Romans 2

English Standard Version Chapter 2

2 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?

A reliable hermetic for interpreting scripture is to always ask “What is the Therefore, there for?

In this case especially when we remind ourselves that there were no chapter and verse divisions in the original text it seems pretty clear this next diatribe (and I mean that literally, that is the rhetorical device Paul is using here) is related to the sins we were just studying in chapter 1.

Scholars debate if he is addressing a Jewish audience feeling confident that the issues previously described don’t apply to them as “Law Followers”, or to Jewish Christians, or in fact he is slapping everyone who would claim to know God and follow Him in the face here.

Note that the in Chapter 1 he says the pagan gentiles are without excuse because of what God had revealed in nature. Here he uses the same language to describe those who would judge.

I do think it is important to circle back to our early discussion on the laundry list of sins Paul used in chapter one and re-emphasis that he is not singling our homosexuality as a special class of sin.

I think it is unlikely that Paul believes everyone in the church at Rome has engaged in a same sex union of some sort. Rather I think his point is that the hearers of this letter are all sinners and in need of mercy, not in a position to judge the sin of others.

he clearly isn’t saying here that the sins are no problem, but he is saying to condemn someone for a particular sin while you have that or another sin in your life is a problem.

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 2

without excuse Just as Gentiles are without excuse for suppressing the truth of God (see 1:20 and note), Jews are without excuse because they do the same things they condemn others for doing.

passes judgment The Greek word used here, krinō, refers to condemning someone. Those who judge inappropriately assume a role that belongs to God. Later, Paul will warn Gentile Christians not to pass judgment upon Jewish Christians who feel compelled to maintain certain dietary customs (14:1–4).

Romans (1) God’s Righteous Judgment (2:1–16)

Jesus warned against condemning others. In the Sermon on the Mount he said, “Do not judge or you too will be judged” (Matt 7:1). The kind of judging both Jesus and Paul referred to was not a sane appraisal of character based on conduct but a hypocritical and self-righteous condemnation of the other person. In the same context Jesus told his followers to watch out for false prophets (v. 15), who are to be recognized by their fruit (vv. 16–20). That would be difficult, to say the least, apart from determining which actions are moral and which are not. Evaluation is not the same as condemnation. It is the latter that passes sentence.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Paul here is saying that rather than a self righteousness and a sense of entitlement. God’s blessings in-spite of our sin should not lead us to feel superior or as if we have license but rather fill us with repentance and sorrow for being treated so kindly in light of our sin.

A refusal to acknowledge that undeserved mercy hardens the believers heart (church lady) and is in fact storing up wrath for those who would do so. (Jerry Fallwell etc.)

English Standard Version Chapter 2

6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) Chapter 2

2:6–10 The ground of judgment will be what people have been or done (v. 6). Paul is not here denying what he elsewhere emphasizes: that salvation is a gift, not a reward (5:15, 17; 6:23). Divine judgment is based on every aspect of a person’s relationship to God. Only those who receive grace do in fact seek “glory and honor and immortality” (v. 7). Others are “self-seeking” (v. 8), not God-honoring. Paul teaches that while salvation is by grace, judgment is according to works (2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:12–15). Apart from the obedient works of Christ, imputed to believers by grace through faith, there is only one verdict possible to “the Jew first and also the Greek” (v. 9), and that guilty verdict warrants the punishment of “wrath and fury … tribulation and distress.”

Let’s try to think of it this way. Everyone of us will one day stand in from of the judgement seat to answer for what we have done here is this life.

For some they will say they never sought God, but lived as they saw fit more or less claiming no one has the right to judge them. They will unfortunately be wrong Paul addressed them in Chapter 1

For some they will pull out there church attendance record, and the fact they never drank, smoked, or chewed or went with girls to did and confidently present their righteousness before a holy and perfect God who will not accept it. Paul is addressing them in Chapter 2.

And thirdly there will be a group my we all be among them, who I imagine will not be able to lift there heads to meet Jesus’ eyes who will feel the weight of all they have done and in death as in life trust in Jesus alone to save them.

They are just as guilty as the rest but Jesus will say to the Father I already paid for their sin and since the Father is just and perfect He would not punish us for a sin that has already been atoned for.