ACC ~ Romans 2 v5 - 11

OVERVIEW:

Sinners have turned away from God, and therefore they have brought punishment on themselves. The wrath of God is not an active force directed against the innocent but a permissive retribution aimed solely at the guilty, who deserve it. Sinners are storing up God’s judgment on themselves and will get everything they deserve. The righteous will have their reward, which will be far greater than any human comparison could suggest. The wicked will also have their reward, which is the logical and just outcome of their actions. Evil will be meted out proportionately. Believing Jews will get their reward ahead of the Gentiles because they were chosen first. But the Fathers disagreed about the identity of the Jews in verse 9: Was Paul referring to those who believed after the coming of Christ or only to those who hoped for his coming in the Old Testament? To some the latter seemed more logical, since the distinction between Jew and Greek had been abolished in Christ. God does not judge people because of who they are but because of what they do. For this reason Jews and Gentiles will be treated equally.

2:5 | Impenitence Heaps Up Judgment

HEAPING UP JUDGMENT. IRENAEUS: Those who depart from God and despise his precepts, and by their deeds bring dishonor on him who made them, and by their opinions blaspheme him who nourishes them, heap up against themselves most righteous judgment. AGAINST HERESIES 4.33.15.

HARDNESS OF HEART. ORIGEN: In the Scriptures a hard heart refers to a human mind which, like wax hardened by the cold of wickedness, cannot receive the imprint of God’s image. The same thing is called a dull heart elsewhere. Its opposite is a soft heart, which in the Scriptures is called a heart of flesh. … When someone knows what is good and does not do it, he is said to be contemptuous of all good things because of the hardness of his heart. For hardness of heart occurs when the mind has no feeling for a refined and spiritual understanding. . . .

The day of wrath will be a day of vengeance and judgment, as is clear from many passages of Scripture. But note that it will also be a day of revelation, when all things are to be revealed. … Some people want to know why this day has been fixed for the end of the world, so that everyone who has died from the beginning to the end of time is held over for judgment on the last day. It is certain that the real reasons for this are concealed in the secret mysteries of God, but we shall try to give some explanation for it insofar as it is possible to do so in writing. There are many who, when they leave this life, leave behind them seeds of good or evil that will sprout after their deaths and become occasions either for salvation or for damnation for those who are left behind. I would say, for instance, that this applies to all those philosophers who founded depraved sects which are far from God, or who set up magical sacrileges, or who practiced astrology, not to mention those among us who promoted heresies and false teachings by the books they wrote, or who have brought about divisions, scandals and dissensions in the church. On the other side there is the work of the apostolic writings and the emergence through them of the universal church, conversion to God and the transformation of the entire world. These things will go on to the end of time, and therefore the judgment of God will not be just until the final results are known. This is what the apostle means when he says: “The sins of some men are conspicuous, pointing to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.”

It may also be that the saints who are outside the body and who dwell with Christ may be doing something and working on our behalf after the example of the angels, who minister to us for our salvation. On the other hand, perhaps sinners who too have left the body are doing something in line with the disposition of their mind, and no less after the example of the fallen angels. … These things too are among the hidden things of God and have not been committed to writing. But they will be made known on the day of wrath and revelation.

Now let us consider what is meant by the just judgment of God, in which he will reward each one according to his works. First of all, we must reject the heretics who say that souls are good or evil by nature and maintain instead that God will reward each one according to his deeds and not according to his nature. Second, believers are to be instructed not to think that it is enough merely to believe [lacking fruit]; they ought to realize that the just judgment of God will reward each one according to his works. … Nor are Gentiles to be excluded from this, if they do good. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

CHRIST WILL JUDGE. MARIUS VICTORINUS: Without doubt this is said of Christ, for he himself will judge. AGAINST ARIUS 1A.17.

STORING WRATH. SEVERIAN: When talking about the way they were “storing up” an accumulation of sins, Paul showed that there would also be a greater store of punishment, as a result of the patient endurance of the judge toward those who were suffering so incurably. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

UNAWARE OF FUTURE WRATH. AMBROSIASTER: 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.

