Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 2:8

"but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [shall be] wrath and indignation," — Romans 2:8 (ASV)

Who are contentious. This expression usually denotes those who have a quarrelsome or litigious disposition and generally refers to controversies among men. But here it evidently denotes a disposition towards God and has the same meaning as rebellious or opposing God. Those who contend with the Almighty, who resist His claims, who rebel against His laws, and refuse to submit to His requirements, however made known.

The Seventy use the verb to translate the Hebrew word marah (Deuteronomy 21:20). One striking characteristic of the sinner is that he contends with God; that is, he opposes and resists His claims. This is the case with all sinners, and it was particularly so with the Jews; therefore, the apostle used the expression here to characterize them specifically. His argument he intended to apply to the Jews, and therefore he used an expression that would exactly describe them. This characteristic of being a rebellious people was one often charged against the Jewish nation (Deuteronomy 9:7, 24; 31:27; Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 30:9; Isaiah 65:2; Jeremiah 5:23; Ezekiel 2:3, 5).

Do not obey the truth . The truth here denotes the Divine will, which alone is the light of truth. Calvin. It means true doctrine in opposition to false opinions; to refuse to obey it is to regard it as false and to resist its influence.

The truth here signifies all the correct representations that had been made of God—His perfections, law, and claims—whether by the light of nature or by revelation. The description thus included Gentiles and Jews, but particularly the latter, as they had been more notably favored with the light of truth. It had been an eminent characteristic of the Jews that they refused to obey the commands of the true God (Joshua 5:6; Judges 2:2; Judges 6:10; 2 Kings 18:12; Jeremiah 3:13, 25; 2 Kings 42:21; 43:4, 7; 2 Kings 9:13).

But obey unrighteousness. The expression means that they yielded themselves to iniquity and thus became the servants of sin (Romans 6:13, 16, 17, 19). Iniquity thus may be said to reign over men, as they follow the dictates of evil, make no resistance to it, and implicitly obey all its hard requirements.

Indignation and wrath. That is, these shall be rendered to those who are contentious, etc. The difference between indignation and wrath, says Ammonius, is that the former is of short duration, but the latter is a long-continued remembrance of evil. The one is temporary; the other denotes continued expressions of hatred of evil. Eustathius says that the word indignation denotes the internal emotion, but wrath the external manifestation of indignation. Tholuck. Both words refer to the opposition God will cherish and express against sin in the world of punishment.