Romans 2:11-29

2:11 For there is no partiality with God. 2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law ¹  will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. ²  2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ³  who do not have the law, do by nature ⁴  the things required by the law, ⁵  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 2:15 They ⁶  show that the work of the law is written ⁷  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ⁸  them, ⁹  2:16 on the day when God will judge ¹⁰  the secrets of human hearts, ¹¹  according to my gospel ¹²  through Christ Jesus.

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ¹³  and boast of your relationship to God ¹⁴  2:18 and know his will ¹⁵  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ¹⁶  2:19 and if you are convinced ¹⁷  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ¹⁸  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ¹⁹  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ²⁰ 

2:25 For circumcision ²¹  has its value if you practice the law, but ²²  if you break the law, ²³  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ²⁴  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ²⁵  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ²⁶  the written code ²⁷  and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ²⁸  by the Spirit ²⁹  and not by the written code. ³⁰  This person’s ³¹  praise is not from people but from God.

[2:12]  ¹ sn This is the first occurrence of law (nomos) in Romans. Exactly what Paul means by the term has been the subject of much scholarly debate. According to J. A. Fitzmyer (Romans [AB], 131-35; 305-6) there are at least four different senses: (1) figurative, as a “principle”; (2) generic, meaning “a law”; (3) as a reference to the OT or some part of the OT; and (4) as a reference to the Mosaic law. This last usage constitutes the majority of Paul’s references to “law” in Romans.

[2:13]  ² tn The Greek sentence expresses this contrast more succinctly than is possible in English. Grk “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.”

[2:14]  ³ sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.

[2:14]  ⁴ tn Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:135-37) take the phrase φύσει (fusei, “by nature”) to go with the preceding “do not have the law,” thus: “the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature,” that is, by virtue of not being born Jewish.

[2:14]  ⁵ tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”

[2:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Or “excuse.”

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”

[2:16]  ¹⁰ tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.

[2:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “of people.”

[2:16]  ¹² sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.

[2:17]  ¹³ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ¹⁷ tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

[2:21]  ¹⁸ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

[2:22]  ¹⁹ tn Or “detest.”

[2:24]  ²⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.

[2:25]  ²¹ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ²² tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ²³ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ²⁴ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[2:27]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ²⁶ 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.

[2:27]  ²⁷ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ²⁸ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

[2:29]  ²⁹ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

[2:29]  ³⁰ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ³¹ tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.