Romans 2 · KJV Bible | Whosoever Will

the epistle of paul the apostle to the romans

Paul · c. 57 AD

Chapter the Second

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.

But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

For there is no respect of persons with God.

For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,

And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;

And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?

And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Verse Analysis

Romans 2:1

“And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

REVELATION 22:17 · KJV

Commentary on Romans 2

Whosoever Will · the Seven Threads Commentary

Romans 2:1

Having indicted the Gentile world in chapter 1, Paul turns to the moralist: the person who agrees with the indictment of others while practicing the same things. Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, the same anapologētos as 1:20. The moralist has no excuse either. Then the most remarkable verse in the section: do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Not knowing that the goodness of God is intended to lead you to repentance? The divine patience, makrothumia, that 2 Peter 3:9 will identify as God's desire for all to come to repentance is here named as the purpose behind God's withholding of immediate judgment. The delay is not neglect. It is instrument. The kindness is designed to produce metanoia, the mind-change, the turning. To despise the riches of the kindness is a genuine choice. Thread 4 is in the despising: the moralist is making an active decision to treat God's patience as evidence of tolerance rather than invitation. Thread 1 is in the kindness itself: God's reaching operates through his own patient goodness before the judgment arrives.

The goodness of God leads thee to repentance: the riches of God's kindness, forbearance, and longsuffering are the instrument of Thread 1's reaching; to despise them is to make a genuine choice against genuine grace.

τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιαν σε ἄγει (to chrēston tou theou eis metanoian se agei): the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance: chrēston (the goodness, kindness, generosity of God, the experiential quality of God's character encountered in blessing and mercy); agei (leads, guides, present active, ongoing leading); metanoian (repentance, the mind-change that produces life-change); God's goodness is the instrument of repentance, not the substitute for it