Romans 2

1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

2 We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

3 Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

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,

6 who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”

7 to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

8 but to those who are self-seeking and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation,

9 oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

10 But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

11 For there is no partiality with God.

12 For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

13 For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified

14 (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,

15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)

16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.

17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in God,

18 know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,

19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.

21 You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal?

22 You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

23 You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law?

24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

25 For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26 If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?

27 Won’t those who are physically uncircumcised, but fulfill the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?

28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;

29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

Around Romans 2

Book context

RomansEditorial draft

Paul writes to believers “in Rome” (1:1, 1:7), a church he had often planned to visit but had not yet reached (1:13), as he prepares to go to Jerusalem to serve the saints (15:25). The letter presents the Good News as “the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek” (1:16 to 17), then turns to how believers live in response to God’s mercy (12:1). Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897) outlines it as an introduction (1:1 to 15), the gospel of righteousness by faith (1:16 to 11:36), practical instruction (12:1 to 15:13) and a conclusion with many personal greetings (15:14 to the end). Easton places it in Corinth in AD 58; Phoebe, commended in 16:1, may have carried it.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · common interpretation · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

Romans 2 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Just when the list of wrongs in the last chapter has you nodding along, Paul turns around. You who judge are without excuse, he says, because you do the same things. Do you think you will escape the judgment of God? God will repay each person according to their works: eternal life for those who seek good by perseverance, wrath for those who obey unrighteousness, the Jew first and also the Greek. For “there is no partiality with God.”

He speaks of Gentiles who do by nature what the law requires, and whose conscience bears witness. Then he addresses someone who bears the name of a Jew, rests on the law, and teaches others, and asks whether such a person keeps it. A person is a Jew inwardly, and “circumcision is that of the heart,” in the spirit, not in the letter, with praise not from people but from God.

Background

Paul writes here as if arguing with someone in front of him, and many scholars think he has an imagined teacher in mind, whom he challenges by name only in verse 17. The target is hypocrisy, not the Jewish people, and Paul was himself a Jew. Christians differ on how judgment according to works in verses 6 to 10 fits with being justified by faith in Romans 3 and 4. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant readers have each worked out that relationship in their own way.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 15 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes