Therefore 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. We know that the
judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do
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? Or
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? But 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.
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who
by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,
he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and
do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be
wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every
human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but
glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first
and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.
For 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. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous
before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For
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. They 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 them on that day when,
according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ
Jesus.
But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in
God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you
are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself
are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an
instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law
the embodiment of knowledge and truth—you then who teach others, do
you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you
steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit
adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in
the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written,
“The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if
you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if
a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not
his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is
physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who
have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no
one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision
outward and physical. But 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.
