Romans

The Letter from Yeshua's Emissary Sha’ul(Paul) to the Messianic Community in Rome

Chapter 2 - (CJB)*

A Study to Help New and Young Christians - Previous Study

Chapter 2:1-29 (CJB)

1. Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, passing judgment; for when you judge someone else, you are passing judgment against yourself; since you who are judging do the same things he does.

2. We know that God’s judgment lands impartially on those who do such things;

3. do you think that you, a mere man passing judgment on others who do such things, yet doing them yourself, will escape the judgment of God?

4. Or perhaps you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience; because you don’t realize that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to turn from your sins.

5. But by your stubbornness, by your unrepentant heart, you are storing up anger for yourself on the Day of Anger, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed;

6. for he will pay back each one according to his deeds.

7. To those who seek glory, honor and immortality by perseverance in doing good, he will pay back eternal life.

8. But to those who are self-seeking, who disobey the truth and obey evil, he will pay back wrath and anger.

9. Yes, he will pay back misery and anguish to every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile;

10. but glory and honor and shalom to everyone who keeps doing what is good, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.

11. For God does not show favoritism.

12. All who have sinned outside the framework of Torah will die outside the framework of Torah; and all who have sinned within the framework of Torah will be judged by Torah.

13. For it is not merely the hearers of Torah whom God considers righteous; rather, it is the doers of what Torah says who will be made righteous in God’s sight.

14. For whenever Gentiles, who have no Torah, do naturally what the Torah requires, then these, even though they don’t have Torah, for themselves are Torah!

15. For their lives show that the conduct the Torah dictates is written in their hearts. Their consciences also bear witness to this, for their conflicting thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them

16. on a day when God passes judgment on people’s inmost secrets. (According to the Good News as I proclaim it, he does this through the Messiah Yeshua.)

17. But if you call yourself a Jew and rest on Torah and boast about God

18. and know his will and give your approval to what is right, because you have been instructed from the Torah;

19. and if you have persuaded yourself that you are a guide to the blind, a light in the darkness,

20. an instructor for the spiritually unaware and a teacher of children, since in the Torah you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth;

21. then, you who teach others, don’t you teach yourself? Preaching, “Thou shalt not steal,” do you steal?

22. Saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? Detesting idols, do you commit idolatrous acts?

23. You who take such pride in Torah, do you, by disobeying the Torah, dishonor God? —

24. as it says in the Tanakh, “For it is because of you that God’s name is blasphemed by the Goyim.”

25. For circumcision is indeed of value if you do what Torah says. But if you are a transgressor of Torah, your circumcision has become uncircumcision!

26. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah, won’t his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

27. Indeed, the man who is physically uncircumcised but obeys the Torah will stand as a judgment on you who have had a b’rit-milah and have Torah written out but violate it!

28 For the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision is not only external and physical.

Study - Chapter 2

Ch 2: verses, 1-6,

These 6 verses are speaking about someone that has not received the New Life of Christ. You may have observed in others even in yourself that "we" will judge someone else for the very things that "we" do. Paul clearly states that God will judge those ones based on their judgment, they will not escape. the problem is because Mankind want to justify themselves they can't see their wrong doing. They are relying on their "great" works not realizing that their ability to do those works comes originally from God.

........

Ch 2: verses, 7-11,

Here we see the comparison between those that seek God's Favour and those that are seeking their own self centred way of doing things. God does not show any favoritism. He will repay a Jewish person based on his knowledge of the Law and a gentile, a non Jew, based on their acknowledgement on God and accepting His right to has rule over their life.

........

Ch 2: verses, 12-16,

Paul is going into the legal argument again to show the difference between those who are outside of The Torah, The Law, and those that have knowledge of The Torah and base their righteousness, right standing before God, on what the Torah teaches.

God has one standard the Torah. So how can God be just to those that don't know The Torah? The argument states that just hearing, acknowledging The Torah is not good enough, but acting on it. How can someone who has not heard The Torah be justified? Their consciences has the ability to know what God requires and without knowing The Torah they are doing from their heart the works of The Torah.

This can be difficult to understand but remember Paul is setting out the case for how Righteousness in given when someone lets God take control of their lives. The actions taken by Jesus on The Cross and His Resurrection makes a way for all people, from Adam on to be declared Righteous when they submit to God's Word. When Jesus cancelled Adam's rebellion by His Death, God does not see that Sin in a person who has given themselves to God's Plan of Redemption. {More on this later}

........

Ch 2: verses, 17-28,

Any Jewish person that has grown up with Torah teaching will know that complete obedience will result in being 'deemed' righteous. The trouble with this attitude there is a danger of feeling 'I'm doing what it says to do' but not having their heart involved. Paul explains that those under The Torah need to be doing what they are doing because of obedience not earning the right because of their doing.

Being self-righteous because they are doing exactly what The Torah says leads to judging those who are failing in some part of 'The Law'. When that person judging is committing the same or more offensive acts.

Paul declares that God is most disgraced by these people because they appear to be doing the right thing but their attitude and actions show how much of a hypercritic they are.

The passage continues to compare the person that is not phically uncircumcised and fulfilling The Law (Torah) without have the knowledge of it and the person that lives under The Law, appears to "do" all that The Law says, but their heart is not in it. So circumcision is of no effect in making anyone Righteous unless that circumcision is of the heart.

If you are finding all this confusing just move on through these Studies. The commentary here is to help those who want to see reason there is a difference in the way God sees the Jewish person in a righteous state from a Gentile. This difference is only noted here because Paul is laying out an augarment that shows Grace to all people but has a different application between Jews and Gentles.

Just for your information the word 'b’rit-milah' is the Hebrew word for the ceremony of circumision.

........

Go To The Next Study

Home

(CJB)* The Complete Jewish Bible" used with permission.