Chapter 2

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Epistle of St Paul to the Romans — Chapter Two

¹ Chapter Two. Wherefore you are without excuse, O man, whosoever you are that judge; for in that wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you, the judge, do the same things. Since we men have inconstant judgments, and at one time plead for evil, at another sit as judges of others’ affairs, condemning those like ourselves; he had spoken before concerning those who consent with the wicked; now he makes his discourse concerning judging. And he says, Wherefore also you are without excuse; that is, Because you know the ordinance of God, that the base are worthy of chastisement, you are without excuse, who judge those who do things like yourself. And here he seems to address himself to rulers, and especially the Romans, who presided over the world; for judging belongs to rulers. Yet these things suit every man also. For how can he judge, even if he have no throne? Condemning the adulterer, then, he says, you condemn yourself, being yourself also an adulterer.

² But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that do such things. Lest one say, I for the present escaped, and was not chastised though being such, although I chastised the adulterer; he says, terrifying him, that it is not so with God. For here one is chastised, and another escapes, doing the same things; but there it is not so; for the judgment of God is according to truth against the base.

³ And do you reckon this, O man, who judge them that do such things, and do the same, that you shall escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But after your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up unto yourself wrath in the day of wrath, and of revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works. He said above that the recompense of the error, of the creature-worship, was given to the base in the very things wherein they wantoned; for this sufficed instead of chastisement; but now he further reveals the chastisement also. For there is, he says, another chastisement also, O man; for you shall not escape that judgment; since indeed you escaped not your own; for by that wherein you condemned the other, you sentenced yourself. But if, because you are not yet chastised, you despise the riches of the goodness, this very thing is unto greater chastisement. For longsuffering is, to those who use it unto correction, saving; but to those who spend it unto the increase of sin, it is an occasion of greater punishment—not through its own nature, but through their hardness. You treasure up, he says, unto yourself wrath. Not God, but you yourself unto yourself. Whence? From your unyielding heart, estranged from the good. For when you bend neither to this kindness nor to fear, what is harder than you? And having said a day of wrath, he added also of revelation and of the righteous judgment of God; with reason, lest you suppose that the judgment is according to wrath. For there comes a revelation of all things. So that the recompense is according to the worth of the things revealed; and for this reason also it is a righteous judgment; for here, because the works are hidden together, the right does not always prevail; but there the righteous judgment follows upon the revelation. And mark this passage, as helping you toward the saying, I will harden the heart of Pharaoh; for Paul all but paraphrases it there.

⁴ To them, indeed, who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life. Having said that the Lord will render to every man, he began from the recompense of the good things, making his discourse more cheerful; and in saying, To them who by patience in well-doing, he declares these two things: one, that one must not give way, nor be slothful, but endure unto the end in the good; the other, that one must not trust to faith alone; for there is need also of good work. And in saying Incorruption, he opens the doors concerning the resurrection. Then, since we all rise, but not all unto the same things, but some unto glory and some unto chastisement; for this reason he said both glory and honor. The whole discourse, then, is of this sort: God, he says, will render eternal life to those who seek the coming glory and honor, and ever ponder this, and moreover the incorruption—in the resurrection, that is. And how is the coming glory, and honor, and incorruption sought? By patience in well-doing. For he who endures in the good work, and stands firmly against every temptation, this man truly seeks both the glory and the honor, and the incorruption—that is, the enjoyment of incorruptible good things in the incorruptible body.

⁵ But to them that are of contention, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath; and tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that works evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. Contention is the term for strife and unreasoning opposition. To them, then, that are of contention, he says, that is, the contentious. And he shows here that they became wicked not from ignorance, but from contentiousness; whence also they are unpardonable. But to disobey the truth, and not to obey unrighteousness, is a sin of free choice. For he did not say, those being forced, being tyrannized, but obeying. And see how he said that God will render eternal life, but the gloomy things no longer so. For indignation, he says, and wrath, and tribulation; he did not say that it shall be rendered by God, but left it to be thus, perishing of itself, so that the shall be is understood. For to make alive is proper to God; but the chastisement comes upon us from our own sloth. And in saying every soul of man, he restrains the conceit of the Romans. For even if one be a king, he shall not escape the penalty, working evil—that is, persisting in it, and not repenting. For he did not say, Working, but Working out, that is, making a study of the evil. And since the Jew enjoyed more teaching, he would be worthy also of greater punishment. For the mighty shall be mightily examined, and the prudent who labor much shall be sternly chastised.

