Romans 2 - 7 — Legacy Standard Bible

God’s Righteous Judgment

2Therefore you are ^awithout excuse, ^bO man, everyone who passes judgment, for in that which ^cyou judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ²And we know that the judgment of God ¹rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³But do you presume this, ^aO man—who passes judgment on those who practice such things and does the same—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you think lightly of ^athe riches of His ^bkindness and ^cforbearance and ^dpatience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵But ¹because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart ^ayou are storing up wrath for yourself ^bin the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶^awho will repay to each according to his works: ⁷to those who by ^aperseverance in doing good seek for ^bglory and honor and ^cimmortality, ^deternal life; ⁸but to those who are ^aselfishly ambitious and ^bdo not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger. ⁹There will be ^aaffliction and turmoil ¹for every soul of man who works out evil, of the Jew ^bfirst and also of the Greek, ¹⁰but ^aglory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew ^bfirst and also to the Greek. ¹¹For ^athere is no partiality with God.

¹²For all who have sinned ¹^,^awithout the Law will also perish ²without the Law, and all who have sinned ³under the Law will be judged ⁴by the Law. ¹³For it is ^anot the hearers ¹of the Law who are ²just before God, but the doers ³of the Law will be justified. ¹⁴For when Gentiles who do not have ¹the Law ^anaturally do the things of the Law, these, not having ²the Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵in that they demonstrate ^athe work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶on the day when, ^aaccording to my gospel, ^bGod will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

The Jew Is Judged by the Law

¹⁷But if you bear the name “Jew” and ^arely ¹upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸and know His will and ¹^,^aapprove the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰a ¹corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ²the immature, having in the Law ^athe embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, ²¹you, therefore, ^awho teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who ¹preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? ²²You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^arob temples? ²³You who ^aboast ¹in the Law, through your transgression of the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴For “^athe name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles ^bbecause of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^apractice ¹the Law, but if you are a transgressor ²of the Law, ^byour circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶^aSo if ^bthe ¹uncircumcised man ^cobserves the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷And ^ahe who is physically uncircumcised, if he ¹fulfills the Law, will he not ^bjudge you who, through the letter of the Law and circumcision, are a transgressor ²of the Law? ²⁸For ^ahe is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹But ^ahe is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^bcircumcision is that which is of the heart, by the ^cSpirit, not by the letter; ^dand his praise is not from men, but from God.

There Is None Righteous

3Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ²Great in every respect. First of all, that ^athey were entrusted with the ^boracles of God. ³What then? If ^asome ¹did not believe, does their ²unbelief abolish the faithfulness of God? ⁴^aMay it never be! Rather, let God be true and every man ^ba liar, as it is written, “^cThat You may be justified in Your words,And overcome when You ¹are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness ¹^,^ademonstrates the righteousness of God, ^bwhat shall we say? Is the God who inflicts wrath unrighteous? (^cI am speaking in human terms.) ⁶^aMay it never be! For otherwise, how will ^bGod judge the world? ⁷But if through my lie ^athe truth of God abounded to His glory, ^bwhy am I also still being judged as a sinner? ⁸And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “^aLet us do evil that good may come”? ¹Their condemnation is just.

⁹What then? ^aAre we ¹better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both ^bJews and ^cGreeks are ^dall under sin; ¹⁰as it is written, “^aThere is none righteous, not even one;

¹¹There is none who understands,There is none who seeks for God;¹²All have turned aside, together they have become worthless;There is none who does good,There is not even one.”¹³“^aTheir throat is an open tomb,With their tongues they keep deceiving,”“^bThe poison of asps is under their lips”;¹⁴“^aWhose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;¹⁵“^aTheir feet are swift to shed blood,¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their paths,¹⁷And the path of peace they have not known.”¹⁸“^aThere is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the ^aLaw says, it speaks to ^bthose who are in the Law, so that every mouth may be shut and ^call the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰because ^aby the works ¹of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for ²^,^bthrough the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

The Righteousness of God through Faith

²¹But now apart ¹from the Law ^athe righteousness of God has been manifested, being ^bwitnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²²even the ^arighteousness of God through ^bfaith ^cin Jesus Christ for ^dall those ¹who believe; for ^ethere is no distinction; ²³for all ¹^,^ahave sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified as a gift ^aby His grace through ^bthe redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵whom God displayed publicly as ^aa ¹propitiation ²^,^bin His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, ³because in the ^cforbearance of God He ^dpassed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who ¹has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where then is ^aboasting? It is excluded. By ^bwhat kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ²⁸¹For ^awe maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works ²of the Law. ²⁹Or ^ais God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰since indeed ^aGod, ^bwho will justify the ¹circumcised ²by faith and the ³uncircumcised through that faith, ^cis one.

