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Romans 2 with Metaphysical Footnotes (ASV)

(Online: ASV WEB)

The Righteous Judgment of God

2:1Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judges another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practise the same things. 2:2And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practise such things. 2:3And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 2:4Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 2:5but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 2:6who will render to every man according to his works: 2:7to them that by patience in well-doing1 seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life: 2:8but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, 2:9tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; 2:10but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: 2:11for there is no respect of persons2 with God.

2:12For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law; 2:13for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified: 2:14(for when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves; 2:15in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them); 2:16in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.

  1. by patience in well-doing. Restitution in each individual must be complete, and no one can compare himself with another at any stage of the process. We have all lost consciousness of the divine image and we must all be restored to its likeness. We cannot hasten the restoration work except “by patience in well-doing,” holding fast to the saving grace and power of Jesus Christ to help us on the way.—Lesson 4, Unity Correspondence School Course.
  2. no respect of persons. The scriptural authority for the notion of God as unchanging principle is highly reinforced. “The fundamental basis of practical Christianity is that God is principle” (Meyer p. 30).

The Jews and the Law

2:17But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God, 2:18and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 2:19and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, 2:20a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth; 2:21thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 2:22thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples? 2:23thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God? 2:24For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written.

2:25For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision. 2:26If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? 2:27and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law?2:28For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: 2:29but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart,1 in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

  1. circumcision is that of the heart. Let us understand with Paul that the true baptism, like the true circumcision, is not that “which is outward of the flesh;” but the true baptism “is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God”—John L. Chesnutt, Walk in the Light p12.


Fillmore Study Bible annotations by Mark Hicks

Download PDF of Romans 2 with Metaphysical Footnotes (ASV) from the Fillmore Study Bible


Preceding Entry: Rom. 1
Following Entry: Rom. 3