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

Read Rom 1:32 and then 2:1–3. Whom does Paul now address? What does he say this person does, and what happens when he judges others? Compare “without excuse” in 1:20 and 2:1.

In 2:4–5, list the three things Paul says belong to God's “riches.” What is God's kindness meant to do? What is the hearer “storing up” instead, and for what day? Compare Exod 34:6.

Rom 2:6–11 is built like a ring. Find the opening statement (2:6) and the closing statement (2:11). Between them, what two kinds of people and what two outcomes does Paul describe? Where does “first for the Jew, then for the Greek” appear, and where have we seen it before (1:16)?

Read 2:12–16. What two groups does 2:12 describe, and what happens to each? What does 2:13 contrast? What do the Gentiles of 2:14–15 do, what is “written on their hearts,” and what do their consciences and thoughts do? When and through whom will God judge (2:16)?

Who is the “you” of 2:1–5? A Jewish hearer from the start, a Gentile who moralizes, or anyone who judges? What in 2:1–5 and 2:17 points each way?

Why might someone take God's patience as a sign that he will not judge? According to 2:4–5, what is God's patience for? How does “the day of wrath” in 2:5 relate to the wrath already “being revealed” in 1:18?

Paul says God “will repay each one according to his deeds” (2:6), yet later says “a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (3:28). Read 2:6–11, 3:20–28 and 2 Cor 5:10. How can both be true? What do the two common conservative readings of 2:7 and 2:10 say?

What does Paul mean when he says that “it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous” (2:13)? Read Lev 18:5 and Rom 3:20. Weigh the two readings: is 2:13 the law's standard that no one meets, or a description of believers whose obedience is the evidence of faith?

Who are the Gentiles of 2:14–15, who “do by nature what the law requires”? Gentiles in general, Gentile Christians, or a supposed case? Compare Jer 31:33 with Rom 2:15. Why does it matter that Paul says “the work of the law,” and that their thoughts are “accusing or defending them”?

Rom 2:16 has no main verb of its own. Which earlier statement does it complete: 2:15, 2:13, or 2:12? What does it mean that God will judge people's “secrets,” and that he will do it “through Christ Jesus”?

Paul says that those who judge others “do the same things” (2:1). Where are you quick to condemn in others what you excuse in yourself? How should knowing that God's judgment “is based on truth” (2:2) change the way you examine yourself before you judge anyone else?

Have you ever taken God's patience as permission to keep sinning? Romans 2:4 says his kindness “leads you to repentance.” What would turning from a specific sin look like for you this week, and how does God's kindness make that turn possible?