Romans 2

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¹Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. ✦ ²We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. ✦ ³Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? ✦ ⁴Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ✦ ⁵But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; ✦ ⁶who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” ✦ ⁷to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; ✦ ⁸but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation, ✦ ⁹oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ✦ ¹⁰But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ✦ ¹¹For there is no partiality with God. ✦ ¹²For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ✦ ¹³For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified ✦ ¹⁴(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, ✦ ¹⁵in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) ✦ ¹⁶in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ. ✦ ¹⁷Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God, ✦ ¹⁸and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ✦ ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ✦ ²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. ✦ ²¹You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? ✦ ²²You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ✦ ²³You who glory in the law, through your disobedience of the law do you dishonor God? ✦ ²⁴For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. ✦ ²⁵For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ✦ ²⁶If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? ✦ ²⁷Won’t the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? ✦ ²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; ✦ ²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Rom 2 ·23 Rom 9 ·14 Rom 3 ·11 Rom 1 ·10 Eph 2 ·7 Gal 6 ·6 Acts 10 ·6 Rom 8 ·6

Christ at the center

Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.

How Romans 2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed
Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Romans 2YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Romans 2David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Romans 2Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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