(Verse 7.) To them who by patience in good work seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life. Since he has proclaimed that the judgment of God is righteous, he has declared what it will be like for the good. He means those who, knowing that the patience of God is drawn out partly for correction and partly for the greater punishment of those who do not correct themselves, repent of their former deeds and live well, relying on the assurance of faith; lest, if they remain here long, they incur the loss of the promised life. He will give them, then, glory and honour. And lest this should seem no very great thing in comparison with the present life — since even here men are seen to have glory and honour — he added: and incorruption; so that from this another glory and another honour might be understood, since incorruption will accompany them. For in this present life honour or glory is often lost, because he who gives it, and what he gives, and he who receives it, are all corruptible; but in the day of the judgment of God honour and glory will be given that are incorruptible, so that the whole will be everlasting. For the substance itself will be glorified, by a change answering to merits. These, then, seek eternal life, who are good not only in their profession but in their life.

(Verse 8.) But unto them that are contentious, and that do not trust the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish — that is, anguish redoubled. Distrusting the future judgment of God through Christ, and therefore despising His patience as well, they strive to make it void, though it is true and firm. And they believe unrighteousness; for it is unrighteousness to deny what God has foretold will come. He set down, then, three other things fitting for unbelief, saying, wrath and indignation, and anguish. Wrath belongs not to him who judges but to him who is judged, when he is found guilty. For God is said to be angry so that He may be believed to be about to punish; for the nature of God is free from these passions. And so that He might be believed not only to be angry but also to punish, he added, and indignation: indignation, added on top of wrath, signifies that God will avenge the wrong done to Him. And anguish is that by which, bound fast by the sentence, the sinner will be afflicted in punishment.

(Verse 9.) Upon every soul of man that doeth evil. By this “doing” he signifies not only deeds but also the profession of unbelief. For he is speaking of the unbeliever; and he said “upon the soul” so that you may understand a spiritual punishment, not a bodily one, since the soul will be confined by invisible punishments. Of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. He always sets the Jew first, by the prerogative of the fathers, so that he is either crowned first or condemned first; for if he believes he is the more honoured on account of Abraham, but if he does not believe he must be dealt with more severely, because he has refused the gift promised to the fathers.

(Verse 10.) But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. As he set down three penalties for unbelievers, so too he sets down three splendid things for the faithful: they are to have honour twofold, as sons of God; glory, by reason of their change; and peace, because those who live well will be at rest in the world to come, disturbed by no trouble. For every man who keeps himself from what is contrary has peace before the judge.

(Verse 11.) For there is no respect of persons with God. He has shown that neither Jew nor Greek is despised by God, provided he believes in Christ, but that the righteousness of faith is credited to both; and again that unbelievers are guilty alike, since circumcision without faith will do the more harm, and uncircumcision through faith will profit. By this he teaches that God is no respecter of persons. For He does not follow the prerogative of race, so as to receive an unbeliever for the sake of his fathers, or to cast away a believer because of the unworthiness of his parents; but He either rewards or condemns each one according to his own merit.

(Verse 12.) For as many as have sinned without the Law shall also perish without the Law. How can anyone sin without law, when we are all alike subject to the natural law? But he is speaking of the law of Moses, to which the Jews are liable when they do not believe; and the Gentiles too, but from long ago, because they would not join themselves to it. Unbelieving Gentiles, therefore, become guilty on a double count, because they neither assented to the law given through Moses nor received the grace of Christ; and so it is right that they should perish. As, then, he who sins without the law will perish, so he who without the law has kept the law will be justified. For he who keeps righteousness by nature is a guardian of the law. For if the law is not made for a righteous man (1 Timothy 1:9), but for the unrighteous, then he who does not sin is a friend of the law. He lacks only faith, by which he may be made perfect; for it will profit him nothing before God to abstain from what is contrary unless he has received faith in God, so as to be righteous by both; for the one is the righteousness of time, the other of eternity. And as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law. Since the Jews have the law, in which salvation was promised them, if they do not believe, or do not receive what was promised, they will be judged by the law under which they lived. For with the law itself as their accuser they will pay the penalty. Indeed, the case of the Jews is, by their own standard, almost graver than that of the Gentiles. For as they are preferred when they believe, so when they disbelieve they are found worse; for he who has lost what he had gives more offence than he who could not obtain what he never hoped for. The one did not enter the palace; the other was thrown out of it.

