Bible Verse Lookup
Rom 2,5-6
Chapter 2
God’s Judgment
For in judging your neighbor, you condemn yourself, because you practice what you judge.
Therefore, you have no excuse, no matter who you are, if you can judge others. We know that God’s condemnation will justly come upon those who commit these acts,
and do you think that by condemning others, you will escape God’s judgment, you who are doing the same?
This would be taking advantage of God and his infinite goodness, patience, and understanding, and not recognizing that his goodness is meant to lead you to conversion.
If your heart becomes hardened and you refuse to change, then you are storing up a great punishment for yourself on the day of judgment, when God will appear as the just judge.
He will reward each person appropriately based on their deeds.
He will grant everlasting life to those who seek glory, honor, and immortality, and who persevere in doing good.
But anger and revenge will be the fate of those who do not serve the truth but rather injustice.
There will be suffering and anguish for anyone who commits evil, first the Jew, then the Greek.
But God will give glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does good, first the Jew, then the Greek,
because everyone is equal before God.
Those who sin without knowing the law will perish without the law; and those who sin knowing the law will be judged by that law.
What makes us righteous before God is not just hearing the law, but obeying it.
When non-Jews who don’t have the law naturally follow what the law commands, they are essentially creating their own law,
showing that the commandments are written in their hearts. Their conscience also demonstrates this when they judge their actions as right or wrong.
The same will happen on the day when God, according to my gospel, will judge people’s secret actions in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jews and the Law
But suppose you call yourself a Jew: you have the law as your foundation and feel proud of your God.
You know God’s will, and the law teaches you to distinguish what is better,
and so you believe you are the guide for the blind, a light in darkness,
a corrector of the foolish, and the instructor of the ignorant because you possess the true knowledge contained in the law.
Well then, you who teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? If you say that one must not steal, why do you steal?
You say one must not commit adultery, yet you do it! You say you hate idols, but you sneak into their temples!
You feel proud of the law, but you do not obey it, and you dishonor your God.
In fact, as scripture says, the other nations despise the name of God because of you.
Circumcision benefits you only if you follow the law; but if you don’t, it is as if you weren’t circumcised.
On the other hand, if those who are uncircumcised obey the commandments of the law, don’t you think that, despite being pagans, they are making themselves like the circumcised?
The person who obeys the law without being physically circumcised will judge you—who are circumcised and live by the law—yet do not obey it.
External appearances do not define a true Jew, nor is real circumcision simply the one marked on the body.
A Jew must be so inwardly; the heart’s circumcision belongs to the spirit and not to a written law; he who lives this way will be praised not by people but by God.
Chapter 3
God Is Faithful
Then, what are the advantages of being a Jew? And what is the purpose of circumcision?
It is important from any perspective. First of all, God entrusted his word to the Jews.
Well, now, if some of them were not faithful, does their unfaithfulness cancel out God’s faithfulness? Of course not!
Instead, it will be demonstrated that God is truthful, while every human is a liar, as the scripture says:
It will be shown that your words are sincere, and you will be the winner if they seek to judge you.
If our wickedness demonstrates that God is just, would it then be correct to say that God is unjust when he becomes angry and punishes us? (I speak in human terms.)
Not at all; otherwise, how could God judge the world?
But if my lie makes God’s truth clearer and increases his glory, is it correct to call me a sinner?
Then your only option would be to sin so that good can result from it. Some slanderers claim this is my teaching, but they will have to answer for those words.
All Are Sinners
Do we, then, have any advantage? Not really. For we have just shown that everyone, Jews and non-Jews, is under the power of sin,
as the scripture says:
Nobody is good, not even one,
no one understands;
no one searches for God.
Everyone has gone astray
and become corrupt.
There is no one doing what is good,
not even one.
Their throats are like open tombs,
and their words are lies.
Their lips conceal the venom of vipers;
bitter curses escape from their mouths.
They run to places where they can shed blood,
leaving behind destruction and suffering.
