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.
7 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Reading as
Questions they answer differently
On verse
Oldest first.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 2:1–3These things he says, with an aim at the rulers, inasmuch as that city then had the rule of the world put into its hands. … But when he says, "whosoever thou art that judgest," he is not addressing himself to the rulers only, but to private individuals and subjects also. For all men, even if they have no chair of state, nor executioners, nor stocks at command, yet even they judge those that offend, in conversations and public meetings … and by the vote of their conscience. … But it is others, he says, they condemn, and not themselves. … Thou hast not been acquitted of thine own judgment, and wilt thou escape through God's? … For sinning merely, is not the same thing with falling again into the same sins you have chastised another for committing.
These things he says, with an aim at the rulers, inasmuch as that city then had the rule of the world put into its hands. … But when he says, "whosoever thou art that judgest," he is not addressing himself to the rulers only, but to private individuals and subjects also. For all men, even if they have no chair of state, nor executioners, nor stocks at command, yet even they judge those that offend, in conversations and public meetings … and by the vote of their conscience. … But it is others, he says, they condemn, and not themselves. … Thou hast not been acquitted of thine own judgment, and wilt thou escape through God's? … For sinning merely, is not the same thing with falling again into the same sins you have chastised another for committing.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 5; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 2:9–11That is, if a man be rich, if a consul, if a very sovereign … by none of them is the account of the judgment out-faced. Since in this dignities have no place. … And so the wiser or mightier men we are, the more are we punished if we sin. For if thou art rich, thou wilt have more money demanded of thee than of the poor; and if wiser than others, a stricter obedience; and if thou hast been invested with authority, more shining acts of goodness; … "For there is no respect of persons with God." Wonderful! … That it is not quality of persons, but difference of actions. Which He maketh inquisition for. … For it is not because one is a Jew and the other a Gentile, that one is honored and the other disgraced, but it is from the works that either treatment comes.
That is, if a man be rich, if a consul, if a very sovereign … by none of them is the account of the judgment out-faced. Since in this dignities have no place. … And so the wiser or mightier men we are, the more are we punished if we sin. For if thou art rich, thou wilt have more money demanded of thee than of the poor; and if wiser than others, a stricter obedience; and if thou hast been invested with authority, more shining acts of goodness; … "For there is no respect of persons with God." Wonderful! … That it is not quality of persons, but difference of actions. Which He maketh inquisition for. … For it is not because one is a Jew and the other a Gentile, that one is honored and the other disgraced, but it is from the works that either treatment comes.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 5; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 2:14–15But by Greeks he here means not them that worshipped idols, but them that adored God, that obeyed the law of nature, that strictly kept all things, save the Jewish observances, which contribute to piety, such as were Melchizedek and his (hoi peri), such as was Job, such as were the Ninevites, such as was Cornelius. … I am not, he means, rejecting the Law, but even on this score I justify the Gentiles. … But whenever he saith "by nature," he means by the reasonings of nature. … For on this ground he means they are to be admired, because they required not a law, and yet exhibited all the doings of the Law, having the works, not the letters, graven upon their minds.
But by Greeks he here means not them that worshipped idols, but them that adored God, that obeyed the law of nature, that strictly kept all things, save the Jewish observances, which contribute to piety, such as were Melchizedek and his (hoi peri), such as was Job, such as were the Ninevites, such as was Cornelius. … I am not, he means, rejecting the Law, but even on this score I justify the Gentiles. … But whenever he saith "by nature," he means by the reasonings of nature. … For on this ground he means they are to be admired, because they required not a law, and yet exhibited all the doings of the Law, having the works, not the letters, graven upon their minds.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 5, on 2:10 and 2:14; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Romans 2:14–15He indeed shows that ignorance is in vain pretended as an excuse by the Gentiles, since they prove by their own deeds that they have some rule of righteousness: for there is no nation so lost to every thing human, that it does not keep within the limits of some laws. … They have then a law, though they are without law: for though they have not a written law, they are yet by no means wholly destitute of the knowledge of what is right and just; … He means not that it was so engraven on their will, that they sought and diligently pursued it, but that they were so mastered by the power of truth, that they could not disapprove of it. … Without reason then is the power of the will deduced from this passage, as though Paul had said, that the keeping of the law is within our power; for he speaks not of the power to fulfill the law, but of the knowledge of it. … He could not have more forcibly urged them than by the testimony of their own conscience, which is equal to a thousand witnesses.
