Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest {Greek: the other.}another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practise the same things.
{Many ancient authorities read For.}And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practise such things.
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?
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
who will render to every man according to his works:
to them that by {Or, stedfastness}patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life:
but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation,
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek;
but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek:
for there is no respect of persons with God.
For as many as {Greek: sinned.}have sinned without law shall also perish without the law: and as many as {Greek: sinned.}have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law;
for not the hearers of the law are {Or, righteous}just before God, but the doers of the law shall be {Or, accounted righteous: and so elsewhere.}justified:
(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;
in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and {Or, their thoughts accusing or else excusing them one with another}their {Or, reasonings 2 Corinthians 10:5.}thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them);
in the day when God {Or, judgeth}shall judge the secrets of men, according to my {See marginal notes on chapter 1:1.}gospel, by Jesus Christ.
But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God,
and knowest {Or, the Will}his will, and {Or, dost distinguish the things that differ}approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness,
a {Or, an instructor}corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth;
thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples?
thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God?
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, {Isaiah 52:5.}even as it is written.
For 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.
If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision?
and 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?
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.
Querverweise zu Römer 2,4 Röm 2,4
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
{Some ancient authorities omit and.}and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory,
whom God set forth {Or, to be propitiatory}to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;
He {Or, looketh upon men}singeth before men, and saith,I have sinned, and perverted that which was right,And {Or, it was nor requited unto me Or, it was not meet for me}it profited me not:
He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit,And my life shall behold the light.
Lo, all these things doth God work,Twice, yea thrice, with a man,
To bring back his soul from the pit,That he may be enlightened with the light of {Or, life}the living.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid.
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him:
What if God, {Or, although willing}willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction:
If thou, {Hebrew: Jah.}Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquities,O Lord, who could stand?
He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten;He hideth his face; he will never see it.
O the depth {Or, of the riches and the wisdom & c.}of the riches {Or, both of wisdom & c.}both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth;
But there is forgiveness with thee,That thou mayest be feared.
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is {Or, emboldened}fully set in them to do evil.
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive,And abundant in lovingkindness unto all them that call upon thee.
Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for Jehovah is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him.
and come and stand before me in this house, {Hebrew: whereupon my name is called.}which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that ye may do all these abominations?
O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works!In wisdom hast thou made them all:The earth is full of thy {Or, creatures}riches.
But he, being merciful, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not:Yea, many a time turned he his anger away,And did not stir up all his wrath.
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not {Hebrew: cause my countenance to fall upon you.}look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep anger for ever.
Son of man, what is this proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
But thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious,Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
Only {Or, know}acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah.
Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the {Hebrew: word.}fulfilment of every vision.
having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for Jehovah is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him.
Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God.
But if that evil {Greek: bondservant.}servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth;
but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
I will make mention of the lovingkindnesses of Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
For he said, Surely, they are my people, children that will not deal falsely: so he was their Saviour.
{Another reading is, In all their adversity he was no adversary}In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the {Or, noisy throng}tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken;
that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus:
And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, I pray thee, O Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I {Or, was beforehand in fleeing}hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah.
knowing this first, that {Greek: in the last of the days.}in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to {Greek: bring good tidings of the &c. Compare chapter 2:17.}preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life.
afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days.
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;
that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, {Or, into which few, that is, eight souls were brought safely through water}wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:
But when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger!
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight:
I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house.
And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, He is gone in to lodge with a man that is a sinner.
And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold.
to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the {Or, fulness}full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, {The ancient authorities vary much in the text of this passage.}even Christ,
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you;
Charge them that are rich in this present {Or, age.}world, that they be not highminded, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and his love toward man, appeared,
not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the {Or, laver}washing of regeneration {Or, and through renewing}and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
which he poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour;