conscience. For the work of the law is faith, which, although it is fully revealed in the Word of God, also shows itself to be a law for the natural judgment. Faith goes beyond what the law commands. Faith trusts in Christ. These people believe because of the inner witness of their conscience, because they know in their conscience that what they believe is right. It is not disjunctive for the creature to believe and worship his Creator, nor is it absurd for the servant to recognize his Lord.Unbelieving Gentiles will be judged first of all by other believing Gentiles, just as the Lord said that his disciples would judge the unbelieving Jews: "They themselves will be your judges." The unbelief of the Jews will be judged by the faith of the apostles who, although Jews themselves, believed in Christ while the rest of their people rejected him. Similarly the Gentiles will be accused by their own thoughts if, touched by the faith and power of the Creator, they refuse to believe. But if because of some foolishness a man does not think to believe the words or deeds of the Lord, his conscience will defend him on the day of judgment, because he did not think that he was obliged to believe. He will be judged not as an intentional malefactor but as one who was merely ignorant.… It is Christians to whom Paul is referring when he speaks of accusing and excusing on the day of judgment. Those who differ from the true church, either because they think differently about Christ or because they disagree about the meaning of the Bible in the tradition of the church (e.g., Montanists, Novatianists, Donatists and other heretics) will be accused by their own thoughts on the day of judgment. Likewise one who recognizes that the Christian faith is true but refuses to follow it so as not to appear that he has been corrected and who is ashamed to depart from what he has so long held will be accused by his own thoughts on the day of judgment. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:16
There are two thoughughts inside a man which will accuse each other—the good and the evil. The good accuses the evil because it has denied the truth. The evil accuses the good because it has not done what it knows to be right. One who knows that the church is good and true but persists in heresy or schism will be judged guilty. Other thoughts will excuse, insofar as one has done what is expedient to do. He will say inwardly: "In my mind I have always thought it expedient to do what I have done. This was my faith." He will have a better case, even though he will still have to be corrected, because his conscience will not accuse him on the day of judgment. This is how the secret things of men will be judged by Jesus Christ our Lord on the day of judgment. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:17
They are called Jews because it was their ancestral right to be called Israelites. Nevertheless, if we wish to understand everything which is relevant to the case, we must note that the name Jew had three different meanings. First, it meant the children of Abraham, who because of his faith was made the father of many nations. Then it refers to Jacob, who because of his increasing faith was called Israel, for the dignity which began with the father was honored in the sons. Third, they are called Jews not so much because of Judah as because of Christ, who was born of Judah according to the flesh, since in Judah it was made known that he would be in Christ. For it is said: "Judah will be your master," and: "Judah, your brothers praise you." This praise was given not to Judah as such but to Christ, whom nowadays all those whom he deigns to call his brethren praise.… The Jews themselves do not understand the meaning of their name and claim that it refers to the human Judah. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:18
It is hardly surprising that a Jew should believe, since he has been taught to do so by the law. It is indeed dangerous for him not to believe if he has the law as his guide. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:20
These things are true, because this is the task of the law: to teach the ignorant, to subject the wicked to God, to provoke those who by the worship of idols are ungodly to trust in a better hope by the promise which is given through the law. The teacher of the law is right to glory in these things, because he is teaching the form of truth. But if the teacher does not accept the Expected One whom the law has promised, he glories in vain in the law, to which he is doing harm as long as he rejects the Christ who is promised in the law. In that case he is no more learned than the fools, nor is he a teacher of children, nor is he a light to those who are in the darkness, but rather he is leading all of these into perdition. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:21
This means: "You who complain about the Gentiles because they are without the law and God are accusing yourself, because you do not believe in the Christ promised by the law but find this belief in those you are complaining about." The Jew does what he preaches should not be done. For by denying the Christ promised to us in the law, he removes faith by false interpretation and thus does what he preaches against. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:22
The Jew adulterates the law by removing the truth of Christ from it and putting lies in his place. In another of his epistles Paul writes: "They are adulterers of God's Word." A man is sacrilegious when he denies Christ, whom the law and the prophets call God. Did the Jews ever say, "Thou art God and we did not know it" of God the Father, when the entire law proclaims the authority of God the Father, by whom all things are made? But when the Son of God appeared, what he was was hidden and not revealed until after the resurrection. It was then that it was said of him: "Thou art God and we did not know it." — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:23
The breaker of the law is the one who overlooks the meaning of the law, which speaks of the incarnation and divinity of Christ, and dishonors God by not accepting the testimony which he gave concerning his Son. For the Father said: "This is my beloved Son." — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:24
Isaiah the prophet said this because God's name was being blasphemed among the Gentiles when the Jews, by their misdeeds, did not observe the things which were handed down to them but instead gave glory to idols.… So also at the time of the apostles, God's name was being blasphemed in Christ, because the Jews, by denying that Christ was God, were blaspheming the Father also, as the Lord said: "Whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me." Therefore God was blasphemed among the Gentiles because when they believed in Christ the Jews tried to persuade them not to call Christ "God." — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:25
An opponent might say: "If circumcision is of value, why was it stopped?" It is only of value if you keep the law. Circumcision may be retained therefore, but if it is to be of any value the law must be observed. So why did Paul prohibit what he shows to be of value if the law is observed?Paul answers by saying that if the law is not kept, the Jew effectively becomes a Gentile.… But to keep the law is to believe in Christ, who was promised to Abraham. Those who are justified by faith have their own merit and are included in the honor shown to the patriarchs. For every mention of salvation in the law refers to Christ. Therefore the man who believes in Christ is the man who keeps the law. But if he does not believe then he is a transgressor of the law because he has not accepted Christ … and it is no advantage for him to be called a son of Abraham. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:26
Faith in Christ is the righteousness of the law.… From this it is clear that if a Gentile believes in Christ he becomes a son of Abraham, who is the father of faith. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:27
The Gentile who believes under the guidance of nature condemns the Jew, to whom Christ was promised through the law and who refused to believe in him when he came. For as much as the Gentile is being prepared for glory for having known the Creator of nature by nature alone, so the Jew deserves to be punished all the more because he did not know Christ the Creator, either by nature or by the law. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES
Romanos 2:29
It is clear why Paul denies that the circumcision of the flesh has any merit with God. For Abraham was not justified because he was circumcised; rather, he was justified because he believed, and afterward he was circumcised. It is the circumcision of the heart which is praiseworthy before God. To circumcise the heart means to cut out error and recognize the Creator. And because the circumcision of the heart was to come in the future, first Moses said: "Circumcise the hardness of your heart," and Jeremiah also: "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart." He said this to Jews who were following idols. For there is a veil over the heart which the one who is converted to God circumcises, because faith removes the cloud of error and grants those who are perfect knowledge of God in the mystery of the Trinity, which was unknown in earlier times. The praise of this circumcision is from God but is hidden to men, for it is the merit of the heart which God looks for, not that of the flesh. But the praise of the Jews is from men, for they glory in the circumcision of the flesh, which comes from their ancestors. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES