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Romans 2:25
For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.

Deuteronomy 4:1
Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to dothem, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Deuteronomy 5:1
And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

but the.

Romans 3:20,23
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the lawis the knowledge of sin…

Romans 10:5
For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Luke 10:25-29
And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? …

justified.

Romans 3:30
Seeingit is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

Romans 4:2-5
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hathwhereof to glory; but not before God…

Psalm 143:2
And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous
This phrase highlights the importance of action in faith. The idea of being a "doer" aligns with the teachings of Jesus, who emphasized the importance of living out one's faith through actions (Matthew 7:21-23). The phrase "declared righteous" is a legal term, often associated with justification, a key theme in Paul's writings. This anticipates the later development in Romans of justification by faith, where true righteousness comes through faith in Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the law. The emphasis on doing the law also connects to the prophetic tradition, where true worship is shown through justice and mercy (Micah 6:8).

Paul starts by addressing people who possess and listen to God’s written commands—primarily the Jews who regularly heard the Law read in synagogue. Simply having access to Scripture never guaranteed favor with God.

• Cross references:Luke 11:28 declares, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it,” showing Jesus makes the same point.Acts 13:27 reminds us that Jerusalem’s residents “did not recognize Jesus or understand the words of the prophets read every Sabbath,” stressing that mere exposure can leave hearts unchanged.

• Personal application: Owning Bibles, attending church, or streaming sermons matters, but spiritual benefit comes only when truth penetrates the heart and shapes behavior.

“Righteous before God” speaks of God’s courtroom verdict, not human opinion. The standard is perfect conformity to His will, and only He can declare a person right in His sight.

• Cross references:1 Samuel 16:7 points out that “man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”Isaiah 64:6 insists that apart from God’s work even our best efforts are “filthy rags.” Together they remind us that external religion impresses people, but God sees deeper.

Paul shifts to active obedience. True faith shows itself in actions that match God’s revealed will. Doing the law does not earn salvation; it evidences that God has written His law on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).

• Cross references:James 1:22 urges, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”Matthew 7:24 likens obedient listeners to a wise builder who survives life’s storms. These passages echo Paul’s insistence that authentic relationship with God transforms conduct.

• Harmony with grace:Romans 3:20 clarifies that “no one will be justified in His sight by works of the Law,” so Paul cannot be teaching salvation by merit. Instead,Romans 2:13 highlights the necessity of obedience as proof of genuine faith—an idea reinforced byEphesians 2:8-10, where salvation by grace produces “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Future-tense language points to Judgment Day, when God’s final verdict will publicly confirm what He already knows to be true. Those whose lives reveal Spirit-empowered obedience will hear the pronouncement of righteousness because their faith was real.

• Cross references:Matthew 25:34 portrays the King saying, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father,” to those whose deeds demonstrated love for Christ’s brethren.2 Corinthians 5:10 states that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,” where works prove the reality of faith.

• Assurance in Christ: Believers rest inRomans 8:1—“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The same apostle Paul affirms that the righteous declaration ultimately rests on union with Christ, manifested through a life that does the will of God.

Romans 2:13 teaches that hearing God’s Law, while essential, is never enough. Right standing with God belongs to those whose faith results in obedience, demonstrating that His Word has truly taken root. On the final day, God will vindicate such believers as righteous—not because their works earned salvation, but because their Spirit-empowered works prove they belong to Christ, the only perfect Law-keeper.

Hearers of the law.--Strictly (as above),hearers of law--i.e., those who have a law to which they can listen, and by which they may be guided. (Comp.Acts 13:27;Acts 15:21, "Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath"; and for the opposition between hearing and doing,James 1:22-23;James 1:25.)

(1)Ὁνόμος, with the article prefixed, always means the Mosaic Law.

(2)Νόμος, without the article, may have, and often has, specific reference to the Mosaic Law; but, if so, the emission of the article is not arbitrary, but involves a difference of meaning. The article in Greek is prefixed to a word when the latter is intended to convey some definite idea already familiarized to the mind, and "the natural effect of its presence is to divert the thoughts from dwelling on the peculiar import of the word, and is adverse to its inherent notion standing out as a prominent point in the sense of the passage" (quoted from 'Grammar of the New Testament Dialect,' by T. S. Green, in Appendix to Introduction to Romans in the 'Speaker's Commentary '). Hence the omission of the article, where it might have been used, before a word has often the effect of emphasizing and drawing attention to theinherent notion of the word. We may take as an instance ver. 17 in this chapter, where the Textus Receptus hasἐπαναπαύῃτῷ νόμῳ but where the preferable reading omits the article. In either case the Mosaic Law is referred to; but the omission of the article brings into prominence theprinciple of justification on which the Jew rested - viz.Law, which exacts entire obedience. In the following verse (the eighteenth), in the phrase,κατηχούμενος ἐκ τοῦ νόμου the article is inserted, the intention being simply to say that the Jew was instructed in the well-known Law of Moses. The same difference of meaning is intimated by the omission or insertion of the article in ver. 23 and elsewhere in other parts of the chapter and of the whole Epistle (see especially ch. 7.). The apostle, who, however spontaneous and unstudied might be his style of writing, by no means used phrases at random, would not surely have thus varied his expressions so often in one and the same sentence without intended significance.

(3)Νόμος without the article seems evidently in many passages to be used by St. Paul to denote law in the abstract, without any exclusive reference to the Mosaic Law at all, or to any particular code of law. Doubtless the Mosaic Law, in which he had been educated, and which he had painfully proved the impossibility of keeping perfectly, had been to him the grand embodiment and representative of law; but he had hence been led to an abstract conception, ever before his mind, of law as representing the principle of exaction of full obedience to requirements; and when he says, as he so often does, that by law no man can be justified, he means that none can be so on the principle of complete conformity being required to the behests of Divine righteousness, whether as revealed from Mount Sinai or through the human conscience, or in any other way; for by law is the knowledge of sin and consequent guilt, but not the power of avoiding sin. Those who ignore the distinction as above explained, saying, as some do, thatνόμος, whether with or without the article, always means simply the Law of Moses, fail to enter into the depth and generality of the apostle's argument. The distinction will be observed in this translation throughout the Epistle (ὁ νόμος being translated "the Law," andνόμος "law"), and it will be found always to have a meaning. (For one instance in which it is hardly possible to suppose St. Paul to have omitted and inserted the article in the same sentence without a meaning, cf.Galatians 4:21.)

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