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From: Romans 2:1-11

The Jews Also are Guilty

[1] Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge
another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because
you, the judge, are doing the very same things. [2] We know that the judgment
of God rightly falls upon those who do such things. [3] Do you suppose, 0 man,
that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you
will escape the judgment of God? [4] Or do you presume upon the riches of his
kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God’s kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance? [5] But by your hard and impenitent heart
you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous
judgment will be revealed. [6] For he will render to every man according to his
works: [7] to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, he will give eternal life; [8] but for those who are factious and do not
obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. [9] There will
be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and
also the Greek, [10] but glory and honor and peace for every one who does good,
the Jew first and also the Greek. [11] For God shows no partiality.

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Commentary:

1. The Apostle now addresses the Jews to make them see that, despite their
privileged position, they too are unrighteous. He does this by setting up an ima-
ginary conversation with a person representing the Jewish people, whose attitude
is like that of those who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous and de-
spised others” (Lk 18:9). If the pagans, who could only know God through the
use of natural reason, cannot be excused for not worshipping him and for commit-
ting sin, how much more inexcusable is the behavior of Jews who, despite recei-
ving supernatural Revelation, commit the very same sins as those for which they
reproach the Gentiles. St Paul’s invective against the Jews (vv. 17-24) is remini-
scent of our Lord’s criticism of the scribes and Pharisees (cf. Mt 23:13-33).

2-11. These verses contain the following truths: 1) God rewards and punishes,
and therefore there is a close connection between a person’s behavior in this life
(meritorious or blameworthy) and what happens to him or her in the next life (cf.
especially vv. 2, 5, 7-10). 2) God is a just and impartial Judge; he does not look
to whether a person is Jew or Gentile but simply to how he lives. 3) The passage
also tells us when this judgment will take place (v. 5, elaborated on by v. 16).

In the course of speaking about God as rewarding the good, St Paul describes
the glorious state of the blessed in heaven (”eternal life”, “glory”, “honor”, “peace”:
vv. 7, 10) and the fact that it will last for ever (”immortality”: v. 7). He also teaches
that in order to attain this state one must persevere in good works (”patience in
well-doing”: v. 7); this echoes what our Lord said: “he who endures to the end
will be saved” (Mt 10:22; cf. 24:13).

Parallel with this, St Paul speaks of how God will punish sinners (”wrath and
fury”: v. 8) and of the unhappy fate of those condemned to hell (”tribulation and
distress”: v. 9).

The meaning of this passage becomes clearer in the light of many other passa-
ges of Sacred Scripture and, also, of the Church’s teaching about the Judgment
and when it will take place. There are two different occasions “when everyone
must appear in the presence of the Lord to render an account of all his thoughts,
words and actions [...]. The first takes place when each of us departs this life; for
then he is instantly placed before the judgment seat of God, where all that he has
ever done shall be subjected to the most rigid scrutiny. This is called the particu-
lar judgment. The second occurs when on the same day and in the same place
all men shall stand together before the tribunal of their judge, that in the presence
and hearing of all human beings of all times each may know his final doom and
sentence” (”St Pius V Catechism”, 1, 8, 3).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.