Romans 2:4-29

2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know ¹  that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 2:5 But because of your stubbornness ²  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ³  2:6 He ⁴  will reward ⁵  each one according to his works: ⁶  2:7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 2:8 but ⁷  wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition ⁸  and do not obey the truth but follow ⁹  unrighteousness. 2:9 There will be ¹⁰  affliction and distress on everyone ¹¹  who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, ¹²  2:10 but ¹³  glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 2:11 For there is no partiality with God. 2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law ¹⁴  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. ¹⁵  2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ¹⁶  who do not have the law, do by nature ¹⁷  the things required by the law, ¹⁸  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 2:15 They ¹⁹  show that the work of the law is written ²⁰  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ²¹  them, ²²  2:16 on the day when God will judge ²³  the secrets of human hearts, ²⁴  according to my gospel ²⁵  through Christ Jesus.

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ²⁶  and boast of your relationship to God ²⁷  2:18 and know his will ²⁸  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ²⁹  2:19 and if you are convinced ³⁰  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 ³¹  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 ³²  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.” ³³ 

2:25 For circumcision ³⁴  has its value if you practice the law, but ³⁵  if you break the law, ³⁶  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ³⁷  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ³⁸  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ³⁹  the written code ⁴⁰  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 ⁴¹  by the Spirit ⁴²  and not by the written code. ⁴³  This person’s ⁴⁴  praise is not from people but from God.

[2:4]  ¹ tn Grk “being unaware.”

[2:5]  ² tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

[2:5]  ³ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

[2:6]  ⁴ 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.

[2:6]  ⁵ tn Or “will render,” “will recompense.” In this context Paul is setting up a hypothetical situation, not stating that salvation is by works.

[2:6]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12; a close approximation to Matt 16:27.

[2:8]  ⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:8]  ⁸ tn Grk “those who [are] from selfish ambition.”

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “are persuaded by, obey.”

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn No verb is expressed in this verse, but the verb “to be” is implied by the Greek construction. Literally “suffering and distress on everyone…”

[2:9]  ¹¹ tn Grk “every soul of man.”

[2:9]  ¹² sn Paul uses the term Greek here and in v. 10 to refer to non-Jews, i.e., Gentiles.

[2:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “but even,” to emphasize the contrast. The second word has been omitted since it is somewhat redundant in English idiom.

[2:12]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.

[2:14]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”

[2:15]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

[2:15]  ²¹ tn Or “excuse.”

[2:15]  ²² tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”

[2:16]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Grk “of people.”

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

[2:17]  ²⁶ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ²⁷ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ²⁹ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Or “detest.”

[2:24]  ³³ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.

[2:25]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ³⁶ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “letter.”

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

[2:29]  ⁴² 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]  ⁴³ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ⁴⁴ 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.