https://youtu.be/neGdD2Smu3U
In our verse-by-verse study of Romans last time we started Romans chapter 2 we noted that God the Holy Spirit targeted the reversionist criminal perverts in chapter 1 and He moves to target the reversions self-righteous legalistic religionists who are judging the criminal perverts in chapter 2.
Our expanded translation of Rom 2:1 this far matches that found in the NASB version. "Therefore you have no excuse, every one of you."
Last time we were on the phrase translated "everyone of you" when we ran out of time. This phrase in the GNT is literally "o man" from 'o", plus the vocative of "anthropos," and the nominative singular from "pas" is an adjective meaning "all" that can be used as a substantive and when it is it means "everyone
It is addressed to every self-righteous person who arrogantly assumes to have arrived at the point of righteousness that gives them the right or prerogative to make pronouncements about others. The root sin of the self-righteous person is arrogance.
"Who passes judgment?" is an articular present active participle from the verb "krino" that means to judge. The definite article is used for a personal pronoun referring to the self-righteous person who arrogantly assumes the authority to judge others.
The present tense is a customary present that denotes what habitually occurs when arrogance combines with self-righteousness and judging. The active voice: the self-righteous person produces the action of the verb.
The participle is temporal and therefore we have a temporal clause: "everyone of you the ones judging." The word to judge here means to malign, to slander, or to address someone with verbal sins. Judging and maligning are the antithesis of love.
"For" is from the causal conjunction "gar." Next is "en" plus the locative of the relative pronoun "hos" that can be translated "in which sphere, or in the manner or on whatever basis."
"You judge another" is present active indicative of "krino," used to cover all of the mental attitude sins that lead to gossip, maligning, or judging.
"Krino" in the original Greek is primarily used as a legal word but it can be used for both official and personal judgment.
When used with God as the subject it is official judgment. When used with self-righteous people as the subject as in this context it is personal judgment, that is the equivalent of maligning, slandering, or gossiping.
With this is an accusative singular definite article "ton" translated "the" indicating the judgment of a category of people who are reversionistic immoral heathens.
Then the accusative singular from the adjective "eteros" translated "other sets up a contrast between two human categories.
The two categories of people are the self-righteous moral people and more obviously the sinful amoral people.
The present tense of "krino" is a descriptive present that describes the conflict between the self-righteous moral person, believer or unbeliever, and the person he chooses to judge because their sins are more obvious.
The active voice: the self-righteous category produces the action of the verb. The declarative indicative describes it as a reality.
The next phrase is "You condemn yourself" from the present active indicative from the compound verb "katakrino" (kata = down or against; krino = to judge).
It means to judge down, to judge against, to judge in order to condemn. Both condemnation and execution are gathered up in this compound verb. The present tense is a perfective present; that denotes the continuation of existing results.
Here is a fact from the past that continues into the present. The active voice: the self-righteous legalist produces the action of the verb by judging. The declarative indicative mood is for an unqualified statement of fact.
With this is an accusative singular direct object from the reflexive pronoun "seautou" in the emphatic position. When an action expressed by the verb is referred back to the subject so it is reflexive. So we translate this part of the passage "you condemn yourself."
"For you who judge" is the postpositive conjunctive particle "gar," translated "for" or "because" explaining the reason why the self-righteous person condemns himself when he judges others.
Followed by the articular present active participle of "krino" translated 'judge." The present tense is retroactive progressive present that denotes what has begun in the past and continues into the present time.
In other words, we are told that we will always have these kinds of people with us. The active voice: the self-righteous group produces the action of the verb by expressing self-righteous hypocrisy. The participle is circumstantial so it is translated "for you who keep on judging."
"Practice the same things;" is from the present active indicative from the verb "prasso" that means to practice or "do" something. The present tense is retroactive progressive present referring to what has begun in the past and continues into the present time.
They have done this in the past and are still doing it so they are practicing or repeating the action. The active voice; self-righteous people repeatedly produce the action. The declarative indicative represents the verbal action from the standpoint of reality.
Plus the accusative neuter plural from the direct object of the intensive pronoun "autos." The definite article is used to denote a to the sins mentioned in Rom 1:29-31.
Rom 2:1; Expanded Translation: "Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone of you when you judge: for in which sphere you keep judging the other category, you condemn yourself; for you who keep judging practice the same things."
The following are some principles that come from this verse.
The self-righteous legalists always judge those whose sins are more obvious.
However the moral self-righteous person was born with the same imputation of Adam's original sin, and possesses the same old sin nature, therefore they have the same condemnation from spiritual death.
The moral person sins are not as obvious as the sins of the immoral person, because they are often not recognized as sins and when they are he can hide his sins behind a façade of doing good and cloak them with self-righteousness.
However, before God, the moral self-righteous person is just as guilty as the immoral person but the self-righteous moral person has great arrogance, great pride of achievement, that expresses itself in judging, maligning, slandering, and gossiping about others.
The self-righteous person finds security in judging and slandering others. The rationalizations in his thinking and his hang-ups, lead him to start maligning and judging, and this is how he attempts to build up a false sense of superiority that he and hopes will help in his relationship to God.
Judging others is not only a sin but it is a rationalization whereby one attempts to establish their righteousness on the basis of someone else's unrighteousness.
Self-righteous people do not want to deal with God's perfect righteousness so they make what they consider to be a favorable comparison with the immoral person and then they arrogantly rationalize themselves into a state of false security by saying they are better.
They actually blaspheme God's judgment by thinking they can make a favorable comparison of their morality against someone else's immorality.
Sooner or later your life is going to be cluttered up with gossip and slander from people who judge and malign.
The self-righteous judge is as sinful as the object of his condemnation because from God's point of view the moral person is just as sinful as the immoral person.
It becomes, then, a matter of category. One house has sand for dirt, another has coal dust for dirt; but both are dirt.
Only God's justice can correctly evaluate the life of any creature so only God's justice has the right to judge His creatures.
Jesus Christ, the judge of the Supreme Court of heaven is perfect; only a perfect judge can produce perfect judgment and that eliminates the entire human race.
The self-righteous person assumes a righteous standard but his judgment of others merely proves and demonstrates his imperfection, sinfulness, and hypocrisy.
The same concept is amplified in John 8:3-11; It is interesting that self-righteous people often pick on helpless people.
The principle is that imperfect people are not qualified to judge other imperfect people.
The only exception to this is when there is legitimate authority that is defined under the laws of divine establishment or from doctrine. Parents have a right to judge their minor children. Senior officers have a right to judge those under their command.
Officers in a company or business organization have the right to judge those who work for them. The judge on the bench has the right to function in the sphere of criminal law and justice.
The pastor teacher communicating doctrine is a judge in the sense that he communicates doctrine. When anyone gets out of line with regard to intruding into the privacy and the rights of other members of the congregation the pastor-teacher certainly has the right of judgment.