⁶ But glory, honor, and peace to every one that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no respect of persons with God. The Apostle’s aim is to show in what follows that circumcision profits nothing, nor does uncircumcision harm, and thereafter to bring in that faith justifies the man. Having this aim, then, he now prefigures the things of the Jews. And mark his wisdom: He shows the things before the coming of Christ, and that the world was filled with wickedness, and that both the Jew first and the Greek were liable to chastisement. Having taken it as confessed that the Greek shall be chastised for the evil things, from this he establishes that he shall also be honored for the good. And if honor and dishonor come upon men from their works, then the law is henceforth superfluous, and circumcision; and not only superfluous, but also the procurer of greater chastisement to the Jew. For if the Greek, who is able not to be profited by the judgment and the natural law, is condemned, much more the Jew, who together with these received also the instruction from the law. Since, then, you have learned the aim, follow now the wording also. By Greeks here he means not the idolaters, but those who fear God, who obey the natural law, and are pious without a law; such as Melchizedek, such as Job, the Ninevites, such as Cornelius afterward; and likewise by Jews, those before the coming of Christ. For being eager to show that circumcision profits nothing, he runs back to the earlier times, and shows that there was no difference between a God-fearing Greek and a good-working Jew. And if before the coming of Christ, when the things of the Jews flourished the more, the Jew had nothing more, much more is it so when the law has ceased. And he wishes these things, that he may cast down the conceit of the Jews, who do not receive those from the nations. Glory, he says, and honor, and peace. The good things of the world ever have wars and tumults, being pursued and plotted against; even if no one war from without, he himself who has these is ever troubled by reasonings. But the glory that is with God, and the honor, have peace, through being unplotted-against, and through the freedom from trouble in the reasonings. And since it was incredible that the Greek should be honored, having heard neither law nor prophets, he establishes this from God’s being no respecter of persons. For he does not scrutinize persons, but examines deeds, he says. Since the Greek does not differ from the Jew in his works, nothing hinders him from being equally honored. Boast not, O Jew, against him of the nations, after the ceasing of the law; seeing that, when the things of the Jews flourished, the Greek who did the good was of equal honor with you.

⁷ For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. He showed above that the Greek also is honored equally with the Jew; now he shows that in the chastisement the condemnation is heavier for the Jew. For the Greeks, he says, sinned without law—that is, without the instruction from the law; wherefore also they shall perish without law—that is, they shall be chastised more lightly, not having the law accusing them; for Without law is, without the condemnation of that law. But the Jew sinned in the law—that is, with the instruction from the law; wherefore also he shall be judged in the law—that is, condemned, the law lying upon him more vehemently, and accusing, and making the condemnation. How then do you say, O Jew, that I have no need of grace, as being justified from the law? For behold, you were shown to be in no way profited by the law. So that you have need of the grace of Christ rather than the Greek, as not having been justified before God from the mere hearing of the law. For among men, the hearers of the law can appear venerable; but with God, not so; but the doers of the law are justified.

