Romans 2:27

Romans 2:27 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
• New International Version (NIV)The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
• New King James Version (NKJV)And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?

Context of Romans 2:27

25As a Jewish man, you are proud that someone has circumcised you. That is a help to you, if you obey God's Law in your life. But if you do not obey God's Law, then it is worth nothing. You have become like a Gentile that nobody has ever circumcised. 26But a Gentile may obey what God's Law teaches. Then he has shown that he belongs to God even though nobody has circumcised him. In that way, even Gentiles will show that you who are Jews are wrong. God's Law was written to help you Jews. They circumcised you to show that you belong to God. But if you refuse to obey God's Law, then God will punish you. The Gentiles who do obey God's Law will show that God is right to punish you. 28Not everyone who seems to be a Jew is really a Jew who belongs to God. God does not accept a man just because someone has circumcised that man's body. 29No! A true Jew is someone who belongs to God in his spirit. He belongs to God because God's Spirit has changed his life. It is like God has circumcised him in his spirit, not in his body. The rules in God's Law cannot do that work in a person. Other people may not praise a person like that, but God will praise him.

Romans 2:27 word by word

καὶ κρινεῖ ἡ ἐκ φύσεως ἀκροβυστία τὸν νόμον τελοῦσα σὲ τὸν διὰ γράμματος καὶ περιτομῆς παραβάτην νόμου.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Andκαίkai · andG2532
• shall notκρίνωkrinō · to judgeG2919
• uncircumcisionἀκροβυστίαakrobustia · uncircumcisionG203
• byἐκek ex · out fromG1537
• natureφύσιςphusis · natureG5449
• if it fulfilτελέωteleō · to finishG5055
• the lawνόμοςnomos · lawG3551
• theeσύsu · youG4771
• byδιάdia · through/because ofG1223
• the letterγράμμαgramma · something writtenG1121
• circumcisionπεριτομήperitomē · circumcisionG4061
• dost transgressπαραβάτηςparabatēs · transgresorG3848

Cross-references for Romans 2:27

• Romans 8:4God did this so that we could become right with him. God's Law showed us how to be right with him. And now we can be right with God, if we live with God's Spirit as our guide. We do not do what our weak human thoughts want us to do.
• Romans 13:10If you love other people, you will never do anything bad to them. So anyone who loves other people has obeyed God's Law completely.
• Matthew 3:15Jesus replied, ‘This time, do what I ask you to do. We must do everything correctly, as God wants it.’ So John did what Jesus asked him to do.
• Matthew 5:17Jesus said, ‘You should not think that I have come to destroy God's Law. Also, I have not come to destroy the messages that God's prophets wrote down. No, I have not come to destroy their words. I have come to make what they taught become true.
• Acts 13:22Then God removed Saul as king. He caused David to be their king instead. God said this about David: “I have watched David, the son of Jesse. He does things that make me happy. I know that he will do everything that I want.”
• Galatians 5:14One rule brings together all the rules in God's Law. That one rule says: ‘Love other people as much as you love yourself.’
• Ezekiel 16:48Your sister Sodom and her daughters never did such wicked things as you and your daughters have done. That is true as surely as I live, says the Almighty Lord.
• Matthew 12:41When God judges everyone, the people who lived in Nineveh will be there. They will stand up and they will speak against you. They will show that the people who are alive today are bad. When Jonah spoke to the people in Nineveh long ago, they stopped doing bad things. But look! There is someone here now who is greater than Jonah was.
• Hebrews 11:3Because of faith, we understand about how God made the universe. He spoke his word to make it happen. In that way, God made all the things that we can see. He made them from things that nobody could see.
• Romans 2:20You are sure that you can teach fools and people who do not know very much. You know that God's Law tells you everything about what is true. Because it helps you to know so much, you think that you can be a great teacher!
• Romans 7:6But now we have become free from the authority of the law. It is as if we have died. So those rules no longer control us. We do not still try to obey rules that someone has written down. That is the old way. Instead, we serve God in a new way. God's Spirit helps us to please him.
• 2 Corinthians 3:6God has made us his servants. So we are able to tell people the message of his new agreement. This new agreement is not about rules. Rules tell people what they must do and they bring death. But God's new agreement comes from his Spirit. And the Spirit brings new life to us, not death.

Commentaries on Romans 2:27

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 27And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature - And shall not the Gentile, who is , according to the custom of his country - who is, by birth, not obliged to be circumcised. If it fulfill the law - If such a person act according to the spirit and design of the law; judge condemn thee, who, whilst thou dost enjoy the letter, the written law, and bearest in thy body the proof of the circumcision which it requires, dost transgress that law?Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 27Which is by nature - Which is the natural state of man; his condition before he is admitted to any of the unique rites of the Jewish religion. If it fulfil the law - If they who are uncircumcised keep the Law. Judge thee - Condemn thee as guilty. As we say, the conduct of such a man condemns us. He acts so much more consistently and uprightly than we do, that we see our guilt. For a similar mode of expression, see Matthew 12:41-42. Who by the letter ……Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 25-29Verses 25-29 No forms, ordinances, or notions can profit, without regenerating grace, which will always lead to seeking an interest in the righteousness of God by faith. For he is no more a Christian now, than he was really a Jew of old, who is only one outwardly: neither is that baptism, which is outward in the flesh: but he is the real Christian, who is inwardly a true believer, with an obedient faith. And the true baptism is that of the heart, by the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-29Paul waits to explain righteousness through faith (see 3:21) until he first teaches about the sinfulness of all people. Both non-Jews and Jews are equally under the power of sin (1:18–32; 2:1–3:8). Because of this, both groups are in the same situation before God. No one can gain God’s favor by their own actions or obedience (3:9–20). All people need God’s saving action, not their own efforts.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 25-2925-29. For circumcision--that is, One's being within the covenant of which circumcision was the outward sign and seal. verily profiteth, if thou keep the law--if the inward reality correspond to the outward sign. but if, &c.--that is, "Otherwise, thou art no better than the uncircumcised heathen."Read the comment

Topics related to Romans 2:27

• Circumcision
• Formalism
• Hypocrisy
• Judgment

In the dictionaries

• Accuse
• Boast
• Continuance
• Doer
• Excuse
• Fall of man
• Forbearance
• Letter
• Sure
• Treasure

Commentaries on Romans 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings