Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 2:9
Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
9. tribulation and anguish ] Both words, in Greek as well as in English, indicate the crushing and bewildering power of great grief or pain. “ Anguish ” is the stronger of the two; for see 2Co 4:8, where the original of “distressed” is cognate to that of “anguish” here.
It is remarkable that the antithesis here to “eternal life” is the conscious experience of the effects of Divine anger.
doeth ] The Gr. is somewhat emphatic; practiseth, worketh, worketh out. A habit of sin is intended. Same word as “worketh” in next verse.
of the Jew, &c.] Lit. both of the Jew, first, and of the Greek. The phrase is as if St Paul had been writing simply “of the Jew and of the Greek,” “of Jew and Greek alike;” and then, as by a verbal parenthesis, inserted the word “ first ” to emphasize what was all along most in his view in the simple phrase; viz., the special accountability of the Jew. On Jew and Greek, see on Rom 1:16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Tribulation – This word commonly denotes affliction, or the situation of being pressed down by a burden, as of trials, calamities, etc.; and hence, to be pressed down by punishment or pain inflicted for sins. As applied to future punishment, it denotes the pressure of the calamities that will come upon the soul as the just reward of sin.
And anguish – stenochoria. This noun is used in but three other places in the New Testament; Rom 8:35; 2Co 6:4; 2Co 12:10. The verb is used in 2Co 4:8; 2Co 6:12. It means literally narrowness of place, lack of room, and then the anxiety and distress of mind which a man experiences who is pressed on every side by afflictions, and trials, and want, or by punishment, and who does not know where he may turn himself to find relief. (Schleusner.) It is thus expressive of the punishment of the wicked. It means that they shall be compressed with the manifestations of Gods displeasure, so as to be in deep distress, and so as not to know where to find relief. These words affliction and anguish are often connected; Rom 8:35.
Upon every soul of man – Upon all people. In Hebrew the word soul often denotes the man himself. But still, the apostles, by the use of this word here, meant perhaps to signify that the punishment should not be corporeal, but afflicting the soul. It should be a spiritual punishment, a punishment of mind. (Ambrose. See Tholuck.)
Of the Jew first – Having stated the general principle of the divine administration, he comes now to make the application. To the principle there could be no objection. And the apostle now shows that it was applicable to the Jew as well as the Greek, and to the Jew pre-eminently. It was applicable first, or in an eminent degree, to the Jew, because,
- He had been especially favored with light and knowledge on all these subjects.
(2)These principles were fully stated in his own Law, and were in strict accordance with all the teaching of the prophets; see the note at Rom 2:6; also Psa 7:11; Psa 9:17; Psa 139:19; Pro 14:32.
Of the Gentile – That is, of all who were not Jews. On what principles God will inflict punishment on them, he states in Rom 2:12-16. It is clear that this refers to the future punishment of the wicked, for,
(1) It stands in contrast with the eternal life of those who seek for glory Rom 2:7. If this description of the effect of sin refers to this life, then the effects spoken of in relation to the righteous refer to this life also. But in no place in the Scriptures is it said that people experience all the blessings of eternal life in this world; and the very supposition is absurd.
(2) It is not true that there is a just and complete retribution to every man, according to his deeds, in this life. Many of the wicked are prospered in life, and there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm; Psa 73:4. Many of the righteous pine in poverty and want and affliction, and die in the flames of persecution. Nothing is more clear than there is not in this life a full and equitable distribution of rewards and punishments; and as the proposition, of the apostle here is, that God will render to every man according to his deeds Rom 2:6, it follows that this must be accomplished in another world.