³¹Do we then abolish ¹the Law through faith? ^aMay it never be! On the contrary, we ^bestablish the Law.

Abraham and David’s Faith Counted as Righteousness

4What then shall we say that Abraham, ¹our forefather ^aaccording to the flesh, has found? ²For if Abraham was justified ¹by works, he has something to boast about—but ^anot ²before God! ³For what does the Scripture say? “^aAbraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now to the one who ^aworks, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. ⁵But to the one who does not work, but ^abelieves upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷“^aBlessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,And whose sins have been covered.⁸“^aBlessed is the man whose sin the ¹Lord will not ^btake into account.”

⁹Therefore, is this blessing on ¹^,^athe circumcised, or on ²the uncircumcised also? For ^bwe say, “^cFaith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.” ¹⁰How then was it counted? While he was ¹circumcised, or ²uncircumcised? Not while ³circumcised, but while ⁴uncircumcised; ¹¹and he ^areceived the sign of circumcision, ^ba seal of the righteousness of the faith which ¹he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be ^cthe father of ^dall who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them, ¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which ¹he had while uncircumcised.

¹³For ^athe promise to Abraham or to his seed ^bthat he would be heir of the world was not ¹through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For ^aif those who are ¹of the Law are heirs, faith has been made empty and the promise has been abolished; ¹⁵for ^athe Law brings about wrath, but ^bwhere there is no law, there also is no trespass.

¹⁶For this reason it is ¹by faith, in order that it may be according to ^agrace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to ^ball the seed, not only to ²those who are of the Law, but also to ³^,^cthose who are of the faith of Abraham, who is ^dthe father of us all— ¹⁷as it is written, “^aA father of many nations have I made you”—in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, ^bwho gives life to the dead and ¹^,^ccalls into being ^dthat which does not exist. ¹⁸In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become ^aa father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “^bSo shall your seed be.” ¹⁹And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now ^aas good as dead since ^bhe was about a hundred years old, and ^cthe deadness of Sarah’s womb; ²⁰yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, ^agiving glory to God, ²¹and ^abeing fully assured that ^bwhat God had promised, He was able also to do. ²²Therefore ^ait was also counted to him as righteousness. ²³Now ^anot for his sake only was it written that it was counted to him, ²⁴but for our sake also, to whom it will be counted, as those ^awho believe upon Him who ^braised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵He who was ^adelivered over on account of our transgressions, and was ^braised on account of our justification.

Results of Justification by Faith

5^aTherefore, having been justified by faith, ¹^,^bwe have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom also we have ^aobtained our introduction by faith into this grace ^bin which we stand; and ¹we boast in hope of the glory of God. ³^aAnd not only this, but ¹we also ^bboast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction brings about ^cperseverance; ⁴and ^aperseverance, ^bproven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵and hope ^adoes not put to shame, because the love of God has been ^bpoured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶For while we were still ^aweak, ^bat the right time ^cChrist died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man, ¹though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸But God ^ademonstrates ^bHis own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, ^cChrist died for us. ⁹Much more then, having now been justified ¹^,^aby His blood, we shall be saved ^bfrom the wrath of God through Him. ¹⁰For if while we were ^aenemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved ¹^,^bby His life. ¹¹^aAnd not only this, ¹but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received ^bthe reconciliation.

The Gift of Righteousness in Christ

¹²Therefore, just as through ^aone man sin entered into the world, and ^bdeath through sin, and ^cso death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³for ¹until the Law sin was in the world, but ^asin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned ^ain the likeness of the trespass of Adam, who is a ¹^,^btype of Him who was to come.

