Parallel Bible results for "Romans 2:1-16"

Romans 2:1-16

New Living Translation NLT

1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.

2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things.

3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?

4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done.

7 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers.

8 But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.

9 There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.

10 But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.

11 For God does not show favoritism.

12 When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.

13 For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

14 Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.

15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

16 And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors.

2 But God isn't so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you've done.

3 You didn't think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard?

4 Or did you think that because he's such a nice God, he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

5 You're not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it's going to blaze hot and high, God's fiery and righteous judgment.

6 Make no mistake: In the end you get what's coming to you -

7 Real Life for those who work on God's side,

8 but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!

9 If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you're from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended.

10 But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up.

11 Being a Jew won't give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.

12 If you sin without knowing what you're doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you're doing, that's a different story entirely.

13 Merely hearing God's law is a waste of your time if you don't do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.

14 When outsiders who have never heard of God's law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience.

15 They show that God's law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God's yes and no, right and wrong.

16 Their response to God's yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences.