Romans 2:7

2:1-16 The Jews thought themselves a holy people, entitled to their privileges by right, while they were unthankful, rebellious, and unrighteous. But all who act thus, of every nation, age, and description, must be reminded that the judgment of God will be according to their real character. The case is so plain, that we may appeal to the sinner's own thoughts. In every wilful sin, there is contempt of the goodness of God. And though the branches of man's disobedience are very various, all spring from the same root. But in true repentance, there must be hatred of former sinfulness, from a change wrought in the state of the mind, which disposes it to choose the good and to refuse the evil. It shows also a sense of inward wretchedness. Such is the great change wrought in repentance, it is conversion, and is needed by every human being. The ruin of sinners is their walking after a hard and impenitent heart. Their sinful doings are expressed by the strong words, treasuring up wrath. In the description of the just man, notice the full demand of the law. It demands that the motives shall be pure, and rejects all actions from earthly ambition or ends. In the description of the unrighteous, contention is held forth as the principle of all evil. The human will is in a state of enmity against God. Even Gentiles, who had not the written law, had that within, which directed them what to do by the light of nature. Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness. As they nature

. Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness. As they kept or broke these natural laws and dictates, their consciences either acquitted or condemned them. Nothing speaks more terror to sinners, and more comfort to saints, than that Christ shall be the Judge. Secret services shall be rewarded, secret sins shall be then punished, and brought to light.

To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for {d} glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: (d) Glory which follows good works, which he does not lay out before us as though there were any that could attain to salvation by his own strength, but, he lays this condition of salvation before us, which no man can perform, to bring men to Christ, who alone justifies the believers, as he himself concludes; see Ro 2:21-22.

What he had laid down in general, he amplifies more particularly. Patient continuance; or perseverance in well doing, which implies patience: see Matthew 10:22 24:13 Hebrews 10:36 . Immortality; or incorruption: he adds this to show, that the glory and honour he speaks of was not such as the Gentiles usually sought, who made worldly glory the scope of their actions; but it was eternal in the heavens, and such as never fades away. Eternal life; i.e. God will render eternal life to such: the word render must be supplied out of the former verse.

(7) To them who. —Before the words “eternal life,” at the end of the verse, we must supply “He will render.” The phrase “glory, and honour, and immortality” is practically equivalent to “eternal life.” “Those who honestly seek for this life shall find it.” The stress is upon the words “by patient continuance in well doing,” From the point of view of rhetoric, no doubt exception might be taken to the tautology; but St. Paul was far too much in earnest to attend carefully to the laws of rhetoric, and it is just this spontaneity which is in great part the secret of his power. Patient continuance.—A single word in the Greek, but rightly translated in the Authorised version, by (according to, by the rule of) patience (persistence or perseverance) in well doing (literally, in good work). In English we should naturally say, “in good works,” but the Greek, here as frequently, by the use of the singular and by the absence of the article, puts the abstract for the concrete, so covering every particular case.

Romans 2:7 . καθʼ ὑπομονὴν ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ : cf. the collective ἔργον —“life-work”: S. and H.—in Romans 2:15 : “by way of stedfastness in well-doing”. δόξαν = the glory of the future life, as revealed in the Risen Saviour. τιμήν = honour with God. ἀφθαρσίαν “proves that the goal of effort is nothing earthly” (Lipsius). ζωὴ αἰώνιος comprehends all these three: as its counterpart, θάνατος in Rom 2:32, involves the loss of all. ζωὴν is governed by ἀποδώσει .

7-10. To them who, &c.—The substance of these verses is that the final judgment will turn upon character alone. by patient continuance in well-doing, &c.—Compare Lu 8:15: "That on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience"; denoting the enduring and progressive character of the new life.

