Romans 2:3

Rom_2:3

And thinkest thou … that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

The sinners folly

I. Their conduct.

1. They judge others.

2. Forget themselves.

3. Dream of impunity.

II. Its folly. There is but--

1. One law.

2. One judge.

3. One judgment. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

No escaping Gods judgment

I. The Jews thought to escape it, on the grounds of--

1. Their relation to Abraham.

2. Their possession of the law.

3. Their circumcision.

4. Benefits already received.

5. Their own good works.

6. The merits of their ancestors.

7. Their ceremonies such as the Day of Atonement, etc.

II. Men in general think to escape it. With as little reason, through--

1. Wealth, power, or exalted position.

2. Poverty or insignificance.

3. Religious profession, Church membership, or sacred office.

4. Personal conduct.

5. Pious ancestry.

6. Practice of religious rites.

7. Prayers, fastings, almsgivings.

8. Afflictions.

III. The impossibility of this.

1. The Jews were solemnly warned that they should not escape (Amo_9:1-4; Psa_50:7-22).

2. The only escape is through Christ (Act_4:12), just as the only refuge from the flood was in the provided ark (1Pe_3:20-21).

3. The guilty flee, the pardoned alone escape the judgment of God. (T. Robinson, D. D.)

The gradual but inevitable advance of Divine judgment

Slow goes the hand of justice, like the shadow on the sundial; ever moving, yet slowly creeping on, with a motion all but imperceptible. Still stand in awe. The hand of justice has not stopped, although imperceptible it steadily advances; by and by it reaches the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth hour. And now the bell strikes. Then unless you have fled to Christ, the blow which was so slow to fall, shall descend over the head of impenitence with accumulated force. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 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.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_2:3. Antithesis of Rom_2:2, That God judges evildoers according to truth, we know (Rom_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 Mat_3:7; and the passages from profane writers in Grotius. The non-interrogative rendering of Rom_2:3-4 (Hofmann) is not called for by the connection with the assertive declaration in Rom_2:5; it weakens the lively force of the discourse, and utterly fails to suit the ἤ in Rom_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 (Mat_3:7 ff.; Luk_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; 1Th_5:3; Heb_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 (Mat_8:12).

[588] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

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

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 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 (Mat 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.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The nexus seems to be this: do you calculate that this correct attitude towards sin in others will exempt your case from being considered by GOD, or are you merely indifferent to His merciful dealing with you? The case is put in the most general way and applies to all theoretic judgment of others; but the crucial instance in mind is the Jew; cf. Rom 2:17 ff.

ἐκφεύξῃ, shalt clean escape; cf. Luk 21:36; Heb 2:3.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_2:3

But thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest, etc. The truth that Gods judgment is just, and will fall on those who themselves commit the sins which they condemn in others, is so plain, that the apostle exclaims at the folly of those who seem to deny it. The emphasis lies on the word thou, in the middle of the verse. Dost thou think that thou, a Jew, and because a Jew, shalt escape the righteous judgment of God? Shalt escape, ἐκφεύξῃ. Every one, says Bengel, who is arraigned, φεύγει, tries to escape; he who is acquitted, ἐκφεύγει, escapes. In Rom_2:1, the apostle had shown that the man who did what he condemned in others, condemned himself. If then, as Theophylact says, he cannot escape his own judgment, how can he escape the judgment of God? If forced to condemn ourselves, how much more will the infinitely Holy condemn us? The ground on which this false and absurd expectation rested is mentioned in the following verse:

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. And thinkest thou, O man, etc. As rhetoricians teach us, that we ought not to proceed to give strong reproof before the crime be proved, Paul may seem to some to have acted unwisely here for having passed so severe a censure, when he had not yet proved the accusation which he had brought forward. But the fact is otherwise; for he adduced not his accusation before men, but appealed to the judgment of conscience; and thus he deemed that proved which he had in view — that they could not deny their iniquity, if they examined themselves and submitted to the scrutiny of God’s tribunal. And it was not without urgent necessity, that he with so much sharpness and severity rebuked their fictitious sanctity; for men of this class will with astonishing security trust in themselves, except their vain confidence be forcibly shaken from them. Let us then remember, that this is the best mode of dealing with hypocrisy, in order to awaken it from its inebriety, that is, to draw it forth to the light of God’s judgment.