FOR YOURSELF. CHRYSOSTOM: When a man is neither softened by goodness nor turned back by fear, what can be harder than he is? … The true originator of wrath is the one who has stored it up, not the one who judged, as Paul makes plain. For he says “you are storing up wrath for yourself,” not “God is storing up wrath for you.” HOMILIES ON ROMANS 5.

HARDNESS RESULTS IN WRATH. GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: God’s patience toward you gives you the opportunity for every kind of wickedness. Realize clearly therefore that you are storing up wrath for yourself because of your hardness. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

CONVERSION TO CHRIST. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Before the revelation of God’s righteous judgment comes to you, that day says to everyone: “Behold the man and behold his works.” We must be converted to Christ all the more quickly therefore, lest we be deprived of our body by a hard heart and found naked, without the faith of Christ which was promised to us by the Law and the Prophets. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

WRATH MEANS PUNISHMENT. AUGUSTINE: Whenever Paul talks about the wrath of God he understands it to mean punishment. AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 9.

REFUSING MERCY. PELAGIUS: Unaware that you are sick, you use the very cure in order to sustain even greater wounds. … Rejected kindness leads in the end to severer judgment, so that the man who refused to be touched by mercy is afflicted with punishment. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

CONCEALING WOUNDS. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: If a person sins once or even twice and then without excuses has recourse to the healing of penance, he will recover his former good condition without any delay. But if he begins to add sin upon sin and prefers to acquire an infection by concealing or defending the wounds of his soul rather than cure them by confession and the performance of penance, it is to be feared that these words of the apostle will be fulfilled in him. SERMON 65.1.

2:6 | Judgment According to Works

THE COMING OF THE JUDGE. IGNATIUS: Christ died and rose again, and ascended into heaven to him who sent him, and sat down at his right hand, and will come at the end of time with his Father’s glory to judge the living and the dead. EPISTLE TO THE MAGNESIANS 11.

JUST JUDGMENT REVEALED. AMBROSIASTER: 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.

APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: The Savior says the same thing: “He (the Son) will repay every man for what he has done.” Therefore, whatever is said to belong to God also appears to belong to the Son, which shows that they share a common nature. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

PELAGIUS: You are storing up for yourself wrath upon wrath on the day of judgment, which will be revealed at a fixed and certain time. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

2:7 | Eternal Rewards

GLORY AND HONOR. IRENAEUS: God has given that which is good, and those who do it will receive glory and honor because they have done good when they had it in their power not to do so. But those who do not do it will receive the just judgment of God, because they did not do good when they had it in their power to do so. AGAINST HERESIES 4.37.1.

PATIENCE IN DOING GOOD. ORIGEN: In saying this, Paul indicates that those who desire to do good will have to struggle and will suffer for it. … Therefore patience is necessary. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

AND IMMORTALITY. AMBROSIASTER: 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.

ETERNAL REWARDS TRANSCEND ALL WE HAVE BELOW. CHRYSOSTOM: Here Paul stirs up those who had fallen away during the persecutions and shows that it is not right to trust in faith only. For God’s tribunal will demand deeds as well. But note that when he talks about what is to come, he cannot say exactly what the blessings will be but talks in general terms of glory and honor. For because the rewards transcend everything which we have here below, there is no image he can use to illustrate them, but instead he takes things which give us a picture of brightness and sets them before us. … Glory, honor and life are things men strive for, but what God promises us are much better still because they are incorruptible and immortal. See how he has opened the door to the resurrection of our body by speaking of immortality. … For all of us will rise immortal but not all to glory. Some will rise to punishment and others to life. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 5.