He indeed shows that ignorance is in vain pretended as an excuse by the Gentiles, since they prove by their own deeds that they have some rule of righteousness: for there is no nation so lost to every thing human, that it does not keep within the limits of some laws. … They have then a law, though they are without law: for though they have not a written law, they are yet by no means wholly destitute of the knowledge of what is right and just; … He means not that it was so engraven on their will, that they sought and diligently pursued it, but that they were so mastered by the power of truth, that they could not disapprove of it. … Without reason then is the power of the will deduced from this passage, as though Paul had said, that the keeping of the law is within our power; for he speaks not of the power to fulfill the law, but of the knowledge of it. … He could not have more forcibly urged them than by the testimony of their own conscience, which is equal to a thousand witnesses.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 2:14–16; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Romans 2:4Low and mean thoughts of the divine goodness are at the bottom of a great deal of sin. … Not knowing, that is, not considering, not knowing practically and with application, that the goodness of God leadeth thee, the design of it is to lead thee, to repentance. It is not enough for us to know that God's goodness leads to repentance, but we must know that it leads us - thee in particular. See here what method God takes to bring sinners to repentance. He leads them, not drives them like beasts, but leads them like rational creatures, allures them (Hos 2:14); and it is goodness that leads, bands of love, Hos 11:4. … The consideration of the goodness of God, his common goodness to all (the goodness of his providence, of his patience, and of his offers), should be effectual to bring us all to repentance; and the reason why so many continue in impenitency is because they do not know and consider this.
Low and mean thoughts of the divine goodness are at the bottom of a great deal of sin. … Not knowing, that is, not considering, not knowing practically and with application, that the goodness of God leadeth thee, the design of it is to lead thee, to repentance. It is not enough for us to know that God's goodness leads to repentance, but we must know that it leads us - thee in particular. See here what method God takes to bring sinners to repentance. He leads them, not drives them like beasts, but leads them like rational creatures, allures them (Hos 2:14); and it is goodness that leads, bands of love, Hos 11:4. … The consideration of the goodness of God, his common goodness to all (the goodness of his providence, of his patience, and of his offers), should be effectual to bring us all to repentance; and the reason why so many continue in impenitency is because they do not know and consider this.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 2:1–16; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the New Testament · on Romans 2:14–15For when the gentiles - That is, any of them. … Do by nature - That is, without an outward rule; though this also, strictly speaking, is by preventing grace. The things contained in the law - The ten commandments being only the substance of the law of nature. These, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves - That is, what the law is to the Jews, they are, by the grace of God, to themselves; namely, a rule of life. … Written on their hearts - By the same hand which wrote the commandments on the tables of stone. Their conscience - There is none of all its faculties which the soul has less in its power than this.
For when the gentiles - That is, any of them. … Do by nature - That is, without an outward rule; though this also, strictly speaking, is by preventing grace. The things contained in the law - The ten commandments being only the substance of the law of nature. These, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves - That is, what the law is to the Jews, they are, by the grace of God, to themselves; namely, a rule of life. … Written on their hearts - By the same hand which wrote the commandments on the tables of stone. Their conscience - There is none of all its faculties which the soul has less in its power than this.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 2:14 and 2:15; London, 1755; the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Romans 2:28–29Neither is that circumcision - Circumcision is a rite which represents a spiritual thing, viz. the change and purification of the heart, as may be seen, Jer 4:4, Jer 4:6, Jer 4:10; Jer 9:26; Eze 44:7, Eze 44:9. … Whose praise is not of men - It has, with great probability, been conjectured that the apostle may here refer to the signification of the name Jew, or Judah, יהודה Yehudah, Praise, from ידה Yadah, he Praised. Such a one is a true Israelite, who walks in a conformity to the spirit of his religion: his countrymen may praise him because he is a steady professor of the Jewish faith; but God praises him, because he has entered into the spirit and design of the covenant made with Abraham, and has got the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul. Sentiments like these, on the same subject, may be found in the ancient Jewish writers. … In short, common sense, as well as their law and their prophets, taught every considerate man among them that God could be pleased with their rites and external performances no farther than they led to holiness of heart and righteousness of life.
Neither is that circumcision - Circumcision is a rite which represents a spiritual thing, viz. the change and purification of the heart, as may be seen, Jer 4:4, Jer 4:6, Jer 4:10; Jer 9:26; Eze 44:7, Eze 44:9. … Whose praise is not of men - It has, with great probability, been conjectured that the apostle may here refer to the signification of the name Jew, or Judah, יהודה Yehudah, Praise, from ידה Yadah, he Praised. Such a one is a true Israelite, who walks in a conformity to the spirit of his religion: his countrymen may praise him because he is a steady professor of the Jewish faith; but God praises him, because he has entered into the spirit and design of the covenant made with Abraham, and has got the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul. Sentiments like these, on the same subject, may be found in the ancient Jewish writers. … In short, common sense, as well as their law and their prophets, taught every considerate man among them that God could be pleased with their rites and external performances no farther than they led to holiness of heart and righteousness of life.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 2:28 and 2:29; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.
