Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God. This was a bold and startling declaration to make at Rome, to a community whether of Romans or of Jews; for these two nations were each, above all others at that moment, convinced that such a respect did actually exist in their special favour. The Roman deemed his own the favoured race, and regarded the extent of his dominion as a conclusive proof of it. The Jew, with no less complacency, maintained that the Divine preference of himself was intimated by the spiritual advantages he manifestly enjoyed, and the glorious hopes proclaimed to him. To require the Jew and the Roman each to surrender the assurance on which he relied, and admit the other to an equal footing in Divine favour, was indeed a bold undertaking. But between the Jew and the Roman there stood also the Greek, and the Epistle of St. Paul was addressed to the Greek equally with both the others; perhaps, indeed, to the Greek more directly than to either of them, inasmuch as the Grecian element in the early Roman Church was larger probably than either of the others. The Greek, too, had a pride of his own, a pride in his intellectual culture; and he looked down from his own point of view with equal scorn on both the Roman and the Jew. He, too, would despise, if he dared not resent, the apostolic declaration of a universal equality of the races. (Dean Merivale.) Parallel Verses KJV: For there is no respect of persons with God. |
    |