Romans
Chapter 2 Verses 1
You may think—These are really bad people that you are talking about. You think that God should judge these bad people, but some of you do the same things. You think they are doing wrong, but aren’t you doing wrong, too?
Often people who judge others are guilty of doing the same thing. You judge others for things that you yourself are doing.
Romans Chapter 2 Verses 2
God’s judgment of people will be true. Let God judge others.
Romans Chapter 2 Verses 3
Paul asks, Do you think you can criticize and judge others —when you are doing the same? If you are doing the same thing then God’s judgment will come on you too. Do you think God will judge others for a sin, but you will get away with it and God will overlook your sin?
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 4
Paul says: Do you not have respect for God’s patience and longsuffering with you? Don’t you respect God’s goodness to you—-that He is patient with you? It is because of God’s goodness and patience that God is able to bring us to repent and turn from our sin.
God could zap us and kill us for our wrong doing. God could give us one chance and zap–we are gone. Or He could give us five chances and then zap—we are gone. But God waits a long time for us to see our sin and repent and leave our sin.
The Bible says that God will not have patience forever—–there will come a time when God says, “Enough!”. Genesis 6:3 “The Lord said, ‘My spirit will not always strive (try, make an effort) with man’ ”
When the time comes that God’s patience has run out—we will be in big trouble.
When the Holy Spirit speaks to you about your sin, do not think that you can go on forever ignoring God and that when you get ready—God will be there waiting. God is very patient–but there is an end to His patience.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 5
Paul writes: You have hard hearts and refuse to give up your sin and turn to God. Some day God’s wrath will come on you. God is judge of all the earth. Some day when He judges all men, you will see the anger (wrath) of God upon you for your sin.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 6
In that day when God judges the world, He will give to each person according to what they did while on earth.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 7
He will give eternal life to those who walked in His ways—to those who patiently did the will of God. They were seeking the glory, and honor and life that God gives.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 8
But to those people who were fighting against God’s ways and did not obey the truth and walked in sinful ways—God’s anger will come upon them.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 9
There will be suffering and sorrow for every person who sins—-the Jews and the Gentiles (non-Jews).
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 10
There will be glory, honor, and peace given to every person who does good—-the Jews and the Gentiles.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 11
God does not have more favor for one kind of person over another.
Jews are not going to be more favored than the non-Jew.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 12
People who have sinned—who did not have the ‘law’—the non-Jews- —and people who had the ‘law’—the Jews who had the
10 commandments and the writings of the Old Testament–will be judged the same for their sins.
Paul is explaining: The non-Jewish people–the Gentiles–did not have the Jewish Bible of the 10 Commandments and the writings of the prophets to study and learn. Most of the Gentiles worshiped idols. They did not know about the one true God in heaven.
The Jewish people had the 10 Commandments and the writings of the Old Testament. They knew about the one true God of heaven. They knew how God felt about sin.
Each person will be judged for his sin—-it will not matter if he was a Gentile who worshipped idols—of if he was a Jew who knew God—both of them will be judged for their sin.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 13
Paul says: The Jews have heard the law and know about God, but that does not make them right before God. Doing the law is what makes a person right before God.
Knowing the God’s law does not make your life right with God. Doing God’s word is what makes you right with God.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 14, 15
The Gentiles do not have the laws of God—-yet they do by nature the things that are in God’s law—their conscience is leading them.
The conscience is the inner voice that tells you that you are doing wrong.
Paul is telling the Jews that they have a conscience and they have God’s written laws—and they still sin and do wrong.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 16
Some day God will judge the secrets of men, by Christ the Jesus just as the Bible says.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 17-24
You who are Jews, you are proud that you have the law, and that you know God, and that you know the writings of the scripture. You think of yourself as a leader of those who are spiritually blind and ignorant. You think you can teach those who are foolish—because you have the scriptures of the true God.
If you feel you can teach others the ways of God—-you should teach yourself! You tell others not to steal—do you steal? You tell others not to do adultery—-do you do adultery? You say you hate idol worship—do you do things that do not show respect God? Do you do things that dishonor God?
You, Jews, are proud that you worship the true God—–yet you break the laws of God and you dishonor Him.
The Gentiles see how you do and live—they have no use for your God. The Gentiles by their conscience alone do better than some of you Jews who know God.
Romans Chapter 2 Verse 25
The Jewish follow circumcision as a sign that they are believers and followers of the true God of heaven.
Yet they break the laws of God and do not follow God’s ways. So what good is it for them to have this sign on their bodies?
Circumcision is the cutting away of part of the skin on the penis. It was begun with Abraham when God told him to circumcise all the boys and men in his household. All Hebrew/Jewish boy babies were to be circumcised on the eighth day.
In Abraham’s time, there were some groups of people who used circumcision, but it was not common for most of the men.
God told Abraham to do this for all his family and servants. He told him that all the boys were to be circumcised on the eighth day. So from then on all Hebrew boys were circumcised.
When other men from other groups saw this—they knew that man was a Hebrew. It was a sign or mark of what he believed.
When God told Peter to go to the Gentiles (non-Jews) to preach to them about Jesus, some of the Jews were upset. They thought the Gentiles were such awful sinners that they did not want to include them.
The Jewish people had thought of themselves as special people chosen by God. They looked down on people who worshipped idols.
It was true that God called the Hebrew/Jewish people to be “special” unto Him. It was not because the Hebrew themselves were so special—it was because God wanted a group of people who would obey Him and follow Him and who would be true to God. God had a plan to send Jesus, His son, into the world through a woman who believed and followed Him.
This group of people was to be an example of what it meant to follow God and have His blessings.
As time went on the Hebrew/Jewish people became proud of their different ways. It was true that God had told them not to marry non-believers in God. They were never to marry anyone who worshipped idols.
God did not want them being proud and looking down on other people. But that is what happened. The Jews had bad names for people who were Gentiles.
So when God told the Jewish disciples to go preach to the Gentiles—because God loved them and wanted them to be His people too—some of the Jewish people could not accept that. Some of them said it was okay to preach to them about the Jesus but that the men would have to be circumcised if they wanted to follow Jesus.
Paul—who was told to preach to the Gentiles—said that this was wrong. Circumcision did not “save” a person. Just because a man was circumcised did not make him a believer or a follower of Christ’s teachings.
A follower of Christ’s teachings was someone who obeyed God’s teachings and did right.
Men were forgiven because of their faith in Jesus. They were not forgiven because they cut their bodies, or because of an outward sign.
Forgiveness comes to us because Jesus died on the cross and paid our death punishment for sin. Anyone who believes that Jesus died for their sins and believes that Jesus will forgive him—-can have forgiveness and be saved from eternal punishment.
Paul was preaching to the Gentiles telling them to believe in Jesus and have their sins forgiven and follow Christ.
Some of the Jews were trying to tell the Gentiles that they had to be circumcised first. This became a very big argument in the early Christian church. Paul writes about it in many of the letters he writes to the different Christian churches.
Romans Chapter 2 Verses 26-29
If the Gentiles—who do not circumcise their sons—behave better than the Jews–and by their conscience follow the things God says are right—then should not they be thought of as “circumcised” unto the Lord?
If they who are not circumcised do better than those who are circumcised—-then they should be judging the Jews.
Circumcision does not make you a “Jew” or a child of God. Obeying and following God makes you a child of God.
Circumcision is of the flesh (body)—–being a true “Jew” or child of God is of the heart and spirit—-“circumcision” “cutting out sin” of the heart and spirit makes one a true follower of God.