Romans 2:3

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) That thou shalt escape.—Emphatic. “Are you—because you are a Jew—to be the only exception to this rule?”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And thinkest thou ... - This is an appeal to their common sense, to their deep and instinctive conviction of what was right. If they condemned those who practiced these things; if, imperfect and obscure as their sense of justice was; if, unholy as they were, they yet condemned those who were guffey of these offences, would not a holy and just God be far more likely to pronounce judgment? And could they escape who had themselves delivered a similar sentence? God is of "purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity, Habakkuk 1:13. And if people condemned their fellow-men, how much more would a pure and holy God condemn iniquity. This appeal is evidently directed against the Jew. It was doubtless a prevalent sentiment among them, that provided they adhered to the rites of their religion, and observed the ceremonial law, God would not judge them with the same severity as he would the abandoned and idolatrous Gentiles: compare Matthew 3:9; John 8:33. The apostle shows them that crime is crime, wherever committed: that sin does not lose its essential character by being committed in the midst of religious privileges; and that those who professed to be the people of God have no special license to sin. Antinomians in all ages, like the Jews, have supposed that they, being the friends of God, have a right to do many things which would not be proper in others; that what would be sin in others, they may commit with impunity; and that God will not be strict to mark the offences of his people. Against all this Paul is directly opposed, and the Bible uniformly teaches that the most aggravated sins among people are those committed by the professed people of God; compare Isaiah 1:11-17; Isaiah 65:2-5; Revelation 3:16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 2

Ro 2:1-29. The Jew under Like Condemnation with the Gentile.

From those without, the apostle now turns to those within the pale of revealed religion, the self-righteous Jews, who looked down upon the uncovenanted heathen as beyond the pale of God's mercies, within which they deemed themselves secure, however inconsistent their life may be. Alas! what multitudes wrap themselves up in like fatal confidence, who occupy the corresponding position in the Christian Church!

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When other men’s facts escape not thy censure, who art but a man; what folly and madness is it to imagine, that thine own evil deeds should escape the judgment of God! See 1Jo 3:20.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same,.... Some men may be so vain as to imagine, that though they do the same things which they condemn in others, they

shall escape the judgment of God: but such will find themselves most sadly mistaken; there is no avoiding the general judgment; all men must come to it; there will be no eluding it through craftiness and deceit, through bribery and corruption; there will be no escaping condign punishment, through might in the criminal, or through the judge's ignorance of his crimes, or want of ability and power to punish.

Geneva Study Bible

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 2:3. Antithesis of Romans 2:2, “That God judges evildoers according to truth, we know (Romans 2:2); but judgest thou (in the face of that proposition) that thou shalt.… escape?” This would indeed be at variance with the ἀλήθεια of the judgment. Comp Matthew 3:7; and the passages from profane writers in Grotius. The non-interrogative rendering of Romans 2:3-4 (Hofmann) is not called for by the connection with the assertive declaration in Romans 2:5; it weakens the lively force of the discourse, and utterly fails to suit the ἤ in Romans 2:4, so prevalent in double questions.

ΤΟῦΤΟ] preparing with emphasis (here: of surprise) for the following ὍΤΙ ΣῪ ἘΚΦ. Κ.Τ.Λ[588]; Bernhardy, p. 284.

σὺ] Thou on thy side, as if thou madest an exception; opposed to the Jewish self-conceit (Matthew 3:7 ff.; Luke 3:7 f.). The emphasis is not on Θεοῦ (Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others).

ἐκφεύξῃ] not: through acquittal (Bengel), comp Dem. 602, 2, Aristoph. Vesp. 157 al[590], but inasmuch as thou shalt not be subjected to the κρῖμα of God, but shalt on the contrary escape it and be secure afar off from it. Comp 2Ma 6:26; 2Ma 7:35; 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Hebrews 2:3. According to the Jewish illusion only the Gentiles were to be judged (Bertholdt, Christol. p. 206 ff.), whereas all Israel were to share in the Messianic kingdom as its native children (Matthew 8:12).

[588] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[590] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 2:3. σὺ has strong emphasis. The Jew certainly thought, in many cases, that the privilege of his birth would of itself ensure his entrance into the kingdom (Matthew 3:8-9): this was his practical conviction, whatever might be his proper creed. Yet the σὺ indicates that of all men the Jew, so distinguished by special revelation, should least have fallen into such an error. He is “the servant who knew his Lord’s will,” and whose judgement will be most rigorous if it is neglected.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. that thou shalt escape] “Thou” is, of course, emphatic. We must remember how often the Jews of that age clung to national privilege as if it were personal immunity. It was a saying, that to live in Palestine was “equal to the observance of all the commandments.” “He that hath his permanent abode in Palestine,” so taught the Talmud, “is sure of the life to come.” (Edersheim’s Sketches of Jewish Life, p. 5.) The tendency betrayed in such thoughts is deep as the fall of man, but it has its times and ways of special manifestation.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 2:3. σύ, thou) as distinguished from the Gentile; every one, even without a cause, makes his own self an exception [as regards condemnation]; and flatters himself, although he knows not himself, on what grounds.—ἐκφεύξη, shalt thou escape?) through the loopholes, which thou seekest. Every one, that is arraigned, φεύγει, tries to escape [ὁ φεύγων is the technical term for a defendant; ὁ διώκων, the accuser]; he who is acquitted, ἐκφεύγει, escapes.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 3, 4. - And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which practise such things, and doest the same, that thou (σὺ, emphatic) shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Two possible mental attitudes of ὁ κρίνων are supposed - that of really calculating (λογίζῃ) on escaping the judgment, or that of obduration, consequent on God's long forbearance towards him, in that "sentence is not executed speedily." (For a similar view of God's merciful purpose in delaying the final judgment, and of man's abuse of his forbearance, cf. 2 Peter 3:9.) Romans 2:3

Vincent's Word Studies

Reckonest (λογίζῃ)

See on 1 Peter 5:12. Intimating a process of reasoning.

Thou shalt escape

Thou emphatic, opposed to Jewish self-conceit.