They are unaware of the path to peace.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now, we understand that whatever the scripture says is addressed to the people of the law, meaning the Jews. Let everyone remain silent, then, and acknowledge that the entire world stands guilty before God.
Still more: no mortal will be worthy before God by fulfilling the demands of the law. What results from the law is the awareness of sin.
Now the Righteousness of God Is Revealed
But now, apart from the law and as was already foretold in the law and the prophets, it has been revealed:
God makes us righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, and this is available to everyone who believes, without distinction.
For all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory;
yet, all are graciously forgiven and made righteous through the redemption in Christ Jesus.
For God has given him as the atoning sacrifice whose blood grants us forgiveness through faith.
So God shows us how he makes us righteous. Past sins are forgiven, which God has overlooked until now.
For now, he wants to reveal his way of righteousness: how he is just and how he makes us righteous through faith in Jesus.
Then, what happens to our pride? It is set aside. How? Not through the law and its rules, but through another law, which is faith.
For we believe that people are in God’s grace by faith, not because of all the things commanded by the law.
Otherwise, God would only be the God of the Jews; but isn’t he also the God of pagan nations?
Of course, he is, since there is only one God, and he will save both the circumcised Jews and the uncircumcised nations through faith.
Do we, then, dismiss the importance of the law because of what we say about faith? Certainly not; instead, we place the Law in its proper context.
Chapter 4
The Example of Abraham
Let’s consider Abraham, our father in the flesh. What has he found?
If Abraham gained righteousness through his deeds, he could be proud. But he can’t be this before God
because scripture says: Abraham believed God, who considered it and counted him as a righteous man.
Now, when someone does work, salary is not given as a favor but as a debt that is paid.
Here, on the contrary, someone who has no deeds to show but believes in him, who makes sinners righteous before him: such faith is taken into account, and that person is considered righteous.
David praises those who become righteous by God’s grace and not by their actions:
Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven and whose offenses are forgotten;
blessed is the one whose sin God does not count against him.
Is this blessing only for the circumcised, or is it also for the uncircumcised? We just said that because of his faith, Abraham was made a just man,
but when did this happen? After Abraham was circumcised or before? Not after, but before.
He received the rite of circumcision as a sign of the righteousness given to him through faith, when he was still uncircumcised, so that he could be the father of all those uncircumcised who come to faith and are made just.
And he was to be the father of the Jews, provided that, besides being circumcised, they also imitate the faith Abraham showed before being circumcised.
The Promise of Descendants
If God promised Abraham, or rather his descendants, that the world would belong to him, this was not because of his obeying the law, but because he was just and a friend of God, through faith.
If the promise is now kept only for those who rely on the law, then faith has no power and the promise is no longer effective.
It is proper for the law to impose punishment, and only when there is no law can one live without breaking it.
For that reason, faith is the way, and everything is given by grace; the promises of Abraham are fulfilled for all his descendants, not just his children according to the law, but also for everyone who has believed. Abraham is the father of all of us,
as it is written: I will make you the father of many nations. He is our father in the eyes of Him who gives life to the dead, and calls into existence what does not yet exist, for this is the God in whom he believed.
Abraham believed and hoped despite all odds, thus becoming the father of many nations, as he was told: See how numerous your descendants will be.
He did not doubt, even though his body could no longer give life—he was about a hundred years old—and the dead womb of Sarah.
He did not doubt or distrust God’s promise, and by being strong in faith, he gave glory to God
and was convinced that he who had given the promise had the power to fulfill it.
Therefore, his faith was credited to him as righteousness.
Now the words, it was credited to him, were written not for him alone
but for us too, because we believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
who was delivered for our sins and raised for our justification.
Chapter 5
Consequences of the New Righteousness
By faith, we have received true righteousness, and we are at peace with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Through him, we receive this favor in which we abide, and we even boast to expect the glory of God.
Not only that, but we also even boast of our afflictions, knowing that afflictions produce endurance,
from which comes character, and character produces hope.
Hope does not disappoint us because the Holy Spirit has been given to us, pouring into our hearts the love of God.
