¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.^b ¹⁴For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, although they^* do not have the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵who show the work of the law written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts one after another accusing or even defending them ¹⁶on the day when God judges the secret things of people, according to my gospel, through^c Christ Jesus.

Jews also Condemned by the Law

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸and know his will and approve the things that are superior, because you^* are instructed by the law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those in darkness, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth in the law. ²¹Therefore, the one who teaches someone else, do you not teach yourself? The one who preaches not to steal, do you steal? ²²The one who says not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? The one who abhors idols, do you rob temples? ²³Who boast in the law, by the transgression of the law you dishonor God!^d ²⁴For just as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”^e

²⁵For circumcision is of value if you do the law, but if you should be a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

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Footnotes

bOr “will be justified”
*Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“have”) which is understood as concessive
cOr “by”
*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“are instructed”) which is understood as causal
dOr “do you dishonor God?” (a number of translators and interpreters take this phrase as a final rhetorical question; the present translation regards it as a final summary statement to be taken ironically)
eA quotation from Isa 52:5