Romans 2

1Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, you who pass judgment. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the very same things.

2We know that God’s judgment on those who practice such things is based on truth.

3Do you really think, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is leading you to repentance?

5But by your hardness and your unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

6He will repay each person according to their deeds:

7to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life;

8but for those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

9There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek,

10but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

11For God shows no partiality.

12All 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, do by nature 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 thoughts, in debate with one another, accuse or even defend them

16on the day when God judges the secrets of people through Christ Jesus, according to my gospel.

17But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God,

18and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law,

19and if you are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness,

20an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—

21you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

22You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples?

23You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

24For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

25Circumcision is indeed of value if you practice the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26So if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?

27The one who is physically uncircumcised but fulfills the law will judge you, who break the law even though you have the written code and circumcision.

28For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something outward in the flesh.

29Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. That person’s praise comes not from people but from God.