This verse begins with the same particle that was used in 1.24. Originally it meant something like “therefore,” but many commentators believe that here its use is no more than a transitional particle.

Do you, my friend, pass judgment on others? is in Greek a statement which the Good News Translation renders as a question in order to stress the emphatic nature of what Paul is saying.

The initial sentence in Greek is divided into two sentences in the Good News Translation. The first is a question, Do you, my friend, pass judgment on others?, and the second is a statement, You have no excuse at all, whoever you are. In some languages the use of such a rhetorical question may be misleading. Obviously Paul is not asking people whether they pass judgment; he is simply stating that anyone and everyone who passes judgment has no excuse. A common and generally acceptable way of dealing with this type of structure is to employ a conditional clause—for example, “If you pass judgment on others you have no excuse at all, regardless of who you are.”

My friend (literally “O man”) does not appear as such in many modern translations. However, Romans not only reflects the letter form of the first century A.D., but in this chapter it has the form of a diatribe, a type of discourse used by preachers and philosophers of that century. The Good News Translation seeks to maintain the continuity with this diatribe form; many modern translators feel that this form of address is redundant for the English reader, and so omit it.

In a number of languages, it is quite impossible to use an expression such as my friend. That would seem to be entirely too personal and imply that Paul was addressing his letter or remark to only one person. A plural form is sometimes acceptable, “my friends,” but more often than not it is necessary to use an expression such as “you who judge.”

You have no excuse at all is emphatic in the Greek sentence order. Have no excuse may be rendered as “have no word to oppose,” “cannot save yourself from accusation,” or even, in the form of direct discourse, “cannot say, I am not guilty.”

In Greek pass judgment and judge are the same words; condemn comes from the same root as these two words, only it is a strengthened form. Whoever judges others condemns himself. In a number of languages there are two quite distinct words for judging. One implies purely objective evaluation and the other suggests strong condemnation. The first type of term would be relatively out of place in this kind of context, and hence it is the second which must normally be chosen for all three expressions: pass judgment, judge, and condemn.

The reference to the same things is to the various kinds of evil mentioned in 1.28-32. Do the same things may therefore be rendered as “act in such evil ways,” “do so many evil deeds,” or “behave so evilly.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .