Romans 2

God's Righteous Judgment

¹Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.²We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.³Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?⁴Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?⁵But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁶He will render to each one according to his works:⁷to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;⁸but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.⁹There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,¹⁰but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.¹¹For God shows no partiality.

God's Judgment and the Law

¹²For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.¹⁴For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.¹⁵They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them¹⁶on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God¹⁸and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law;¹⁹and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—²¹you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?²²You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?²³You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.²⁴For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.²⁶So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?²⁷Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.²⁸For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.²⁹But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.