1 Therefore you have nothing to say in your own defence,
whoever you are who set yourself up as a judge. In judging
others you condemn yourself, for you who set yourself up
as a judge do the very same things.
2 And we know that
God's judgement falls unerringly upon those who do them.
3 You who judge those that do such things and yet are yourself
guilty of them—do you suppose that you of all men will
escape God's judgement?
4 Or do you think lightly of his
abundant kindness, patience, and forbearance, not realizing
that his kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
5 Hard-hearted
and impenitent as you are, you are storing up for
yourself Wrath on the ‘Day of Wrath,’ when God's justice as
a judge will be revealed;
6 for ‘he will give to every man what
his actions deserve.’ note
7 To those who, by perseverance in doing
good, aim at glory, honour, and all that is imperishable, he
will give Immortal Life;
8 while as to those who are factious,
and disobedient to Truth but obedient to Evil, wrath and anger,
distress and despair,
9 will fall upon every human being who
persists in wrong-doing—upon the Jew first, but also upon
the Greek.
10 But there will be glory, honour, and peace for
every one who does right—for the Jew first, but also for the
Greek,
11 since God shows no partiality.
12 All who, when they sin, are without Law will also perish
without Law; while all who, when they sin, are under Law,
will be judged as being under Law.
13 It is not those who hear
the words of a Law that are righteous before God, but it is
those who obey it that will be pronounced righteous.
14 When
Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law
requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;
15 for they show the demands of the Law written upon
their hearts; their consciences corroborating it, while in their
thoughts they argue either in self-accusation or, it may be,
16 in self-defence—on the day when God passes judgement on
men's inmost lives, as the Good News that I tell declares that
he will do through Christ Jesus.
note
17 But, perhaps, you bear the name of ‘Jew,’ and
are relying upon Law, and boast of belonging to
God,
18 and understand his will, and, having been
carefully instructed from the Law, have learnt
to appreciate the finer moral distinctions.
19 Perhaps you are
confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those
-- --
who are in the dark,
20 an instructor of the unintelligent, and
a teacher of the childish, because in the Law you possess the
outline of all Knowledge and Truth.
21 Why, then, you teacher
of others, do not you teach yourself? Do you preach against
stealing, and yet steal?
22 Do you forbid adultery, and yet commit
adultery? Do you loathe idols, and yet plunder temples?
23 Boasting, as you do, of your Law, do you dishonour God by
breaking the Law?
24 For, as Scripture says—
‘The name of God is reviled among the Gentiles because of
you’! note
25 Circumcision has its value, if you are obeying the Law. But,
if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision is no better
than uncircumcision.
26 If, then, an uncircumcised man pays
regard to the requirements of the Law, will not he, although
not circumcised, be regarded by God as if he were?
27 Indeed,
the man who, owing to his birth, remains uncircumcised, and
yet scrupulously obeys the Law, will condemn you, who, for
all your written Law and your circumcision, are yet a breaker
of the Law.
28 For a man who is only a Jew outwardly is not
a real Jew; nor is outward bodily circumcision real circumcision.
29 The real Jew is the man who is a Jew in soul; and
the real circumcision is the circumcision of the heart, a
spiritual and not a literal thing. Such a man wins praise
from God, though not from men.
Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].