SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:16
prohibindonos hablar a los gentiles, a fin de que se salven, para llenar la medida de sus pecados siempre, porque la ira (de Dios) los ha alcanzado hasta el extremo.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 16. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved , etc.] Speaking or preaching the Gospel is the ordinary means of saving souls, or of acquainting them with the way of salvation, the necessity of it, and of the application of it to them, and with this end and view it is preached: now though the Jews disbelieved the Gospel, and despised the ministry of it, and disavowed any such use and end of it, yet such was their envy at the Gentiles, and their hatred of them, that could they have believed it to be the means of salvation, they would have forbidden the preaching of it to them, as they now did; and it is certain, that even the believing Jews, through ignorance, did at first disapprove of the ministry of the word to the Gentiles; (see Acts 11:1-3) such was the aversion of that nation to all others, and which perfectly agrees with their general sentiments, which forbid the explanation of the law to the Gentiles; and therefore it need not be wondered at, that they should do all that in them lay to hinder the entrance and spread of the Gospel among them, of which take the following proof f6 : whoever has not the holy name sealed and bound in his flesh (i.e. is not circumcised) atyrwad hlm hyl a[dwal rysa it is forbidden to make known to him a word of the law, and much less to study in it and whoever is not circumcised, and they give to him atyrwad ryxz ta , the least thing in the law, it is as if he destroyed the world, and dealt falsely with the name of God Hillell and Shammai did not make known to Onkelos a word of the law, until he was circumcised and the traditions are, that even though a man is circumcised, yet if he does not do the commands of the law, lo, he is as a Gentile in all things, and it is forbidden to teach him the words of the law: nay, it is a rule with the Jews f7 , that if a Gentile studies in the law, he is guilty of death: and thus were they left in providence, to judicial blindness and hardness of heart, to fill up their sins alway ; the measure of their own and their fathers' iniquities; (see Matthew 23:32) a phrase expressive of the abounding of their sins, and of their being under a divine appointment, and of their being limited and restrained by a divine power, and overruled by infinite wisdom, to answer some ends and purposes of God's glory; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost : which is to be understood, not of their wrath and fury being come to its highest degree and pitch against the followers of Christ, but of the wrath of God, as the Vulgate Latin version and Beza's ancient copy express it; and designs not so much eternal punishment, as the Ethiopic version renders the phrase, or everlasting wrath and damnation on the reprobate part of that people, as temporal ruin and destruction, which was now near at hand, and hung over their heads; and therefore is said to be come to them, and which in a little time fell upon their nation and city, and temple, even to the uttermost, to the last degree; and was, as the Arabic version renders it, wrath consuming; or the consummation, and that determined poured upon the desolate, spoken of in ( Daniel 9:27) and which, as it is come upon them, will remain unto the end, as the phrase may also be rendered; unto the end of the world, until the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, and then God's elect among the Jews shall obtain mercy, and be called, and so all Israel shall be saved, ( Romans 11:25,26).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 13-16 - We should receive the word of God with affections suitable to it holiness, wisdom, truth, and goodness. The words of men are frail an perishing, like themselves, and sometimes false, foolish, and fickle but God's word is holy, wise, just, and faithful. Let us receive an regard it accordingly. The word wrought in them, to make them example to others in faith and good works, and in patience under sufferings and in trials for the sake of the gospel. Murder and persecution ar hateful to God, and no zeal for any thing in religion can excuse it Nothing tends more to any person or people's filling up the measure of their sins, than opposing the gospel, and hindering the salvation of souls. The pure gospel of Christ is abhorred by many, and the faithfu preaching of it is hindered in many ways. But those who forbid the preaching it to sinners, to men dead in sin, do not by this please God Those have cruel hearts, and are enemies to the glory of God, and to the salvation of his people, who deny them the Bible.
Greek Textus Receptus
κωλυοντων 2967 5723 ημας 2248 τοις 3588 εθνεσιν 1484 λαλησαι 2980 5658 ινα 2443 σωθωσιν 4982 5686 εις 1519 το 3588 αναπληρωσαι 378 5658 αυτων 846 τας 3588 αμαρτιας 266 παντοτε 3842 εφθασεν 5348 5656 δε 1161 επ 1909 αυτους 846 η 3588 οργη 3709 εις 1519 τελος 5056
Vincent's NT Word Studies
16. To speak - that they might be saved (lalhsai ina swqwsin). Not, to speak to the Gentiles in order that they might be saved, but to tell the Gentiles that they might be saved. Comp. 1 Cor. x. 33.
To fill up (anaplhrwsai). The verb means the making up of what is lacking to perfect fulness; the filling of a partial void. Comp. Philippians ii. 30. Once in LXX of filling up of sins, Gen. xv. 16. Always blind and stubborn, the Jews filled up the measure of their sins by their treatment of Christ and his apostles.
Alway (pantote). Emphatically placed at the end of the sentence. At all times - before Christ, in Christ's time, now - the Jews by their resistance to the divine word fill up their 'sins.
Is come (efqasen). The verb not frequent in N.T. and used mostly by Paul. See on 2 Cor. x. 14, and comp. Rom. ix. 31; Philippians iii. 16.
To the uttermost (eiv telov). This is not the meaning of the phrase in N.T. It is to the end: see Matt. x. 22; xxiv. 13; Luke xviii. 5; John xiii. 1. The wrath of God had not come upon them to the uttermost. The meaning is that the divine wrath had reached the point where it passed into judgment.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:16 {Forbidding us} (kwluontwn hemas). Explanatory participle of the idea in enantiwn. They show their hostility to Paul at every turn. Right here in Corinth, where Paul is when he writes, they had already shown venomous hostility toward Paul as Luke makes plain (#Ac 18:6ff.). They not simply oppose his work among the Jews, but also to the Gentiles (eqnesi, nations outside of the Abrahamic covenant as they understood it). {That they may be saved} (hina s"th"sin). Final use of hina with first aorist passive subjunctive of swzw old verb to save. It was the only hope of the Gentiles, Christ alone and not the mystery-religions offered any real hope. {To fill up their sins alway} (eis to anaplerwsai autwn tas hamartias pantote). Another example of eis to and the infinitive as in verse #12. It may either be God's conceived plan to allow the Jews to go on and fill up (anaplerwsai, note ana, fill up full, old verb) or it may be the natural result from the continual (pantote) sins of the Jews. {Is come} (efqasen). First aorist (timeless aorist) active indicative of fqanw which no longer means to come before as in #1Th 4:15 where alone in the N.T. it retains the old idea of coming before. Some MSS. have the perfect active efqaken, prophetic perfect of realization already. Frame translates it: "But the wrath has come upon them at last." this is the most likely meaning of eis telos. Paul vividly foresees and foretells the final outcome of this attitude of hate on the part of the Jews. _Tristis exitus_, Bengel calls it. Paul speaks out of a sad experience.