PATIENCE IN WELL-DOING. PELAGIUS: The reward for well-doing is awaited with patience because it is not given in this life. The glory is that with which the saints will shine like the sun. Nothing is greater than the honor of the children of God, on account of which they will judge even the angels. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THE REWARD IS ETERNAL. THEODORET OF CYR: Well-doing is for a time, but the reward is eternal. Moreover, eternity applies not only to life but to honor, glory and immortality as well. Paul wanted to show that there are many rewards for those who are good. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

2:8 | Unrighteousness Brings Judgment

OBEDIENCE TO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH: To the unbelieving and despisers who obey not the truth but unrighteousness, when they have been filled with adulteries, and fornications and filthiness, and covetousness and unlawful idolatries, there shall be anger and wrath, tribulation and anguish, and at the last everlasting fire shall possess them. You asked me to show you my God—this is my God, and I advise you to fear and trust him. TO AUTOLYCUS 1.14.

WRATH, FURY AND TRIBULATION. AMBROSIASTER: 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.

WICKEDNESS IS VOLUNTARY. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul deprives those who live in wickedness of any excuse and shows that it is from factiousness and carelessness that they fall into unrighteousness. … Their fall is voluntary; their crime is not of necessity. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 5.

THE MEANING OF “FACTIOUS.” PELAGIUS: Those who are frequently overcome by hatred and fall into quarreling should be careful and afraid of persisting in so harmful a habit, in case the punishments mentioned are visited upon them. It has already been pointed out that a man is factious when he tries to defend something against his conscience. Such people do not believe the truth of the gospel and approve of wickedness. They have abandoned the Creator and diligently serve the creature instead. “Wrath and fury” are the punishments that God’s judgment brings. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

2:9 | Tribulation for the Evil

TRIBULATION AND DISTRESS. ORIGEN: It is enough for anyone who simply accepts this to interpret it along the lines already mentioned, viz., that God will reward everyone according to his works. … But those who think that in the apostolic writings, through which Christ speaks, not one jot or tittle is superfluous will insist that it was not by accident that the apostle added “tribulation and distress” to what he had said earlier. From this a spiritually minded person will understand what the Holy Spirit is saying through Paul … that those who from a spirit of contention refuse to accept the truth but instead consort with wickedness will receive wrath and indignation, tribulation and distress, not as God’s gift but as a consequence of their own evil deeds, because they have been storing these things up for themselves. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

EVIL A MATTER OF UNBELIEF. AMBROSIASTER: “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.

THE JEW FIRST. CHRYSOSTOM: Having shown the extreme seriousness of the disease … Paul goes on to give the Jew the greater burden in the tribulation. For the Jew has enjoyed a larger share of instruction and so also deserves to suffer a larger share of the punishment if he does wrong. The wiser or mightier we are, the more we will be punished if we sin. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 5.

THE MEANING OF SOUL. PELAGIUS: The apostle threatens the soul with punishment because of heretics who say that only the flesh does wrong and that the soul cannot sin. Or perhaps “soul” refers to the whole man. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

THOSE WHO LIVED BEFORE THE INCARNATION. THEODORET OF CYR: Here Paul uses the word Greek to refer not to Gentile believers but to those who lived before Christ’s incarnation. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

2:10 | Glory and Honor for Those Who Do Good

BELIEVER, JEW AND GENTILE. ORIGEN: Given that Paul puts the Jews first and the Greeks second, both for punishment and for reward, we have to ask who is meant by these terms. If he meant by Jews those who are still under the law and who have not come to Christ, and by Greeks those who are Christians from among the Gentiles, it is clear that he would be going completely against the meaning of the gospel.

It seems to me that the apostle has distinguished three types of people in this passage. First of all, he talks about those who are looking for glory and honor and immortality by patience in well-doing, whom God will reward with eternal life. Patience in well-doing is something which is certainly to be found in those who have endured suffering and struggle for the sake of godliness, and therefore, as we have already explained above, this must be said about Christians, among whom the martyrs are found.

But as I understand it, when Paul mentions Jews and Greeks he is talking about people who in neither case have become believers in Christ. It may happen that among those who are still under the law there will be someone who, because of pressure from his family and friends, has not believed in Christ but nevertheless does what is good, upholds righteousness, loves mercy, preserves chastity and continence, guards modesty and meekness, and does every good work. Although this person does not have eternal life—because despite the fact that he believes that there is only one true God he has not believed in his Son Jesus Christ, whom God has sent—nevertheless it may be that the glory of his works and the peace and honor which they bring may not perish.

