Romans 2:1–29: God's Impartial Judgment and the Circumcision of the Heart (two sessions)

Says “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things” (2:1). God's judgment (κρίμα, krima) “against those who do such things is based on truth” (2:2). Implies ἀναπολόγητος (anapologētos, “without excuse”) is the word of 1:20, so the one who judges stands where 1:18–32 left everyone else. Paul plays on the verb: κρίνεις … κατακρίνεις (krineis … katakrineis, “you judge … you condemn,” literal). “The same things” (τὰ αὐτά, ta auta) are the things listed in 1:29–31, many of them sins of everyday life. Implies The phrase “based on truth” means that God's judgment matches what is actually so. It does not rest on appearance, a name, or the judge's own standing.

Says 2:4 asks whether the hearer disregards “the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you to repentance.” The three nouns are χρηστότης (chrēstotēs, “kindness”), ἀνοχή (anochē, “tolerance, forbearance”) and μακροθυμία (makrothymia, “patience”). “But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (2:5). Implies God's forbearance is purposeful delay, not the cancellation of judgment (2:5; 3:25). θησαυρίζεις (thēsaurizeis, “you are storing up”) is ironic: the hearer lays up a treasure, but the treasure is wrath. The “day of wrath” is the prophets' day of the Lord (Zeph 1:15).

Uncertain Whether 2:4 alludes to Exod 34:6, “slow to anger” (אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם, erekh appayim), in particular, or to the common biblical confession; the pairing of kindness and patience echoes it either way. Text note: the Byzantine text adds καί (kai, “and”) in 2:5 (“of revelation and of righteous judgment,” literal); the sense is unchanged.

Says God “will repay each one according to his deeds” (2:6). The words come from Ps 62:12 (MT 62:13), “For You will repay each man according to his deeds” (תְשַׁלֵּם לְאִישׁ כְּמַעֲשֵׂהוּ, teshallem le'ish kema'asehu), and Prov 24:12. Implies Paul's wording is closest to the Greek of Ps 61:13 LXX. Implies 2:6–11 is a ring (chiasm): A, God repays each according to deeds (2:6); B, eternal life to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality (2:7); C, wrath and anger for the self-seeking (2:8); C′, trouble and distress for everyone who does evil (2:9); B′, glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good (2:10); A′, God does not show favoritism (2:11). The ring puts the weight on impartiality: 2:11 explains 2:6. Implies The self-seeking of 2:8 (ἐριθεία, eritheia) is set against the seeking of glory, honor and immortality in 2:7, and their rejecting the truth recalls those who “suppress the truth” (1:18).

Implies The order of 1:16, “first to the Jew, then to the Greek,” now applies to judgment as well as to salvation. Privilege brings first place in accountability. It does not exempt. προσωπολημψία (prosōpolēmpsia, “favoritism”) comes from the Hebrew idiom of “lifting the face” (literal; Deut 10:17).

Says “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law” (2:12). “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous” (2:13). Gentiles who do not have the law “do by nature what the law requires” and “show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them” (2:14–15), “on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel” (2:16).

Implies The two groups of 2:12 are Gentiles and Jews. Both sin, and both perish or are judged: the absence of the law changes the standard of judgment, not the guilt. Paul says “the work of the law” (τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου, to ergon tou nomou, singular), what the law requires, not “the law” itself. Conscience (συνείδησις, syneidēsis) is a second witness beside their conduct.

Uncertain Who is addressed in 2:1–5. Three views are held: (1) a Jewish interlocutor from the start, since the confidence in God's kindness in 2:4 fits Jewish hope and 2:17 names a Jew; (2) a Gentile who moralizes, in line with the diatribe's address to a pretentious hearer; (3) anyone who judges, with the Jew foremost. The commentary leans, loosely, to (3): πᾶς ὁ κρίνων (pas ho krinōn, “everyone who judges,” literal) is general, the word “Jew” does not appear until 2:17, and 2:9–10 brings Jew and Greek under one standard. Yet the description fits the Jew most closely, and 2:17–24 makes that explicit. The main alternative is (1).

Background: Paul writes in the style of a diatribe, addressing an imagined hearer (“O man,” 2:1, 3). Uncertain Whether 2:1–5 answers reasoning like the Wisdom of Solomon (non-canonical; cited for historical context only) 15:1–2, which follows its attack on Gentile idolatry with confidence that God is kind and patient and “even if we sin, we are yours” (literal). The parallel is close, but it is a historical identification that the text does not state.

