Romans chapter 2

by Keith Simons. Free online Bible course and commentary from the Useful Bible Study Centre.

We should examine ourselves, not accuse other people

(Romans 2:1-3)

Christ once told a story about a man who wanted to help his brother. Unfortunately, that man had a much more severe problem himself, which he did not even realise. Until that man dealt with his own problem, he would be completely unable to help his brother (Luke 6:41-42).

Often, it seems easier to recognise other people’s faults than our own. It is not hard to recognise that the evil acts and attitudes in Paul’s list are wrong (1:28-31). Perhaps we can also see that wrong desires cause people to carry out the wrong acts in Romans 1:24-27. Also, people have failed to give God the honour that he deserves. So, they have made themselves images of false gods (1:21-23).

Perhaps we agreed with all that Paul wrote in chapter 1. Perhaps we even felt anger against the people who do these wrong things. Perhaps in our minds, we were even accusing them as we read the chapter.

If so, Paul’s words at the start of chapter 2 will give us a shock. He declares that we too are guilty. We have declared that God’s judgement about these wrong acts is right. Therefore, we need to realise that God’s judgement is against us, too.

We may not have prayed to the images of false gods. However, we all have failed to give God the honour that he deserves. We may not have carried out wrong sex acts. However, we all desire wrong things. When we read a list of people’s evil behaviour, we ought to examine our own hearts, not to accuse other people.

God wants to forgive us, so that we can have a right relationship with him. However, that is only possible when we first turn from our evil behaviour to ask God for his help. He can save (rescue) us from our wrong and evil deeds, so that we can start to have a right relationship with him.

God urges us to repent

(Romans 2:4-5)

Since Romans 1:18, we have been reading about people’s evil deeds, and God’s judgement against those evil deeds. Paul has insisted that God’s judgement in these matters is right. Also, he has shown us that we are all guilty in front of God.

Now, in this very strict and severe passage, Paul says something that may surprise us. In verse 3, he warned us that we would not escape God’s judgement. In verse 4, he continues to warn us. We are acting as if God’s wonderful kindness and his great patience mean nothing. So, Paul is emphasising God’s kindness and patience.

That should astonish us. God is not eager to punish us; God does not want us to suffer for our wrong and evil behaviour. Instead, he urges us to repent (to turn back to God) so that he can forgive us (Ezekiel 18:30-32). We only deserve death (6:23); but God has delayed the punishment, to give us the opportunity to turn to him.

2 Peter 3:9 gives the same reason why Christ has not yet returned to this world. God is still giving people the opportunity to return to him. In this matter, God is showing great kindness to the people of this world. He shows the greatest patience towards them because some of them may yet turn back to him.

However, we must not imagine that we can continue to live in this evil manner. We all must die; and Christ’s return will certainly happen. So, we definitely cannot escape God’s judgement. That judgement will certainly be against us, unless we turn back to God.

The nature of God’s judgement

(Romans 2:6-8)

Perhaps we would like to know the nature of God’s judgement. Psalm 96:13 declares that God will judge the world in righteousness (in other words, rightly). Here, Paul explains more clearly what that means.

Firstly, God will be the judge of all people. Nobody will escape God’s judgement. God will be the judge of people from every nation. Whether we consider people to be important or not, God will still be their judge.

Secondly, God will be the judge of each person. He knows each person; and he knows what they have done. He will not punish one person for another person’s wrong acts. His judgement about each person will be right.

Next, God’s judgement will be about the way that people have lived during their lives on earth. God knows their words, thoughts and deeds; he knows their attitudes and their behaviour. He will certainly punish evil people; he will certainly reward those people who have patiently continued to do what is right.

The reward for God’s people is life that never ends. However, evil people will suffer the anger of God.

Paul describes God’s people in verse 7. They are the people who patiently do good work. They desire the true greatness, honour, and life that only God can give. However, Paul does not yet explain how we can join these people to gain this wonderful reward. That is a problem, because we are all guilty of wrong and evil acts. Therefore, we all deserve God’s punishment. Paul explains the answer to this important problem in Romans 5:6-9. When Christ died, he suffered the punishment for us. To join God’s people, therefore, we must confess our evil deeds to God, and we must invite Christ into our lives.

Nobody has any special advantages when God is their judge

(Romans 2:9-11)

The Jews are God’s special people, who belong to the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God has chosen their nation, and he shows great kindness to them. God gave them his law; he has made wonderful promises to them; and Christ came from their families.

