Romans 2 - English Standard Version (ESV) (2024)

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What is the main point of Romans chapter 2? ›

Chapter Summary

He shows that God will judge everyone, including those under the law, based on their works. This prefaces this letter's theme of salvation by grace, through faith, rather than by works. Many benefits come with having the law, but only if those under the law keep it.

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You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Sinners without the law of Moses to follow—the Gentiles—will die and be judged by God without the law, because their sin is still sin. Sinners under the law—Jewish people who adhere to the rituals and sacraments of the law of Moses—will be judged by God according the law of Moses when they die.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

Romans is about the good news—the gospel. The word gospel is prominent at the beginning and end of the letter, and it's foremost in the letter's thesis statement in Romans 1:16–17: “I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The letter to the Romans stands as the clearest and most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in all the Scriptures. Paul began by discussing that which is most easily observable in the world—the sinfulness of all humanity. All people have been condemned due to our rebellion against God.

God is completely fair and impartial with humanity. He will judge each person according to that person's own works, not the works of family, or their community, or their nation. If a person were able to lead a life full of ongoing unselfish good works, God would reward that person with glory and honor and peace.

God Shows No Partiality -- Romans 2:11

Paul is reminding the small, struggling Christian community in Rome that God does not care if we are “Jew or Greek [Gentile], male or female, slave or free.” It doesn't matter to God because it's not about who we are now, or who we were before.

So the point of what the apostle is saying in Romans 2 when he refers to the law is this: The law which a man has ( either a heathen Gentile or a written law possessing Jew) is the standard by which he will be judged. All men, to a lesser or greater degree have the Law of God !

Those who judge others are guilty, also, of hypocrisy. Nobody will escape God's judgment for personal sin, including religious Jews and Gentiles. God will absolutely judge each person according to what he or she has done. If someone has lived sinlessly, doing only good, he will receive rewards and eternal life.

What is the meaning of Romans 2 15? ›

What it does mean, apparently, is that the same God who gave the Israelites the law also built into the heart of all people a sense of what is right and wrong. It is the human conscience that condemns us when we do wrong and defends us when we do right. The conscience, though, is not a perfect standard. It is flexible.

No one will enter heaven who isn't clothed in Christ's righteousness. All those, and only those, who come to him in faith will be received by the Father (John 6:37). But we must come! In Luke 13, Jesus laments over those who were so close to the kingdom—but never entered.

Simply put, Jesus may save some who never hear of him. Inclusivists often cite Romans 2:1–16, a passage taken to imply that salvation is possible apart from God's special revelation. The content of general revelation—both the created order without (Rom. 1:19–20) and the moral law within (Rom.

God will judge these people based on how they responded to the truth that they were able to understand. In Luke it says, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). For those who knew little, if they lived up to what they understood, God will judge them accordingly.

Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn't so easily diverted.

The book of Romans provides us with a concise summary of the Gospel. In its initial chapters, Paul focuses on doctrine, that is, on the pillars of truth that we know about ourselves and about God. The last five chapters focus more on advice and encouragement for how to live out of this knowledge.

Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by Paul the Apostle to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Romans has four main parts. Chapters 1-4 introduces the need for human rescue. 5-8 focus on how Jesus forms a new covenant family. 9-11 describes how God will not give up on his covenant people.