7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 7:2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. 3 7:3 Why 4 do you see the speck 5 in your brother’s eye, but fail to see 6 the beam of wood 7 in your own? 7:4 Or how can you say 8 to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 7:5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6:37 “Do 9 not judge, 10 and you will not be judged; 11 do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, 12 and you will be forgiven.
2:1 13 Therefore 14 you are without excuse, 15 whoever you are, 16 when you judge someone else. 17 For on whatever grounds 18 you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.
1 tn Or “pride.”
2 sn The point of the statement do not judge so that you will not be judged is that the standards we apply to others God applies to us. The passive verbs in this verse look to God’s action.
3 tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”
4 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
5 sn The term translated speck refers to a small piece of wood, chaff, or straw; see L&N 3.66.
6 tn Or “do not notice.”
7 sn The term beam of wood refers to a very big piece of wood, the main beam of a building, in contrast to the speck in the other’s eye (L&N 7.78).
8 tn Grk “how will you say?”
9 tn Grk “And do.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
10 sn As the Gospel makes clear, with the statement do not judge Jesus had in mind making a judgment that caused one to cut oneself off from someone so that they ceased to be reached out to (5:27-32; 15:1-32). Jesus himself did make judgments about where people stand (11:37-54), but not in such a way that he ceased to continue to offer them God’s grace.
11 sn The point of the statement do not judge, and you will not be judged is that the standards one applies to others God applies back. The passive verbs in this verse look to God’s action.
12 sn On forgive see Luke 11:4; 1 Pet 3:7.
13 sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).
14 tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.
15 tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).
16 tn Grk “O man.”
17 tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”
18 tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”
19 tn Grk “but even,” to emphasize the contrast. The second word has been omitted since it is somewhat redundant in English idiom.
20 tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.
21 tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.
22 tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.
23 tn Grk “letter.”