3.4 KiB
God's Righteous Judgment
Chapter 2
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Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.
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Now we know that God's judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.
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Do you think--anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same--that you will escape God's judgment?
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Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
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Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed.
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He will repay each one according to his works**:
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eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality;
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but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.
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There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;
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but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
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For there is no favoritism with God.
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For all who sin without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
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For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.
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So, when Gentiles, who do not by nature have the law, do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law.
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They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts either accuse or even excuse them
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on the day when God judges what people have kept secret, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.
Jewish Violation of the Law
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Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God,
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and know his will, and approve the things that are superior, being instructed from the law,
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and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness,
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an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law--
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you then, who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You who preach, "You must not steal"--do you steal?
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You who say, "You must not commit adultery"--do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples?
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You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
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For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.** Circumcision of the Heart
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Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
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So if an uncircumcised man keeps the law's requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
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A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision.
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For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.
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On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart--by the Spirit, not the letter. That person's praise is not from people but from God.