(3) The Scriptures uniformly affirm, that for the very things specified here, God will consign people to eternal death; 2Th 1:8, In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, etc.; 1Pe 4:17. We may remark also, that there could be no more alarming description of future suffering than is specified in this passage. It is indignation; it is wrath; it is tribulation; it is anguish which the sinner is to endure forever. Truly people exposed to this awful doom should be alarmed, and should give diligence to escape from the woe which is to come.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Tribulation and anguish] Misery of all descriptions, without the possibility of escape, will this righteous Judge inflict upon every impenitent sinner. The Jew first, as possessing greater privileges, and having abused greater mercies; and also on the Gentile, who, though he had not the same advantages, had what God saw was sufficient for his state; and, having sinned against them, shall have punishment proportioned to his demerit.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Tribulation and anguish; the word render is here again understood, he shall render tribulation and anguish. Some refer the former to the punishment of sin, the latter to the punishment of loss; or the one to the unquenchable fire, the other to the never dying worm: it seems to be a rhetorical exaggeration: see Psa 11:6; Mar 9:43-48.
Every soul of man; a double Hebraism: first, the soul is put for the person, as Gen 12:5; 14:21; 17:14; 36:6; 46:26. Secondly, every soul of man, is put for the soul of every man; as before, Rom 1:18, all unrighteousness of men, is put for the unrighteousness of all men. The soul of man shall not be punished only, but chiefly.
Of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; the Jew is first placed in order of punishment, because he better knew Gods will, and had more helps: see Mat 11:22,24; Lu 12:47.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Tribulation and anguishtheeffect of these in the sinner himself.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Tribulation and anguish,…. These, with the foregoing words, are expressive of the second death, the torments of hell, the worm that never dies, and the fire that is not quenched: which will fall
upon every soul of man that doth evil; whose course of life and conversation is evil; for “the soul that sins shall die”,
Eze 18:4, unless satisfaction is made for his sins by the blood of Christ:
of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; regard being had to what nation they belong.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Every soul of man ( ). See 13:1 for this use of for the individual.
Of the Jew first and also of the Greek ( H). See on 1:16. First not only in penalty as here, but in privilege also as in Rom 2:11; Rom 1:16.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Tribulation and anguish [ ] . For tribulation, see on Mt 13:21. Stenocwria anguish, which occurs only in Paul (viii. 35; 2Co 6:4; 2Co 12:10), literally means narrowness of place. The dominant idea is constraint. In Deu 23:53, 57, it describes the confinement of a siege. Trench remarks : “The fitness of this image is attested by the frequency with which, on the other hand, a state of joy is expressed in the Psalms and elsewhere, as a bringing into a large room,” Psa 117:5; 2Sa 22:20. Aquinas says : loetitia est latitia, joy is breadth.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) Tribulation and anguish, (thlipsis kai stenochoria)
Affliction, or trembling and anguish, painful pressure of emotions, a conscious experience of the effects of Divine disfavor, disapproval, and judgment, Luk 16:23-25; Rev 14:10-11.
2) Upon every soul of man that doeth evil (epi pasan psuchen anthropou tou katergazomenou to kakon) On every soul of man continually working evil, the great and the small, Rev 6:14-17. This expresses an over flow of Gods wrath after goodness, and forbearance, and mercy had been long despised.
3) To the Jew first, and also of the Gentile, (loudaiou te proton kai Hellenos) Both of Jew (in first priority) and of Greeks; as the order of Salvation offer, so is the order of the revelation of retribution of punishment to those who reject the gospel, Rom 1:16; The Jew is put first because the written law was first given to him, so that he was without excuse, Rom 1:20; Rom 2:1. To the Gentile second, though with less knowledge, was yet without excuse, Mat 11:22; 1Pe 4:17-18. This indicates that the greater light one has and rejects it, the greater shall be his judgment.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. To the Jew first, etc. He simply places, I have no doubt, the Jew in opposition to the Gentile; for those whom he calls Greeks he will presently call Gentiles. But the Jews take the precedence in this case, for they had, in preference to others, both the promises and the threatenings of the law; as though he had said, “This is the universal rule of the divine judgment; it shall begin with the Jews, and it shall include the whole world.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Upon every soul of man.The phrase is not quite the same as upon every man, but more special in character, indicating the part in which the punishment will be felt.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Tribulation and anguish Nominatives to shall be, understood. As indignation and wrath are tempers in the Divine mind, so tribulation and anguish are the results produced in the persons of the guilty.
