Romans 2–3

Chapter 2

The Impartiality of God

¹Therefore you have ^ano excuse, ^1beveryone of you who passes judgment, for in that which ^cyou judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

²And we know that the judgment of God ¹rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

³But do you suppose this, ^aO man, ¹when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

⁴Or do you think lightly of ^athe riches of His ^bkindness and ^ctolerance and ^dpatience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

⁵But ¹because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart ^ayou are storing up wrath for yourself ^bin the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

^6awho will render to each person according to his deeds:

⁷to those who by ^aperseverance in doing good seek for ^bglory and honor and ^cimmortality, ^deternal life;

⁸but to those who are ^aselfishly ambitious and ^bdo not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.

⁹There will be ^atribulation and distress ¹for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew ^bfirst and also of the Greek,

¹⁰but ^aglory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew ^bfirst and also to the Greek.

¹¹For ^athere is no partiality with God.

¹²For all who have sinned ^1awithout the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned ²under the Law will be judged ³by the Law;

¹³for it is ^anot the hearers ¹of the Law who are ²just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.

¹⁴For when Gentiles who do not have ¹the Law do ^2ainstinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves,

¹⁵in that they show ^athe work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,

¹⁶on the day when, ^aaccording to my gospel, ^bGod will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

The Jew Is Condemned by the Law

¹⁷But if you bear the name “Jew” and ^arely ¹upon the Law and boast in God,

¹⁸and know His will and ^1aapprove the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law,

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

²⁰a ¹corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ²the immature, having in the Law ^athe embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,

²¹you, therefore, ^awho teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who ¹preach that one shall not steal, do you steal?

²²You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^arob temples?

²³You who ^aboast ¹in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?

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

²⁵For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^apractice ¹the Law; but if you are a transgressor ²of the Law, ^byour circumcision has become uncircumcision.

^26aSo if ^bthe ¹uncircumcised man ^ckeeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

²⁷And ^ahe who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not ^bjudge you who ¹though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor ²of the Law?

²⁸For ^ahe is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.

²⁹But ^ahe is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^bcircumcision is that which is of the heart, by the ^cSpirit, not by the letter; ^dand his praise is not from men, but from God.

Chapter 3

All the World Guilty

¹Then what ¹advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?

²Great in every respect. First of all, that ^athey were entrusted with the ^boracles of God.

³What then? If ^asome ¹did not believe, their ²unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?

^4aMay it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found ^ba liar, as it is written,

“^cThat You may be justified in Your words,

And prevail when You ¹are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness ^1ademonstrates the righteousness of God, ^bwhat shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (^cI am speaking in human terms.)

^6aMay it never be! For otherwise, how will ^bGod judge the world?

⁷But if through my lie ^athe truth of God abounded to His glory, ^bwhy am I also still being judged as a sinner?

⁸And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “^aLet us do evil that good may come”? ¹Their condemnation is just.

⁹What then? ^1aAre we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both ^bJews and ^cGreeks are ^dall under sin;

¹⁰as it is written,

“^aThere is none righteous, not even one;

¹¹There is none who understands,

There is none who seeks for God;

¹²All have turned aside, together they have become useless;

There is none who does good,

There is not even one.”

¹³“^aTheir throat is an open grave,

With their tongues they keep deceiving,”

“^bThe poison of asps is under their lips”;

¹⁴“^aWhose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;

¹⁵“^aTheir feet are swift to shed blood,

¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their paths,

¹⁷And the path of peace they have not known.”

¹⁸“^aThere is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the ^aLaw says, it speaks to ^bthose who are ¹under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and ^call the world may become accountable to God;

²⁰because ^aby the works ¹of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for ^2bthrough the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Justification by Faith

²¹But now apart ¹from the Law ^athe righteousness of God has been manifested, being ^bwitnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

²²even the ^arighteousness of God through ^bfaith ^cin Jesus Christ for ^dall those ¹who believe; for ^ethere is no distinction;

²³for all ^1ahave sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

²⁴being justified as a gift ^aby His grace through ^bthe redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

²⁵whom God displayed publicly as ^aa ¹propitiation ^2bin His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, ³because in the ^cforbearance of God He ^dpassed over the sins previously committed;

²⁶for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who ¹has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where then is ^aboasting? It is excluded. By ^bwhat kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

²⁸¹For ^awe maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works ²of the Law.

²⁹Or ^ais God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,

³⁰since indeed ^aGod ^bwho will justify the ¹circumcised ²by faith and the ³uncircumcised through faith ^cis one.

³¹Do we then nullify ¹the Law through faith? ^aMay it never be! On the contrary, we ^bestablish the Law.