(Verse 13.) For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified. He says this because the just are not those who hear the Law, but those who believe in Christ, whom that same Law promised; and this is to do the Law. Everyone who does not believe the Law does not do the Law, since he does not receive Him to whom the Law bears witness. But he who does not seem to be in the Law, because he is uncircumcised in the flesh, but believes in Christ, is said to have done the Law. And he who says he is in the Law, that is, the Jew, becomes a hearer of the Law and not a doer, because he does not believe in Christ, of whom the Law wrote; as Philip said to Nathanael: We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus (John 1:45).

(Verse 14.) For when the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law. By the Gentiles he means the Christians, as in another place: For I speak to you Gentiles (Colossians 2:16). For being uncircumcised they keep neither new moons, nor sabbath, nor the law of foods, and with nature as their guide they believe in God and in Christ, that is, in the Father and the Son; for this is to keep the Law: to acknowledge the God of the Law. For this is the first part of wisdom: to fear God the Father, from whom are all things, and the Lord Jesus His Son, through whom are all things. Nature itself, then, by its own judgment, acknowledges its Creator — not through the law, but through the reason of nature; for the work discerns the workman in itself.

(Verse 15.) These, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts. It is the same sense: for while they believe with nature as their guide, they show the work of the law not by the letter but by conscience. And the work of the law is faith; and when a man shows this to God in his words, he shows by natural judgment that he is a law unto himself, since of his own accord he does what the law commands, believing in Christ. Their conscience also bearing witness. They believe with their inner conscience as witness, because they are aware within themselves that what they believe is fitting for them; for it is fitting for a creature to believe in and revere its Maker, nor is it absurd that a servant should acknowledge his master.

(Verse 16.) And their thoughts between themselves accusing or else defending one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has said that the unbelieving Jews will be judged by the Law (for the Law will accuse them, which promised them Christ, whom they would not receive when He came); but the Gentiles, who certainly have not the Law, will be judged by their conscience, if they refuse to believe. First of all, believing Gentiles will be the accusers of unbelieving Gentiles; as the Lord says to the unbelieving Jews about His disciples: They shall be your judges (Matthew 12:27); for the unbelief of the Jews will be judged by the faith of the apostles, who, though they were of their number, believed while the others disbelieved. Next, the Gentiles will be accused by their own thoughts, if, though pricked in heart, they would not believe in the faithfulness and power of the Creator. Or if, through a kind of stupor, they have not considered the matter so as to believe the Lord’s words and deeds, they will defend themselves by their conscience in the day of judgment, because such a one did not think he ought to believe; and he may be judged not as ill-willed but as ignorant — yet they will not be without punishment, since this is something no one is permitted to be ignorant of. For he signifies the Gentiles under two kinds, believers as well as unbelievers: above he speaks of believing Gentiles, but afterwards he adds something about the Gentiles who do not believe; so that as believers are praised by their conscience, so unbelievers may be accused by theirs. For although one who has not believed may seem to himself hardly guilty, because he was not able to think the matter through within himself, he is nonetheless convicted by reason; because he did not persuade himself that this is true which he had seen confirmed by the testimony of mighty works and followed by many.

I think it can also be understood in this way, if the whole question is taken to have been said of believing Gentiles; for he says: What have I to do to judge them also that are without? (1 Corinthians 5:12); and: He that believeth not is condemned already (John 3:18); and: Therefore the ungodly shall not rise in the judgment (Psalm 1:5). For those who sin without the law will also perish without the law; and so they will not be able to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and plead their cause, for when they rise they will be led away to Gehenna. Those, then, whom he says will be accused or defended by their own thoughts among themselves in the day of the judgment of God are Christians who disagree with the catholic truth, holding different views about Christ, or about the sense of the law in the tradition of the Church — whether Cataphrygians, or Novatians, or Donatists, or other heretics. Their thoughts will accuse one another in the day of judgment. If anyone has understood that the catholic teaching is true, and yet would not follow it, so as not to seem to have been corrected, being ashamed to depart from what he had long held, he will be accused by his own thought in the day of judgment. For two thoughts in a man will accuse each other, the good and the evil. The good accuses the evil because it opposed the truth; the evil in turn accuses the good because it did not follow what it perceived. And by this the man is made guilty who thought, perceiving the catholic Church to be good and true, and yet remained in heresy or schism. But his thoughts will defend one another who always thought in this way, believing that what he followed was profitable. For he will say: “In my thoughts I always held what I followed to be profitable; this was my faith.” Such a man will have a lighter case, although he must be corrected, because he will not be accused by his own conscience in the day of judgment. In this way the secrets of men will be judged in the day of the judgment of God by Jesus Christ our Lord.