Jew first Priority of offer, not superiority of reward or penalty. From this paragraph it is plain that in the system under Christ the Head men are born into a scene of probation. That is, our human system is a system of free agents upon whose will and determination it depends whether they attain eternal bliss or eternal woe.
This presupposes in man a free responsible will, with the full power in the given moral alternatives to decide either way. He decides for right with the full power of deciding for the wrong instead, and is therefore praiseworthy. Or he decides for wrong, while in possession of the power for having instead decided for right, and is therefore responsible and condemnable. If he does not possess this alternative power of choice for either way, but must choose but one sole way, (without any power of choosing otherwise,) then he is an intellectual machine, and is irresponsible; that is, unless he has flung away his power, in which case he is still responsible. Since man is not a free being, and there is no true responsible probation, unless his will is thus free, we may add that he is not free in the following cases:
1 . If while God professes to hold him free in a real probation He determines and decrees beforehand which way man shall choose. There is no probation where man’s action is thus previously fixed. That probation may be a fine piece of machinery, like a panorama, or an orrery, or the solar system itself, but it is no free probationary government.
2 . If such be, by the nature of things, the force of motives on the human will as to fix with absolute necessity the determinations of a man’s will, just as the springs fix the strokes of a clock-hammer, without adequate power to strike any otherwise, then man is only a spiritual and bodily machine, and is no more responsible than a clock, and there is no true probation.
3 . If the will of man by its own intrinsic nature always acts by fixed laws of so called invariable certainty, precisely according to the measure of motive force, man is not a free being. True and free certainty is the will-be, the future of an event apart from any fixed law. A future event that will be is certain, whether it is certain according to a fixed law, or whether it is a free certainty apart from and without such regulative law. If the will of man is under a certainty previously and eternal, fixed by law, it is not free. If that law be that he shall act according to the precise force of motives and no otherwise, then he is not free, and there is no true probation.
In these three cases, then namely, where either man’s actions are previously determined, decreed, or fore-ordained by Omnipotence; or where man’s actions are fixed by the necessitating force of presented motives; or where by its own intrinsic nature man’s will always acts with invariable law in accordance with force of motive in all these three cases there is no divine government, but only a vast machinery! There is no merit, no demerit. There is no desert of reward or penalty. The judgment day is no just reality. All is fatalism. And since God’s own will is also bound by similar laws, so God is subject to the same universal eternal fatalism! Such is not the system of the New Testament.
Dr. Hodge, indeed, argues: “Surely there is such a thing as being made willing without being forced. There is a middle ground between moral suasion and coercion. God supersedes the necessity of forcing, by making us willing in the day of his power.” Our reply is: In the sinner’s act of acceptance of God’s saving grace, we promptly deny any “make-willing” on the part of God which excludes man’s power of not-willing or refusing. God demands a free acceptance. He does not make a farce of our probation by first requiring our free will -ing, and then imposing upon us a “make-willing.” The free will- ing and the “make-willing” are incompatible.
From all this it moreover follows that if man be created, or if he be born into existence, without the power (either by nature or by supernatural provision) to do right and please God, he is not responsible or justly punishable. And if through his whole existence he never had power to will good, Divine Justice can never condemn him for any evil willing.
