Because those who commit all kinds of sins (1:29–31) recognize that such behavior merits death under God’s standard (1:32), they deserve divine judgment (2:3, 5). Whether they (like morally lax Gentiles) excuse or (like strict Jews) condemn such behavior, they are condemned (2:15). In 1:32 they excuse it, and in 2:1 they condemn it, but both approaches of sinners are inexcusable (1:20; 2:1–5).
Paul develops this condemnation of those who piously denounce sin by means of a syllogism: they commit these sins (2:1), we know that such sins merit God’s judgment (2:2; cf. 1:32), therefore they will not escape God’s judgment (2:3). Most people recognized and condemned such inconsistency,3 a point to which Paul returns in a more explicit challenge to a Jewish interlocutor in 2:17–25. Paul prepares his audience far in advance for his warning against judging culturally different believers in Rom 14:3–4, 10, 13.
If anyone wishes to appeal to God’s mercy, Paul is clear (against some of his detractors, 3:8) that God’s mercy gives space for repentance. That is, God’s mercy brings about righteousness, rather than simply blessing sinners in their sin (2:4). Jewish hearers would understand that the kindness of God was what led people to repentance (2:4);4 some also thought of treasuring up rewards in heaven (cf. e.g., Tob 4:9–10)—though what is stored up here is wrath (2:5)!5
Continuing his lavish display of effective literary devices, Paul now reinforces his point with inverted repetition, what is called a chiasm (2:6–11):
A God repays each according to their works (2:6)
B To those who do good, seeking glory and honor6 (2:7)
C But wrath to those who disobey the truth (2:8)7
C´ Suffering to those who do evil (2:9)
B´ But glory and honor to those who do good (2:10)
A´ Because God is impartial (2:11)
In this passage Paul argues for God’s ethnic impartiality.8 Contrary to Jewish expectations, God will judge both Jew and Gentile (2:9–10), both those with the law of Moses and those with only natural law (2:12–15)—and he will hold those with greater revelation more accountable! Judging people in accordance with their deeds was one way of speaking of God’s impartiality;9 the surprise is that, instead of God’s own people being favored, they are judged more strictly because they have a fuller knowledge of right and wrong (2:12–15; 3:20; 7:7–11; cf. Amos 3:2).
In view of the lostness of all humanity in this section (3:9, 23), scholars debate whether those who do good works for eternal life10 represent a real but small class of people (the way some Jewish people thought of “righteous Gentiles”); a hypothetical class of people (posited perhaps for rhetorical purposes) (cf. 10:5; Gal 3:11);11 or Christians (cf. 2:29). Especially both latter proposals may have some merit: in principle it is the righteous who will be saved, and in practice it is those who are in Christ who can live righteously (8:2–4). Yet Paul’s focus at this point is not on Christians, but on the principle of God’s ethnic impartiality (also the point of all humanity being under sin in 3:9). Paul is digressing on the point precisely to explain how those who fancied themselves morally superior were treasuring up wrath for themselves (2:5). It served Paul’s point to note that Gentiles would at least sometimes do morally right actions, whereas Jews would sometimes not do them. Nevertheless, apart from Christ, the natural law of conscience innate in human beings functions like the external law of Moses, identifying sin but not transforming people to be righteous (2:14–15). Comparing the passage with other passages in Romans allows us to see that while it focuses on the potential righteousness of any person, Paul would only aver that those transformed by Christ would live thus:
| The righteous do good works (2:7) | These cannot be Jewish law-works (3:20, 27–28) |
| The righteous endure (2:7) | Believers endure (5:3–4; 8:25; 12:12; 15:4–5) |
| The righteous “seek” for glory (2:7) | No one “seeks” for God (3:11); one must not “seek” righteousness the wrong way (10:3, 20) |
| The righteous seek glory and honor (2:7, 10) | Humanity lost God’s glory (3:23), but glory awaits believers (5:2; 8:18, 21; 9:21, 23) |
| The righteous receive eternal life (2:7) | Believers in Jesus receive eternal life (5:21; 6:22–23; cf. 8:13) |
| The righteous will have peace (2:10) | Humanity does not know peace (3:17), but believers will have it (5:1; 8:6; 14:17) |
| The righteous do “good” (2:7, 10) | The wicked do not do good (7:18–19; cf. 3:10); believers should do what is good (12:9, 21; 13:4; 15:2) |
| Doers of good include both Jews and Greeks (2:10) | Both Jews and Gentiles are under sin (3:9); the community of believers includes both Jews and Gentiles (1:16; 9:24; 10:12; cf. 3:29) |
Thus while Paul is focusing on God’s ethnic impartiality rather than on believers here, when he later addresses such issues he seems to assume that it is believers in Jesus who are able to fulfill the role of the righteous. Christ comes not merely to forgive unrighteousness but to empower for righteous living.
Scholars again differ as to whether the law in obedient Gentiles’ hearts by nature (2:14–15) refers to Christians or to conscience in all humans. In practice, it those in whom the Spirit dwells (Jew or Gentile) who fulfill the heart of God’s law (8:2–4; Jer 31:31–34).12 There may be an element of such emphasis here, preparing for 2:29. Nevertheless, Christians also had access to the written law, so in 2:14–15 Paul probably focuses more generally on a natural law innate in humanity. He has already spoken of God’s revelation in creation (1:20), including within humans (1:19), and he also appeals to the Greco-Roman notion of “conscience” (9:1).13 Although employing it in a wide range of ways, Greco-Roman sources (including Jewish ones) speak widely of a law of nature,14 and even Palestinian Jews outside this widespread tradition seem to have believed that God had given laws to Gentiles’ ancestors in the time of Noah.15 Such a morally informed person’s divided thoughts in 2:15 may presage the morally divided person in 7:15–23 (who, however, knows more specifically Moses’s law and hyperbolically appears incapable of doing any good).
Indicting Hypocrisy (2:17–24)
Paul’s diatribe uses rhetorical exaggeration, common in polemic, to hold attention. The evildoing Jewish interlocutor here is hyperbolic, perhaps even reduced to the absurd.16 Certainly most Jewish people did not commit adultery or rob temples! Paul’s graphically rendered