(Verse 17.) But if thou art surnamed a Jew. “Jew” is a surname; for it is by the prerogative of their forefathers that they are called Israelites. And yet, if we wish to grasp all that bears on the matter, we must observe that the surname “Jew” carries a threefold meaning. First, because they are sons of Abraham, who by the merit of his faith was made the father of all nations. Next, on account of Jacob, who for the increase of his faith was called Israel; for the dignity that began in the father is ennobled in the sons. Thirdly, not so much on account of Judah as on account of Christ: because He sprang from Judah according to the flesh, they are surnamed Jews; for in Judah was signified what was to be in Christ. For it was said: Judah shall be your leader (Judges 20:18); and: Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise (Genesis 49:8). This praise is not shown to have been given to Judah, but to Christ, whom all those whom He has deigned to call His brethren praise every day. For He Himself said to the women: Go, and tell my brethren that I go before you into Galilee (Matthew 28:7). For who would not praise Him by whose kindness he lives? The Apostle, then, wished the whole to be understood under this meaning, which is last in order but more perfect in merit; and the Jews, not understanding this, claim for themselves the name of Judah according to the flesh.

(Verse 18.) And restest in the Law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest His will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the Law. He means that it is no very great thing if a Jew believes, since he has been instructed by the Law; but that it is very dangerous if he does not believe, since he has the Law as his guide. But to set the believer first, he brings in the merit of the fathers; for though a man may flourish on his own account, he is nonetheless put to shame in his own kin.

(Verses 19–20.) And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the Law. These things are true; for this is the teaching of the Law: to instruct the ignorant and to bring the profane into subjection to God, or to call the ungodly away from the worship of idols to the confidence of a better hope, by the promise that was made through the Law. The teacher of the law, then, rightly glories in these things, for he hands on the form of the truth. But if he does not receive Him whom the Law promised, he glories in vain in the Law, to which he does injury when he spurns the Christ promised in the Law; and he will no longer be an instructor of the foolish, nor a teacher of babes, nor a light of those who are in darkness, but the guide of all of them to perdition.

(Verse 21.) Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest not thyself. That is: you who reprove the Gentiles for being without the Law and without God do not reprove yourself; for by distrusting the Christ promised in the Law you are found in the very things you reprove.

(Verse 22.) Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost steal. For you do what you preach ought not to be done. For when by false interpretation you steal away the faith of Christ, you deny that our Christ was promised in the Law. Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost commit adultery. You adulterate the Law when you take away the truth of Christ and put a lie in its place. Hence in another place he speaks of adulterers of the word of God (2 Corinthians 2:17). Thou that abhorrest idols, dost commit sacrilege. You are sacrilegious when you deny Christ, whom the Law and the word of the prophets declare to be God. For Isaiah says: Surely God is in thee, and there is no God beside thee. For thou art God, and we knew it not, the God of Israel, the Saviour (Isaiah 45:14–15). Did the Jews say of God the Father, For thou art God, and we knew it not, when the whole Law proclaims the authority of God the Father, from whom are all things? But since the Son of God did indeed always appear, though who He was lay hidden, when He is recognised after the resurrection it is said to Him in confession: For thou art God, and we knew it not. And He who in the Law was thought to be only an angel and the captain of the Lord’s host, when He is understood to be the Son of God, has these words said to Him with thanksgiving: For thou art God, and we knew it not. By this, then, he signifies that it was He who had indeed appeared to the patriarchs as God, and was afterwards made flesh, but had not been understood by all.

