Romans 2:12-29 - God's Judgment And The Law

¹² All who sin outside the Law will perish outside the Law, and all who sin under the Law will be condemned by the Law. ¹³ For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just in the eyes of God, it is those who obey the Law who will be acquitted, ¹⁴ [Move vss 14,15 to follow vs 16] (When Gentiles who have no law obey instinctively the Law's requirements, they are a law to themselves, even though they have no law; ¹⁵ they exhibit the effect of the Law written on their hearts, their conscience bears them witness, as their moral convictions accuse or it may be defend them.) ¹⁶ on the day when God judges the secret things of men, as my gospel holds, by Jesus Christ.

¹⁷ If you bear the name of 'Jew,' relying on the Law, priding yourself on God, ¹⁸ understanding his will, and with a sense of what is vital in religion; if you are instructed by the Law ¹⁹ and are persuaded that you are a guide to the blind, a light to darkened souls, ²⁰ a tutor for the foolish, a teacher of the simple, because in the Law you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth ??21 well then, do you ever teach yourself, you teacher of other people? You preach against stealing; do you steal? ²² You forbid adultery; do you commit adultery? You detest idols; do you rob temples? ²³ You pride yourself on the Law; do you dishonour God by your breaches of the Law? ²⁴ Why, it is owing to you that the name of God is maligned among the Gentiles, as scripture says!

²⁵ Circumcision is certainly of use, provided you keep the Law; but if you are a breaker of the Law, then your circumcision is turned into uncircumcision. ²⁶ (If then the uncircumcised observe the requirements of the Law, shall not their uncircumcision be reckoned equivalent to circumcision? ²⁷ And shall not those who are physically uncircumcised and who fulfil the Law, judge you who are a breaker of the Law for all your written code and circumcision?) ²⁸ He is no Jew who is merely a Jew outwardly, nor is circumcision something outward in the flesh; ²⁹ he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual not literal ??praised by God, not by man.