¹No matter who you are, if you judge anyone, you have no excuse. When you judge another person, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. ²We know that God’s judgment is right when he condemns people for doing these things. ³When you judge people for doing these things but then do them yourself, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don’t you realize that it is God’s kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act?

⁵Since you are stubborn and don’t want to change the way you think and act, you are adding to the anger that God will have against you on that day when God vents his anger. At that time God will reveal that his decisions are fair. ⁶He will pay all people back for what they have done. ⁷He will give everlasting life to those who search for glory, honor, and immortality by persisting in doing what is good. But he will bring ⁸anger and fury on those who, in selfish pride, refuse to believe the truth and who follow what is wrong. ⁹There will be suffering and distress for every person who does evil, for Jews first and Greeks as well. ¹⁰But there will be glory, honor, and peace for every person who does what is good, for Jews first and Greeks as well. ¹¹God does not play favorites.

¹²Here’s the reason: Whoever sins without having the laws in Moses’ Teachings will still be condemned to destruction. And whoever has these laws from God and sins will still be judged by them. ¹³People who merely listen to the laws in Moses’ Teachings don’t have God’s approval. Rather, people who do what those laws demand will have God’s approval.

God Will Judge People Who Are Not Jewish

¹⁴For example, whenever non-Jews who don’t have the laws in Moses’ Teachings do by nature the things that those laws contain, they are a law to themselves even though they don’t have any of those laws. ¹⁵They show that some requirements found in Moses’ Teachings are written in their hearts. Their consciences speak to them. Their thoughts accuse them on one occasion and defend them on another. ¹⁶This happens as they face the day when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge people’s secret thoughts. He will use the Good News that I am spreading to make that judgment.

God Will Judge Jewish People

¹⁷You call yourself a Jew, rely on the laws in Moses’ Teachings, brag about your God, ¹⁸know what he wants, and distinguish right from wrong because you have been taught Moses’ Teachings. ¹⁹You are confident that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in the dark, ²⁰an instructor of ignorant people, and a teacher of children because you have the full content of knowledge and truth in Moses’ Teachings. ²¹As you teach others, are you failing to teach yourself? As you preach against stealing, are you stealing? ²²As you tell others not to commit adultery, are you committing adultery? As you treat idols with disgust, are you robbing temples? ²³As you brag about the laws in Moses’ Teachings, are you dishonoring God by ignoring those laws? ²⁴As Scripture says, “God’s name is cursed among the nations because of you.”

²⁵For example, circumcision is valuable if you follow the laws in Moses’ Teachings. If you don’t follow those laws, your circumcision amounts to uncircumcision. ²⁶So if a man does what those laws demand, won’t he be considered circumcised even if he is uncircumcised? ²⁷The uncircumcised man who carries out what those laws say will condemn you for not following them. He will condemn you in spite of the fact that you are circumcised and have those laws in writing. ²⁸A person is not a Jew because of his appearance, nor is circumcision a matter of how the body looks. ²⁹Rather, a person is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is something that happens in a person’s heart. Circumcision is spiritual, not just a written rule. That person’s praise will come from God, not from people.

3RD CHAPTER

Everyone Is a Sinner

¹Is there any advantage, then, in being a Jew? Or is there any value in being circumcised? ²There are all kinds of advantages. First of all, God entrusted them with his word.

³What if some of them were unfaithful? Can their unfaithfulness cancel God’s faithfulness? ⁴That would be unthinkable! God is honest, and everyone else is a liar, as Scripture says,

“So you hand down justice when you speak,

and you win your case in court.”

⁵But if what we do wrong shows that God is fair, what should we say? Is God unfair when he vents his anger on us? (I’m arguing the way humans would.) ⁶That’s unthinkable! Otherwise, how would God be able to judge the world? ⁷If my lie increases the glory that God receives by showing that God is truthful, why am I still judged as a sinner? ⁸Or can we say, “Let’s do evil so that good will come from it”? Some slander us and claim that this is what we say. They are condemned, and that’s what they deserve.

⁹What, then, is the situation? Do we have any advantage? Not at all. We have already accused everyone (both Jews and Greeks) of being under the power of sin, ¹⁰as Scripture says,

“Not one person has God’s approval.

¹¹No one understands.

No one searches for God.

¹²Everyone has turned away.

Together they have become rotten to the core.

No one does anything good,

not even one person.

¹³Their throats are open graves.

Their tongues practice deception.

Their lips hide the venom of poisonous snakes.

¹⁴Their mouths are full of curses and bitter resentment.

¹⁵They run quickly to murder people.

¹⁶There is ruin and suffering wherever they go.

¹⁷They have not learned to live in peace.

¹⁸They are not terrified of God.”

¹⁹We know that whatever the Scriptures say applies to everyone under their influence, and no one can say a thing. The whole world is brought under the judgment of God. ²⁰Not one person can have God’s approval by any effort to follow the laws in the Scriptures. These laws show what sin is.

God Gives Us His Approval as a Gift

²¹Now, the way to receive God’s approval has been made plain in a way other than the laws in the Scriptures. Moses’ Teachings and the Prophets tell us this. ²²Everyone who believes has God’s approval through faith in Jesus Christ.

There is no difference between people. ²³Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God’s glory. ²⁴They receive God’s approval freely by an act of his kindness^athrough the price Christ Jesus paid to set us free ⸤from sin⸥. ²⁵God showed that Christ is the throne of mercy where God’s approval is given through faith in Christ’s blood. In his patience God waited to deal with sins committed in the past. ²⁶He waited so that he could display his approval at the present time. This shows that he is a God of justice, a God who approves of people who believe in Jesus.

²⁷So, do we have anything to brag about? Bragging has been eliminated. On what basis was it eliminated? On the basis of our own efforts? No, indeed! Rather, it is eliminated on the basis of faith. ²⁸We conclude that a person has God’s approval by faith, not by his own efforts.

²⁹Is God only the God of the Jews? Isn’t he also the God of people who are not Jewish? Certainly, he is, ³⁰since it is the same God who approves circumcised people by faith and uncircumcised people through this same faith.

³¹Are we abolishing the laws in the Scriptures by this faith? That’s unthinkable! Rather, we are supporting these laws.

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Footnotes

a 3:24 Or “grace.”