Romans 2
2
1 For this reason, O man, each one of you who judges is inexcusable. For by that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you do the same things that you judge.
2 For we know that the judgment of God is in accord with truth against those who do such things.
3 But, O man, when you judge those who do such things as you yourself also do, do you think that you will escape the judgment of God?
4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and patience and forbearance? Do you not know that the kindness of God is calling you to repentance?
5 But in accord with your hard and impenitent heart, you store up wrath for yourself, unto the day of wrath and of revelation by the just judgment of God.
6 For he will render to each one according to his works:
7 To those who, in accord with patient good works, seek glory and honor and incorruption, certainly, he will render eternal life.
8 But to those who are contentious and who do not acquiesce to the truth, but instead trust in iniquity, he will render wrath and indignation.
9 Tribulation and anguish are upon every soul of man that works evil: the Jew first, and also the Greek.
10 But glory and honor and peace are for all who do what is good: the Jew first, and also the Greek.
11 For there is no favoritism with God.
12 For whoever had sinned without the law, will perish without the law. And whoever had sinned in the law, will be judged by the law.
13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but rather it is the doers of the law who shall be justified.
14 For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature those things which are of the law, such persons, not having the law, are a law unto themselves.
15 For they reveal the work of the law written in their hearts, while their conscience renders testimony about them, and their thoughts within themselves also accuse or even defend them,
16 unto the day when God shall judge the hidden things of men, through Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel.
17 But if you are called by name a Jew, and you rest upon the law, and you find glory in God,
18 and you have known his will, and you demonstrate the more useful things, having been instructed by the law:
19 you become confident within yourself that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
20 an instructor to the foolish, a teacher to children, because you have a type of knowledge and truth in the law.
21 As a result, you teach others, but you do not teach yourself. You preach that men should not steal, but you yourself steal.
22 You speak against adultery, but you commit adultery. You abominate idols, but you commit sacrilege.
23 You would glory in the law, but through a betrayal of the law you dishonor God.
24 (For because of you the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles, just as it was written.)
25 Certainly, circumcision is beneficial, if you observe the law. But if you are a betrayer of the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
26 And so, if the uncircumcised keep the justices of the law, shall not this lack of circumcision be counted as circumcision?
27 And that which is by nature uncircumcised, if it fulfills the law, should it not judge you, who by the letter and by circumcision are a betrayer of the law?
28 For a Jew is not he who seems so outwardly. Neither is circumcision that which seems so outwardly, in the flesh.
29 But a Jew is he who is so inwardly. And circumcision of the heart is in the spirit, not in the letter. For its praise is not of men, but of God.
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Romans 2
2
God Is Kind, but Not Soft
1-2Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.
3-4You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.
5-8You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!
9-11If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. Being a Jew won’t give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.
12-13If you sin without knowing what you’re doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you’re doing, that’s a different story entirely. Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.
14-16When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences.
Religion Can’t Save You
17-24If you’re brought up Jewish, don’t assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you’re an insider to God’s revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God’s revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I’m quite serious. While preaching “Don’t steal!” are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and his law. The line from Scripture, “It’s because of you Jews that the outsiders frown on God,” shows it’s an old problem that isn’t going to go away.
25-29Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being circumcised. The reverse is also true: The uncircumcised who keep God’s ways are as good as the circumcised—in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law uncircumcised than break it circumcised. Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.