Romans 2.9-Unregenerate Jew and Gentile Will Receive Tribulation and Anguish
Prairie View Christian Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday August 14, 2007
Romans: Romans 2:9-Unregenerate Jew and Gentile Will Receive Tribulation and Anguish
Lesson # 49
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 2:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter two and the twelve principles of divine judgment that are contained in this chapter.
Last Thursday, we began a study of the seventh principle of divine judgment, which is taught by Paul in Romans 2:7-10, namely, that man reaps what he sows in that obedience will be rewarded whereas disobedience will result in judgment.
We began this section by noting Romans 2:7, which teaches that according to the believer’s perseverance, which produces work that is divine in quality, glory, honor and immortality will be rewarded to them at the Bema Seat by the Lord for diligently and tenaciously pursuing eternal life, i.e. Christ-likeness.
Sunday morning we studied Romans 2:8, which teaches that the unbeliever who is motivated by inordinate selfish ambition and disobeys the truth while obeying unrighteousness will be the recipient of God’s righteous indignation at the Great White Throne Judgment of all unbelievers throughout history.
This evening we will note Romans 2:9, which teaches that in addition to being the recipient of the righteous indignation of God, the unbeliever, whether Jew or Gentile will also receive tribulation and anguish of soul for rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior.
Romans 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
Romans 2:2, “And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.”
Romans 2:3, “But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?”
Romans 2:4, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”
Romans 2:5-8, “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.”
Romans 2:9-11, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek for there is no partiality with God.”
Now, let’s look at Romans 2:9 in greater detail.
Corrected translation of Romans 2:9: “There will be tribulation and distress upon each and every soul of man, who continue to accomplish that which is evil, namely, both to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Romans 2:9, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.”
“Tribulation” is the nominative feminine singular form of the noun thlipsis (qliyi$) (thlip-sis), which is derived from the root thleo (qlevw), which means “to squeeze, to crush.”
The English word “tribulation” is derived from the Latin word tribulum, which literally refers “to a thing with teeth that tears,” and was a heavy piece of timber with spikes in it, used for threshing corn or grain.
The tribulum was drawn over the grain and it separated the wheat from the chaff.
Thlipsis may be either external or internal in origin and is occasionally found coupled with stenochoria as we have here in Romans 2:9.
From Thucydides onwards, stenochoria was used to express a narrow place, and hence being pressed by inner and outer difficulties.
Thlipsis and stenochoria refer to the same thing under different images with the proper meaning of the former is “pressure” whereas the latter means “narrowness of room, confined space,” and the painfulness that is the result.
In Romans 2:9, the noun thlipsis is used with reference to the unbeliever and expresses the concept of being squeezed or placed under intense pressure or crushed beneath a weight.
In context, the word refers to the intense suffering that the unbeliever will experience in the lake of fire for all eternity for rejecting Jesus Christ as their Savior.
In Romans 2:9, the terms thlipsis, “tribulation” and stenochoria, “distress” are the result of orge, “wrath” and thumos, “indignation” that appear in Romans 2:8.
As we noted, in our study of Romans 2:8, the noun orge refers to a holy God’s “attitude” of righteous indignation towards sin whereas the noun thumos denotes the “manifestation” of that righteous indignation at the Great White Throne Judgment.
At that time, the Lord Jesus Christ will execute the sentence of eternal condemnation upon the unbeliever for rejecting Him as their Savior.
In Romans 2:9, the noun thlipsis, “tribulation” expresses the result of receiving the execution of this sentence.
The word emphasizes the intense suffering the unbeliever will experience in a resurrection body while in the lake of fire.
Remember, the unbeliever will receive a resurrection body that will enable him to suffer eternal condemnation for all of eternity in the lake of fire according to Daniel 12:1-2, Matthew 10:28.
Daniel 12:1-2, “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”
Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Mark 9:47-48, “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.”
Therefore, in Romans 2:9, the noun thlipsis, “tribulation” is used with reference to the unbeliever and emphasizes the intense physical suffering he will experience as a result of being thrown into the lake of fire for all of eternity for rejecting Jesus Christ as his Savior.
Romans 2:9, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.”
“Distress” is the feminine singular form of the noun stenochoria (stenoxwriva) (sten-okh-o-ree-ah), which literally means, “a narrow place, a confined space and the intense anxiety as a result of experiencing this condition.”
The word pictures finding oneself in a “tight corner,” hemmed in with no way out, in a narrow strait without the possibility of escape.
Stenochoria expresses the idea of being locked in solitary confinement and having no possibility of escape and the extreme anxiety that accompanies this.
Albert Barnes commenting on the noun stenochoria, writes that the word, “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. It is thus expressive of the punishment of the wicked. It means that they shall be compressed with the manifestations of God’s displeasure, so as to be in deep distress, and so as not to know where to find relief.”
