Romans 2–3

God’s Judgement

2^*Do you, my friend, pass judgement on others? You have no excuse at all, whoever you are. For when you judge others and then do the same things which they do, you condemn yourself. ²We know that God is right when he judges the people who do such things as these. ³But you, my friend, do those very things for which you pass judgement on others! Do you think you will escape God’s judgement? ⁴Or perhaps you despise his great kindness, tolerance, and patience. Surely you know that God is kind, because he is trying to lead you to repent. ⁵But you have a hard and stubborn heart, and so you are making your own punishment even greater on the Day when God’s anger and righteous judgements will be revealed. ^6*For God will reward every person according to what each has done. ⁷Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honour, and immortal life; to them God will give eternal life. ⁸Other people are selfish and reject what is right, in order to follow what is wrong; on them God will pour out his anger and fury. ⁹There will be suffering and pain for all those who do what is evil, for the Jews first and also for the Gentiles. ¹⁰But God will give glory, honour, and peace to all who do what is good, to the Jews first and also to the Gentiles. ^11*For God judges everyone by the same standard.

¹²The Gentiles do not have the Law of Moses; they sin and are lost apart from the Law. The Jews have the Law; they sin and are judged by the Law. ¹³For it is not by hearing the Law that people are put right with God, but by doing what the Law commands. ¹⁴The Gentiles do not have the Law; but whenever they do by instinct what the Law commands, they are their own law, even though they do not have the Law. ¹⁵Their conduct shows that what the Law commands is written in their hearts. Their consciences also show that this is true, since their thoughts sometimes accuse them and sometimes defend them. ¹⁶And so, according to the Good News I preach, this is how it will be on that Day when God through Jesus Christ will judge the secret thoughts of all.

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷What about you? You call yourself a Jew; you depend on the Law and boast about God; ¹⁸you know what God wants you to do, and you have learnt from the Law to choose what is right; ¹⁹you are sure that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in darkness, ²⁰an instructor for the foolish, and a teacher for the ignorant. You are certain that in the Law you have the full content of knowledge and of truth. ²¹You teach others—why don’t you teach yourself? You preach, “Do not steal”—but do you yourself steal? ²²You say, “Do not commit adultery”—but do you commit adultery? You detest idols—but do you rob temples? ²³You boast about having God’s law—but do you bring shame on God by breaking his law? ^24*The scripture says, “Because of you Jews, the Gentiles speak evil of God.”

²⁵If you obey the Law, your circumcision is of value; but if you disobey the Law, you might as well never have been circumcised. ²⁶If the Gentile, who is not circumcised, obeys the commands of the Law, will God not regard him as though he were circumcised? ²⁷And so you Jews will be condemned by the Gentiles because you break the Law, even though you have it written down and are circumcised; but they obey the Law, even though they are not physically circumcised. ²⁸After all, who is a real Jew, truly circumcised? It is not the man who is a Jew on the outside, whose circumcision is a physical thing. ^29*Rather, the real Jew is the person who is a Jew on the inside, that is, whose heart has been circumcised, and this is the work of God’s Spirit, not of the written Law. Such a person receives praise from God, not from human beings.

3Have the Jews then any advantage over the Gentiles? Or is there any value in being circumcised? ²Much, indeed, in every way! In the first place, God trusted his message to the Jews. ³But what if some of them were not faithful? Does this mean that God will not be faithful? ^4*Certainly not! God must be true, even though every human being is a liar. As the scripture says,

“You must be shown to be right when you speak;

you must win your case when you are being tried.”

⁵But what if our doing wrong serves to show up more clearly God’s doing right? Can we say that God does wrong when he punishes us? (This would be the natural question to ask.) ⁶By no means! If God is not just, how can he judge the world?

⁷But what if my untruth serves God’s glory by making his truth stand out more clearly? Why should I still be condemned as a sinner? ⁸Why not say, then, “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Some people, indeed, have insulted me by accusing me of saying this very thing! They will be condemned, as they should be.

No One Is Righteous

⁹Well then, are we Jews in any better condition than the Gentiles? Not at all!^c I have already shown that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. ^10*As the Scriptures say:

“There is no one who is righteous,

^11*no one who is wise

or who worships God.

^12*All have turned away from God;

they have all gone wrong;

no one does what is right, not even one.

^13*Their words are full of deadly deceit;

wicked lies roll off their tongues,

and dangerous threats, like snake’s poison, from their lips;

^14*their speech is filled with bitter curses.

^15*They are quick to hurt and kill;

^16*they leave ruin and destruction wherever they go.

^17*They have not known the path of peace,

^18*nor have they learnt reverence for God.”

¹⁹Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God’s judgement. ^20*For no one is put right in God’s sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make people know that they have sinned.

How God Puts Us Right with Him

²¹But now God’s way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. ^22*God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: ²³everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence. ²⁴But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. ^25–26God offered him, so that by his blood^d he should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.

²⁷What, then, can we boast about? Nothing! And what is the reason for this? Is it that we obey the Law? No, but that we believe. ²⁸For we conclude that a person is put right with God only through faith, and not by doing what the Law commands. ²⁹Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Of course he is. ^30*God is one, and he will put the Jews right with himself on the basis of their faith, and will put the Gentiles right through their faith. ³¹Does this mean that by this faith we do away with the Law? No, not at all; instead, we uphold the Law.