If for the fall of Adam, or any reason whatever, the whole human race is born unable to do good, it cannot, then, be damned for not doing good. To select or elect a part from this incapable whole, and oblige it to do good by power, is to make machines of that part. To leave the rest in incapacity for good, and then reprobate, that is, damn them for their evil, would be an infinite injustice, which it is an awful thing to charge upon a righteous God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rom 2:9-10. Upon every soul, &c. We see by these two verses, and chap. Rom 1:16 how carefully St. Paul lays it down, that there was now under the Gospel no other national distinction between Jews and Gentiles, but only a priority in the offer of the Gospel; which may farther satisfy us, that the distinction which St. Paul insists on so much here, and all through the first part of this epistle, is national; the comparison being between the Jews, as nationally the people of God, and the Gentiles, as not the people of God before the Messiah; and that under the Messiah the professors of Christianity, consisting chiefly of convertedGentiles, were the people of God, owned and acknowledged as such by him,the unbelieving Jews being rejected, and the unbelieving Gentiles not received; but that yet, personally, both Jews and Gentiles, every single person, shall be punished for his own particular sins; as appears by the next two verses.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 2:9-10 . Emphatic recapitulation of Rom 2:7-8 , inverting the order, and in addition, giving special prominence to the universality of the retribution. The placing the penal retribution first gives to this an aspect the more threatening and alarming, especially as the terms expressing it are now accumulated in one breath.
. ] Tribulation and anguish , sc [625] . The calamity is thus described as pressing upon them from without ( ), and as felt inwardly with the sense of its being beyond help ( . ), Rom 8:35 ; 2Co 4:7 ; 2Co 6:12 ; compare LXX. Isa 30:6 ; Deu 28:53 .
. ] denotes not simply “ upon every man ” (so even Philippi), but “ upon every soul which belongs to a man ” who practises evil. The is thereby designated as that which is affected by the . . . (Act 2:43 ; Mat 26:28 , al [626] ); comp Winer, p. 147 [E. T. 194]. It is the part which feels the pain. [628]
] Quite as in Rom 1:16 . The Jews, as the people of God, in possession of the revelation with its promises and threatenings, are therefore necessarily also those upon whom the retribution of judgment not the reward merely, but also the punishment has to find in the first instance its execution . In both aspects they have the priority based on their position in the history of salvation as the theocratic people, and that as certainly as God is impartial. “Judaei particeps Graecus,” Bengel. The Jewish conceit is counteracted in the first clause by , in the second by , and counteracted with sternly consistent earnestness. The second precludes our taking the first as ironical (Reiche).
] welfare , by which is intended that of the Messiah’s kingdom, as in Rom 8:6 . It is not materially different from the and of Rom 2:7 ; the totality of that which had already been described in special aspects by and (comp on Rom 2:7 ).
Regarding the distinction between . and . ( works and brings to pass ) see on Rom 1:27 .
[625] c. scilicet .
[626] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[628] See Ernesti, Urspr. d. Snde , II. p. 101 ff.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Ver. 9. Of the Jew first ] Qui ideo deteriores sunt, quia meliores esse deberent. Who are therefore worse, because they should be better. Salvian.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9. . . . ] An expression from the LXX (see reff.): the former signifying more the outward weight of objective infliction, the latter the subjective feeling of the pressure. It is possible, in the case of the suffering Christian , for the former to exist without the latter: so 2Co 4:8 , , . But here the objective weight of infliction and the subjective weight of anguish, are co-existent.
. . ] probably a periphrasis for the sake of emphasis and solemnity. Had it been (as Fritzsche and Meyer) to indicate that the soul is the suffering part of the man (nearly so Olsh.), it should have been as De W. observes, ., or (see reff.).
. ] and seem to have but this slight difference, that , answering rather to our ‘commit,’ is more naturally used of evil , as manifested and judged of by separate acts among men, whereas , answering to our ‘work,’ is used indifferently of both good and evil. That this is not always kept to, see reff., especially ch. Rom 7:18 , and Plato Legg. iii. p. 686, end, in both which places, however, definite acts are spoken of. The pres. part . denotes the status or habit of the man.
. ] Because the Jew has so much greater advantages, and better opportunities of knowing the divine will: and, therefore, pre-eminent responsibility.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 2:9 . is wrath within; wrath as it overflows. and , according to Trench, Synonyms , 55, express very nearly the same thing, under different images: the former taking the image of pressure, the latter that of confinement in a narrow space. But to draw a distinction between them, based on etymology, would be very misleading. In both pairs of words the same idea is expressed, only intensified by the reduplication. Supply for the changed construction. : who works at evil and works it out or accomplishes it. The Jew is put first, because as possessor of an express law this is conspicuously true of him.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Tribulation. Greek. thlipsis. See Act 7:10.
anguish. Greek. stenochoria. Here, Rom 8:35. 2Co 6:4; 2Co 12:10.
soul. Greek. psuche. App-110.
doeth = worketh. Greek. katergazomai. See Rom 1:27.
evil = the evil. Greek. kakos. App-128.
