Romans 2

Therefore, you have no excuse when you judge someone else, whoever you are. When you condemn another person, you condemn yourself, because you practice the very sinful things you judge them for.

We know that God's judgment against those who continue practicing such sins is based on truth.

Do you really think that when you judge others for doing these things while doing them yourself, you will somehow escape God's judgment?

Or do you take God's abundant kindness, restraint, and patience for granted, not realizing that His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance and away from your sin?

But because you are stubborn and refuse to repent, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day when God's righteous judgment is revealed.

God will give each person what their conduct deserves.

To those who patiently continue doing what is good in God's sight, seeking glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.

But for those driven by selfish ambition, who refuse to obey the truth and choose to follow unrighteousness instead, there will be God's anger and wrath.

There will be suffering and anguish for everyone who practices evil—first for the Jew, and also for the Gentile.

But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is right before God—first for the Jew, and also for the Gentile.

For God shows no favoritism.

Those who sin apart from the Law will perish apart from the Law, and those who sin under the Law will be judged by the Law.

For it is not those who merely hear God's Law who are righteous in His sight, but those who obey the Law who will be declared righteous.

When Gentiles who do not have God's written Law naturally do what the Law requires, they show that they have a law within themselves, even though they do not possess the written Law.

Their actions show that what the Law requires is written on their hearts. Their conscience confirms this, as their own thoughts sometimes accuse them and at other times defend them.

This will be evident on the day when God, through Jesus Christ, judges what people have kept hidden, just as I proclaim in the gospel.

Now you call yourself a Jew, rely on God's Law, and take pride in being one of God's chosen people.

You know His will and have learned from the Law how to recognize what is right.

You are convinced that you can guide the blind and be a light to those living in darkness.

You consider yourself an instructor of the foolish and a teacher of those who are inexperienced, because you possess the Law, which contains the knowledge and truth of God.

So then, you who teach others, why don't you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?

You say people must not commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idols, but do you rob temples?

You take pride in God's Law, but when you break that Law, aren't you dishonoring God?

Because of how you act, God's name is dragged through the mud among the Gentiles, just as Scripture says.

Being circumcised has meaning if you obey God's Law. But if you break His Law, that outward sign no longer gives you any advantage over someone who isn't circumcised.

So if someone who is uncircumcised obeys what the Law requires, will not God regard that person as though they were circumcised?

Won't someone who is physically uncircumcised but obeys the Law judge you, who have the written Law and circumcision but still break it?

Being a Jew is not merely a matter of outward appearance, and true circumcision is not simply a physical mark on the body.

Rather, a true Jew is one whose heart is devoted to God. True circumcision is a matter of the heart and the Spirit, not merely an outward sign required by the written Law. The approval that matters comes from God, not from people.