Romans, Session 4: Romans 2.1-29

Read the passage: Romans 2:1-29 (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Read the passage

Who is Paul addressing in this chapter?
- Chapter 1 was an indictment of the pagan Gentile world. How might a law-observing Jewish person have responded to chapter 1? How might a religious person today respond?

Verses 1-3

How might a religious/highly moral person be guilty of the same sins that they condemn in others?

Consider also chapter 1.29 – 31.

Why are we sometimes (often) quick to judge people for wrong attitudes or behaviours that we are guilty of ourselves?

Verse 3

What is Paul saying? (You may also consider Matt 7.1-5)

Francis Schaeffer used the illustration of each of us having an imaginary tape recorder around our necks that recorded everything we said in judgment or criticism of others, or how others should behave. He made the point that all God would need to do to condemn us on the day of Judgement would be to play that recording back. Why?
What sins are you tempted to condemn in others but excuse for yourself? Why are we sometimes (often) quick to judge people for wrong attitudes or behaviours that we are guilty of ourselves?

Verses 4-5

How is God’s kindness shown to the rule-keeper/religious person?
- In what ways does the religious person have a hard and impenitent heart?
- What does the self-righteous person think they are storing up? What are the actually storing up?
- Why is self-righteousness appealing?

Compare & contrast

How are Romans 1 and 2 like a commentary on the two sons in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son?

Verse 6

What will be the basis God uses for the final judgment?
- Is Paul contradicting himself from 1.16-17 where he says salvation is through the gospel, by faith, with a righteousness given by God?

Read Psalm 62

In Romans 2.6 Paul is quoting Ps 62.12. In that Psalm two types of people are contrasted by what they do. What is the contrast, and how does this help us understand what Paul is saying in 2.6?
- Do works matter? Why?

Verses 7-8

What indicators does Paul give for a life that is, or is not lived in right relationship with God? Explain what these are.

If you’ve not answered this already, what does it actually mean to be self-seeking?
- How do both religious/moral people, and irreligious/secular/pagan people do this?

Verses 9-11

Verses 9 – 11 tell us that God shows no partiality in His judgement. He has no favourites. The religious and irreligious will all be judged alike.

Do you ever think God does have favourites and you’re not one of them? What makes you think that?

Verses 12-16

What point is Paul making?
- How does our conscience ‘accuse and excuse’ us?
- Why is conscience not always a reliable guide to what we should do?
- How can you make your conscience a more reliable guide?

Verses 17-24

What are the kind of things a religious Jewish person might get their sense of worth from?
- Given this, what are they trusting in for their salvation?
  - How might Christians be guilty of something similar today?

Verse 21

What would it look like for us as individuals to ‘teach ourselves’?
- How do you practically do this?

Verse 24

How do moralistic or religious people cause God to be blasphemed?
- How can you use your life, where God has placed you, to commend God and a life of faith in Him?

Verses 25-29

What was the significance of circumcision for the Jewish people?
- What is Paul’s point in v25-27?

Verse 29

What does it mean to have a circumcised heart?
- What does it mean that our praise is from God, not man?

Leader’s notes

Read the passage

Who is Paul addressing in this chapter?
v17 – the religious, law-keeping Jewish person. Chapter 1 was about the unrighteousness of pagan, or secular people and now Paul moves on to the unrighteousness of Jewish and religious people.
- Chapter 1 was an indictment of the pagan Gentile world. How might a law-observing Jewish person have responded to chapter 1? How might a religious person today respond?
  A religious person would read chapter 1 and say, ‘I agree, these people deserve God’s wrath; I am glad I am not like them.

Verses 1-3

Consider also chapter 1.29 – 31.
They may actually commit the same sins, and simply be hypocrites; Or, they may condemn the sin such as adultery or murder, while all the time being filled with lust or anger (see for example Matthew 5. 22,28). Religious people can be just as guilty of these ‘less obvious’ sins as the pagan person.

Why are we sometimes (often) quick to judge people for wrong attitudes or behaviours that we are guilty of ourselves?

What is Paul saying in verse 3? (You may also consider Matt 7.1-5)
At the judgment we will be our own prosecution witness. God will judge us according to the standard we have applied to others.

Francis Schaeffer used the illustration of each of us having an imaginary tape recorder around our necks that recorded everything we said in judgment or criticism of others, or how others should behave. He made the point that all God would need to do to condemn us on the day of Judgement would be to play that recording back. Why?
We know how people should live, and we criticise others for not doing so, but we don’t live up to those same standards – the standards they expect of others.

Verses 4-5

In what ways does the religious person have a hard and impenitent heart?
They think their righteousness is enough.
What does the self-righteous person think they are storing up? What are the actually storing up?
When we are self-righteous we think we are storing up merit with God. In fact, we are storing up wrath, because self-righteousness is pride, that says I am good enough without God and better than others.
Why is self-righteousness appealing?
Self-righteousness is a form of idolatry. We trust in our own righteousness. It makes us feel good about ourselves and significant. Especially when we can compare ourselves favourably to others.