Consider, furthermore, the time when Christ died for us: when we were still helpless and unable to do anything.
Few would agree to die for an upright person; although for a very good person, perhaps someone would dare to die.
But see how God demonstrated his love for us: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us;
and we have been made righteous through his blood. Therefore, even more, we are justified now and will be saved from any condemnation.
Once enemies, we have been reconciled with God through the death of his Son; with even more reason, now we can be saved through his life.
Not only that, but we also boast in God because of Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom we have been reconciled.
Comparison Between Adam and Christ
Therefore, sin entered the world through one man; and through sin, death. Later on, death spread to all humankind because all sinned.
As long as there was no law, they could not speak of disobedience, but sin was already present in the world.
This is why, from Adam to Moses, death ruled among them, even though their sin was not disobedience like in Adam’s case—this was not the real Adam, but a foreshadowing of the one who was to come.
This has been the fall, but God’s gift extends far beyond it. Everyone died because of one man’s fault, but how much greater is God’s grace when the gift he gave reaches everyone, through this unique man, Jesus Christ.
Again, there is no comparison between the gift and the offense of one man. One sinner committed the disobedience that brought condemnation, whereas the grace of God offers forgiveness to a world of sinners.
If death ruled because of the disobedience of one person, how much more will there be a reign of life for those who receive grace and the gift of true righteousness through Jesus Christ!
Just as one transgression brought sentence of death to all, so too, one man’s good act has brought justification and light to all;
and, as the disobedience of only one made all sinners, so the obedience of one person allowed all to be made just and holy.
The law, introduced later, led to an increase in sin; but where sin grew, grace abounded even more.
Just as sin caused death to rule, grace will reign in its own time. After making us just and friends of God, it will lead us to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Chapter 6
Dead to Sin, Alive with Christ
Then, what should we say? Should we continue sinning so that grace may increase?
Can we live in sin again? Of course not: we are now dead to sin.
Don’t you realize that in baptism, which unites us with Christ, we are all baptized and immersed into his death?
Through this baptism into his death, we are buried with Christ, and just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we begin walking in a new life.
If we have been united with him through dying a death like his, then we will be united with him through a resurrection like his.
We know that our old self was crucified with Christ so that the part of us that was sin might be destroyed, freeing us from slavery to sin.
If we are dead, we are no longer in debt to sin.
But if we have died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him.
We know that Christ, once risen from the dead, will never die again, and death has no more authority over him.
For, by dying, he is dead to sin once and for all, and now, the life he lives is a life with God.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God, in Christ Jesus.
Freed from Sin, Servants of God
Do not let sin control your mortal bodies; do not submit yourselves to its evil desires,
and do not give your members over to sin as tools for evil. Instead, offer yourselves, as people who have been brought back from death to life, and let the members of your body be as holy tools in the service of God.
Sin will not dominate you again, for you are not under the law but under grace.
I ask again: are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not.
If you have surrendered yourselves to someone as his slave, you are to obey the one who commands you, aren’t you? Now, with sin, you face death, and by accepting faith, you follow the right path.
Let us thank God, for after having sin as your master, you have been given to another—the doctrine of faith to which you listen willingly.
And, free from sin, you began to serve true righteousness.
You see that I speak in a very human way, considering that you are not fully mature. There was a time when you allowed your members to be slaves to impurity and disorder, walking in the way of sin; now, convert them into servants of righteousness, leading them toward holiness.
When you were slaves to sin, you did not feel obligated to righteousness;
but what were the results of those actions, of which you are now ashamed? Such things lead to death.
Now, however, you have been freed from sin and serve God. You are bearing fruit and growing in holiness, and the result will be everlasting life.
So, on one side is sin: its reward is death; on the other side is God: He grants us eternal life by grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commentaries
God’s Judgment.