⁸ For when the nations, which have not the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. In the things wherein he establishes his case against the Jews, he handles the discourse so prudently that he seems to say nothing against the law. For as though exalting and magnifying the law, he says that those who have not the law, but do the things of the law by nature—that is, obeying the reasonings that are from nature—are something marvelous; because they heard not the law, and yet fulfilled the law, not in letters, but having engraved the works in their hearts, using the conscience and the natural reasonings instead of a law for a testimony of the good. He speaks here of three laws: the written, the natural, the one in the works. The nations which have not the law: which? The written. By nature do the things of the law: which? The law through the works. These, having not the law: which? The written. Are a law unto themselves: how? By using the natural law. Who show the work of the law: of which? Of the law through the deeds. And mark his wisdom, how he did not strike the Jews as the sequence of the discourse demanded; for altogether, in consequence, he ought to have said thus: For when the nations, without law, do by nature the things of the law, they are much better than those taught from the law. But he did not say it, but more cheerfully, that They are a law unto themselves. And he declares from these things that even in the earlier times, and before the giving of the law, the nature of men enjoyed all providence. And he stops the mouths of those who say: Why ever did not Christ, coming from the beginning, teach the knowledge of the good? For he says that he implanted the knowledge of the good and the evil in all from the beginning; but since he saw that nothing so leads them, at the last he himself came.

⁹ Their thoughts the while accusing one another, or else excusing them; in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, through Jesus Christ. Read this from another beginning; for he now makes his discourse concerning how all men in common shall be judged. For our thoughts stand, some accusing, some excusing; and man has no need of an accuser or an advocate at that tribunal. And heightening the fear, he did not say, the sins, but The secrets. For men sit as judges of the manifest things only; but God shall judge, he says, through Jesus Christ, the Son. For the Father judges no man, but has given all judgment unto the Son. Or you may arrange the Through Jesus Christ thus: According to my Gospel, which was entrusted to me through Jesus Christ. And mark here, that the Gospel preaches nothing strange, but the things which nature, taking the lead, taught—that is, this judgment and chastisement; the Gospel also bears witness to them.

¹⁰ But if you are called a Jew, and rest in the law, and make your boast in God, and know the will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law. Having said that to the Greek who does the good things nothing is lacking toward being saved, he now enumerates also the venerable things of the Jews, in which those vaunted themselves over the Gentiles, and first this; for it was very venerable, as now the name Christian. And he did not say, You are a Jew, but You are called; for the true Jew is he who confesses. For Judah is interpreted confession. And rest in the law. Instead of, You are not one going about and learning what you must do, but you have the law teaching you all things easily. You make your boast in God, as being loved by him, and honored above other men. But it is of madness to use the love of God unto contempt of those of one’s own kind. And you know the will, that is, of God. And you approve the things that are excellent. That is, You judge what must be done, and what must not be done. And by the things that are excellent one must understand the things fitting for each, that is, the things expedient.

¹¹ And are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Above, indeed, he said that the hearing of the law profits nothing, unless practice be added. For not the hearers, he says, of the law are just before God, but the doers. But now he says the greater thing, that Even if you are a teacher, but do not the things of the law, not only are you nothing profited, but you are even the more chastised. For since they especially prided themselves on this, on the teacher’s dignity, hence especially he shows them ridiculous. For when you say, you are a guide of the blind, a teacher of babes, and the rest, he recounts their conceit. For thus they called themselves, guides, a light, and instructors; but the proselytes from the nations, those in darkness, and babes, and foolish. And you have the form of knowledge and of the truth, not in deeds and achievements, but in the law, trusting to it as an image of virtue; just as if one, having a royal image, should himself paint nothing according to it, but those who have been entrusted with it, even without looking to it, should imitate it with truth. Every teacher paints and forms the knowledge of the good, and the truth, in the souls of the disciples. But if he also practices it, he is perfect; but if not, such are those now reproached by the Apostle. But some understood form as the counterfeit image of knowledge. For you have not the true knowledge, he says, and piety, but a certain counterfeit and besmeared one.

