Romans 2

1 For this reason, O man, each one of you who judges is inexcusable. For by that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you do the same things that you judge.

Therefore you have nothing to say in your own defence, whoever you are who set yourself up as a judge. In judging others you condemn yourself, for you who set yourself up as a judge do the very same things.

2 For we know that the judgment of God is in accord with truth against those who do such things.

And we know that God’s judgment falls unerringly upon those who do them.

3 But, O man, when you judge those who do such things as you yourself also do, do you think that you will escape the judgment of God?

You who judge those that do such things and yet are yourself guilty of them — do you suppose that you of all men will escape God’s judgment?

4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and forbearance? Do you not know that the kindness of God is calling you to repentance?

Or do you think lightly of his abundant kindness, patience, and forbearance, not realising that his kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

5 But in accord with your hard and impenitent heart, you store up wrath for yourself, unto the day of wrath and of revelation by the just judgment of God.

Hard-hearted and impenitent as you are, you are storing up for yourself Wrath on the ‘Day of Wrath,’ when God’s justice as a judge will be revealed;

6 For he will render to each one according to his works:

for ‘he will give to every man what his actions deserve.’

7 To those who, in accord with patient good works, seek glory and honor and incorruption, certainly, he will render eternal life. (aiōnios g166)

To those who, by perseverance in doing good, aim at glory, honour, and all that is imperishable, he will give Immortal Life; (aiōnios g166)

8 But to those who are contentious and who do not acquiesce to the truth, but instead trust in iniquity, he will render wrath and indignation.

while as to those who are factious, and disobedient to Truth but obedient to Evil, wrath and anger, distress and despair,

9 Tribulation and anguish are upon every soul of man that works evil: the Jew first, and also the Greek.

will fall upon every human being who persists in wrong-doing — upon the Jew first, but also upon the Greek.

10 But glory and honor and peace are for all who do what is good: the Jew first, and also the Greek.

But there will be glory, honour, and peace for every one who does right — for the Jew first, but also for the Greek,

11 For there is no favoritism with God.

since God shows no partiality.

12 For whoever had sinned without the law, will perish without the law. And whoever had sinned in the law, will be judged by the law.

All who, when they sin, are without Law will also perish without Law; while all who, when they sin, are under Law, will be judged as being under Law.

13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but rather it is the doers of the law who shall be justified.

It is not those who hear the words of a Law that are righteous before God, but it is those who obey it that will be pronounced righteous.

14 For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature those things which are of the law, such persons, not having the law, are a law unto themselves.

When Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;

15 For they reveal the work of the law written in their hearts, while their conscience renders testimony about them, and their thoughts within themselves also accuse or even defend them,

for they show the demands of the Law written upon their hearts; their consciences corroborating it, while in their thoughts they argue either in self-accusation or, it may be, in self-defence —

16 unto the day when God shall judge the hidden things of men, through Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel.

on the day when God passes judgment on men’s inmost lives, as the Good News that I tell declares that he will do through Christ Jesus.

17 But if you are called by name a Jew, and you rest upon the law, and you find glory in God,

But, perhaps, you bear the name of ‘Jew,’ and are relying upon Law, and boast of belonging to God, and understand his will,

18 and you have known his will, and you demonstrate the more useful things, having been instructed by the law:

and, having been carefully instructed from the Law, have learned to appreciate the finer moral distinctions.

19 you become confident within yourself that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

Perhaps you are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in the dark, an instructor of the unintelligent,

20 an instructor to the foolish, a teacher to children, because you have a type of knowledge and truth in the law.

and a teacher of the childish, because in the Law you possess the outline of all Knowledge and Truth.

21 As a result, you teach others, but you do not teach yourself. You preach that men should not steal, but you yourself steal.

Why, then, you teacher of others, do not you teach yourself? Do you preach against stealing, and yet steal?

22 You speak against adultery, but you commit adultery. You abominate idols, but you commit sacrilege.

Do you forbid adultery, and yet commit adultery? Do you loathe idols, and yet plunder temples?

23 You would glory in the law, but through a betrayal of the law you dishonor God.

Boasting, as you do, of your Law, do you dishonour God by breaking the Law?

24 (For because of you the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles, just as it was written.)

For, as Scripture says — ‘The name of God is reviled among the Gentiles because of you’!

25 Certainly, circumcision is beneficial, if you observe the law. But if you are a betrayer of the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

Circumcision has its value, if you are obeying the Law. But, if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision is no better than uncircumcision.

26 And so, if the uncircumcised keep the justices of the law, shall not this lack of circumcision be counted as circumcision?

If, then, an uncircumcised man pays regard to the requirements of the Law, will not he, although not circumcised, be regarded by God as if he were?

27 And that which is by nature uncircumcised, if it fulfills the law, should it not judge you, who by the letter and by circumcision are a betrayer of the law?

Indeed, the man who, owing to his birth, remains uncircumcised, and yet scrupulously obeys the Law, will condemn you, who, for all your written Law and your circumcision, are yet a breaker of the Law.

28 For a Jew is not he who seems so outwardly. Neither is circumcision that which seems so outwardly, in the flesh.

For a man who is only a Jew outwardly is not a real Jew; nor is outward bodily circumcision real circumcision. The real Jew is the man who is a Jew in soul;

29 But a Jew is he who is so inwardly. And circumcision of the heart is in the spirit, not in the letter. For its praise is not of men, but of God.

and the real circumcision is the circumcision of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal thing. Such a man wins praise from God, though not from men.