Romans 2
God’s Righteous Judgment
(Psalms 75:1–10)
¹ You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
² And we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
³ So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
⁴ Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
⁵ But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
⁶ God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”1
⁷ To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.
⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;
¹⁰ but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek.
¹¹ For God does not show favoritism.
¹² All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
¹³ For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.
¹⁴ Indeed, 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.
¹⁵ So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them
¹⁶ on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus,2 as proclaimed by my gospel.
The Jews and the Law
¹⁷ Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;
¹⁸ if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;
¹⁹ if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness,
²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—
²¹ you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
²² You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
²⁴ As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”3
²⁵ Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
²⁶ If a man who is not circumcised keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
²⁷ The one who is physically uncircumcised yet keeps the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
²⁸ A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical.
²⁹ No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.