1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. 3And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
In the second half of chapter 1, Paul turned from a personal dialog with the believers in Rome to an explanation, written in third-person form, mostly concerning the judgment of God faced by all descendants of Adam. The topic is the same in chapter 2, but the form changes to a second-person indictment of individuals. Paul is now talking to the people that he was talking about. He is speaking rhetorically, as in an open letter to every descendant of Adam.
Paul begins this chapter with the words “Therefore” and “thou art inexcusable.” The “therefore” points us back to chapter one. The word “inexcusable” is the same that he used in 1:20 when he said, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse....” The topic has not changed. Paul is now addressing as individuals the people he described in chapter one.
Paul says that the individuals he is speaking to do “the same things” as those whom they judge. In verses 2 and 3 he twice speaks of God’s judgment on those who do “such things.” But this expression “such things” was used in 1:32 with reference to the long list of sins that characterize the descendants of Adam. That link is important. One person may be innocent in a matter where they see that another person is guilty, but innocence in one matter doesn’t prove innocence in all matters.
In this open indictment of all the descendants of Adam, Paul never talks about a person who just naturally recognizes their own guiltiness before God. That’s probably because there is no such person. The natural state of every person is to see others as guilty and themselves as innocent. Paul says that God’s judgment will be according to truth, not according to our perception of things. He tells the person he addresses that God’s kindness to him or her is meant to lead them to repentance.
This is the first and only occurrence of the word “repent” or “repentance” in the book of Romans. The Greek verb for “repent,” (“metanoeo”), is made up of two parts: “meta” (“after”) and “noeo” (“to think”). It means to re-think something, to have a change of mind. So what is the change of mind, the “repentance,” that is needed in the person Paul is addressing in Romans 2:1-4 ? This person’s error is not in recognizing that the other person has sinned. The error is in condemning the other person while counting themselves innocent. The error is in thinking that they themselves will escape the judgment of God. Everyone can find sins of their own in the list at the end of chapter one. No one is innocent. For an unsaved person, “repentance” means to recognize that he or she stands guilty with no defense before a holy God and will not escape His judgment unless there is salvation.
5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11for there is no respect of persons with God.
Paul is not presenting the Gospel in these verses. He is still speaking to the person he addressed in verse 1, who judges others while counting himself innocent. That person has refused the riches of God’s goodness (verse 4) which would lead him to repentance and is instead treasuring up for himself wrath to be revealed in the day of God’s judgment (verse 5). The person Paul is speaking to has rejected true wealth and chosen to accumulate wrath.
The person Paul is speaking to feels no need of a Savior. So, in these verses Paul describes the judgment that that person will receive. It is a judgment according to the person’s works. Those who unwaveringly do what is good will receive eternal life. Those who are motivated by selfishness, disobey the truth, and follow after unrighteousness will receive God’s fury and wrath. Verses 9 and 10 restate this principle but also emphasize that priority both in blessing and in judgment will be given to the Jews.
These verses are a part of Paul’s argument which will come to its conclusion in the next chapter. In verse 7, he speaks of those “who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality.” In verse 10 he speaks of “glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good.” But in the coming chapter Paul will state that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (3:23). In other words, Paul first says that God will give eternal life to anyone whose works are always good. Then he says that everyone fails the test.
The same truth is presented in Revelation 20, which describes that day of God’s righteous judgment. That chapter says that the dead who don’t know Christ will be judged according to their works, but they will all be condemned because they are not found in the book of life (Revelation 20:11-15). When Jesus spoke the Beatitudes, He began with the words, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). To be poor in spirit means to recognize our need for a Savior.
12For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
The Covenant of Law was made only with Israel. But in the next chapter, Paul will say that the words of God were entrusted to the Jews (3:2), which implies that they were given a stewardship of God’s Word and were to be a channel for truth to the other nations. Moses said to Israel concerning the statutes and judgments of the Law, Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people (Deuteronomy 4:6). It was God’s intent that the other nations also hear His Law from Israel. But instead, Israel became a nation of people who had heard the Law themselves but failed to keep it, and thus the other nations had little opportunity to hear.