Jew . . . Gentile. Compare Rom 1:16.
also. Omit.
Gentile = Greek.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9. . . .] An expression from the LXX (see reff.): the former signifying more the outward weight of objective infliction,-the latter the subjective feeling of the pressure. It is possible, in the case of the suffering Christian, for the former to exist without the latter: so 2Co 4:8, , . But here the objective weight of infliction and the subjective weight of anguish, are co-existent.
. .] probably a periphrasis for the sake of emphasis and solemnity. Had it been (as Fritzsche and Meyer) to indicate that the soul is the suffering part of the man (nearly so Olsh.), it should have been as De W. observes, ., or (see reff.).
.] and seem to have but this slight difference,-that , answering rather to our commit, is more naturally used of evil, as manifested and judged of by separate acts among men, whereas , answering to our work, is used indifferently of both good and evil. That this is not always kept to, see reff., especially ch. Rom 7:18, and Plato Legg. iii. p. 686, end, in both which places, however, definite acts are spoken of. The pres. part. denotes the status or habit of the man.
. ] Because the Jew has so much greater advantages, and better opportunities of knowing the divine will: and, therefore, pre-eminent responsibility.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 2:9. , affliction and anxiety [tribulation and anguish]. , affliction or tribulation for the present; , anxiety or anguish, in regard to things future; , affliction, or tribulation, presses down; , frets and harasses [stuat et urget], Job 15:20, etc. In these words we have a proof of the avenging justice of God; for the anger of God has for its object, to teach the sinful creature, who is experiencing wrath and every species of adversity, to have himself, because in his whole conduct, he has set himself in opposition to God; and so long as the creature shrinks from this most just hatred of himself, he continues under punishment.- , every soul) This term adds to the universal character of the discourse, ch. Rom 13:1.-, first). So Psa 94:10 : He that chastiseth the nations, shall he not correct (you among the people?). The Greek is a partaker [in the judgment] along with the Jew.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 2:9
Rom 2:9
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil,-Misery of all descriptions, without the possibility of escape, will this righteous Judge inflict upon every man that doeth evil. Of course, this takes for granted that the sinner has passed through life in sin, or has never repented and been forgiven.]
of the Jew first,-To the Jew first only because he had been favored above all others, and had fuller knowledge, and, therefore, deeper responsibility.
and also of the Greek;-This word, though usually denoting the Greek, includes the other Gentiles also. The two words, Jew and Greek, include the whole human family.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Tribulation: Pro 1:27, Pro 1:28, 2Th 1:6
soul: Eze 18:4, Mat 16:26
of the Jew: Rom 2:10, Rom 1:16, Rom 3:29, Rom 3:30, Rom 4:9-12, Rom 9:24, Rom 10:12, Rom 15:8, Rom 15:9, Amo 3:2, Mat 11:20-24, Luk 2:30-32, Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48, Luk 24:47, Act 3:26, Act 11:18, Act 13:26, Act 13:46, Act 13:47, Act 18:5, Act 18:6, Act 20:21, Act 26:20, Act 28:17, Act 28:28, Gal 2:15, Gal 2:16, Gal 3:28, Eph 2:11-17, Col 3:11, 1Pe 4:17
Gentile: Gr. Greek
Reciprocal: Num 5:31 – bear Num 32:23 – be sure your sin Deu 11:28 – General Deu 28:15 – if thou wilt 1Sa 12:15 – But if ye 2Ch 6:23 – requiting Job 10:15 – If I be wicked Job 15:24 – anguish Job 21:17 – distributeth Job 36:12 – if Job 40:11 – Cast Psa 9:17 – The wicked Psa 18:26 – froward Psa 32:10 – Many Psa 78:49 – cast Psa 90:7 – are we Pro 10:29 – but Pro 11:19 – he Pro 11:23 – expectation Pro 16:5 – unpunished Isa 17:11 – a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow Isa 34:8 – General Jer 9:25 – that Eze 16:43 – I also Eze 16:59 – I will Eze 22:31 – their own Eze 24:13 – till I Mic 3:4 – as Mat 13:41 – and them Rom 6:13 – unrighteousness Gal 5:21 – that they 2Pe 2:13 – the reward
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rom 2:9. Tribulation and anguish. The parallelism is continued in reverse order. Tribulation refers to the external weight of affliction; anguish to the internal sense of its weight, hence it forms the climax (comp. references).
