| 2 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. |
based on truth. God takes into account all the facts
before He makes a judgment. No human judge really knows all the facts, but
only what is presented to him in court. |
| 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? |
Judgment is worse when you judge others for the same things
you do. |
| 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? |
God's kindness leads you toward repentance. Repentance
can be forced by law or be led by grace. A thief can be forced to not steal
by being thrown into prison, yet the thief is not changed on the inside.
Grace changes us on the inside. |
| 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. |
Some people think that Christ’s death will lighten the
judgment of God, but not so. To despise the grace of God by continuing to
sin only reveals how great your sin is. |
| 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done." |
Judgment is based on deeds not intentions. |
| 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. |
persistence in doing good. There is a need to persevere
in your salvation. Doing good is the obedience that comes from faith, not of
earning salvation. see 1:5 |
| 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. |
|
| 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; |
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| 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. |
|
| 11 For God does not show favoritism. |
Most people make judgments based on race, religion,
profession, social position, physical appearance, ect. God does not! God is
F.A.I.R. God's judgment is based on Facts, Action, Intention, and
Revelation. Or to put in another way, God judgment is based on truth, deeds,
motives and the moral understanding available to the person |
| 12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. |
Judgment is based on the understanding that a person has at
the time. Some make an excuse for not believing in Christ by accusing God of
condemning poor natives who never heard the gospel. God never condemns
anyone to hell simply because they never heard the gospel. They shall be
judged according to their knowledge, and all people have knowledge of some
sort. |
| 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. |
|
| 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, |
Gentiles, who do not have the law. The Gentiles Paul
refers to are the converts to Christianity. |
| 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) |
Conscience can either condemn or defend you. |
| 16 This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. |
men's secrets. Every action is not revealed. Some act
in secret.
my gospel. This should not imply that the gospel was invented by
Paul, but only how personal the gospel was to Paul.
|
| 17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; |
|
| 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; |
|
| 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, |
|
| 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth-- |
|
| 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? |
Perhaps a person could say that he has not stolen, or
committed adultery, however Jesus gave us the higher law. Adultery can be
committed in the heart, and greed is a type of thief in the heart. |
| 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? |
Abhor idols yet rob temples. You may not do the exact
same things as others, but you do others things that are just as bad. |
| 23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? |
|
| 24 As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." |
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| 25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. |
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| 26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? |
law's requirements. Requirements are requisites. A
requisite is what is necessary as opposed to what is lawful. Sometimes the
law is bended or suspended in order to fulfill the requirement of the law
which is love. |
| 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. |
written code. Any system or collection of rules and
regulations. The law was the secret knowledge to the Jews. Just as a Morse Code
may not be known by others, the law was not known to the Gentiles, so how
could they have been expected to obey it. |
| 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. |
God looks on the heart. |
| 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God. |
circumcision of the heart. God cuts out the old stony
heart.
praise. Paul uses play on words here to drive home his point. The
name Jew came from the name Judah that means praise.
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