The noun stenochoria is used metaphorically referring to great anxiety and distress of mind, such as arises when a man does not know where to turn himself or what to do for relief.
While thlipsis emphasizes troubles and adversity that press upon from without, stenochoria emphasizes the anguish or anxiety, which arises in the soul as a result of thlipsis.
One of the reasons why solitary confinement has long been considered the worst forms of punishment is that it separates the prisoner from all human contact.
Part of the torment of the lake of fire will be its absolute, isolated, lonely, and eternal confinement, with no possible hope of release or escape.
In Romans 2:8-9, the apostle Paul employs four words that emphasize the principle of cause and effect: (1) Orge (2) Thumos (3) Thlipsis (4) Stenochoria.
The first word orge emphasizes God’s “attitude” of righteous indignation towards sinners who reject Christ as Savior while thumos emphasizes the “manifestation” of that righteous indignation at the Great White Throne Judgment when the unbeliever will be thrown into the lake of fire for all of eternity.
The noun thlipsis emphasizes the intense physical suffering that the unbeliever will experience in the lake of fire while stenochoria emphasizes the intense anxiety that he will experience when he realizes that he will never be released and has no hope of escape from his suffering.
Romans 2:9, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.”
“Every” is the adjective pas (pa$), which is modifying the noun psuche, “soul” and is used in a distributive sense referring to each and every member of the human race who rejects Jesus Christ as their Savior.
The distributive use of the adjective pas implies that God is impartial and that no one will escape eternal condemnation for rejecting Jesus Christ as their Savior.
“Soul” is the accusative feminine singular form of the noun psuche (yuxhv) (psoo-kay), which refers to the immaterial invisible attributes of man, namely, his volition, self-consciousness, conscience, mentality and emotion.
“Of man” is the genitive (of possession) masculine singular form of the noun anthropos (a*nqrwpo$) (anth-ro-pos), which is used in a generic sense for unregenerate humanity.
“Who does” is the verb katergazomai (katergavzomai) (kat-er-gad-zo-my), which emphasizes the end result of an action rather than on the actual act or work itself, thus the idea inherent in katergazomai is to finish what one has begun.
Paul employs the verb katergazomai in order to emphasize that unregenerate humanity works with effort to bring their evil deeds to fulfillment or completion.
“Evil” is the adjective kakos (kakov$) (kak-os), which describes that which is done against the laws of God and in opposition to Him and independently of Him and can refer to both moral and immoral degeneracy.
Where the noun poneros refers to the evil nature in man, which produces evil, kakos, describes the actions that flow from this evil nature.
“Jew” is the proper name Ioudaios ( )Ioudaio$) (ee-oo-dah-yos), which refers to those members of the human race who are descendants racially of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and members of the nation of Israel.
“First” is the adverb of degree proton (prwton) (pro-ton) emphasizing the priority given to the Jews to receive eternal condemnation from God.
“Greek” is the proper name Hellen ( %Ellhn) (hel-lane), which is used in contrast to the term Ioudaios, “Jew” and thus refers to those members of the human race who are not Jewish racially and who speak the Greek language fluently and were knowledgeable of Greek culture.
Robert H. Mounce commenting on this expression, writes, “Ironically, priority in blessing (Rom. 1:16) results in priority in judgment. Israel was privileged to be the first to receive the revelation of God. But spiritual privilege carried with it spiritual responsibility. Failure brought ‘trouble and distress.’” (The New American Commentary, volume 27, Romans, page 92; Broadman and Holman Publishers)
The Jews received first priority to hear the presentation of the gospel since they were elected as a nation by God (See Romans 11:1), Christ was a Jew (Romans 9:5), and they have a preference expressed historically in a chronological priority as the Lord stated in John 4:22 that “salvation is of the Jews.”
However, as Mounce writes, their privileged status carried with it spiritual responsibility, which they failed in by committing the same sins that the Gentiles were involved with.
The expression “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” places the Jew on equal footing with the Gentile with respect to the need for salvation and expresses the fact that God does not play favorites and that the Jew has no advantage over the Gentile so as to escape eternal condemnation.
Romans 3:10, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE.”
The judgment of God will be according to privilege or light received or in other words, according to the divine revelation received.
The Jews were first in privilege as God’s earthly chosen people and they will be first in responsibility.
Therefore, Israel will receive severer punishment because she was given greater light and blessing (see note Romans 9:3-4).
Jesus taught this principle in the gospel of Matthew declaring it to a Jewish audience.
Matthew 11:21-22, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.”
Paul’s purpose in demonstrating to his fellow countrymen that they are just as guilty as the Gentiles before a holy God was so that they might see their need for a Savior and believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior as he had done.