The Greeks are the people from Greece. The ancient Greeks were a truly great nation, but their greatness came from power in this world. They prayed to false gods; the real God was then unknown to them (Acts 17:22-23). As in Romans 1:16, Paul refers to them on behalf of the people in every nation who are not Jews.

The Jews have the advantages that come from their nation’s relationship with God. The ancient Greeks had the advantages that came from their nation’s importance and power in this world. However, nobody will have any special advantages when God is their judge. The rewards for good behaviour are alike; the punishments for evil behaviour are alike. God’s judgements are always right and proper for each and every person.

People sometimes try to impress a judge on earth by means of their importance. Sometimes they use a gift to try to gain a judge’s support. Nobody can gain God’s support by those methods. In fact, he declares such gifts to be wrong and evil (Exodus 23:8). Many people try to use religion to impress God; however, they refuse to do what God wants (Micah 6:6-8). We must be very careful, therefore, to follow the kind of religion that God approves of (James 1:26-27; Romans 2:13). In particular, we must have an attitude of faith (active belief and trust in God) - Hebrews 11:6. We must depend not on our own good deeds, but on what Christ did by his death for us (4:1-5; 5:8; 6:23).

We must obey God’s message, and not merely hear it

(Romans 2:12-13)

There are many people who make this mistake, even today. Perhaps they go to a good church; perhaps they even read God’s word, the Bible, often. However, they have never really turned to God; they have never invited Christ into their lives. They do not trust him to save (rescue) them from their sins (evil deeds). Instead, they have a religion; and they think that their religion can save them.

They have heard God’s word often - but they have never really listened to it properly. If they did, they would hear about God’s judgement against their own evil deeds. They would know that they, like everyone else, have offended against God’s law (3:23). They would understand that God can only save them by the death of Christ.

God’s law - his word, with which they are so familiar - declares his judgement against them. While they continue in their evil deeds, God’s word declares them guilty. They have refused to trust Christ, and that is a terrible error. God gave them his word so that they could learn to trust him.

Christ too urged people to do what God’s word says (Matthew 7:24-27). He warned the people that it is not good enough only to listen to the words. We must allow God’s message to change our lives.

God judges fairly and rightly even those people who have never heard his law. However, there is a greater responsibility for the people who know God’s law (2:23-24). God has been very kind to us when he allowed us to hear his word. We must be very careful to obey it.

Some people who do not know God’s law, still obey it

(Romans 2:14-16)

Here is some evidence that God’s law really does teach the right way for people to live. By ‘God’s law’, we mean his instructions in the first 5 books of the Bible.

God has made it possible for people everywhere to know some important facts about him. Therefore, people have no excuse when, on purpose, they act in a wicked manner (1:18-20). However, not everyone chooses to behave in such an evil manner.

In every nation, there are some sincere people who do not approve of evil acts. They try hard to do what is good and right in every situation. They are not perfect; but they behave differently from the people round them. They would prefer to suffer rather than to do something wrong.

Many of those people know nothing about God’s law. However, they are behaving in the way that God’s law teaches people to behave. They act in this manner simply because they recognise it to be right.

Such people are the best people who live in this world. Even before they hear God’s law, it is already in their hearts. In other words, they already want to obey it.

Few people are truly like that. However, very many people have some of the same attitudes. They have a conscience, in other words, they make judgements about their own actions. They are pleased when they do something good. They feel guilty when they do something bad. So they too approve of God’s law, even if they do not know it.

However, very often our conscience does not guide us in the right way. That is why it is so important to read and to obey the Bible. The Bible is God’s word; by it, God teaches us (Psalm 119:98-100). Only God is the perfect judge of our words, thoughts and deeds.

People who know God’s law, should teach it to other people

(Romans 2:17-20)

Paul has just been writing about the people in the many nations that did not know God’s law. Now, he writes about the people in the nation that did know God’s law, the Jews. God did a wonderful thing for that nation when he gave his law to them. The knowledge of God’s law gave them the great responsibility to teach it to the people in other nations. So, God’s special people had this special work to do for God.

Paul describes this responsibility with a series of phrases which were probably very familiar to the Jews. As Jews, they depended on God’s law and they could speak with confidence about their nation’s relationship with God. God’s law had given them knowledge about how God wanted them to live. Therefore, it had taught them the best way to live.

People without God’s law were like blind people, because they needed someone to guide them. They were like people in darkness (Isaiah 9:2); God’s law was like a light that would direct their lives (Psalm 119:105). Without God’s law, people make so many wrong and foolish decisions about their lives; they need someone to correct them. Like little children, they do not even understand what they should do. So, they need someone to teach them.

