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Pauline Letters · WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE

Romans 2

Paul unfolds the gospel, justification, new life, Israel, community, and transformed practice.

New Testament

Romans 2

1Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

2We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

3Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

4Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God,

6who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”

7to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

8but to those who are self-seeking and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation,

9oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

10But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

11For there is no partiality with God.

12For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

13For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified

14(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,

15in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)

16in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.

17Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in God,

18know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,

19and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

20a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.

21You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal?

22You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

23You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law?

24For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

25For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?

27Won’t those who are physically uncircumcised, but fulfill the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?

28For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;

29but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

READ IN CONTEXT

Before applying this chapter

Paul unfolds the gospel, justification, new life, Israel, community, and transformed practice. Read Romans 2 within the complete Romans overview, and use the contextual Bible reading guide before forming a personal application. Chapter divisions aid navigation, but the literary unit may begin earlier or continue into the next chapter.

Observe first

Mark repeated words, changes of speaker, commands, promises, contrasts, questions, and the relationship between paragraphs.

Apply responsibly

Distinguish description from command and immediate audience from later readers before forming a personal application.

TEXT-DERIVED READING NOTES

What to notice in Romans 2

Romans 2 contains 29 verses and about 586 words in this translation. These observations come from the chapter itself; they are prompts for close reading, not claims about its only possible meaning.

The opening movement

Verse 1 begins: “Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.” Ask what situation, voice, image, or argument this opening establishes for everything that follows.

The closing movement

Verse 29 closes: “but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.” Compare the ending with the opening and note what changed, resolved, intensified, or remained open.

Vocabulary worth tracing

Recurring or prominent content words include will, circumcision, judge, things, yourself, according. Follow where each word appears and whether its meaning shifts with the speaker or setting.

COMMON QUESTIONS

About Romans 2

Which Bible translation is shown here?+

This page reproduces the World English Bible Protestant edition (WEBP), a modern-English translation dedicated to the public domain.

How should I cite a specific verse?+

Use the book, chapter, and verse—for example, Romans 2:1—and name the World English Bible if the wording matters. Each verse number above is a direct anchor link.

Does the chapter number define the complete literary unit?+

Not always. Chapter and verse numbers were added for navigation. Check the paragraphs, scenes, poetic stanzas, or argument before and after this chapter.

A SMALL NEXT STEP

You do not have to have everything figured out.

Begin with one honest question, one passage read carefully, and one faithful next step.

Start with prayer