RomansChapter 2

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¹So you have no excuse when you judge someone else. When you judge another person, you judge yourself guilty. That is because you who judge do the very same things. ²We know that God judges people who do such things. And his judgment is based on the truth. ³So you judge others, but you do the same things yourself. Do you think you will escape God's judgment? ⁴Or do you think little of God's great kindness? Do you look down on how he puts up with you and is patient? Don't you know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to turn back to him? ⁵But your heart is hard. You will not turn back to God. So you are storing up anger against yourself. It will come on the day of God's anger. On that day his fair judgment will be shown. ⁶God "will pay back each person for what he has done." ⁷Some people keep on doing good. They seek glory, honor, and a life that never ends. God will give them eternal life. ⁸But some people care only about themselves. They turn away from the truth and follow what is evil. They will face God's anger and fury. ⁹There will be trouble and suffering for every person who does evil. It will be first for the Jew, and then for the Greek. ¹⁰But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good. It will be first for the Jew, and then for the Greek. ¹¹God does not favor one person over another. ¹²Some people sin without having the law. They will also perish without the law. Others sin while living under the law. They will be judged by the law. ¹³It's not those who hear the law who are right with God. It's those who obey the law who will be called right with God. ¹⁴The Gentiles don't have the law. But sometimes they do what the law says on their own. Then they are a law for themselves, even though they don't have the law. ¹⁵They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts. Their consciences agree with this. Their thoughts sometimes blame them and sometimes defend them. ¹⁶This will happen on the day when God judges people's secrets through Christ Jesus. That is what my good news says. ¹⁷Now what about you? Suppose you call yourself a Jew. Suppose you trust in the law and brag about God. ¹⁸Suppose you know what God wants. Suppose you approve of what is best because the law has taught you. ¹⁹Suppose you are sure that you are a guide for the blind and a light for those in darkness. ²⁰You think you can teach the foolish and the young. You have the law, and in it you have the very form of knowledge and truth. ²¹So you teach others. Why don't you teach yourself? You preach that people should not steal. Do you steal? ²²You say people should not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You hate idols. Do you rob temples? ²³You brag about the law. Do you bring shame to God by breaking the law? ²⁴As it is written, "Because of you, the Gentiles speak evil of God's name." ²⁵Circumcision is worth something if you obey the law. But if you break the law, it is as if you were never circumcised. ²⁶Suppose a man is not circumcised, but he keeps what the law requires. Won't God count him as if he were circumcised? ²⁷Someone may not be circumcised in his body, yet he obeys the law. He will judge you guilty. You have the written law and you are circumcised. Yet you break the law. ²⁸A man is not a true Jew just because of how he is on the outside. And true circumcision is not only something done to the body on the outside. ²⁹No, a true Jew is one on the inside. True circumcision is done to the heart. It is done by the Spirit, not by the written law. Such a person gets praise from God, not from people.