But the Greek, that is the Gentile, if he does not have the law, is a law to himself, showing the work of the law in his heart, and motivated by natural reason, as we see that quite a few Gentiles are, either because they uphold righteousness or preserve chastity or maintain prudence, temperance and modesty. Although such a man is cut off from eternal life because he has not believed in Christ, and cannot enter the kingdom of heaven because he has not been born again of water and the Spirit, yet it appears from what the apostle says that he cannot entirely lose the glory, honor and peace of good works. For if it appears, according to what we discussed above, that the apostle condemned the Gentiles on the ground that although they knew God by their natural intelligence they did not glorify him as God, how can we not think that he can and must praise them if they recognize God by their behavior and glorify him? Therefore I do not think it can be doubted that someone who deserves to be condemned because of his evil deeds will also be considered worthy of the reward of good works if he does something good. Consider what the apostle says: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

RIGHTLY RECOGNIZING THE JEWS. APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: Paul is right to put the Jew first here and then the Greek. For those who are closer to the Lord and to his rebukes are honored above others, and they enjoy their rewards more than others. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

THREE WOES FOR UNBELIEVERS, THREE BENEFITS FOR BELIEVERS. AMBROSIASTER: 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.

BEFORE CHRIST’S COMING. CHRYSOSTOM: Which Jews and Greeks is Paul talking about here? Those before Christ’s coming! For he has not yet gotten to the time of grace in the development of his argument but is still dwelling on earlier times. … For if there was no difference before, … how can there be any now? This is why he puts so much emphasis on this point.

When referring here to Greeks, Paul does not mean those who worshiped idols but those who adored God, who obeyed the law of nature, who kept all the commandments without fail apart from the Jewish observances, which contribute toward godliness. Melchizedek was one of these people, and so were Job, the Ninevites and Cornelius.

It is on works that punishment and reward depend, not on circumcision and uncircumcision. Paul has already said that the Gentile will not go unpunished, … and on this basis he said also that the Gentile would be rewarded. Now he shows that the law and circumcision are superfluous. For in this passage it is the Jews that he is mainly opposing. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 5.

PEACE INDEED. PELAGIUS: Glory is opposed to wrath and honor to displeasure. What Paul called “immortality” above he calls “peace” here. The word first is emphatic and means “indeed,” because God does not play favorites. Or it may mean first in time but not in honor. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

A RIGHTEOUS LIFE. THEODORET OF CYR: God did not promise eternal life to those who worshiped idols but to those who even apart from the law led a Mosaic life, embraced godliness and the worship of God, and were concerned about righteousness. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

2:11 | No Partiality

IN EVERY NATION. ORIGEN: Anyone who doubts this needs only read what Peter said when he went to visit the Gentile Cornelius: “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” We might go even farther and quote what our Lord says in the Gospel: “he who believes in me is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

NO RACIAL PRIVILEGE. AMBROSIASTER: 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.

NO PARTIALITY TOWARD PERSONS. CHRYSOSTOM: When Paul says that Jews as well as Gentiles will be punished if they sin, he does not have to argue his case. But when he wants to prove that the Gentile is honored, then he needs a reason for saying so, because it seemed too much to say that someone who knew nothing of the Law or the Prophets would be honored merely for doing good. … God shows no partiality toward persons; he judges actions. Paul says that Jews differed from Gentiles, not in their actions but in their persons only. But it is not for this reason that one is honored and the other disgraced. It is from their works that honor or disgrace will come. He does not say it quite like this though, so as not to rouse the Jews to anger. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 5.

PELAGIUS: Therefore the Gentiles should not be smug about their false ignorance, nor the Jews about their privilege in the law and in the circumcision. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

BEING BORN AND DYING AS EQUALS. JEROME: We are all born equal, emperors and paupers, and we die as equals. Our humanity is of one quality. HOMILES ON THE PSALMS 14.