Paul addresses his own people. Previously, he had spoken to the pagans in the third person; now he speaks directly to them in the second person, framing it as a debate by imagining a Jewish opponent whose objections he quotes to refute. It appears this Jew had been listening, with an air of self-confidence and approval, to Paul’s earlier condemnations of paganism. As a result, Paul tries to make this person see that he has no special privilege or advantage when it comes to God’s judgment, because everyone—pagan or Jew—will be judged according to their deeds. After all, the law that the Jews boast about is written in everyone’s heart, regardless of religion. The human conscience acts as a law (cf. Prov 6:23). The ultimate goal of the Apostle is to show that both pagan and Jew stand equally before God’s judgment, which is executed through Jesus Christ. Only by recognizing our shared sinfulness can we open ourselves to God’s saving initiative.
Jews and the Law.
Paul continues his imaginary discussion with the Jew, now addressing his claims and supposed religious privileges. The tone becomes more polemical, even aggressive. Paul mentions the three core privileges that, like protective walls against other people, made the Jews a chosen, exclusive, blameless people… The first is the privilege of race: “you who are called a Jew” (17); the second is the Law, or “the sum of the knowledge of the truth” (20); the third is the mark of exclusivity: “circumcision” (25). He then proceeds to dismantle each of these bastions of self-segregation and privilege. He does so by confronting his imaginary interlocutor with his historical past of transgressions and sins, despite the Law, circumcision, and all the religious-ideological trappings with which they have surrounded themselves. He tells them that they are just as ignorant, just as thieves, just as adulterers, and just as temple looters as the uncircumcised pagans. Moreover, he adds that there are decent and honest pagans who could serve as their judges (27). Let us replace “Jews” with all those who make their religion, the color of their skin, their race or nationality, their money, their social position, their ecclesiastical or civil office, an instrument of privilege, discrimination, or oppression, and we will understand the Apostle’s intention. To all of them, symbolized in his imaginary Jewish interlocutor, he is preaching the Gospel of God’s wrath.
God Is Faithful.
The reaction is immediate. If all this is true, his interlocutor seems to reproach him: what is God’s faithfulness to his people reduced to if he has allowed them to fall so low? What is the point of being Jewish? Was it all a mockery of God? And what is more serious, almost Machiavellian—if our sins, after all, serve to show God’s goodness, are we not doing God a favor by sinning? Is it not unjust for God to allow our sins and then use them, even if it is for salvific purposes? Paul reduces all this possible argumentation to absurdity. These existential questions that human beings ask themselves about their freedom in relation to God’s freedom, about sin and punishment, about good and evil, had already found an answer in the Bible—an answer tailored to human capacity and which can only be grasped in the darkness of faith (cf. Job 40:7-14; Wis 12:13; Ex 9:16).
All Are Sinners.
Paul correctly appeals to Scripture to conclude that both Jews and Gentiles, whether they have the law or not, are all under the power of sin. The Apostle sets aside the Jews and their sins and, now addressing all of humanity, he views it under the dominion of Sin—in the singular and with a capital S—as if personifying that evil force that reaches into the deepest parts of a person and corrupts all of human history. His diagnosis of the human condition, based on biblical metaphors, is accurate. He is like a doctor thoroughly examining a terminally ill patient, assessing how the disease has caused widespread damage, affecting the entire system, destroying each part of the body one by one. It is within this bleak picture that the Gospel of salvation will shine with all its power.
Now the Righteousness of God Is Revealed.
This is a crucial and dense passage that proclaims the righteousness—salvation—of God unveiled through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the core message of all Paul’s teachings. He begins his Gospel of salvation by affirming that “now” (21), this saving purpose of God is revealed and fulfilled “through faith in Jesus Christ” (22). It is now available to everyone without distinction, based solely on belief. The wrath of God—his absence—is being transformed into the presence of saving love for those who accept Jesus by faith. No one can claim merit or demand rights because it is a gift from God, completely free. The Apostle clarifies that the “Jewish law” has been replaced by the “law of faith,” through which we see the true nature of God—an infinite love Father who loves all equally, Jews and non-Jews alike. The divisions and barriers that separate and discriminate against people have been torn down. Faith opens us to the Gospel of universal salvation revealed in Jesus, the Messiah.
