1 Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practise the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practise such things. 3 And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5 but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 who will render to every man according to his works: 7 to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life: 8 but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [shall be ]wrath and indignation, 9 tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; 10 but glory and honour and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: 11 for there is no respect of persons with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned under law shall be judged by law; 13 for not the hearers of a law are just before God, but the doers of a law shall be justified: 14 for when Gentiles which have no law do by nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto themselves; 15 in that they shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing [them]; 16 in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ. 17 But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God, 18 and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth; 21 thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples? 23 thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonourest thou God? 24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. 25 For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision. 26 If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? 27 and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Romans · Revised Version with Apocrypha
Romans 2 Revised Version with Apocrypha
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Luke 6:37; Romans 2:3; John 8:7–9; Romans 2:21–23; Matthew 7:1–5
- 2 Psalm 9:7–8; Zephaniah 3:5; Psalm 145:17; Jeremiah 12:1; Psalm 98:9
- 3 Proverbs 16:5; Luke 12:14; Romans 1:32–2:1; Matthew 23:33; Matthew 26:53
- 4 2 Peter 3:9; Isaiah 30:18; Exodus 34:6; Titus 3:4–6; Romans 9:22–23
- 5 Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 1:18; Romans 2:2–3; Hebrews 3:15; 2 Peter 3:7
- 6 Psalm 62:12; Jeremiah 32:19; Matthew 16:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Jeremiah 17:10
- 7 2 Timothy 4:7–8; Luke 8:15; 1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Timothy 1:10; Revelation 2:10–11
- 8 1 Timothy 6:3–4; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; John 3:18–21; 1 Peter 4:17; Proverbs 13:10
- 9 1 Peter 4:17; Romans 3:29–30; Romans 1:16; Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 9:24
- 10 Isaiah 32:17; Isaiah 26:12; Numbers 6:26; 1 Peter 1:7; Romans 8:6
- 11 Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Galatians 2:6; Job 34:19
- 12 1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 3:10; Romans 2:14–16; Galatians 2:16–19; Acts 17:30–31
- 13 James 1:22–25; 1 John 3:7; James 2:21–25; Romans 2:25; Luke 8:21
- 14 Romans 1:19–20; Romans 2:12; Romans 2:27; Acts 17:30; Acts 10:35
- 15 2 Corinthians 5:11; Romans 1:18–19; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Titus 1:15; 1 Timothy 4:2
- 16 Ecclesiastes 12:14; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Acts 17:31; Acts 10:42; Luke 8:17
- 17 Romans 2:23; Micah 3:11; Isaiah 48:1–2; Revelation 2:9; Romans 9:4–7
- 18 1 Thessalonians 5:21; James 4:17; Deuteronomy 4:8; Philippians 1:10; Hebrews 5:14
- 19 Revelation 3:17–18; Isaiah 5:21; Matthew 6:23; Proverbs 26:12; 1 Corinthians 8:1–2
- 20 2 Timothy 3:5; Titus 1:16; 2 Timothy 1:13; Romans 6:17; 1 Corinthians 3:1
- 21 1 Corinthians 9:27; Matthew 23:3–28; Luke 12:47; Micah 3:11; Titus 2:1–7
- 22 Malachi 3:8; Matthew 12:39; Jeremiah 9:2; Acts 19:37; Malachi 1:8
- 23 James 4:16–17; Romans 2:17; John 5:45; Romans 9:4; Romans 3:2
- 24 Ezekiel 36:20–23; Isaiah 52:5; 2 Peter 2:2; Lamentations 2:15–16; 2 Samuel 12:14
- 25 Galatians 5:3–6; Jeremiah 4:4; Galatians 6:15; Acts 7:51; Deuteronomy 30:6
- 26 Colossians 2:11; 1 Corinthians 7:18–19; Romans 8:4; Ephesians 2:11; Acts 11:3–18
- 27 Matthew 12:41–42; Romans 7:6–8; Romans 8:4; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Romans 2:29
- 28 Galatians 6:15; Matthew 3:9; Revelation 2:9; Romans 9:6–8; Romans 4:10–12
- 29 Deuteronomy 30:6; Philippians 3:3; Deuteronomy 10:16; Colossians 2:11–12; Jeremiah 4:4
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
After saying that the Gentile wanteth nothing appertaining to salvation if he be a doer of the Law, and after making that wonderful comparison, he goes on to set down the glories of the Jews, owing to which they thought scorn of the Gentiles: and first the very name itself, which was of great majesty, as the name Christian is …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11 (1889)
Those, on the other hand, who depart from Him, and despise His precepts, and by their deeds bring dishonour on Him who made them, and by their opinions blaspheme Him who nourishes them, heap up against themselves most righteous judgment. He therefore (i.e., the spiritual man) sifts and tries them all, but he himself is tried by no man: he …
And who is this but Thee, our God, the sweetness and well-spring of righteousness, who renderest "to every man according to his deeds," and despisest not "a broken and a contrite heart!"
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
For as teaching without doing condemns the teacher (for "thou which teachest another," it is said, "teachest thou not thyself"?) so doing but not guiding others, lessens our reward.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
For Jesus the King when about to become our Physician, girded Himself with the linen of humanity, and healed that which was sick. The perfect Teacher of babes became a babe among babes, that He might give wisdom to the foolish.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)