Romans 2
Romans 2:1–29, World English Bible
Romans 2 in the Bible · Told in the Story: Chapter 22, Not Ashamed of the Good News
What others have written
7 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Oldest first.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 2:1–3These things he says, with an aim at the rulers, inasmuch as that city then had the rule of the world put into its hands. … But when he says, "whosoever thou art that judgest," he is not addressing himself to the rulers only, but to private individuals and subjects also. For all men, even if they have no chair of state, nor executioners, nor stocks at command, yet even they judge those that offend, in conversations and public meetings … and by the vote of their conscience. … But it is others, he says, they condemn, and not themselves. … Thou hast not been acquitted of thine own judgment, and wilt thou escape through God's? … For sinning merely, is not the same thing with falling again into the same sins you have chastised another for committing.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 5; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 2:9–11That is, if a man be rich, if a consul, if a very sovereign … by none of them is the account of the judgment out-faced. Since in this dignities have no place. … And so the wiser or mightier men we are, the more are we punished if we sin. For if thou art rich, thou wilt have more money demanded of thee than of the poor; and if wiser than others, a stricter obedience; and if thou hast been invested with authority, more shining acts of goodness; … "For there is no respect of persons with God." Wonderful! … That it is not quality of persons, but difference of actions. Which He maketh inquisition for. … For it is not because one is a Jew and the other a Gentile, that one is honored and the other disgraced, but it is from the works that either treatment comes.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 5; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 2:14–15But by Greeks he here means not them that worshipped idols, but them that adored God, that obeyed the law of nature, that strictly kept all things, save the Jewish observances, which contribute to piety, such as were Melchizedek and his (hoi peri), such as was Job, such as were the Ninevites, such as was Cornelius. … I am not, he means, rejecting the Law, but even on this score I justify the Gentiles. … But whenever he saith "by nature," he means by the reasonings of nature. … For on this ground he means they are to be admired, because they required not a law, and yet exhibited all the doings of the Law, having the works, not the letters, graven upon their minds.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 5, on 2:10 and 2:14; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Romans 2:14–15He indeed shows that ignorance is in vain pretended as an excuse by the Gentiles, since they prove by their own deeds that they have some rule of righteousness: for there is no nation so lost to every thing human, that it does not keep within the limits of some laws. … They have then a law, though they are without law: for though they have not a written law, they are yet by no means wholly destitute of the knowledge of what is right and just; … He means not that it was so engraven on their will, that they sought and diligently pursued it, but that they were so mastered by the power of truth, that they could not disapprove of it. … Without reason then is the power of the will deduced from this passage, as though Paul had said, that the keeping of the law is within our power; for he speaks not of the power to fulfill the law, but of the knowledge of it. … He could not have more forcibly urged them than by the testimony of their own conscience, which is equal to a thousand witnesses.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 2:14–16; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Romans 2:4Low and mean thoughts of the divine goodness are at the bottom of a great deal of sin. … Not knowing, that is, not considering, not knowing practically and with application, that the goodness of God leadeth thee, the design of it is to lead thee, to repentance. It is not enough for us to know that God's goodness leads to repentance, but we must know that it leads us - thee in particular. See here what method God takes to bring sinners to repentance. He leads them, not drives them like beasts, but leads them like rational creatures, allures them (Hos 2:14); and it is goodness that leads, bands of love, Hos 11:4. … The consideration of the goodness of God, his common goodness to all (the goodness of his providence, of his patience, and of his offers), should be effectual to bring us all to repentance; and the reason why so many continue in impenitency is because they do not know and consider this.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 2:1–16; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the New Testament · on Romans 2:14–15For when the gentiles - That is, any of them. … Do by nature - That is, without an outward rule; though this also, strictly speaking, is by preventing grace. The things contained in the law - The ten commandments being only the substance of the law of nature. These, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves - That is, what the law is to the Jews, they are, by the grace of God, to themselves; namely, a rule of life. … Written on their hearts - By the same hand which wrote the commandments on the tables of stone. Their conscience - There is none of all its faculties which the soul has less in its power than this.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 2:14 and 2:15; London, 1755; the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.
Adam Clarkec. 1760–1832MethodistCommentary on the Holy Bible · on Romans 2:28–29Neither is that circumcision - Circumcision is a rite which represents a spiritual thing, viz. the change and purification of the heart, as may be seen, Jer 4:4, Jer 4:6, Jer 4:10; Jer 9:26; Eze 44:7, Eze 44:9. … Whose praise is not of men - It has, with great probability, been conjectured that the apostle may here refer to the signification of the name Jew, or Judah, יהודה Yehudah, Praise, from ידה Yadah, he Praised. Such a one is a true Israelite, who walks in a conformity to the spirit of his religion: his countrymen may praise him because he is a steady professor of the Jewish faith; but God praises him, because he has entered into the spirit and design of the covenant made with Abraham, and has got the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul. Sentiments like these, on the same subject, may be found in the ancient Jewish writers. … In short, common sense, as well as their law and their prophets, taught every considerate man among them that God could be pleased with their rites and external performances no farther than they led to holiness of heart and righteousness of life.
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, on 2:28 and 2:29; 1810–1826; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
A Methodist preacher and scholar from Ulster, whose commentary on the whole Bible took him nearly forty years.