Paul wants the judging person to see that condemning sin in others is no shelter from God's judgment. He has just told this person, "thou art inexcusable" and "thou condemnest thyself" (Romans 2:1), and that God's judgment "is according to truth" (Romans 2:2). The question asks whether he really believes he will be the exception. Barnes says that, "from the connection," Paul "means especially the Jews," many of whom thought that if they kept the rites of their religion and the ceremonial law, God "would not judge them with the same severity" as the idolatrous Gentiles. He calls the question "an appeal to their common sense." Gill reads "O man" more widely, as reaching "every man, of whatsoever nation, office, or place" who judges others hastily.

Paul answers his own question in the verses that follow. The judging person is not escaping; he "treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5). God "will render to every man according to his deeds" (Romans 2:6), "for there is no respect of persons with God" (Romans 2:11). That day will come "when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16). Gill sums it up: "there will be no escaping condign punishment," that is, the punishment deserved.

In Romans 1:18-32 Paul described the idolatry and immorality of the Gentile world, sins a devout Jew of his day would readily condemn. Barnes explains that many Jews believed their covenant privileges and their keeping of the ceremonial law would shield them from the judgment awaiting idolatrous Gentiles. John the Baptist had warned against that confidence: "think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father" (Matthew 3:9), a verse Barnes cites here.

Paul speaks to this person directly as "thou." Barnes holds that Paul "means especially the Jews" and applies it to them openly in Romans 2:17: "Behold, thou art called a Jew." Gill reads the words more widely, of "every man, of whatsoever nation, office, or place." By then the reader has already agreed that the one who judges others while doing the same things cannot escape.

This question shows that God's judgment cannot be bargained with. God judges "according to truth" (Romans 2:2), not according to who condemns sin the loudest. Matthew Henry writes that "the most plausible politic sinners, who acquit themselves before men with the greatest confidence, cannot escape the judgment of God."

The question also prepares the way for the gospel. Paul is building a case that "all the world may become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19), Jew as well as Gentile. Only after every mouth is stopped does he announce "the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (Romans 3:22).