Romans 2:22
in Romans 2You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples?
KJV
Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
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This verse in Romans 2
Commentary
12 notes on this verse"But if you are called a Jew, and rest in the law, and glory in God, and know his will, and approve the more useful things, being instructed by the law, and are confident that you are a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, having the form of knowledge and of truth in the law. You then who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?
This site's exposition
you, then, who teach others
on Romans 2:21-22
The build collapses in four questions. The man who teaches others is asked whether he teaches himself, and the man who preaches against stealing is asked whether he steals. Two more counts follow, adultery and temple robbery, hierosyleo, profiting from the idols he says he abhors.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS · Written before 253.
proposed
For they become ridiculous even to the Gentiles themselves when, following the letter of the Law, they say: "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle: all of which things are unto corruption according to the commandments and doctrines of men." But these things the Apostle indeed says to him who is a Jew in name, not in deed; yet they can pertain also to every man in whom there is only the name of religion and piety, while works, and knowledge, and faith are lacking. And therefore we ought to examine these matters with greater care in ourselves than in those who do not come to faith in Christ, lest any of us who through faith in Christ and through the circumcision given in baptism has been made a true Jew, and rests in the law of Christ, and boasts also that, having driven off the error of idols, he has come to know God and that His will has become known to him (for he knows how to prove what is good, and well-pleasing, and perfect, and has advanced so far that he is even a leader and teacher of the Church for enlightening those who are blind in knowledge, and for instructing the little ones in Christ) — lest, I say, such a man be willing indeed to teach others quite strictly, and to demand from those whom he instructs the highest discipline of chastity, while he himself is driven by the vice of intemperance and of covetousness, and sometimes even burns with the flames of hidden lust. To a man of this sort, then, this apostolic word is fittingly applied, saying to him: "You who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? […]
A commentator
Desert FathersThe Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks · Written before 500.
proposed
Poemen also said, 'Teach your heart to follow what your tongue is saying to others.' He also said, 'Men try to appear excellent in preaching but they are less excellent in practising what they preach.'
The Jew adulterates the law by removing the truth of Christ from it and putting lies in his place. In another of his epistles Paul writes: "They are adulterers of God's Word." A man is sacrilegious when he denies Christ, whom the law and the …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Second, in regard to defiling another person through adultery, when he says: you who say men should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? They are all adulterers, like a heated oven (Hos 7:4); each neighing for his neighbor's wife (Jer 5:8). Third, he indicates …
By sacrilege he means the theft of things dedicated to idols; for although they abhorred idols, yet, being possessed by love of money, they laid hands on things dedicated to idols out of shameful greed.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery,.... Adultery here is to be taken not figuratively for adulterating the word of God, and mixing it with their own inventions; but literally for the sin of adultery, and that not in heart only, but in act: dost thou commit adultery? an iniquity which greatly prevailed among the Jews at this time of day; hence Christ calls them "an adulterous generation", Mat 12:39; and that to such a degree, that by the advice of their great Rabbi, R.
The greatest obstructors of the success of the word are those whose bad lives contradict their good doctrine, who in the pulpit preach so well that it is a pity they should ever come out, and out of the pulpit live so ill that it is a pity they should ever come in. He specifies three particular sins that abound among the Jews:-- (1.) Stealing.
This is likewise charged upon that sinner ( Ps. l. 18 ), Thou hast been partaker with adulterers. Many of the Jewish rabbin are said to have been notorious for this sin.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Dost thou commit adultery? - There is no doubt that this was a crime very common among the Jews; see the Mat 12:39 note; Joh 8:1-11 notes. The Jewish Talmud accuses some of the most celebrated of their Rabbies, by name, of this vice. (Grotius.) Josephus also gives the same account of the nation. Thou that abhorrest idols - It was one of the doctrines of their religion to abhor idolatry. This they were everywhere taught in the Old Testament; and this they doubtless inculcated in their teaching. It was impossible that they could recommend idolatry.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Behold--"But if" is, beyond doubt, the true reading here. (It differs but in a single letter from the received reading, and the sense is the same).
The words behind it
10 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ | ho | You who [are] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| λέγων | legon | saying | G3004 → | 1325 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| μοιχεύειν | moicheuein | to commit adultery | G3431 → | 14 times |
| μοιχεύεις; | moicheueis | do you commit adultery? | G3431 → | 14 times |
| ὁ | ho | You who [are] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| βδελυσσόμενος | bdelussomenos | abhorring | G948 → | |
| τὰ | ta | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| εἴδωλα | eidola | idols | G1497 → | |
| ἱεροσυλεῖς; | hi'erosuleis | do you rob temples? | G2416 → |
ὁYou who [are]
hoG3588 →19766 times
λέγωνsaying
legonG3004 →1325 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
μοιχεύεινto commit adultery
moicheueinG3431 →14 times
μοιχεύεις;do you commit adultery?
moicheueisG3431 →14 times
ὁYou who [are]
hoG3588 →19766 times
βδελυσσόμενοςabhorring
bdelussomenosG948 →
τὰ<the>
taG3588 →19766 times
εἴδωλαidols
eidolaG1497 →
ἱεροσυλεῖς;do you rob temples?
hi'erosuleisG2416 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 3:8Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:9–10
Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;
- Matthew 22:21
“Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
- Mark 12:17
Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And they marveled at Him.
- Psalms 29:2
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness.
- Proverbs 3:9–10
Through
Matthew 16:4A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.
it leads to
- Luke 11:29–30
As the crowds were increasing, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.
- Matthew 12:39–40
Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
- Mark 8:38
If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jonah 1:17
Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.
- Luke 11:29–30
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
About Romans
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistle to the Romans; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans.