Add parallel Print Page Options

The Condemnation of the Moralist

[a] Therefore[b] you are without excuse,[c] whoever you are,[d] when you judge someone else.[e] For on whatever grounds[f] you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth[g] against those who practice such things. And do you think,[h] whoever you are, when you judge[i] those who practice such things and yet do them yourself,[j] that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know[k] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness[l] and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed![m]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Romans 2:1 sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27-30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).
  2. Romans 2:1 tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.
  3. Romans 2:1 tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).
  4. Romans 2:1 tn Grk “O man.”
  5. Romans 2:1 tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”
  6. Romans 2:1 tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”
  7. Romans 2:2 tn Or “based on truth.”
  8. Romans 2:3 tn Grk “do you think this,” referring to the clause in v. 3b.
  9. Romans 2:3 tn Grk “O man, the one who judges.”
  10. Romans 2:3 tn Grk “and do them.” The other words are supplied to bring out the contrast implied in this clause.
  11. Romans 2:4 tn Grk “being unaware.”
  12. Romans 2:5 tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.
  13. Romans 2:5 tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

God’s Righteous Judgment

Therefore you are (A)without excuse, (B)O man, everyone who passes judgment, for in that which (C)you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God [a]rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you presume this, (D)O man—who passes judgment on those who practice such things and does the same—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of (E)the riches of His (F)kindness and (G)forbearance and (H)patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But [b]because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart (I)you are storing up wrath for yourself (J)in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Romans 2:2 Lit is according to truth against
  2. Romans 2:5 Or in accordance with