Romans 2 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The apostrophe to the judge — and the repayment according to works 2:1–11

vv. 1–3 — you, the judge, condemn yourself

Therefore you are without excuse, O man — every one of you who judges;independent — the verdict — Διό gathers up 1:18–32 and turns it on the moralist

for in that in which you judge the other,relative — ἐν ᾧ — leans forward, like a protasis, on the clause below

you condemn yourself,cause — the γάρ ground of ἀναπολόγητος — the sentence rebounds

for you, the judge, practice the same things.cause — the reason beneath — same deeds; ὁ κρίνων repeated with bite

And we knowindependent — the shared premise

that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.content — content — judgment κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, by the facts

But do you reckon this,independent — the question — λογίζῃ, the moralist's bookkeeping

O man, who judge those who practice such things and do the same,phrase modifier — vocative of address — judging and doing in one breath

that you will escape the judgment of God?content — the content of the reckoning — emphatic σύ: you, of all people

vv. 4–5 — kindness despised, wrath on deposit

Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience,independent — the alternative diagnosis — contempt for the delay of judgment

not knowingparticipial — causal participle — the ignorance beneath the contempt

that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance?content — content — the kindness has an aim: μετάνοια

But in accord with your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourselfindependent — the counter-treasury — θησαυρίζεις, a bitter irony

for the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,phrase modifier — when the deposit falls due — ἐν for εἰς: stored against that day

vv. 6–11 — the ladder: to each according to his works

who will repay each one according to his works —relative — on τοῦ θεοῦ — Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12: the ladder's governing line

to those who by endurance in good work seek glory and honor and incorruptibility — eternal life;phrase modifier — rung A — the seekers of glory: life

but to those of self-seeking, disobeying the truth and obeying unrighteousness — wrath and fury.phrase modifier — rung B — anacoluthon: ὀργὴ καὶ θυμός slip into the nominative

tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man who works out the evil,phrase modifier — rung B′ — the chiasm turns: the same wrath, felt

of the Jew first and also of the Greek;phrase modifier — the refrain — priority without immunity

but glory and honor and peace to everyone who works the good,phrase modifier — rung A′ — the ladder closes where it opened: glory

to the Jew first and also to the Greek;phrase modifier — the refrain repeated — the same order, either way

For there is no partiality with God.cause — the ground under the whole ladder — προσωπολημψία excluded

Law with the law and without it 2:12–16

v. 12 — sinned without law, sinned under law

For as many as sinned without the lawrelative — headless relative — the subject suspended, leaning like a protasis

will also perish without the law,independent — verdict 1 — perishing needs no statute

and as many as sinned under the lawrelative — the matching subject, suspended again

will be judged through the law.independent — verdict 2 — the law itself the instrument

vv. 13–15 — the parenthesis: doers, not hearers — and Gentile doers exist

for not the hearers of the law are righteous before God,cause — the principle — hearing earns nothing (copula unexpressed)

but the doers of the law will be justified.cause — the counterpart — δικαιωθήσονται future: at the judgment

For whenever Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things of the law,conditional — ὅταν — indefinite temporal, conditional in force; φύσει read with ποιῶσιν

these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves —cause — grounds v. 13: such doers exist; concessive participle inside

who show the work of the law written in their hearts,relative — qualitative ὅστις — Jer 31:33 echoed at one remove

their conscience bearing joint witness,participial — genitive absolute — the first witness

and their reasonings among one another accusing or even defending them,participial — genitive absolute — the inner courtroom convened

v. 16 — the day the secrets are judged

in the day when God judges the hidden things of men, according to my gospel, through Christ Jesus.phrase modifier — crux — read with ἐνδείκνυνται (the display completed on the day), not with v. 12 κριθήσονται

The great suspended conditional — the Jew examined 2:17–24

vv. 17–20 — the protasis: credentials piled, never cashed

But if you bear the name of Jewconditional — the great protasis opens — the whole pile leans forward

and rest upon the lawconditional — claim 2 — the law as cushion

and boast in Godconditional — claim 3 — the covenant boast

and know the willconditional — claim 4 — τὸ θέλημα absolute: God's, of course

and approve the things that matter,conditional — claim 5 — cf. Phil 1:10

being catechized out of the law,participial — the source of claims 4–5 — instructed from the law

and are confidentconditional — claim 6 — the confidence itself

that you yourself are a guide of the blind,content — accusative + infinitive — the self-portrait begins

