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?

ROMANS 2:27KJV
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Romans 2:27 (KJV)

What does Romans 2:27 mean?

Romans 2:27 says that someone who is not circumcised by birth but keeps the law will stand as a judge over someone who is circumcised but breaks the law, even though the circumcised person has the written law and the outward sign. The verse points out that true obedience matters more than outward rituals or heritage.

In Romans 2:27, Paul is writing to believers in Rome, addressing both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. He challenges the idea that having the law or the physical sign of circumcision automatically makes someone right with God. Instead, Paul stresses that actually living according to God's law is what counts, regardless of background or religious symbols.

The Greek behind Romans 2:27

  • ἀκροβυστία (akrobystia, "uncircumcision"): This word refers to those who are not physically circumcised, often meaning Gentiles. Paul uses it to highlight that even those without the outward sign can fulfill God's law.
  • φύσις (physis, "nature"): This word means "by nature" or "naturally," emphasizing that the uncircumcised person was born that way, not by choice.
  • γράμμα (gramma, "letter"): This refers to the written law, the Scriptures. Paul contrasts following the "letter" (the written code) with truly keeping the law in practice.
  • παραβαίνω (parabainō, "transgress"): This means to break or go against the law. Paul points out that having the law and circumcision does not prevent someone from breaking God's commands.

Why Romans 2:27 matters

  • Romans 2:27 clears up the misunderstanding that outward religious signs or heritage guarantee a right standing with God; Paul insists that actual obedience is what matters.
  • The verse highlights Paul's larger argument in Romans that both Jews and Gentiles are accountable to God, and that no one has a special status based only on rituals or ancestry.
  • This verse helps set up Paul's teaching that righteousness comes through faith and a changed heart, not just through external observance.

Where else these words appear

“transgress” Greek G3848 · used in 5 verses

  • 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.
  • Galatians 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
  • James 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

“nature” Greek G5449 · used in 11 verses

  • Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
  • Romans 11:24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
  • Galatians 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

“letter” Greek G1121 · used in 14 verses

  • Luke 16:6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
  • John 7:15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
  • Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

“uncircumcision” Greek G203 · used in 17 verses

  • Acts 11:3 Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
  • Romans 4:10 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
  • Galatians 2:7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;