¹² You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You that preach a man should not steal, do you steal? You that say a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege? You who make your boast in the law, through breaking the law do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the nations through you, as it is written. He makes his discourse by way of question, putting to shame those who boast in teaching. And by sacrilege he means the carrying off of the things dedicated to the idols. For even if they abhorred the idols, yet nevertheless, being tyrannized by avarice, they laid hold of the idol-offerings for shameful gain. Then he adds the heavier charge, saying: You boast in the law, as being honored by God on account of the law; through breaking the law do you dishonor God? For there are three charges here: one, that they dishonor; second, that they dishonor the God who honored them; and third, that through the very law by which they were honored, through this they dishonor him, transgressing it. Then, lest he seem to accuse of himself, he brings the prophet Isaiah as their accuser, making the charge double. For not only do they themselves outrage God, but they also prepare others unto this; and not only the things of the law which they teach, but also the contrary things—to blaspheme God; which is contrary to the law. For those who see them corrupted say: Ought God to have loved these? Then is God, who recognizes such men, true?

¹³ For circumcision indeed profits, if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision is become uncircumcision. Since they had a great opinion concerning circumcision, he did not say straightway from the outset that circumcision is superfluous and senseless; but in word he accepts it, while in fact he abolishes it, and says: I confess that circumcision profits, but when you also keep the law; but if not, It profits not—lest he seem to outrage it; but he strips the Jew of it, saying, Your circumcision is become uncircumcision. He shows him to be uncircumcised in heart. For he speaks of two circumcisions and two uncircumcisions: the one according to the appearance, the other according to the thing understood; as, there is a circumcision according to the appearance, the one according to the flesh, when one is circumcised in the flesh; and there is a circumcision according to the spirit, the casting off of the fleshly passions. Again, there is one in uncircumcision according to the flesh, when one is uncircumcised in the flesh; and there is an uncircumcision according to the spirit, when one, having a heathen soul, has cut off none of the passions. Paul says, then, that When you are circumcised in the flesh, but do nothing of the things of the law, you are uncircumcised and unclean according to the spirit; but he who is uncircumcised according to the flesh, if he do the things of the law, is circumcised according to the spirit, having stripped off the things of the flesh. Which also he says through what follows:

¹⁴ If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? He does not say that uncircumcision conquers circumcision; for this would be grievous; but that It shall be reckoned for circumcision. So that the true circumcision, the one worthy of the name, is the good deed, and likewise uncircumcision the wicked deed. And mark how he did not say, When the uncircumcision keeps the law; for it was likely that someone might say to him: How is it possible for the law to be kept by the uncircumcised? For this very thing, the being uncircumcised, is a transgression of the law. But how did he say it? The ordinances of the law, that is, the things that seem to justify through the working of them. For circumcision was not a working, but a suffering, the one circumcised being passive. So that neither is circumcision an ordinance; and likewise the cutting away and removal of the passions, unless these be called a true and good deed of the law. For it was given as a sign, unto the recognizing of the Jews by the Gentiles.

¹⁵ And shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge you, who through the letter and circumcision are a breaker of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward, in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Here he plainly shows that he speaks of two uncircumcisions, both that from nature, and that from free choice; which is, as has been said, when one has none of the fleshly passions stripped off; and of two circumcisions, the one according to the flesh, and the one in the spirit of the heart. He says, then, that The uncircumcision which is by nature, having the circumcision of the passions, by fulfilling the law—that is, the ordinances of the law, as said above—shall judge, instead of, shall condemn, not the circumcision (for this would be grievous), but you, who seem indeed to be circumcised, so far as concerns the flesh, but are uncircumcised in heart, inasmuch as you are a breaker of the ordinances of the law. He does not, then, dishonor circumcision (for rather he seems to honor it), but him who outrages it, as a breaker. Then, since he established these things, he plainly defines also who is the true Jew, and shows that they do all things for display. For he is not a Jew, he says, who is one outwardly, but he who is one inwardly; he who fulfills nothing merely bodily, but understands spiritually both the Sabbaths, and the sacrifices, and the purifications. And in saying Circumcision of the heart in the spirit, he makes a way beforehand for the polity of the Church, and brings in faith. For this too is in heart and spirit, and has its praise from God, who tries the hearts, not judging according to the flesh. And the conclusion gathered from all these things is this, that everywhere there is need of a good life. And when you hear uncircumcision, that is, Greek, understand not the idolater, but the God-fearing and virtuous man, who does not observe the things about the law, as has been said above.