Compare & contrast

How are Romans 1 and 2 like a commentary on the two sons in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son?
The younger, prodigal son is like the person of Romans 1 – running from God, engaging in every sin; The older brother is like the person in Romans 2 – who thinks by obeying the law and being good he can earn the Father’s favour, all the time being out of relationship with the Father.

Verse 6

What will be the basis God uses for the final judgment?
What everyone has done – their works
- Is Paul contradicting himself from 1.16-17 where he says salvation is through the gospel, by faith, with a righteousness given by God?
  No!

Read Psalm 62

In Romans 2.6 Paul is quoting Ps 62.12. In that Psalm two types of people are contrasted by what they do. What is the contrast, and how does this help us understand what Paul is saying in 2.6?
Ps 62 describes two types of person: those who trust God for their salvation and those who don’t; those who put their faith in God and those who plot against God’s chosen king; and so Paul is asking both the religious and pagan to consider – what have you done? Have you trusted God as your saviour, or yourself? In Ps 62.10 David describes the person who makes riches the centre (NLT) or the thing their heart is set on. It could be riches, power, position etc., or God. Whatever we ‘do’ – trust God or trust these other things – will determine how it goes with us at the judgment.
- Do works matter? Why?
  Yes, they are the evidence that we have saving faith. But they are not the basis of it. They are the fruit not the root of salvation.

Verses 7-8

What indicators does Paul give for a life that is, or is not lived in right relationship with God? Explain what these are.
A life that is lived in right relationship with God manifests patience in well-doing (making a life of good works the persistent pattern of your life) and the seeking of glory, honour and immortality – we do good works to become more Christ-like, to be conformed more to His image. A life that is not lived in right relationship to God is self-seeking, disobedient to truth, and full of unrighteousness.

Verses 12-16

What point is Paul making?
God’s law is imprinted on people’s hearts. Instinctively people know the basics of right and wrong; we have an innate sense of ‘the right thing to do’. In v13 Paul suggests that it is possible to be justified by obeying the law. This should be taken in a hypothetical sense – after all, who could claim to have obeyed God’s law perfectly?
- Why is conscience not always a reliable guide to what we should do?
  As we saw in Romans 1, we suppress the truth; consciences can be dulled, or shaped by culture in a wrong way
- How can you make your conscience a more reliable guide?
  By checking what we think is right and wrong against God’s word and training our responses by His word; by consulting with older/wiser Christians – if they think this is wrong, why do we not? By comparing to what Christians have thought over the years – am I being unduly/wrongly shaped by my current culture?

Verses 17-24

What are the kind of things a religious Jewish person might get their sense of worth from?
v17: They call themselves a Jew – their identity is tied up with their ethnic and religious identity; they take pride in knowing the law and in their relationship with God; v18: they were highly ethical; v18-20: they felt themselves morally superior to and able to teach others right and wrong.
Given this, what are they trusting in for their salvation?
Their ethnicity/nationality; their morality.
- How might Christians be guilty of something similar today?
  For example, re-read v17-20 and paraphrase them for an evangelical Christian rather than a Jew.

Verse 21

What would it look like for us as individuals to ‘teach ourselves’?
As we read the bible it’s often easier to see how this applies to others, how it points out their sin, or what they need to hear. Instead, we need to read it thinking all the time: how does this apply to me, how does this convict me of sin, what does God say about me here?

Verse 24

How do moralistic or religious people cause God to be blasphemed?
People see legalistic religion and don’t like what they see; they hate hypocrisy and judgmentalism

Verses 25-29

What was the significance of circumcision for the Jewish people?
The sign that they were God’s special covenant people
- What is Paul’s point in v25-27?
  The external does not matter in comparison to the internal. True religion is of the heart.

Verse 29

What does it mean to have a circumcised heart?
Paul is talking about an inner ‘circumcision’ – the inner work of God on our hearts whereby we know and experience ourselves to be God’s children, His people. It means to have a heart that is soft and receptive to God and His word; it is to desire and delight to meet with God in prayer – even if that is sometimes hard; it is to want to obey God and honour Him, not out of duty only, but out of love and gratitude; it is to know that you are loved by God and this not because you have made the grade, but because God is gracious. It comes through the ‘cutting off’ of the old life as we turn to Christ by faith – Col 2:11ff
- What does it mean that our praise is from God, not man?
  The religious moralist or the secular person is always in danger of looking for praise from self or others; the person who lives by faith in Christ knows that their praise comes from God – that because of Jesus, God loves and delights in them, even sings over them (Zeph 3:17). God sees us in Christ and says, this is my child with whom I am well pleased.

Download the complete study: Bible study on Romans (PDF) and leader’s guide (PDF)