¹⁵But ¹the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of ^athe one ^bthe many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by ^cthe grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. ¹⁶And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand ^athe judgment arose from one transgression ¹resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the gracious gift arose from many transgressions ²resulting in justification. ¹⁷For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned ^athrough the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will ^breign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸So then as through ^aone transgression ¹there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one ^bact of righteousness ²there resulted ^cjustification of life to all men. ¹⁹For as through the one man’s disobedience ^athe many ^bwere appointed sinners, even so through ^cthe obedience of the One ^dthe many will be appointed righteous. ²⁰Now ¹^,^athe Law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, ^bgrace abounded all the more, ²¹so that, as ^asin reigned in death, even so ^bgrace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6^aWhat shall we say then? Are we to ^bcontinue in sin so that grace may increase? ²^aMay it never be! How shall we who ^bdied to sin still live in it? ³Or do you not know that all of us who were ^abaptized into ^bChrist Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we were ^aburied with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was ^braised from the dead through the ^cglory of the Father, so we too might walk in ^dnewness of life. ⁵For ^aif we have become ¹united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be ²in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶knowing this, that our ^aold man was ^bcrucified with Him, in order that our ^cbody of sin might be ¹done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷for ^ahe who has died has been ¹justified from sin.

⁸Now ^aif we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹knowing that Christ, having been ^araised from the dead, ¹is never to die again; ^bdeath no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹Even so consider yourselves to be ^adead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Therefore do not let sin ^areign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³and do not go on ^apresenting your members to sin as ¹instruments of unrighteousness, but ^bpresent yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as ²instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴For ^asin shall not ^bbe master over you, for ^cyou are not under law but ^dunder grace.

Slaves of Righteousness

¹⁵What then? ^aShall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? ^bMay it never be! ¹⁶Do you not ^aknow that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as ^bslaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of ^csin ¹leading to death, or of obedience ²leading to righteousness? ¹⁷But ^athanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that ^bpattern of teaching to which you were ^cgiven over, ¹⁸and having been ^afreed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹^aI am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just ^bas you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, ¹leading to further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, ²leading to sanctification.

²⁰For ^awhen you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹Therefore what ¹^,^abenefit were you then having ²from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is ^bdeath. ²²But now having been ^afreed from sin and ^benslaved to God, you have your ¹^,^cbenefit, ²leading to sanctification, and ^dthe end, eternal life. ²³For the wages of ^asin is death, but the gracious gift of God is ^beternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released from the Law

7Or do you not know, ^abrothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? ²For ^athe married woman has been bound by law to her ¹husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law ²concerning the husband. ³So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

⁴So, my brothers, you also were ^amade to die ^bto the Law ^cthrough the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵For while we were ^ain the flesh, the sinful passions, which were ^baroused by the Law, were at work ^cin our members to bear fruit for death. ⁶But now we have been ^areleased from the Law, having ^bdied to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in ^cnewness of ¹^,^dthe Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

⁷^aWhat shall we say then? Is the Law sin? ^bMay it never be! Rather, ^cI would not have come to know sin except ¹through the Law. For I would not have known about ²coveting if the Law had not said, “^dYou shall not ³covet.” ⁸But sin, ^ataking opportunity ^bthrough the commandment, worked out in me ¹coveting of every kind. For ^capart ²from the Law sin is dead. ⁹Now I was once alive apart ¹from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; ¹⁰and this commandment, which was ¹^,^ato lead to life, was found ²to lead to death for me. ¹¹For sin, ^ataking an opportunity ^bthrough the commandment, ^cdeceived me and through it killed me. ¹²^aSo, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

The Conflict of Two Natures

¹³Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? ^aMay it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would ¹become utterly sinful.

¹⁴For we know that the Law is ^aspiritual, but I am ^bfleshly, ^chaving been sold ¹^,^dinto bondage under sin. ¹⁵For what I am working out, ^aI do not understand; for I am not practicing ^bwhat I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. ¹⁶But if I do the very thing I do not want, I agree with ^athe Law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now, ^ano longer am I the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my ^aflesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. ¹⁹For ^athe good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. ²⁰But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, ^aI am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.

²¹I find then ^athe ¹principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good. ²²For I joyfully concur with the law of God ¹in ^athe inner man, ²³but I see ^aa different law in my members, waging war against the ^blaw of my mind and making me a captive ¹to ^cthe law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ¹^,^athe body of this ^bdeath? ²⁵¹^,^aThanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh ^bthe law of sin.