The Example of Abraham.
In this imaginary dialogue with “Judaism,” one question remains: What, then, was the purpose of circumcision and the law of Moses? Was it all in vain? Not at all, Paul seems to respond. It is precisely the “law of faith” now revealed in the person of Jesus, who died and rose again, that is the key that interprets and validates the “law of Moses” and circumcision.
The Apostle, with Scripture in hand, continues to demonstrate this by going back to Abraham, the key figure of the Jewish people. He emphasizes the most important moment in the Patriarch’s life: God promises him, in his old age, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Despite all human hope, the Patriarch trusted God: “he believed the Lord, and the Lord counted it to him as righteousness” (Gn 15:6), meaning he accepted faith freely, was justified, and received salvation.
The Promise of Descendants.
Paul broadens Abraham’s “fatherhood” beyond narrow nationalistic limits, which the Jewish people had imposed through the Law and circumcision—the Jews called Abraham “our father.” Paul expands it to a universal scope; from “patriarch of Israel,” he becomes “father of all who believe.”
Consequences of the New Righteousness.
Another section of the letter begins. Legal language takes a back seat to a more ethical one. The prominence of love replaces the dominance of divine justice. There is no longer any distinction between Jews and pagans. Paul now addresses the Christian community. He explains what this “justification” consists of, which we receive as a gift from God through Jesus Christ. With peace and hope, Christians do not avoid or shy away from the hardships and suffering of the present life, whether those inherent in the human condition or those caused by following Christ. Instead, they accept them with responsibility, patience, and endurance, knowing that, in the end, the power of life will triumph over the powers of death. What seems unbelievable to our human capacity is not so for the unconditional and infinite love of God revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Comparison Between Adam and Christ.
Paul now explains the freedom from sin and death through a grand comparison between Adam and Christ. Adam is the origin of sinful humanity. This isn’t about personal sins but about our mysterious participation in the original sin of the first man, regardless of individual actions. We all inherit Adam’s sin and, as a result, death, “since all have sinned” (12). However, this idea of “original sin” can only be understood in relation to the reality of corporate solidarity, which connects humanity to Christ’s redemptive act. Paul then introduces the other central figure in human history, the one he cares about most: Christ. But these two figures are not equal. In fact, there’s no real comparison because the dominance of Adam in crime and death is entirely overshadowed by the abundance of the gift and “favor of one man, Jesus Christ” (15). When the Apostle compares them by describing Adam as a “figure” of Christ, it’s mainly to emphasize the stark contrast between the two. St. Augustine famously captured Paul’s startling message with a provocative statement: “O happy fault!” -Blessed Sin- that has brought us such a Savior.
Dead to Sin, Alive with Christ.
Paul is realistic and recognizes that sin has not yet been eliminated from the world; that is why he describes inclusion in Christ through baptism as a process that has already started. With bold metaphors, in which he vividly expresses his passion as an apostle, Paul views the baptized as part of the same redemptive act of Christ: consecrated to the Messiah and buried with him in his death (4), grafted into his resurrection (5), with their old human nature crucified and their status as slaves abolished (6), ending with the final exhortation: “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (11).
Freed from Sin, Servants of God.
Because they live in mortal bodies, Christians remain vulnerable to sin, which must dominate and subdue them. Unlike Greek thought, which viewed the body and material world as evil, Paul affirms the unity of the person and that the body can and should be used by God as a force for good (13). The Christian life involves an ongoing tension between sin and God. There is no middle ground, no room for neutrality, or as the proverb says, “you cannot serve two masters.” “Whoever is not with me is against me” (Mt 12:30). Paul illustrates this tension with the most potent image he has—one that he knows will resonate with his readers: the image of slavery. Many Christians in Rome were likely actual slaves. Two types of slavery are presented to Christians as choices in life: slavery to sin or slavery to Christ. Sin leads its servants to death. In contrast, “obedience” to Christ—where he no longer refers to slavery—results in salvation and, through it, life.