God Judges Fairly

¹So when you judge someone else, you don’t have any excuse. When you judge another person, you’re judging yourself, because you do the same things you blame others for doing.

²We know that when God judges those who do wrong things, he judges fairly.

³But you, a human being, are judging others for doing the same things you’re doing yourself. So how do you think you’ll escape when God judges you?

⁴Aren’t you showing disrespect for God’s great kindness, favor, and patience? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is meant to turn you away from your sins?

⁵Because you’re being so stubborn, and you’re not sorry in your heart for your sins, you’re making God more and more angry with you. The day of God’s anger is coming. Then he will pass judgment openly and fairly.

⁶God “will pay back each person in the way they deserve for what they’ve done.”

⁷God will give eternal life to the ones who keep on doing good because they value glory, honor, and the life that never ends.

⁸But God will pour out his great anger on the ones who only look out for themselves, who don’t accept the truth, and who do wrong.

⁹There will be trouble and suffering for everyone who does wrong, first for the Jews, and then also for the Gentiles.

¹⁰But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jews, and then also for the Gentiles.

¹¹God doesn’t show favoritism.

¹²Anyone who sins without knowing God’s law will be judged on that basis. Anyone who sins even though they know God’s law will be judged by the law.

¹³Hearing the law doesn’t make a person right with God. Obeying the law does.

¹⁴The Gentiles don’t have the law, but sometimes they naturally do what the law requires. When that happens, they’re being a law for themselves, even though they don’t have the law.

¹⁵They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts. Their consciences are also helping them to know right from wrong. Sometimes they get the feeling that they’ve done wrong, but at other times they recognize that they’ve done right. It’s the ones who have obeyed the law who will be declared right with God.

¹⁶The good news says that this will happen on the day when God judges people’s secret thoughts through Jesus Christ.

What Matters Is Obeying the Law

¹⁷Suppose you call yourself a Jew. You trust in the law and you brag about God.

¹⁸You feel that you know what God wants. You’re trying to live in a good way because the law has taught you how to do that.

¹⁹You think you know much more than the people you teach. You think that you’re guiding blind people. You’re a light for those who are in the dark.

²⁰You know how to make foolish people wise. You see yourself as teaching little children. You think the law has given you all knowledge and truth.

²¹Well then, you who claim to teach others, won’t you even teach yourself? You preach against stealing, but you steal!

²²You say that people shouldn’t commit adultery, but you commit adultery! You hate statues of gods, but you rob temples!

²³You brag about the law, but when you break it, you rob God of his honor!

²⁴It is written, “The Gentiles say evil things against God’s name because of you.”

²⁵Being circumcised is valuable if you obey the law. But if you break the law, it’s just as if you weren’t circumcised.

²⁶And sometimes those who aren’t circumcised do what the law requires. Won’t God accept them as if they were circumcised?

²⁷Someone who isn’t circumcised physically, but who obeys the law, will show that you’re guilty if you break the law, even though you have it in writing and you are circumcised.

²⁸A person isn’t truly a Jew if they’re only one on the outside. Circumcision isn’t only something outward and physical.

²⁹No, a person is really a Jew if they’re one on the inside. True circumcision is when the Holy Spirit circumcises a person’s heart. It’s not when a person is circumcised according to the written law. A truly circumcised person receives praise from God, not from other people.