Every soul of man. An emphatic and solemn way of saying every man (comp. chap. Rom 13:1), but possibly implying that it is the soul which feels the pain. That the body may not share in the punishment is not stated, here or elsewhere.
Is working out evil. We attempt, by this rendering, to bring out the difference between the verbs here and in Rom 2:10; also to express the continuous action implied. The article is found in the original (the evil, the good). The verb, which means to work out, to accomplish, is stronger than the simple verb which occurs in Rom 2:10.
Of the Jew first. First in privilege, the Jew becomes first in responsibility; comp. Rom 1:16. It now becomes evident that this chapter refers especially to the Jews.
Of the Greek. This represents Gentile, as in chap. Rom 1:16; but it should be correctly translated here and in Rom 2:10, as it is the previous instance.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 9, 10. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that effecteth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; but glory and honor and peace to every man that doeth good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek!
The asyndeton indicates, as it always does, the more emphatic reassertion of the previous idea: Yes, tribulation and anguish!
The antithesis of Rom 2:7-8 is reproduced in inverse order, not only to avoid the monotony of a too exact parallelism, but chiefly because, following up Rom 2:8 (wrath and indignation), the idea of Rom 2:9 (tribulation and anguish) presented itself more naturally than that of Rom 2:10 (glory and honor and peace); comp. the same arrangement, Luk 1:51-53. The terms tribulation and anguish describe the moral and external state of the man on whom the indignation and wrath of the judge fall (Rom 2:8). Tribulation is the punishment itself (corresponding to wrath); anguish is the wringing of the heart which the punishment produces; it corresponds to the judge’s indignation. The soul is mentioned as the seat of feeling. The phrase, every soul of man, expresses the equality and universality of the treatment dealt out. Yet within this equality there is traced a sort of preference both as to judgment and salvation respectively (Rom 2:10), to the detriment and advantage of the Jew. When he says first, the apostle has no doubt in view (as in Rom 1:16) a priority in time; comp. 1Pe 4:17. Must we not, however, apply at the same time the principle laid down by Jesus, Luk 12:41-48, according to which he who receives most benefits is also the man who has the heaviest responsibility? In any case, therefore, whoever escapes judgment, it will not be the Jew; if there were but one judged, it would be he. Such is the apostle’s answer to the claim alleged, Rom 2:3 : , that thou, thou alone, shalt escape.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek;
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul, that worketh out the evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. Jew here represents the whole world who claim to be godly; the Greek, the non-professors. Worketh out the evil has a final signification, i. e., indicating the ultimate destiny of every soul. As you observe the people within the circle of your acquaintance, you will find the general trend either to the good or the bad developing a finale, one way or the other, before they leave the world. All wind up this life confirmed either in holiness and God or this world and Satan. The church means the called out of the world, while sanctification means taking the world out of you and thus perfecting your separation from the world and Satan, who is its god. One way or the other there is in every case a working out of the problem for salvation or damnation.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 9
Of the Jew first, &c.; meaning that with the priority in respect to privilege and honor, which the Jew enjoyed, there was connected the priority in punishment if he disobeyed.