Bible Strands
Romans 2:13
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses Jewish listeners in Rome who rely on possessing the Mosaic code, situating the statement within a broader discussion of divine judgment for those who sin under the law.
The words — δίκαιοι (dikaioi) means righteous, and παρὰ (para) denotes before or in the presence of.
The thread — The distinction between hearing and doing appears in James 1:22, while the link between practice and righteousness continues in 1 John 3:7 and James 2:21.
Why it lands — The text demands active obedience to God’s commands rather than passive familiarity with them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Cross-references
- James 1:22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
- 1 John 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.
- James 2:21 Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
- Romans 2:25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
- Luke 8:21 But He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and carry it out.”
- Galatians 2:16 know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
- Romans 10:5 For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.”
- Galatians 3:11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”
- 1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.
- Deuteronomy 4:1 Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.