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2:1  Therefore you have no excuse or justification, everyone of you who [hypocritically] judges and condemns others; for in passing judgment on another person, you condemn yourself, because you who judge [from a position of arrogance or self-righteousness] are habitually practicing the very same things [which you denounce].
2:2  And we know that the judgment of God falls justly and in accordance with truth on those who practice such things.
2:3  But do you think this, O man, when you judge and condemn those who practice such things, and yet do the same yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment and elude His verdict?
2:4  Or do you have no regard for the wealth of His kindness and tolerance and patience [in withholding His wrath]? Are you [actually] unaware or ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance [that is, to change your inner self, your old way of thinking—seek His purpose for your life]?
2:5  But because of your callous stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are [deliberately] storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
2:6  He will pay back to each person according to his deeds [justly, as his deeds deserve]:
2:7  to those who by persistence in doing good seek [unseen but certain heavenly] glory, honor, and immortality, [He will give the gift of] eternal life.
2:8  But for those who are selfishly ambitious and self-seeking and disobedient to the truth but responsive to wickedness, [there will be] wrath and indignation.
2:9  There will be tribulation and anguish [torturing confinement] for every human soul who does [or permits] evil, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,
2:10  but glory and honor and inner peace [will be given] to everyone who habitually does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
2:11  For God shows no partiality [no arbitrary favoritism; with Him one person is not more important than another].
2:12  For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without [regard to] the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged and condemned by the Law.
2:13  For it is not those who merely hear the Law [as it is read aloud] who are just or righteous before God, but it is those who [actually] obey the Law who will be justified [pronounced free of the guilt of sin and declared acceptable to Him].
2:14  When Gentiles, who do not have the Law [since it was given only to Jews], do instinctively the things the Law requires [guided only by their conscience], they are a law to themselves, though they do not have the Law.
2:15  They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts; and their conscience [their sense of right and wrong, their moral choices] bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or perhaps defending them
2:16  on that day when, as my gospel proclaims, God will judge the secrets [all the hidden thoughts and concealed sins] of men through Christ Jesus.
2:17  But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely on the Law [for your salvation] and boast in [your special relationship to] God,
2:18  and [if you claim to] know His will and approve the things that are essential or have a sense of what is excellent, based on your instruction from the Law,
2:19  and [if you] are confident that you are a [qualified] guide to the blind [those untaught in theology], a light to those who are in darkness,
2:20  and [that you are] a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the [spiritually] childish, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth—
2:21  well then, you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal [in ways that are discrete, but just as sinful]?
2:22  You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob [pagan] temples [of valuable idols and offerings]?
2:23  You who boast in the Law, do you [repeatedly] dishonor God by breaking the Law?
2:24  For, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written [in Scripture].
2:25  Circumcision [the sign of the covenant of Abraham] is indeed of value if you practice the Law; but if you habitually break the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision [it is meaningless in God’s sight].
2:26  So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded [by God] as circumcision?
2:27  Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps [the spirit of] the Law will judge you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, break the Law.
2:28  For he is not a [real] Jew who is only one outwardly, nor is [true] circumcision something external and physical.
2:29  But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and [true] circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by [the fulfillment of] the letter [of the Law]. His praise is not from men, but from God.