Implies The hearer takes God's patience as a sign of exemption. Paul says it is a summons to repent. God's forbearance is purposeful delay, not the cancellation of judgment; 3:25–26 will speak of the same forbearance (ἀνοχή, anochē) in passing over former sins. Implies The wrath now being revealed (1:18) has its last day still to come (2:5). ἀμετανόητον (ametanoēton, “unrepentant”) answers μετάνοιαν (metanoian, “repentance,” 2:4), and the hard heart is the opposite of the circumcised heart of 2:29.

Uncertain Whether ἄγει (agei, “leads”) means that God's kindness is meant to lead the hearer to repentance or simply states what God's kindness does. The conative sense suits 2:5, where the hearer does not repent. Either way, the kindness has repentance as its aim.

Says Paul teaches both judgment according to deeds and justification by faith apart from works. God “will repay each one according to his deeds” (2:6; compare 2:16), and “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor 5:10). Yet “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (3:28; compare 3:20), God “justifies the ungodly” (4:5), and “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1).

Implies Judgment according to deeds is real and impartial, and it is not a second way of salvation alongside faith (2:6, 16; 3:9, 20, 23, 28). It is real: 2 Cor 5:10 applies it to believers. It is impartial: Jew and Greek are judged by one standard (2:9–11). It is not a second way of salvation, because 3:20–28 and 4:4–5 exclude works as the ground of acceptance. Implies Works never form part of the ground of the verdict of justification. The verdict is given now through faith (5:1), and “no condemnation” (8:1) is a present and settled fact for those in Christ. The judgment according to deeds does not reopen that verdict. An account in which the works of the whole life form part of the ground of the final verdict falls outside this boundary.

Uncertain Who the people of 2:7, 10 and 13 are. Conservative interpreters hold two readings. Both are given here on equal terms, and neither is the team's view. - The law-standard reading. Paul states the standard by which the law judges, the principle that “the man who does these things will live by them” (Lev 18:5; וָחַי בָּהֶם, vakhay bahem), which Paul cites as the law's principle in Gal 3:12 and Rom 10:5. If anyone did the law, God would declare him righteous; but no one does. Grounds: the passage belongs to an indictment that ends with “no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law” (3:20) and “all have sinned” (3:23); 2:12 speaks of “all who sin”; Gal 3:10 shows that the law's demand is total. Difficulty: 2:7 and 2:10 sound like real people who receive eternal life. - The evidence-of-faith reading. Paul describes the obedience that comes from faith and the Spirit, which God acknowledges at the judgment as the evidence of a true faith, not as the ground of acceptance. Grounds: 2:7 speaks of seeking “glory, honor, and immortality,” the language of Christian hope (5:2; 8:18–25); 2:29 speaks of circumcision “by the Spirit,” and 8:4 of the law's righteous standard fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit; believers will be judged for “the things done in the body” (2 Cor 5:10). Difficulty: Paul has not yet spoken of faith in Christ or of the Spirit in Romans 2, except at 2:29, and 3:20 seems to shut every door through doing.

Both readings agree that works never form part of the ground of the verdict of justification.

Uncertain Whether 2:7, 10 and 13 describe believers' deeds appearing at the judgment as the evidence of a living faith; this is where the two readings differ. Says Paul also speaks of reward and loss for a believer's work at the Day, though the builder “himself will be saved” (1 Cor 3:15).

Other views, reported by reference: N. T. Wright speaks of a future justification on the basis of the whole life lived, anticipated by present justification by faith. The Council of Trent (Session 6, 1547) taught that nothing preceding justification, whether faith or works, merits its grace, but that justification includes inward sanctification and renewal, and that eternal life is both grace and a reward which the good works of the justified truly merit. Jas 2:24 is left to a James study.

The team's position agrees with the Westminster Confession: God justifies “not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone” (WCF 11.1), and good works are “the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith” (WCF 16.2).

Implies “For” (γάρ, gar) gives the reason for 2:12: having the law, and hearing it read in the synagogue, does not protect the hearer at the judgment. δικαιωθήσονται (dikaiōthēsontai, “will be declared righteous”) is forensic: a verdict about a person's standing in God's court, as “righteous before God” in the first half shows.

Uncertain Whether νόμος (nomos, “law”) without the article in 2:12–14 means the Mosaic law or law in a general sense. The commentary leans to the Mosaic law, since Paul uses the anarthrous noun of the law of Moses elsewhere (3:20, 31) and 2:17–27 is plainly about that law; the main alternative is law as a general category.

Uncertain Whether the future refers to the last day or is a logical future (“will be counted righteous whenever this is so,” literal). The commentary leans to the last day, since 2:5 and 2:16 frame the passage with “the day”; the logical future is the main alternative.

