Passage
Romans 2.11-16
Book: Romans · NASB95
Immediate context (±2 verses)
ASV (ASV)
9. tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; 10. but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek:
11. for there is no respect of persons with God. 12. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law; 13. for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified: 14. (for when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves; 15. in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them); 16. in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.
- But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God, 18. and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, (Romans 2:9-18, ASV)
WEB (WEB)
9. oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 10. But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
11. For there is no partiality with God. 12. For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13. For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified 14. (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15. in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) 16. in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
- Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God, 18. and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, (Romans 2:9-18, WEB)
KJV (KJV)
9. Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; Gentile: Gr. Greek 10. But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: Gentile: Gr. Greek
11. For there is no respect of persons with God. 12. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13. (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15. Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) their conscience: or, the conscience witnessing with them the mean: or, between themselves 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
- Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, 18. And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; approvest: or, triest the things that differ (Romans 2:9-18, KJV)
YLT (YLT)
9. tribulation and distress, upon every soul of man that is working the evil, both of Jew first, and of Greek; 10. and glory, and honour, and peace, to every one who is working the good, both to Jew first, and to Greek.
11. For there is no acceptance of faces with God, 12. for as many as without law did sin, without law also shall perish, and as many as did sin in law, through law shall be judged, 13. for not the hearers of the law [are] righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be declared righteous: 14. For, when nations that have not a law, by nature may do the things of the law, these not having a law, to themselves are a law; 15. who do shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also witnessing with them, and between one another the thoughts accusing or else defending, 16. in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my good news, through Jesus Christ.
- Lo, thou art named a Jew, and dost rest upon the law, and dost boast in God, 18. and dost know the will, and dost approve the distinctions, being instructed out of the law, (Romans 2:9-18, YLT)
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Setting
- Speaker: TBD
- Audience: TBD
- Location: TBD
- Time period: TBD
Theological reading
Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.
Key words
Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
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Quoted in
Arguments and defeaters:
- Anthropology Defeats Christianity Objection Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Argument from Conscience, via Romans 2.14-15
- Argument from Free Will, via Romans 2.5-11
- Argument from Irrevocability, via Romans 2.14-15, Romans 2.16
- Argument from the Reliability of Reason, via Romans 2.14-15
- Atheism Cannot Justify Compassion, via Romans 2.14-15
- Atheism is a Belief, via Romans 2.14-15
- Atheism Moral Neutrality Failure, via Romans 2.14-15
- Atheist Moral Realism Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Belief-Choice Objection Defeater, via Romans 2.14-16
- Cartesian Skeptical Argument and Christian Responses, via Romans 2.14-15
- Christian God is the Only True God, via Romans 2.14-15
- Christianity Stolen From Kemet Objection Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Deuteronomy 21 Captive Bride Objection Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Divine Hiddenness Objection Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Evidential Problem of Evil Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Evolution and Empathy Ground Morality (Defeater), via Romans 2.14-15
- God Causes Cancer Objection Defeater, via Romans 2.15
- Harm-Reduction Cannot Ground Morality (Defeater), via Romans 2.14-15
- Intersubjective Morality Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Moral Anti-Realism Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Moral Argument, via Romans 2.14-15
- Performative Self-Refutation of Atheist Denial, via Romans 2.14-15
- Stealing from God Argument, via Romans 2.14-15
- Subjective Morality Defeater, via Romans 2.14-15
- Transcendental Argument for God, via Romans 2.14-15
Concepts:
- Apologetics, via Romans 2.14-15
- Atheism, via Romans 2.14-15
- Diagnostic Doorways, via Romans 2.14-15
- Divine Hiddenness, via Romans 2.14-15
- Evangelism, via Romans 2.14-15
- General Revelation, via Romans 2.14-15
- Hard Questions for Atheists, via Romans 2.15
- Hearing God, via Romans 2.15
- Hell and Eternal Punishment
- Is Atheism a Religion, via Romans 2.14-15
- Karma, via Romans 2.6-11
- Moral Arguments, via Romans 2.14-15
- Morality, via Romans 2.14-15
- Natural Theology, via Romans 2.14-15
- Origins and Cosmology, via Romans 2.14-15
- Presuppositionalism, via Romans 2.14-15
- Quick Objection Responses, via Romans 2.14-15
- Reformed Epistemology, via Romans 2.14-15
- Salvation of the Unevangelized, via Romans 2.12, Romans 2.12-16, Romans 2.14-15, Romans 2.14-16
- Sensus Divinitatis, via Romans 2.14-15
- Soul and Spirit, Origin and Awareness, via Romans 2.14-15
- Spiritual But Not Religious, via Romans 2.14-15
People:
- C.S. Lewis, via Romans 2.14-15
- David Hume, via Romans 2.14-15
- Sharon Street, via Romans 2.14-15
Lexicon:
- G0622 - apollymi, via Romans 2.12
- G0626 - apologeomai, via Romans 2.15
- G3551 - nomos, via Romans 2.14-15
- G4893 - syneidesis, via Romans 2.14-15
- G627 - apologia, via Romans 2.15
- H8451 - torah, via Romans 2.14-15
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
Why these four translations
ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.
The four:
- ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.
See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.