In verses 12 to 16, Paul says again what he said in verse 2: “the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.” The issue is not having had access to the Law or not. The issue is doing what the Law requires. Whether or not a person has had access to the written Law of God revealed to Israel through Moses, every person has that Law written on their hearts in such a way that their conscience guides their reasonings about right and wrong. A clear example is found in Genesis 20:1-7, where the pagan king Abimelech took Abraham’s wife Sarah, not knowing that she was his wife. When God warned Abimelech in a dream, Abimelech pleaded with God, saying, ...in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. This pagan king who lived long before the Law was given to Israel knew that adultery was wrong and that anyone who committed adultery was worthy of death.
Paul concludes these verses by summarizing the manner of the coming judgment of God: God will “judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel [the gospel which Paul preached].” Though every person, Jew or non-Jew, has the opportunity to approach God on their own merits, no one will pass the test of righteousness. Thus, the real issue in God’s judgment will be whether or not a person has received the salvation that God has provided in His Son Jesus Christ.
17Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; 19and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, 20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. 21Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
After rhetorically addressing the individual descendants of Adam in verses 1-16, Paul now specifically addresses the individual Jew. This section may be summarized by the repetition of the word “thyself” in verses 19 and 21. Paul says to this person whose profile represents the Jewish mindset, “thou...art confident that thou thyself are a guide....” Then Paul says, “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?” Again, the message in these verses is that knowledge of the Law is not the same as righteousness. Hypocrisy thrives where there is pride in religious knowledge.
Verse 24 seems to be an indirect quote from the Septuagint Greek translation of Isaiah 52:5.
25For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. 26Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? 27And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 28For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
As Paul will say in 4:11 of this book, circumcision was given to Abraham as a seal of the righteousness that God had counted to him in Genesis 15 through Abraham’s faith. In Genesis 15, God made a covenant with Abraham, an outworking of God’s earlier promises to him in Genesis 12. Then, in Genesis 17, God further revealed to Abraham the covenant that He had made with him in chapter 15. God told Abraham that He would make him a father of many nations, that He would give Abraham and his posterity the land of Canaan for a possession, and that He, the LORD, would be the God of Abraham and his posterity (17:1-8). Abraham was told that every male in his household must be circumcised. Any male that was not circumcised would be rejected from this people and would be counted to have broken the covenant (17:9-14). In obedience to God’s word, Abraham, his son Ishmael, and all the other males in Abraham’s household were circumcised that day (Genesis 17:22-27).
Yet, the same day, before anyone was circumcised, God told Abraham that Sarah, Abraham’s wife, would bear him a son who was to be named Isaac and that God would establish His covenant with Isaac rather than with Ishmael (17:15-21). Thus, Abraham’s servants, who were of no kin to him at all, and Abraham’s son by Sarah’s servant Hagar, were all circumcised, though God’s covenant was not to be with them. Circumcision did not give them part in God’s covenant, though they would enjoy certain blessings by belonging to Abraham’s household. God’s covenant was with Abraham only and would later be given to Isaac. Those in Abraham’s household were circumcised because Abraham was to set apart his household as he himself was set apart for God.
The pre-condition for God’s covenant with Abraham was the righteousness that was accounted to him by faith in Genesis 15. Circumcision was only the “token,” or outward sign, of that covenant (Genesis 17:11). Circumcision was later commanded in the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 12:3). In Romans 2, Paul tells the Jews that their circumcision will be of no lasting benefit to them unless they have righteousness. He says that it would be better to be a non-Jew who kept the Law than to be a Jew who did not.
In verse 17, Paul began his words by saying, “Behold, thou art called a Jew....” He closes his words by saying that it is not enough just to be called a Jew. To be a Jew whom God will accept requires circumcision of the heart. This cutting away of sin from the heart requires a work that is spiritual and not just performance of an external act.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.