Romans 1:27--2:4

1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women ¹  and were inflamed in their passions ²  for one another. Men ³  committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ⁴  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ⁵  1:29 They are filled ⁶  with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with ⁷  envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, ⁸  heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know ⁹  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ¹⁰  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ¹¹ 

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ¹² Therefore ¹³  you are without excuse, ¹⁴  whoever you are, ¹⁵  when you judge someone else. ¹⁶  For on whatever grounds ¹⁷  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2:2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth ¹⁸  against those who practice such things. 2:3 And do you think, ¹⁹  whoever you are, when you judge ²⁰  those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, ²¹  that you will escape God’s judgment? 2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know ²²  that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

[1:27]  ¹ tn Grk “likewise so also the males abandoning the natural function of the female.”

[1:27]  ² tn Grk “burned with intense desire” (L&N 25.16).

[1:27]  ³ tn Grk “another, men committing…and receiving,” continuing the description of their deeds. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[1:29]  ⁷ tn Grk “being filled” or “having been filled,” referring to those described in v. 28. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:29]  ⁸ tn Grk “malice, full of,” continuing the description. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “promise-breakers.”

[1:32]  ¹³ tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:32]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “are worthy of death.”

[1:32]  ¹⁵ sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.

[2:1]  ¹⁶ 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).

[2:1]  ¹⁷ 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.

[2:1]  ¹⁸ tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[2:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “based on truth.”

[2:3]  ²² tn Grk “do you think this,” referring to the clause in v. 3b.

[2:3]  ²³ tn Grk “O man, the one who judges.”

[2:3]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and do them.” The other words are supplied to bring out the contrast implied in this clause.

[2:4]  ²⁵ tn Grk “being unaware.”