Romans - 2:5



5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Romans 2:5.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
but, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up to thyself wrath, in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
but, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou dost treasure up to thyself wrath, in a day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
But after your hardness and impenitent heart treasure up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
The fact is that in the stubbornness of your impenitent heart you are treasuring up against yourself anger on the day of Anger - the day when the righteousness of God's judgements will stand revealed.
But by your hard and unchanged heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of the revelation of God's judging in righteousness;
But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
But in accord with your hard and impenitent heart, you store up wrath for yourself, unto the day of wrath and of revelation by the just judgment of God.
Hard-hearted and impenitent as you are, you are storing up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath, when God's justice as a judge will be revealed;
Sed, juxta duritiam tuam, et cor poenitere nescium, thesaurizas tibi iram in diem irae et revelations justi judicii Dei;

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

But according to thy hardness, etc. When we become hardened against the admonitions of the Lord, impenitence follows; and they who are not anxious about repentance openly provoke the Lord. [1] This is a remarkable passage: we may hence learn what I have already referred to -- that the ungodly not only accumulate for themselves daily a heavier weight of God's judgments, as long as they live here, but that the gifts of God also, which they continually enjoy, shall increase their condemnation; for an account of them all will be required: and it will then be found, that it will be justly imputed to them as an extreme wickedness, that they had been made worse through God's bounty, by which they ought surely to have been improved. Let us then take heed, lest by unlawful use of blessings we lay up for ourselves this cursed treasure. For the day, etc.; literally, in the day; but it is put for eis hemeran, for the day. The ungodly gather now the indignation of God against themselves, the stream of which shall then be poured on their heads: they accumulate hidden destruction, which then shall be drawn out from the treasures of God. The day of the last judgment is called the day of wrath, when a reference is made to the ungodly; but it will be a day of redemption to the faithful. And thus all other visitations of God are ever described as dreadful and full of terror to the ungodly; and on the contrary, as pleasant and joyful to the godly. Hence whenever the Scripture mentions the approach of the Lord, it bids the godly to exult with joy; but when it turns to the reprobate, it proclaims nothing but dread and terror. "A day of wrath," saith Zephaniah, "shall be that day, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and wretchedness, a day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of mist and of whirlwind." (Zephaniah 1:15.) You have a similar description in Joel 2:2, etc. And Amos exclaims, "Woe To You Who Desire The Day Of The Lord! What Will It Be To You? The Day Of The Lord Will Be Darkness, And Not Light." (Amos 5:18.) Farther, by adding the word revelation, Paul intimates what this day of wrath is to be, -- that the Lord will then manifest his judgment: though he gives daily some indications of it, he yet suspends and holds back, till that day, the clear and full manifestation of it; for the books shall then be opened; the sheep shall then be separated the goats, and the wheat shall be cleansed from the tares.

Footnotes

1 - What follows in the text, according to Calvin, is this, "et Corinthians poeni tere nescium -- and a heart that knoweth not to repent;" kai ametanoeton kardian, which Schleusner renders thus, "animus, qui omnem emendationem respuit -- a mind which rejects every improvement." It is an impenitable rather than "an impenitent heart," that is, a heart incapable of repenting. See Ephesians 4:19. -- Ed.

But after thy hardness - The word "after" here κατά kata means in respect to, or you act according to the direct tendency of a hard heart in treasuring up wrath. The word "hardness" is used to denote insensibility of mind. It properly means what is insensible to the touch, or on which no impression is made by contact, as a stone, etc. Hence, it is applied to the mind, to denote a state where no motives make an impression; which is insensible to all the appeals made to it; see Matthew 25:24; Matthew 19:8; Acts 19:9. And here it expresses a state of mind where the goodness and forbearance of God have no effect. The man still remains obdurate, to use a word which has precisely the meaning of the Greek in this place. It is implied in this expression that the direct tendency, or the inevitable result, of that state of mind was to treasure up wrath, etc.
Impenitent heart - A heart which is not affected with sorrow for sin, in view of the mercy and goodness of God. This is an explanation of what he meant by hardness.
Treasurest up - To treasure up, or to lay up treasure, commonly denotes a laying by in a place of security of property that may be of use to us at some future period. In this place it is used, however, in a more general sense, to accumulate, to increase. It still has the idea of hoarding up, carries the thought beautifully and impressively onward to future times. Wrath, like wealth treasured up, is not exhausted at present, and hence, the sinner becomes bolder in sin. But it exists, for future use; it is kept in store (compare 2-Peter 3:7) against future times; and the man who commits sin is only increasing this by every act of transgression. The same sentiment is taught in a most solemn manner in Deuteronomy 32:34-35. It may be remarked here, that most people have an immense treasure of this kind in store, which eternal ages of pain will not exhaust or diminish! Stores of wrath are thus reserved for a guilty world, and in due time it "will come upon man to the uttermost," 1-Thessalonians 2:16.
Unto thyself - For thyself, and not for another; to be exhausted on thee, and not on your fellow-man. This is the case with every sinner, as really and as certainly as though he were the only solitary mortal in existence.
Wrath - Note, Romans 1:18.
Day of wrath - The day when God shall show or execute his wrath against sinners; compare Revelation 6:17; 1-Thessalonians 1:10; John 3:36; Ephesians 5:6.
And revelation - On the day when the righteous judgment of God will be revealed, or made known. Here we learn:
(1) That the punishment of the wicked will be just. It will not he a judgment of caprice or tyranny, but a righteous judgment, that is, such a judgment as it will be right to render, or as ought to be rendered, and therefore such as God will render, for he will do right; 2-Thessalonians 1:6.
(2) the punishment of the wicked is future. It is not exhausted in this life. It is treasured up for a future day, and that day is a day of wrath. How contrary to this text are the pretences of those who maintain that all punishment is executed in this life.
(3) how foolish as well as wicked is it to lay up such a treasure for the future; to have the only inheritance in the eternal world, an inheritance of wrath and wo!

