Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore 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.
- KJV Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
- BSB You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
- NASB Therefore you have no excuse, you foolish person, everyone of you who passes judgment; for in that matter in which you judge someone else, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
- NLT You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Anyone who judges others is without excuse, because in judging he condemns himself by doing the same things. Moral self-righteousness offers no escape from guilt.
Overview
Paul pivots from the openly sinful (chapter 1) to the self-righteous moralist who condemns others. The very act of passing judgment proves the judge knows right from wrong, yet he commits the same sins. This closes off the escape route of comparing oneself favorably to others. All are implicated, the moral critic no less than the immoral pagan.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Luke 6:37Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free.
- Rom 2:3Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
- John 8:7–9But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”
- Rom 2:21–23You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal?
- Matt 7:1–5“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.
- Rom 1:18–20For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
- 2 Sam 12:5–7David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!
- Ps 50:16–20But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
- Rom 9:20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
- Matt 23:29–31“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,
- Jas 4:11Don’t speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother and judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.
- Jas 2:20But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?
- Luke 19:22“He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow.
- Rom 2:26–27If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?
- 1 Cor 7:16For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
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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 2:1 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.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.