(Verse 23.) Thou that makest thy boast of the Law, through breaking the Law dishonourest God. You are a transgressor of the Law when you pass over the sense of the Law, which concerns the incarnation and the divinity of Christ; and you dishonour God when you do not receive the testimony He gave concerning His Son. For He Himself said: This is my beloved Son (Matthew 3:17).

(Verse 24.) For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written (Isaiah 52:5). The prophet Isaiah said this — that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles — because, when the Jews were handed over to them for their offences, they did not perceive this, but gave glory to their idols, as though in the Jews they had conquered the God of the Jews. So too in the time of the apostles the name of God was blasphemed in Christ; for the Jews, by denying that Christ is God, blasphemed the Father as well; as the Lord says: Whosoever receiveth me, receiveth not me, but Him that sent me (Luke 9:48). And it was blasphemed among the Gentiles because the Jews strove to persuade the believing Gentiles that Christ was not to be believed to be God; so that the blasphemy of the Gentiles proceeded from the Jews, or from Photinus’s masters.

(Verse 25.) For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the Law. It may be objected: if circumcision profits, why is it set aside? But it profits only if you keep the Law. Then circumcision must be retained, and, so that it may profit, the Law must be kept. Why, then, did he forbid what he shows to be profitable if the Law is kept? It seems wrong to forbid a thing which does not displease in itself, but is said to be made fruitless by another’s neglect. But if thou be a breaker of the Law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. What he says is that if the Law has not been kept, the Jew becomes a Gentile. But he put circumcision for the race of Abraham, because circumcision came from Abraham; for he could not build again what he had destroyed. He says this to teach that it profits to be of the race of Abraham only if the Law is kept, that is, if one believes in Christ, who was promised to Abraham; for those who are justified by faith both have their own merit and are exalted by the honour of the fathers. For all salvation in the Law is about Christ. He keeps the Law, then, who believes in Christ; but if he does not believe, he is a transgressor of the Law, because he does not receive the Christ whom the Law foretold would come to bring a justification which it could not give itself; and it will profit him nothing to be called a son of Abraham, since he is a son of Abraham by merit who follows the faith through which Abraham was found worthy of God. Hence he says: Thy circumcision is made uncircumcision; that is, you have become like a Gentile by not believing in Him who, in the sign of circumcision, was promised to Abraham as his son.

(Verse 26.) Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousnesses of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? The righteousness of the Law is the Christian faith; as he says in another place: Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Romans 10:4). It is plain, therefore, that if a Gentile believes in Christ, he becomes a son of Abraham, who is the father of faith.

(Verse 27.) And uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the Law, shall judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the Law. The Gentile who, with nature as his guide, believes in Christ condemns the Jew, to whom the Law had promised Christ, and who would not believe in Him when He came. As great as the glory is, then, of which the Gentile is worthy who by nature alone understood the Author — as the apostle Peter says: And ye killed the Author of life (Acts 3:15) — so much the more is the Jew to be punished, who recognised Christ as Author neither by nature nor by the Law.

(Verses 28–29.) For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which 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. It is not obscure that he denies that circumcision of the flesh has praise with God (for Abraham was not justified because he was circumcised; he was justified because he believed, and was circumcised afterwards), and declares that circumcision of the heart is praiseworthy with God. For to circumcise the heart is to cut away error and acknowledge the Creator. And because circumcision of the heart was to come, Moses first said: Circumcise the hardness of your heart (Deuteronomy 10:16); and Jeremiah likewise: Circumcise the foreskin of your heart (Jeremiah 4:4). He said this to the Jews who were following idols; for there is a veil about the heart, which a man circumcises when he turns to God; because faith takes away the cloud of error and bestows the perfect knowledge of God in the mystery of the Trinity, which had been unknown from the ages. The praise of this circumcision, then, is from God, hidden from men; for it is the merit of the heart that God regards, not that of the flesh. But the praise of the Jews is from men; for they glory in the circumcision of the flesh because it comes from the fathers. Hence he says among other things: And their glory is in their shameful parts, who mind earthly things (Philippians 3:19); that is, those who think circumcision of the flesh a glory. For he minds earthly things who glories in the flesh; but he who glories in the spirit has his praise from God; for it is with the spirit, not the flesh, that one believes.