Romans 2:7-9 - Exposition

To them who by patient continuance in well-doing (literally, good work, ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ , with reference to ἔργα preceding) seek for glory and honour and immortality (literally, incorruption, ἀφθαρσίαν ) , eternal life. But unto them which are contentious (so Authorized Version; in Revised Version, factious. As to true meaning, see below), and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth (rather, worketh, ἐργαζομένῳ , with reference again to ἔργα in Romans 2:6 ) evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile (literally, Greek ) . The expression, τοῖς ἐξ ἐριθείας , is rendered in the Authorized Version "them which are contentious," ἐριθεία being translated "contention" also in 2 Corinthians 12:20 ; Galatians 5:20 ; Philippians 1:16 ; Philippians 2:3 ; James 3:14 , James 3:16 . So, too, the Vulgate, qui sunt ex contentione; and similarly Origen, Chrysostom, OE cumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Luther, Beza, Calvin, etc. This, however, is not the classical sense of the word, which is not connected with ἕρις ("strife"), but with ἔριθος , which means originally a day labourer, or a worker for hire, being so used in Homer. Hence ἐριθεία meant

Notwithstanding the weight of ancient authority for its bearing the sense of "contention" in the New Testament, that of "faction" seems more likely and suitable in the passages where it occurs; and certainly so here, the idea seeming to be that the persons spoken of factiously renounced their allegiance to "the truth," obeying ἀδικία instead. We observe how expressions are here heaped up, significant of the Divine indignation against high-handed sin, unrepented and unatoned for, of which the apostle, in very virtue of his view of the eternal δικαιοσύνη , had an awful sense (see above on Romans 1:18 ; and of. 1 Thessalonians 1:8 , etc.; and also Hebrews 10:27 ; Hebrews 12:29 ). Still, neither this verse nor James 3:5 is of necessity inconsistent with other well-known passages, where St. Paul seems to contemplate God's reconciliation in the end of all things to himself in Christ (see Romans 5:15 , et seq.; 1 Corinthians 15:24-29 ; Ephesians 1:9 , Ephesians 1:10 , Ephesians 1:22 , Ephesians 1:23 ; Colossians 1:20 ). The "indignation and wrath" spoken of in the passages before us (being, as was said under Romans 1:18 , inseparable from a full conception of the eternal righteousness) may still be conceived as having a corrective as well as a punitive purpose. Nor is the doctrine which has been called that of "eternal hope" of necessity precluded by statements which imply no more than that sin, unrepented and unatoned for, must inevitably undergo its doom in the unknown regions of eternity. The thought, at the end of James 3:9 , for the first time passes distinctly to the Jew's assumed exemption from the condemnation of the rest of mankind; and to this exclusively the remainder of the chapter is devoted. The "indignation," etc., it is said, will be upon the Jew first (cf. James 1:16 ), which may mean either in the first instance, or principally. His priority in Divine favor involves priority in retribution, while his pre-eminence in privilege carries with it corresponding responsibility (cf. Luke 12:47 , Luke 12:48 ; also Psalms 1:3 -8 and 1 Peter 4:17 ). Then in James 3:10 a like priority is assigned to the Jew with respect to reward, the general assertion of James 3:7 being repeated (with some differ-once of expression) in order to complete the view of his prior position in both respects. For the covenant was with the Jews; the promises were to them: the Gentiles were as the wild olive tree, grafted in, and made partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree ( Romans 11:17 ). "Judaei particeps Graecus" (Bengel).