Even before Christ came, many Jews were trying to teach people from other nations to obey God. It was not easy for those Jews, because many of the people from other nations disliked Jews. However, some people believed, and they began to serve the real God. Probably, most of those people who believed did not become Jews. One of them was Cornelius (Acts 10:1-2). Those people served God, but not as members of the Jewish religion. Many of them later became Christians when they heard the gospel (God’s message about Christ).

People who teach God’s word, must obey it

(Romans 2:21-24)

Paul’s words seem very strong here. However, it was perhaps usual for Bible teachers to speak in this manner. They did not want the people whom they taught to agree with them, and then to do nothing about it. So they urged those people to examine their own attitudes and actions very carefully.

We declare God’s word to be the truth, so we must not neglect to obey it. God’s word, the Bible, should affect every part of our lives. As we teach it to other people, we too must be careful to learn its lessons.

Paul first refers to the commands in Exodus 20:14-15. It should not be hard for us to know if we are obeying such commands. However, Jesus taught us that our wrong thoughts, as well as our wrong actions, offend God (Matthew 5:27-28).

Then Paul asks a more difficult question. The Bible teaches that we must not make an idol (an image that we pray to) - Exodus 20:4. Paul asks whether we rob temples. The temples were the houses of false gods, where people kept idols.

The meaning of Paul’s question about the temples is not certain. However, Rome probably had more temples than any other city, and many of Rome’s Christians were traders. They could make good profits if they sold valuable objects to the temples (compare Revelation 18:11-13). They might insist that they hated idols. However, their actions would not match their words.

It is possible for us to become proud about our knowledge of the Bible, but not to obey it. If we do that, we bring shame upon God’s holy name. We should be teaching other people about God. However, instead, we may be causing those same people to insult God because of our wrong behaviour. If those people imitate that wrong behaviour, they could only learn from us the wrong way to live. We would not have taught them God’s law but, rather, the opposite.

Is circumcision necessary?

(Romans 2:25-27)

God established a special relationship, called the covenant, with Abraham and the future members of his family. As evidence of that relationship, God told Abraham that he and the male members of his family should carry out circumcision (Genesis chapter 17). Circumcision is the minor operation that cuts a small piece of skin from the male sex part. The Jews are the people who come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They still obey that instruction today, and they are right to do it. It is a mark of their nation’s relationship with God.

However, no mark on a person's body can cause that person to love God or to obey him. No ceremony can cause a person to do what God really wants; that is, to serve God with a willing heart (attitude). Therefore, no ceremony and no physical act can give a person a right relationship with God.

To achieve that, there needs to be a much deeper change in a person’s life. Jesus said that a person must be born again (John 3:3). Jeremiah said that God would put his law in people’s minds and hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). If God’s law is in a person’s heart, then that person will truly desire to obey him. That is the kind of relationship that God wants to have with his people.

The first Christians were all Jews. Therefore, of course, the first Christian teachers approved of circumcision. Then many people who were not Jews became Christians. The leaders of the church discussed this matter. They decided not to ask those Christians to accept circumcision (Acts 15:1-31; Galatians 2:1-10). Therefore, at the time of the Book of Romans, many people were obeying God’s law who had not received circumcision. They did not need to worry about circumcision, because God had accepted them. They had not received circumcision of their bodies, but they had received a real relationship with God.

Real religion is in the heart

(Romans 2:28-29)

You might convince everyone that you are a Christian. However, God knows the truth about you. Your actions in front of other people might impress those people, but you cannot impress God by that means. God sees what other people cannot see. He knows what is in your heart (in other words, your true attitudes). Therefore, God knows whether you truly have a relationship with him, or not (Matthew 6:1-18).

Those Christians who were Jews understood that lesson very well. The Jews are the people who come from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their nation, called Israel, has a special relationship with God. However, they do not all have a personal relationship with God.

Clearly, a Jew who refuses to obey God does not have a right relationship with God. That is so even if that Jew chooses to accept all the ceremonies of his religion. Those ceremonies have not given him a right relationship with God. The ceremonies were correct; the problem is in the person’s heart, and nobody except God sees that (Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4).

We might want other people to approve of our religion. Of course other Christians can and should encourage us to do the right things. However, real religion is in the heart, and other people cannot see it. They cannot know whether we truly love God. They do not hear our private prayers; they do not know the difficult decisions that we make for God in private. They cannot know that we are trusting Christ in each situation. It is God alone who knows and approves of these things.

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