Letter to the Romans 2

¹ So no matter who you are, if you pass judgement you have no excuse. In judging others you condemn yourself, since you behave no differently from those you judge.

² We know that God condemns that sort of behaviour impartially:

³ and when you judge those who behave like this while you are doing exactly the same, do you think you will escape God’s judgement?

⁴ Or are you abusing his abundant goodness, patience and toleration, not realising that this goodness of God is meant to lead you to repentance?

⁵ Your stubborn refusal to repent is only adding to the anger God will have towards you on that day of anger when his just judgements will be made known.

⁶ He will repay each one as his works deserve.[*a]

⁷ For those who sought renown and honour and immortality by always doing good there will be eternal life;

⁸ for the unsubmissive who refused to take truth for their guide and took depravity instead, there will be anger and fury.

⁹ Pain and suffering will come to every human being who employs himself in evil – Jews first, but Greeks as well;

¹⁰ renown, honour and peace will come to everyone who does good – Jews first, but Greeks as well.

¹¹ God has no favourites.

¹² Sinners who were not subject to the Law will perish all the same, without that Law; sinners who were under the Law will have that Law to judge them.

¹³ It is not listening to the Law but keeping it that will make people holy in the sight of God.

¹⁴ For instance, pagans who never heard of the Law but are led by reason to do what the Law commands, may not actually ‘possess’ the Law, but they can be said to ‘be’ the Law.

¹⁵ They can point to the substance of the Law engraved on their hearts – they can call a witness, that is, their own conscience – they have accusation and defence, that is, their own inner mental dialogue.[*b]

¹⁶ …on the day when, according to the Good News I preach, God, through Jesus Christ, judges the secrets of mankind.

¹⁷ If you call yourself a Jew, if you really trust in the Law and are proud of your God,

¹⁸ if you know God’s will through the Law and can tell what is right,

¹⁹ if you are convinced you can guide the blind and be a beacon to those in the dark,

²⁰ if you can teach the ignorant and instruct the unlearned because your Law embodies all knowledge and truth,

²¹ then why not teach yourself as well as the others? You preach against stealing, yet you steal;

²² you forbid adultery, yet you commit adultery; you despise idols, yet you rob their temples.

²³ By boasting about the Law and then disobeying it, you bring God into contempt.

²⁴ As scripture says: It is your fault that the name of God is blasphemed among the pagans.

²⁵ It is a good thing to be circumcised if you keep the Law; but if you break the Law, you might as well have stayed uncircumcised.

²⁶ If a man who is not circumcised obeys the commandments of the Law, surely that makes up for not being circumcised?

²⁷ More than that, the man who keeps the Law, even though he has not been physically circumcised, is a living condemnation of the way you disobey the Law in spite of being circumcised and having it all written down.

²⁸ To be a Jew is not just to look like a Jew, and circumcision is more than a physical operation.

²⁹ The real Jew is the one who is inwardly a Jew, and the real circumcision is in the heart – something not of the letter but of the spirit. A Jew like that may not be praised by man, but he will be praised by God.