But after thy hardness - Occasioned by thy long course of iniquity. And impenitent heart-produced by thy hardness, through which thou art callous to the calls and expostulations of conscience. Treasurest up - continuest to increase thy debt to the Divine justice, which will infallibly inflict wrath - punishment in the day of wrath - the judgment day, in which he will render to every man according to his works. The word treasure the Hebrew uses to express any kind of store or collection: - Treasure or plenty of rain. Deuteronomy 28:12 : The Lord shall open unto thee his good Treasure, to give the Rain unto thy land. Treasure of punishment. Deuteronomy 32:34, Deuteronomy 32:35 : Is not this sealed up among my Treasures? To me belongeth Vengeance and Recompense. Treasures of mines, i.e. abundance of minerals. Deuteronomy 33:19 : They shall suck of the Abundance of the seas, and of Treasures hid in the sand. So treasures of gold, silver, corn, wine, oil, etc., mean collections or an abundance of such things: the word is used by the Greek writers precisely in the same sense. By wrath we are to understand punishment, as in Romans 1:18; and it is used so by the very best Greek writers. See Kypke.
The treasure of wrath, in this verse, is opposed to the riches of goodness, in the preceding. As surely as thou despisest, or neglectest to improve the Riches of God's Goodness, so surely thou shalt share in the Treasures of his Wrath. The punishment shall be proportioned to the mercy thou hast abused.

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart (c) treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
(c) While you are giving yourself to pleasures, thinking to increase your goods, you will find God's wrath.

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart,.... The apostle goes on to show, that such persons who promise themselves impunity on the score of prosperity, shall not always go unobserved and unpunished; for there is a day of wrath and righteous judgment hastening on, and will take place after they have filled up the measure of their iniquity. There is a natural "hardness" of the heart in every son and daughter of Adam; and there is an acquired habitual hardness, which is increased by sinning; and a judicial one, which God, for sin, sometimes gives persons up unto. An "impenitent heart" is not only an heart which does not repent, but such an one as cannot repent, being harder than the nether millstone. Now men, by such hardness and impenitence,
treasure up unto themselves wrath: they are the authors of their own destruction; by which is meant the wrath of God, in opposition to the riches of his goodness, despised by them; and is in reserve for wicked men: and is laid up
against, and will be brought forth in
the day of wrath; which the Scriptures call "the evil day", Amos 6:3 Ephesians 6:13; the day fixed by God, when he will call men to an account for their sins, and stir up all his wrath against them:
and revelation; that is, the day of revelation, when Christ shall be revealed from heaven in flames of fire, the sins of men shall be revealed, and the wrath of God against them:
of the righteous judgment of God; so some copies read; that is, the day of the righteous judgment; so the Arabic version reads, "and of the appearance of God, and of his righteous judgment"; for the judgment will be at the appearance of Christ, who is God, and at his kingdom, 2-Timothy 4:1. The Alexandrian copy reads, "and of the retribution of the righteous judgment of God"; and so the Ethiopic version seems to have read, rendering the words, "if so", or "seeing thy retribution may come upon thee", and "if the judgment of God may befall thee"; for when the judgment of God shall come, as there will be a revelation of men's sins, and of the wrath of God against them, there will be a just retribution according to their works. Or "the revelation of the righteous judgment of God"; that is, when the judgment of God, which is now hid, shall appear; and which is said to be "righteous", because it will be carried on in a righteous manner, and proceed upon, and be executed according to the strictest rules of justice and equity.

treasurest up unto thyself wrath against--rather "in."
the day of wrath--that is wrath to come on thee in the day of wrath. What an awful idea is here expressed--that the sinner himself is amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating stock of divine wrath, to burst upon him in "the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God!" And this is said not of the reckless, but of those who boasted of their purity of faith and life.

Treasurest up wrath - Although thou thinkest thou art treasuring up all good things. O what a treasure may a man lay up either way, in this short day of life! To thyself - Not to him whom thou judgest. In the day of wrath, and revelation, and righteous judgment of God - Just opposite to "the goodness and forbearance and longsuffering" of God. When God shall be revealed, then shall also be "revealed" the secrets of men's hearts, Romans 2:16. Forbearance and revelation respect God, and are opposed to each other; longsuffering and righteous judgment respect the sinner; goodness and wrath are words of a more general import.

*More commentary available at chapter level.


Discussion on Romans 2:5

User discussion of the verse.






*By clicking Submit, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use.