That thou shalt escape, etc. This argument is drawn from the less; for since our sins are subject to the judgment of men, much more are they to that of God, who is the only true Judge of all. Men are indeed led by a divine instinct to condemn evil deeds; but this is only an obscure and faint resemblance of the divine judgment. They are then extremely besotted, who think that they can escape the judgment of God, though they allow not others to escape their own judgment. It is not without an emphatical meaning that he repeats the word man; it is for the purpose of presenting a comparison between man and God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

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

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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?

Ver. 3. Thinkest thou] This is preaching to the conscience, to the quick. Our exhortations should be as forked arrows to stick in men’s hearts; and not wound only, as other arrows. A poor hermit came to our Richard I, A. D. 1195, and preaching to him the words of eternal life, bade him be mindful of the subversion of Sodom, and to abstain from things unlawful: otherwise, said he, the deserved vengeance of God will come upon thee. The hermit being gone, the king neglected his words. But afterwards falling sick, he more seriously bethought himself, and waxing sound in soul as well as in body, he grew more devout, and charitable to the poor. (Hoveden. Speed.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Hab 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 Mat 3:9; Joh 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 Isa 1:11-17; Isa 65:2-5; Rev 3:16.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Judgest… thou—One of the most striking proofs of the reality of a human conscience, and of its real acuteness in breasts apparently most depraved and obtuse, is not its power of self-condemnation, but its keenness in the condemnation of others. The most reckless and unconscientious wretch will be critically and delicately sharp in analyzing and severely condemning the aberration of some good man. Paul, therefore, shows singular skill in turning the analysis of these moral critics to a keen practice upon their own cases. Shalt escape—On account of the moderate amount of thy viciousness. Doubtless a less deep penalty awaits a less deep guilt. But no degree of guilt can escape by self-excuse or self-disregard; the only outlet is by confessed ruin, human repentance, and divine mercy. To that repentance Paul did not press the abandoned dregs of chapter i as being out of hearing and perhaps hopeless; but to that repentance he now presses this class, whose great danger is a denial of their own ruin, and a consequent impenitent persistence in it. They are near enough to listen, they are delicate enough to judge, and the very work to which the apostle rightly applies himself is to reveal to them their danger.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 3, 4. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which practise such things, and doest the same, that thou (su , 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 o krinwn are supposed that of really calculating (logizh) 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. 2Pe_3:9)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That thou shalt escape - Rather than the gentile.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

3. “But O man, that condemneth those doing such things and art doing the same thyself, do you consider this, that you shall escape the condemnation of God?” The answer is an awful negative. The church member by his very attitude condemns the worldlian for sin, at the same time actually making a profession of a sinning religion. The inconsistency literally makes him a laughing-stock for devils, because his very attitude as a sinning Christian puts him under the same condemnation along with the sinful world, and sends him to the same hell.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? [The argument may be paraphrased thus: Yielding to the force of argument, that like sin deserves like condemnation, even you, though most unwillingly, condemn yourself. How much more freely, therefore, will God condemn you ( 1Jo_3:20 ). And we know that you can not escape, for the judgment of God is according to truth; i. e., without error or partiality against the doers of evil. And do you vainly imagine, O man, that when thine own moral sense is so outraged at evil that thou must needs condemn others for doing it, that thou, though doing the same evil thyself, shalt escape the judgment of God through any partiality on his part? Self-love, self-pity, self-justification, and kindred feeling, have, in all ages, caused men to err in applying the warnings of God to themselves. Among the Jews this error took the form of a doctrine. Finding themselves especially favored and privileged as children of Abraham, they expected to be judged upon different principles from those of truth, which would govern the judgment and condemnation of the rest of mankind. This false trust is briefly announced and rebuked by John the Baptist ( Mat_3:7-9 ), and afterwards more clearly and fully defined in the Talmud in such expressions as these: "Every one circumcised has part in the kingdom to come." "All Israelites will have part in the world to come." "Abraham sits beside the gates of hell, and does not permit any wicked Israelite to go down to hell." The same error exists to-day in a modified form. Many expect to be saved because they are the children of wealth, culture, refinement; because they belong to a civilized people; because their parents are godly; or even, in some cases, because they belong to a certain lodge, or order.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Thinkest thou. It seems to us strange folly for the Jew to regard Gentile sinners under condemnation, but fancy that he might do the same things, and yet escape the judgment of God. Still this error is not confined to the Jews. Many a sinner persuades himself that his own sins, the very sins he condemns in others, will go unpunished.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

