Romans 2:12-24

12The Gentiles do not have God's Law that he gave to Moses. If Gentiles do wrong things, God will punish them. But he will not use his Law when he judges the Gentiles. But the Jews do have God's Law. So, if Jews do wrong things, God will use his Law to judge them. The Law will show that they have done wrong things.

13Who does God accept as right with himself? It is those people who obey his Law. It is not the people who only know his Law but do not obey them.

14The Gentiles do not have God's Law. But they may still do the right things that the Law teaches. They do right things because of what they themselves think is right. In that way they are showing that they have a certain law in their minds, even though they do not know God's Law.

15Those people show that they know what is right. It is as if God has written his Law deep inside them. Their thoughts tell them the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did something that is wrong.’ And sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did what is right.’

16That is the message that I tell people. God knows everything that people think secretly. One day he will judge everyone. He has given Jesus Christ the authority to do that.

17Do you say that you are a Jew? Maybe you trust in the Law that God gave to Moses. You are proud that you belong to God.

18You know what God wants people to do. His Law teaches you what is good and right.

19You are sure that you yourself can teach other people about God. You think that you can be like a guide to blind people. You think that you can be like a light to people who are in the dark.

20You are sure that you can teach fools and people who do not know very much. You know that God's Law tells you everything about what is true. Because it helps you to know so much, you think that you can be a great teacher!

21So you teach other people, do you? But do you teach yourself? You tell other people, ‘Do not rob anyone.’ But maybe you yourself rob other people.

22You say, ‘People must not have sex with anyone who is not their wife or their husband.’ But maybe you yourself have sex in a wrong way. You say that you hate idols. But do you rob places where people worship idols?

23You are proud that you know God's Law. But you do not obey that Law. As a result, you cause other people to speak against God.

24This is written in the Bible: ‘Because of you Jews, the Gentiles say bad things against God.’