Romans 2

So you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. When you judge another person, you are condemning yourself, because you who judge do the very same things.

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.

Note"O man" is how a teacher in the ancient world addressed an imagined opponent. Through much of this chapter Paul argues with a figure he has invented so that he can answer him, a standard style of debate on the page. The person addressed is not any particular individual.

2And we know that when God judges people who do such things, his judgment is based on what is true.

2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

3So when you judge people for doing these things and then do them yourself, do you really think you will escape God's judgment?

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 do you look down on how very kind God is, how much he holds back, and how patient he is? Don't you know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to turn from your sin?

4Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Note"Despisest" in 1611 English meant to think little of or to shrug off, not the modern sense of hating. "Forbearance" is holding back from acting; "longsuffering" is patience kept up over a long time. "Repentance" translates a word meaning a change of mind that turns into a change of life.

5But because your heart is hard and you refuse to change, you are storing up anger against yourself. It will come on the day of anger, when God's fair judgment is made known.

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;

Note"Impenitent" means unrepentant, refusing to change. "Treasurest up" is the language of piling up savings, so the image is of a man adding to a store he will one day be handed. "The day of wrath" was a fixed phrase, taken from the Hebrew prophets, for the day when God finally settles accounts.

6God will pay back each person for what he has done.

6Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

NoteThis line is a quotation, from Psalm 62:12 and Proverbs 24:12, though the King James gives no sign of it. "Render" here means pay back what is owed.

7He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, and who are looking for glory, honor, and life that never ends.

7To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8But for those who only want their own way, who refuse to obey the truth and instead follow what is wrong, there will be anger and fury.

8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

Note"Contentious" translates a Greek word whose sense is disputed. It may come from a root for hired labor and mean selfish ambition or working only for one's own gain, or it may mean quarrelsome and factious. The King James chose the second; many modern translations choose the first.

9There will be trouble and deep distress for every person who does evil, first for the Jew, and also for the Gentile.

9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

Note"Every soul of man" reflects a Hebrew way of speaking in which "soul" stands for the whole living person, not one part of him. "Gentile" renders the Greek word "Greek," used at the time as shorthand for everyone who was not a Jew. "First for the Jew" refers to order, the Jews being the people to whom God's promises were given first.

10But there will be glory, honor, and peace for every person who does good, first for the Jew, and also for the Gentile.

10But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

11For God does not treat one person as more important than another.

11For there is no respect of persons with God.

Note"Respect of persons" is an old legal idiom translating a Greek phrase that literally means receiving someone's face. It describes a judge who decides a case by who is standing in front of him rather than by the facts.

12All who sin without having the law will also die without the law having any part in it. And all who sin while under the law will be judged by the law.

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;

Note"The law" throughout this chapter means the law of Moses, the body of commands given to Israel and recorded in the first five books of the Bible. "Without law" translates a single Greek word meaning outside that law, describing people who never had it.

13(It is not the people who hear the law who are right with God. It is the people who do what the law says who will be declared right with him.

13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Note"Justified" is courtroom language. It means declared to be in the right, acquitted, rather than made good.

14In fact, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

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:

15They show that the work the law calls for is written on their hearts. Their conscience also speaks up about it, and their own thoughts either accuse them or defend them.

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;)

Note"The mean while" is 1611 English for meanwhile. "Accusing or else excusing one another" is a literal rendering of the Greek; "excusing" means speaking in defense, as an advocate does, and the sense is that the thoughts argue on both sides about the person himself.

16That will happen on the day when God judges the hidden things people have done. He will judge them through Jesus Christ, just as the good news I preach says.

16In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Note"Gospel" translates a Greek word meaning an announcement of good news, the kind of report a herald brought. "My gospel" means the message Paul himself went about announcing, not a version of his own making.

17Now think about yourself. You call yourself a Jew. You lean on the law and boast that God is yours.

17Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

Note"Restest in the law" means leaning your weight on it, relying on it for security. "Makest thy boast of God" is not simple bragging; it means taking your standing and confidence from the fact that God is yours.

18You know what God wants, and you can tell what really matters, because you have been taught from the law.

18And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;

NoteThe Greek behind "approvest the things that are more excellent" can be read two ways, and the ambiguity is real. It may mean approving what is superior, or testing between things that differ in order to tell them apart.

19You are sure that you are a guide for the blind and a light for those in the dark.

19And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

20You think you can correct the foolish and teach those who know nothing, because in the law you have knowledge and truth all laid out.

20An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

Note"Babes" means beginners, people at the start of learning. "The form of knowledge" translates a word that can mean the full outline or embodiment of something, and readers have long disagreed whether Paul means the genuine shape of knowledge or only its outward appearance.

21So you who teach others, don't you teach yourself? You preach that a person should not steal, but do you steal?

21Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

22You say a person should not commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You hate idols, but do you rob temples?

22Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

Note"Commit sacrilege" renders a Greek verb meaning to rob a temple, most naturally a pagan one, stripping it of its valuables. Jewish law forbade profiting from idols, so the charge is that a man who loudly hates idols still takes money from their shrines. The exact force of the accusation is debated.

23You boast about the law, but do you dishonor God by breaking that law?

23Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

24For as the Scriptures say, "God's name is spoken against among the Gentiles because of you."

24For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Note"As it is written" signals a quotation of Scripture, here Isaiah 52:5 in its Greek form, with wording close to Ezekiel 36:20. "Blasphemed" means insulted or spoken against, not only speech about God in a religious sense.

25Circumcision does have value, if you keep the law. But if you break the law, your circumcision counts as if you had never been circumcised.

25For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

NoteCircumcision is the cutting away of the foreskin, performed on Jewish boys on the eighth day. Genesis 17 gives it as the physical sign of God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants, so it marked a man as belonging to the people of Israel. "Profiteth" means is of value.

26So if a man who is not circumcised does what the law requires, won't he be counted as though he were circumcised?

26Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

27The man who is not circumcised in his body, but who keeps the law, will be the one who condemns you. You have the written law and circumcision, and you still break the law.

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?

Note"The letter" means the written text of the law, the code as it stands on the page. "Uncircumcision which is by nature" means a man born a Gentile who simply never underwent the rite.

28A man is not a Jew just because he looks like one on the outside. And real circumcision is not just the outward mark on the body.

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

29A man is a Jew because of what he is on the inside. Real circumcision is a matter of the heart. It comes by the Spirit, not by the written rule. That man's praise comes from God, not from people.

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.

Note"In the spirit, and not in the letter" sets the Spirit of God, or else the inward person, against the written code; Greek makes no distinction between capital and small letters, so both readings have long been argued. "Whose praise is not of men" may also carry a play on words: the name Judah, from which "Jew" comes, was linked in Hebrew with the word for praise.