But consider this

"So consider this" or "Therefore, consider this"

consider this

"think about what I am going to tell you"

person

Use the general word for a human being "whoever you are"

you who judge those who practice such things although you do the same things

"you who say someone deserves God's punishment while you do the same wicked deeds"

Will you escape from the judgment of God?

This remark appears in the form of a question to add emphasis. You can also translate this question as a strong negative statement. AT: "You will certainly not escape God's judgment!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

Or do you think so little of the riches of his goodness, his delayed punishment, and his patience ... repentance?

This remark appears in the form of a question to add emphasis. You can also translate this as a strong statement. AT: "You should not act like it does not matter that God is good and that he patiently waits a long time before he punishes people, so that his goodness will cause them to repent!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

think so little of the riches ... patience

"consider the riches ... patience unimportant" or "consider ... not good"

Do you not know that his goodness is meant to lead you to repentance?

This remark appears in the form of a question to add emphasis. You can also translate this as a strong statement. AT: "You must know that God shows you he is good so that you might repent!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

translationWords

judge

good

punish

repent

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

3.] Here he approximates nearer to the Jews. They considered that because they were the children of Abraham they should be saved, see Mat 3:7, Mat 3:9.

τοῦτο, viz. ὅτι σὺ ἐκφ., following.

σύ has the emphasis on it, thou thyself,—‘thou above all others.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. σύ emphatic; ‘thou, of all men.’ There is abundant illustration of the view current among the Jews that the Israelite was secure simply as such by virtue of his descent from Abraham and of his possession of the Law: cf. Mat 3:8, Mat 3:9 ‘Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father’; Joh 8:33; Gal 2:15; the passages quoted by Gif.; Weber, Altsyn. Theol. p. 69 f.

There may be an element of popular misunderstanding, there is certainly an element of inconsistency, in some of these passages. The story of Abraham sitting at the gate of Paradise and refusing to turn away even the wicked Israelite can hardly be a fair specimen of the teaching of the Rabbis, for we know that they insisted strenuously on the performance of the precepts of the Law, moral as well as ceremonial. But in any case there must have been a strong tendency to rest on supposed religious privileges apart from the attempt to make practice conform to them.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Reckonest [λογιζη] . See on 1Pe 5:12. Intimating a process of reasoning.

Thou shalt escape. Thou emphatic, opposed to Jewish self - conceit.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 3. “But thou countest upon this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?”

We might, with Hofmann, take the verbs λογίζῃ and καταφρονεῖς (thou countest, thou despisest) in an affirmative sense. But the ἤ, or indeed, at the beginning of Rom 2:4 would rather incline us, following Paul’s ordinary usage, to interpret these words in the interrogative sense; not, however, that we need translate the former in the sense of: thinkest thou? The interrogation is less abrupt: “thou thinkest no doubt?” The word λογίζεσθαι, to reason, well describes the false calculations whereby the Jews persuaded themselves that they would escape the judgment with which God would visit the Gentiles. Observe the σύ, thou: “that thou wilt escape, thou,” a being by thyself, a privileged person! It was a Jewish axiom, that “every one circumcised has part in the kingdom to come.” A false calculation. Such, then, is the first supposition serving to explain the security of the Jew; but there is a graver still. Perhaps this false calculation proceeds from a moral fact hidden in the depths of the heart. Paul drags it to the light in what follows.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.