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Romans 2 KJV

God's Righteous Judgment

Epistles/Letters 4 min 29 verses 604 words Paul circumcision ร—6 judgest ร—4 thyself ร—4 commit ร—4 dost ร—4

Romans Chapter 2: God's Righteous Judgment

Paul employs a diatribe style by directly addressing an imaginary Jewish interlocutor from verse 17 onward, a rhetorical device borrowed from Greco-Roman philosophy to expose hypocrisy in a way that anticipates the objections of his readers.

T1๐Ÿ”—herefore 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.

2๐Ÿ”— But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

3๐Ÿ”— And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

4๐Ÿ”— Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

5๐Ÿ”— But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

6๐Ÿ”— Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7๐Ÿ”— To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8๐Ÿ”— But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9๐Ÿ”— Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

10๐Ÿ”— But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

11๐Ÿ”— For there is no respect of persons with God.

12๐Ÿ”— For 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;

13๐Ÿ”— (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14๐Ÿ”— For 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:

15๐Ÿ”— Which 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;)

16๐Ÿ”— In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

17๐Ÿ”— Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

18๐Ÿ”— And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;

19๐Ÿ”— And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

20๐Ÿ”— An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

21๐Ÿ”— Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

22๐Ÿ”— Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

23๐Ÿ”— Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

24๐Ÿ”— For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

25๐Ÿ”— For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

26๐Ÿ”— Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

27๐Ÿ”— And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

28๐Ÿ”— For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

29๐Ÿ”— But 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.

Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance โ€” that is, is designed and adapted to do so.

Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Romans 2 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: The jew under like condemnation with the gentile.

4
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance โ€” that is, is designed and adapted to do so.
5
treasurest up unto thyself wrath against โ€” rather "in." the day of wrath โ€” that is wrath to come on thee in the day of wrath. What an awful idea is here expressed โ€” that the sinner himself is amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating stock of divine wrath, to burst upon him in "the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God!" And this is said not of the reckless, but of those who boasted of their purity of faith and life.
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Chapter Context

Did You Know?

1

Paul employs a diatribe style by directly addressing an imaginary Jewish interlocutor from verse 17 onward, a rhetorical device borrowed from Greco-Roman philosophy to expose hypocrisy in a way that anticipates the objections of his readers.

2

The phrase "treasurest up unto thyself wrath" in verse 5 uses economic imagery of accumulating a storehouse, ironically contrasting human hoarding of sin's consequences with the biblical motif of storing heavenly treasure.

3

Verses 14-15 provide one of the earliest Christian articulations of natural law by describing Gentiles who "do by nature the things contained in the law," with their conscience acting as an internal witness, later foundational for Aquinas and Reformed theology.

4

The redefinition of true Jewish identity as "circumcision is that of the heart" in verse 29 alludes directly to Deuteronomy 10:16 and Jeremiah 4:4, shifting covenant membership from ethnic marker to inward spiritual reality.

5

Verse 16's reference to God judging "the secrets of men" by Jesus Christ introduces an eschatological dimension where divine omniscience penetrates beyond visible deeds, linking present moral accountability to future revelation.