What Does Romans 2:1 Mean?
Therefore you have no word to answer with, O human, whoever you are who judges others, for in whatever you judge in another you press the sentence down upon yourself, for you who judge practice the very same things.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.THE KEY
In Greek, “condemn” is built from the same judging word, so the judge’s act already contains the verdict that returns to him.
THE MEANING
When you judge another for conduct you also practice, the judgment reaches you. What you recognize in someone else does not place you outside that same pattern.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that condemning another’s wrongdoing makes you innocent of the same wrongdoing.
THE ROOT
κρίνεις
kríneis katakríneis
GROWS FROM
κριν- (from κρίνω)
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
“judges others” in this verse is kríneis katakríneis. “Judgest” is κρίνεις (kríneis), while “condemnest” is κατακρίνεις (katakríneis), a compound built on the same κριν- stem. The verse makes the judge’s own act of deciding part of the verdict against him.
ALSO GROWS
krísis: Judgment or decision.
κρίσις
It shares the judging stem and shows that judgment is a decision made, not a position safely outside the matter.
kríma: A judgment or verdict.
κρίμα
It names the verdict that this verse shows returning to the person who judges.
katakrínō: To condemn; to pronounce guilty.
κατακρίνω
This is the compound form used for “condemnest,” retaining the same judging root.
πράσσεις
prásseis
GROWS FROM
πρασσ- (from πράσσω)
To do, carry out, or practice.
“practice” in this verse is prásseis. The reason the verdict reaches the judge is concrete: the person judging πράσσεις (prásseis), “does,” the same things. The overlap lies in practiced conduct, not just in an inconsistency of opinion.
ALSO GROWS
prâxis: Action, practice, or deed.
πρᾶξις
It carries the same word-family into the actions a person actually practices.
prâgma: A deed, matter, or affair.
πρᾶγμα
It links the root to the concrete things done, which the verse says are shared by judge and judged.
THE PATTERN
The standard a person applies outward reaches back to expose and measure the person applying it.
And Nathan said to David, You are the man. Thus says the LORD God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I snatched you out of the hand of Saul.Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Release, and you will be released.For judgment will be without faithful love for the one who did not show such love, and faithful love boasts over judgment.THE THREAD
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you.Matthew repeats the same Greek word family in “judgment” (κρίμα, kríma) and “judge” (κρίνω, krínō): the measure used to assess another comes back upon the one applying it. Romans 2:1 sharpens that return with κατακρίνω (katakrínō, “condemn”), a compound built on the same judging stem.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us