Uncertain Who the doers of 2:13 are, and with them the people of 2:7 and 10. Use the two readings set out in the leader note to s1.int.3, the law-standard reading and the evidence-of-faith reading, on equal terms; neither is the team's view. Here the group can test each against Lev 18:5 and Gal 3:10–12 (the law's own condition, which no sinner meets) and against 2:26–29 and 8:4 (obedience the Spirit gives).

Interpreters by name (reported, not the team's view): Calvin reasons from 2:13 that no one is justified by the law, since no one fulfills it, and Hodge, Haldane, Murray and Moo read the verse in a similar way. Augustine read 2:13 to mean that God's justifying makes people doers of the law, not that their doing earns it. Schreiner argues that the doers are those whose obedience comes from the Spirit and is acknowledged at the judgment. Snodgrass argues that the passage is not hypothetical.

Leave both readings standing. The firm boundary is the one both share: works never form part of the ground of the verdict of justification.

Says ὅταν (hotan, “whenever”) with the subjunctive describes what happens from time to time; ἔθνη (ethnē, “Gentiles”) has no article; they do τὰ τοῦ νόμου (ta tou nomou, “the things of the law,” literal), a concrete and partial phrase. Implies The phrase “a law to themselves” does not mean a law of their own making but the law's demand present in them (2:15).

Uncertain Who these Gentiles are. (1) Gentiles generally, who at times do some of the things the law requires. Grounds: “whenever” and the partial phrase; φύσει (physei, “by nature”) most naturally goes with “do”; their conscience and thoughts are “accusing or even defending” (literal), which suits a mixed record rather than the obedience of faith; and the verses serve 2:12, which says that those “apart from the law” are still accountable, as 1:32 has already said. (2) Gentile Christians, with the law written on their hearts as Jer 31:33 promised (“inscribe it on their hearts”; אֶכְתֲּבֶנָּה, ekhtavennah, “I will write it,” literal). Grounds: the echo of Jeremiah; φύσει may go with “who do not have the law,” as ἐκ φύσεως (ek physeōs, “by birth”) does in 2:27; 2:14 begins with “for” and may give an instance of the “doers” of 2:13; and 2:26–29 appears to describe believers. (3) A hypothetical case. The commentary leans to (1); the main alternative is (2). Interpreters divide: Chrysostom and Calvin took them as Gentiles generally; Augustine took them as believers under the new covenant (and allowed the other view); Cranfield and Gathercole argue for Gentile Christians; Moo takes them as non-Christians; Schreiner changed from the first view to the second.

Uncertain Whether φύσει goes with “do” (the commentary's lean, with the BSB) or with “who do not have the law” (main alternative). Uncertain Whether “written on their hearts” alludes to Jer 31:33; the weight given to it goes with the identification of these Gentiles.

Leader: whichever view the group finds stronger, the records do not present 2:14–15 as a way of salvation apart from the gospel. On reading (1) these verses serve the indictment: 2:12 says that those without the law still perish for their sin, and the “even” before “defending” suggests that accusation is the usual verdict of conscience.

Says 2:16 has no main verb and completes an earlier clause: God judges the secrets of people through Christ Jesus, as Paul's gospel announces. Uncertain What it attaches to: (1) to 2:15, as the BSB punctuates, though the present tense of “they show” makes this harder; (2) to 2:13, with 2:14–15 as an aside; (3) to 2:12, with 2:13–15 as a parenthesis, since κρίνει (krinei, “judges”) picks up κριθήσονται (krithēsontai, “will be judged”). The commentary leans to (3); the main alternative is (2).

Implies God judges τὰ κρυπτά (ta krypta, “the secrets”), not only outward acts. This prepares for 2:28–29, where the true Jew is the one “inwardly” (ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ, en tō kryptō). The phrase “as proclaimed by my gospel” means that the gospel Paul preaches includes the announcement of this judgment (compare Acts 17:31), and “through Christ Jesus” names Christ as the one through whom God judges (2 Cor 5:10).

Grounding: Says The one who judges others condemns himself, because he does the same things, and God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth (2:1–3). Implies The sentence the judge passes on others falls on himself; “the same things” include the everyday sins of 1:29–31, and God's judgment does not rest on appearance, a name, or the judge's own standing. Keep the discussion here, not on the open question of who the hearer of 2:1 is.

Grounding: Says God's kindness leads to repentance, and the hard and unrepentant heart stores up wrath for the day of wrath (2:4–5). Implies God's patience is a summons to repent, not a sign of exemption; his forbearance is purposeful delay, not the cancellation of judgment. Keep the application on these points, not on the open question of whether “leads” is conative.