Reflections on Romans 2

Romans 02 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Some of you accuse others of doing wrong. But there is no excuse for what you do. When you judge others, you condemn yourselves, because you are guilty of doing the very same things.
   
2. We know that God is right to judge everyone who behaves in this way.
   
3. Do you really think God won't punish you, when you behave exactly like the people you accuse?
   
4. You surely don't think much of God's wonderful goodness or of his patience and willingness to put up with you. Don't you know that the reason God is good to you is because he wants you to turn to him?
   
5. But you are stubborn and refuse to turn to God. So you are making things even worse for yourselves on that day when he will show how angry he is and will judge the world with fairness.
   
6. God will reward each of us for what we have done.
   
7. He will give eternal life to everyone who has patiently done what is good in the hope of receiving glory, honor, and life that lasts forever.
   
8. But he will show how angry and furious he can be with every selfish person who rejects the truth and wants to do evil.
   
9. All who are wicked will be punished with trouble and suffering. It doesn't matter if they are Jews or Gentiles.
   
10. But all who do right will be rewarded with glory, honor, and peace, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.
    
11. God doesn't have any favorites!
    
12. Those people who don't know about God's Law will still be punished for what they do wrong. And the Law will be used to judge everyone who knows what it says.
    
13. God accepts those who obey his Law, but not those who simply hear it.
    
14. Some people naturally obey the Law's commands, even though they don't have the Law.
    
15. This proves that the conscience is like a law written in the human heart. And it will show whether we are forgiven or condemned,
    
16. when God appoints Jesus Christ to judge everyone's secret thoughts, just as my message says.
    
17. Some of you call yourselves Jews. You trust in the Law and take pride in God.
    
18. By reading the Scriptures you learn how God wants you to behave, and you discover what is right.
    
19. You are sure that you are a guide for the blind and a light for all who are in the dark.
    
20. And since there is knowledge and truth in God's Law, you think you can instruct fools and teach young people.
    
21. But how can you teach others when you refuse to learn? You preach that it is wrong to steal. But do you steal?
    
22. You say people should be faithful in marriage. But are you faithful? You hate idols, yet you rob their temples.
    
23. You take pride in the Law, but you disobey the Law and bring shame to God.
    
24. It is just as the Scriptures tell us, "You have made foreigners say insulting things about God."
    
25. Being circumcised is worthwhile, if you obey the Law. But if you don't obey the Law, you are no better off than people who are not circumcised.
    
26. In fact, if they obey the Law, they are as good as anyone who is circumcised.
    
27. So everyone who obeys the Law, but has never been circumcised, will condemn you. Even though you are circumcised and have the Law, you still don't obey its teachings.
    
28. Just because you live like a Jew and are circumcised doesn't make you a real Jew.
    
29. To be a real Jew you must obey the Law. True circumcision is something that happens deep in your heart, not something done to your body. And besides, you should want praise from God and not from humans.
    
    

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    Those who are followers of God may find their righteous indignation rising with the reading of Paul's description in chapter 1 of those who turn away from God. But with the first verse of chapter 2 he stops us dead in our tracks. Those who turn away from God are without excuse, he told us in chapter 1, because God has revealed Himself to everyone through His creation. Now he says that any of us to judge those who have turned away from God are also without excuse. "For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things." (2:1)
    
    Those who turn away from God are judged by God, but those who seek God in the wrong way are also judged. And Paul devotes chapter 2 to the hypocrisy of those who judge the sins of others, thinking themselves to be righteous, while doing some of the same things as those they judge. Those who are judging may be making a show of seeking God, but they also are trusting in the wrong things to make them righteous. It soon becomes clear that Paul is specifically addressing the Jews who are trusting in the law and circumcision, and being a Jew to automatically make them righteous even though their actions do not reflect the teaching of the law nor their hearts the true nature of circumcision. Paul says that even though a man may not be physically circumcised, if he fulfills the law he "will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision." (2:27)
    
    Paul then says something rather shocking for his Jewish readers: "For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh." (2:28) Being a true Jew is a matter of the heart. It is an inward condition rather than an outward one. We should keep in mind, though, Paul has not yet presented the way a person can gain a righteous standing before God, for no one, on his own, can gain such standing.