a light of those in darkness,phrase modifier — title 2 — Isa 42:6–7 claimed

an instructor of the foolish,phrase modifier — title 3 — the corrector

a teacher of infants,phrase modifier — title 4 — the proselyte's schoolmaster

having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth —participial — the warrant for the titles — and here the protasis breaks off: anacoluthon

vv. 21–23 — the apodosis that never comes: the counter-questions

you, then, who teach the other — do you not teach yourself?independent — οὖν picks up the abandoned protasis — question 1

you who preach not to steal — do you steal?independent — question 2

you who say not to commit adultery — do you commit adultery?independent — question 3

you who abhor idols — do you rob temples?independent — question 4 — ἱεροσυλεῖς: profiting from the very idols abhorred

you who boast in the law — through the transgression of the law do you dishonor God?independent — relative in form (ὅς) — taken as the fifth, climactic question; some read a verdict-statement

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,cause — the proof of the dishonor — Israel's vocation inverted

just as it is written.comparative — Isa 52:5 LXX — Scripture seals the indictment

Circumcision of the heart 2:25–29

vv. 25–27 — circumcision profits — if

For circumcision does profitindependent — the concession — μέν waits for its δέ

if you practice the law;conditional — backward protasis — the profit conditioned on practice

but if you are a transgressor of the law,conditional — the δέ protasis — leans on the verdict below

your circumcision has become uncircumcision.independent — the verdict — γέγονεν perfect: the state stands

If then the uncircumcision keeps the righteous requirements of the law,conditional — the mirror protasis — the argument run in reverse

will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?independent — λογισθήσεται — the ledger recalculated; οὐχ expects 'yes'

And the uncircumcision that is so by nature will judgeindependent — the tables turned — the judged Gentile becomes the judge

while fulfilling the law,participial — conditional participle — τελοῦσα: carrying the law through

you, the one who through letter and circumcision is a transgressor of the law.phrase modifier — the object with its apposition — διά concessive: with all that, still a transgressor

vv. 28–29 — the definition: the hidden Jew

For not the one in the open is a Jew,independent — the negative definition — outwardness denied

nor is the open, in-the-flesh circumcision circumcision,independent — the negative doubled — ellipsis of the copula

but the Jew is the one in the hidden place, and circumcision is of the heart — in spirit, not in letter —independent — the positive antithesis, both limbs verbless — Deut 30:6 behind περιτομὴ καρδίας

whose praise is not from men but from God.relative — on ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος — the pun: Ἰουδαῖος/Judah, 'praise' (Gen 29:35; 49:8)

Analysis. Romans 2 is one sustained second-person indictment, and the layout shows its four postures. In vv. 1–5 the diatribe apostrophe: flush purple charges and questions to ὦ ἄνθρωπε ὁ κρίνων, each with its hanging grounds — the ἐν ᾧ line leans forward like a protasis on σεαυτὸν κατακρίνεις beneath it. In vv. 6–11 the argument stops moving and builds a ladder: four gray rungs (life — wrath — anguish — glory, an A B B′ A′ chiasm) all hang from the single word ἑκάστῳ in ὃς ἀποδώσει, with the Jew-first refrain twice beneath and οὐ γάρ ἐστιν προσωπολημψία as the one red ground under the whole. Verses 12–16 alternate suspended ὅσοι-subjects over their flush verdicts, then descend through the vv. 13–15 parenthesis — doers not hearers, the ὅταν clause, the οἵτινες chain with its two genitive-absolute witnesses — down to ἐν ἡμέρᾳ. Verses 17–24 are the chapter's great anacoluthon: a ten-credential protasis pile (Εἰ δὲ σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ἐπονομάζῃ…) leans forward and never finds an apodosis — the flush ὁ οὖν διδάσκων counter-questions break in instead, sealed by καθὼς γέγραπται (Isa 52:5). Verses 25–29 run the ἐάν conditionals both ways and end in the verbless antithesis of the hidden Jew. Cruxes the layout takes a side on: ἐν ἡμέρᾳ (v. 16) is attached to ἐνδείκνυνται — vv. 13–15 read as a parenthesis whose inner-courtroom display is completed on the day — not across to κριθήσονται (v. 12); φύσει (v. 14) is read with ποιῶσιν ('by nature do the things of the law'), not with ἔχοντα; v. 23 is taken, with the punctuation, as a fifth climactic question rather than a summary verdict; and οὗ (v. 29) reaches back to ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, preserving the Ἰουδαῖος/Judah–'praise' wordplay (Gen 29:35; 49:8).