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Romans

About this book
Chapter 2

1 Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?⁠ 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath,⁠ when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!⁠ 6 He will reward each one according to his works:⁠ 7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 8 but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness. 9 There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.⁠ 12 For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.⁠ 14 For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.⁠ 15 They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them,⁠ 16 on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus. 17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relationship to God 18 and know his will and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind,⁠ a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth— 21 therefore you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law!⁠ 24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”⁠ 25 For circumcision has its value if you practice the law,⁠ but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 And the physically uncircumcised man, by keeping the law, will judge you to be the transgressor of the law, even though you have the letter and circumcision! 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the letter.⁠ This person’s praise is not from people but from God.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 50:2 and Romans 2:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

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Summary

In Romans, Paul speaks of wrath stored up for the day of judgment against those who persist in sin, alluding to Jewish traditions such as 1 Enoch, which similarly describes a day when evil is completely stored up against sinners.

Passages

1 Enoch 50:2

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And in those days a change shall take place for the holy and elect, and the light of days shall remain upon them, and glory and honor shall turn to the holy, 2 On the day of affliction when evil shall have been stored up against the sinners. And the righteous shall be victorious in the name of the Lord of Spirits: And He will cause the others to witness this so that they may repent and abandon the works of their hands. 3 They shall have no honor through the name of the Lord of Spirits, yet through His name they shall be saved, and the Lord of Spirits will have compassion on them, for His compassion is great.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Romans 2:5

New Testament
3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! 6 He will reward each one according to his works: 7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality,
55–58 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Romans

References

"... This discussion leaves us with two primary options. First, when Jesus as the deliverer returns, Israel as a whole, on learning of his identity, will believe in him as their king truly appointed by God. (For a short window of end-time opportunity for repentance, see e.g., 1 Enoch 50:2–5. Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho 28 rejects this option for Israel) The language could certainly be so construed: Paul’s citation sounds like Jesus’s return would precipitate their forgiveness. Although the Hebrew version of Isaiah 59:20–21, which Paul here adapts, speaks of the redeemer coming to Zion after Israel turns from transgression, Paul’s wording (probably based on blending the Greek version of the passage with Psalm 14:7) seems to suggest the opposite ..."
Craig S. Keener, Romans: A New Covenant Commentary (Cambridge: Lutterworth, 2009), 112.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 50:2 and Romans 2:5

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