Verses 7-9. - To them who by patient continuance in well-doing (literally, good work , ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ , with reference to ἔργα preceding) seek for glory and honour and immortality (literally, incorruption , ἀφθαρσίαν ) , eternal life. But unto them which are contentious (so Authorized Version; in Revised Version, factious. As to true meaning, see below), and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth (rather, worketh , ἐργαζομένῳ , with reference again to ἔργα in ver. 6) evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile (literally, Greek ). The expression, τοῖς ἐξ ἐριθείας , is rendered in the Authorized Version "them which are contentious," ἐριθεία being translated "contention" also in 2 Corinthians 12:20 ; Galatians 5:20 ; Philippians 1:16 ; Philippians 2:3 ; James 3:14, 16 . So, too, the Vulgate, qui sunt ex contentione ; and similarly Origen, Chrysostom, OEcumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Luther, Beza, Calvin, etc. This, however, is not the classical sense of the word, which is not connected with ἕρις ("strife"), but with ἔριθος , which means originally a day labourer, or a worker for hire, being so used in Homer. Hence ἐριθεία meant (1) labour for wages, and came to mean (2) canvassing or intriguing for office, and (3) faction, or party-spirit (cf. Arist., 'Pol.,' 5. 2, 6; 3, 9).

Notwithstanding the weight of ancient authority for its bearing the sense of "contention" in the New Testament, that of "faction" seems more likely and suitable in the passages where it occurs; and certainly so here, the idea seeming to be that the persons spoken of factiously renounced their allegiance to "the truth," obeying ἀδικία instead. We observe how expressions are here heaped up, significant of the Divine indignation against high-handed sin, unrepented and unatoned for, of which the apostle, in very virtue of his view of the eternal δικαιοσύνη , had an awful sense (see above on Romans 1:18; and cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:8 , etc.; and also Hebrews 10:27 ; Hebrews 12:29 ). Still, neither this verse nor ver. 5 is of necessity inconsistent with other well-known passages, where St. Paul seems to contemplate God's reconciliation in the end of all things to himself in Christ (see Romans 5:15 , et seq. ; 1 Corinthians 15:24-29 ; Ephesians 1:9, 10, 22, 23 ; Colossians 1:20 ). The "indignation and wrath" spoken of in the passages before us (being, as was said under Romans 1:18, inseparable from a full conception of the eternal righteousness) may still be conceived as having a corrective as well as a punitive purpose. Nor is the doctrine which has been called that of "eternal hope" of necessity precluded by statements which imply no more than that sin, unrepented and unatoned for, must inevitably undergo its doom in the unknown regions of eternity.

Romans 2:7 . Τοῖς ) sc. οὖσι ; comp. the following verse; for κατὰ (see Acts 25:23 ,) is employed here nearly in the same sense as ἐξ , next verse; save that ἐξ implies a something natural to the sinner; κατὰ , a something supervenient [not natural, but super-induced ]. You will see the difference, if you interchange the particles with one another: ἐξ ὑπομονῆς κτλ . In this view, τοῖς and ζητοῦσι stand in apposition, the conjunction being omitted by the figure asyndeton.[26]— ὑπομονὴν ἔργου , patience in work ) so the patience of hope, 1 Thessalonians 1:3 ; ὑπομονὴ , patience , includes, in this passage, obedience, steadiness, and that, too, with submission.— ἔργου , in work . There is great force in the singular number here ( well-doing .—Engl. Vers.; the good work is referred to, of which), Php 1:6 ; Revelation 22:12 .— δόξαν , glory ) The construction is, τοῖς δόξαν κτλ ζητοῦσιν ( ἀποδώσει ) ζωήν , to those who seek for glory, etc . ( he will render ) life . Pure love does not exclude faith, hope, desire, 1 Corinthians 15:58 .— ζητοῦσι , to them that seek ) Whereas thou, O Jew, thinkest, that thou hast no need of any seeking [ Industry is requisite .—V. g.] [26] Beng. construes it “to them who are animated by ( κατά ) patient continuance in well-doing, even those who seek glory, etc.—ED.]