የእግዚአብሔር ጻድቅ ፍርድ
1ስለዚህ አንተ በሌላው ላይ የምትፈርድ፣ የምታመካኝበት የለህም፤ በሌላው ላይ በምትፈርድበት ነገር ሁሉ፣ ራስህን ትኰንናለህ፤ ፈራጅ የሆንኸው አንተ ያንኑ ታደርጋለህና። 2እንደዚህ በሚያደርጉትም ላይ የእግዚአብሔር ፍርድ ትክክለኛ መሆኑን እናውቃለን። 3እንግዲህ አንተ ሰው በሌሎች ላይ እየፈረድህ ያንኑ የምታደርግ ከሆነ፣ ከእግዚአብሔር ፍርድ የምታመልጥ ይመስልሃል? 4ወይስ የእግዚአብሔር ቸርነት ወደ ንስሓ የሚመራህ መሆኑን ሳትገነዘብ፣ የቸርነቱን፣ የቻይነቱንና የትዕግሥቱን ባለጠግነት ትንቃለህ?
5ነገር ግን በድንዳኔህና ንስሓ በማይገባ ልብህ ምክንያት ትክክለኛ ፍርዱ ሲገለጥ በእግዚአብሔር የቍጣ ቀን በራስህ ላይ ቍጣን ታከማቻለህ። 6እግዚአብሔር “ለእያንዳንዱ እንደ ሥራው ይሰጠዋል”። 7በጎ የሆነውን ጸንቶ በማድረግ ክብርን፣ ሞገስንና ዘላለማዊነትን ለሚሹ የዘላለም ሕይወት ይሰጣቸዋል። 8ነገር ግን በራስ ወዳዶች፣ እውነትን ትተው ክፋትን በሚከተሉ ፍርድና ቍጣ ይደርስባቸዋል። 9ክፉ በሚያደርግ በማንኛውም ሰው፣ አስቀድሞ በአይሁድ ከዚያም በአሕዛብ ላይ መከራና ጭንቀት ይሆናል፤ 10ነገር ግን በጎ ለሚሠራ ለማንኛውም፣ አስቀድሞ ለአይሁድ ከዚያም ለአሕዛብ ክብር፣ ሞገስና ሰላም ይሆንለታል፤ 11እግዚአብሔር ለማንም አያደላምና።
12ሕግ ሳይኖራቸው ኀጢአት የሠሩ ሁሉ ያለ ሕግ ይጠፋሉ፤ ሕግ እያላቸው ኀጢአት የሠሩ በሕግ ይፈረድባቸዋል፤ 13ምክንያቱም በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ጻድቃን የሚባሉት ለሕጉ የሚታዘዙ እንጂ፣ ሕጉን የሚሰሙ አይደሉም። 14ሕግ የሌላቸው አሕዛብ ሕግ የሚያዝዘውን ነገር በተፈጥሮ ሲያደርጉ፣ ሕግ ባይኖራቸውም እነርሱ ለራሳቸው ሕግ ናቸው። 15ኅሊናቸው ስለሚመሰክር፣ ሐሳባቸው ስለሚከስሳቸው፣ ደግሞም ስለሚከላከልላቸው የሕግ ትእዛዝ በልባቸው የተጻፈ መሆኑን ያሳያሉ። 16ይህም በወንጌል እንደማስተምረው እግዚአብሔር በሰው ልብ የተሰወረውን በክርስቶስ በኩል በሚፈርድበት ዕለት ግልጽ ይሆናል።
ሕግና አይሁድ
17አንተ ይሁዲ ነኝ ካልህ፣ በሕግ የምትተማመንና ከእግዚአብሔር ጋር ባለህ ግንኙነት የምትኵራራ፣ 18በሕግ በመመራትህም ፈቃዱን ዐውቀህ ፍጹም የሆነውን ለይተህ ከያዝህ፣ 19ለዕውሮች መሪ፣ በጨለማ ላሉትም ብርሃን መሆንህን ርግጠኛ ከሆንህ፣ 20በሕጉም ካገኘኸው ዕውቀትና እውነት የተነሣ አላዋቂ ለሆኑት መካሪ፣ ለሕፃናት አስተማሪ ከሆንህ፣ 21እንግዲህ አንተ ሌሎችን የምታስተምር፣ ራስህን አታስተምርምን? አትስረቅ ብለህ የምትሰብክ፣ ትሰርቃለህን? 22አንተ ሰዎች ማመንዘር የለባቸውም የምትል፣ ታመነዝራለህን? አንተ ጣዖትን የምትጸየፍ፣ ቤተ መቅደስን ትመዘብራለህን? 23አንተ በሕግ የምትመካ፣ ሕግን በመተላለፍ እግዚአብሔርን ታዋርዳለህን? 24ይህም “በእናንተ ምክንያት የእግዚአብሔር ስም በአሕዛብ ዘንድ ይሰደባል” ተብሎ እንደ ተጻፈው መሆኑ ነው።
25ሕግን የምትፈጽም ከሆነ ግዝረት ዋጋ አለው፤ ሕግን የምትተላለፍ ከሆነ ግን እንዳልተገረዝህ ትሆናለህ። 26ያልተገረዙት ሕጉ የሚያዝዘውን የሚፈጽሙ ከሆነ፣ እንደ ተገረዙ አይቈጠሩምን? 27አንተ የተጻፈ ሕግ፣ ግዝረትም ቢኖርህ፣ ሕግ ተላላፊ በመሆንህ፣ በሥጋ ያልተገረዘው ለሕግ በመታዘዙ ይፈርድብሃል።
28አንድ ሰው ለይምሰል በውጫዊው ብቻ ይሁዲ ልሁን ቢል ይሁዲ አይሆንም፤ እውነተኛ ግዝረትም ውጫዊና ሥጋዊ ሥርዐት አይደለም። 29ዳሩ ግን አንድ ሰው ይሁዲ የሚሆነው በውስጣዊ ማንነቱ ይሁዲ ሆኖ ሲገኝ ነው። ግዝረትም ግዝረት የሚሆነው በተጻፈው ሕግ ሳይሆን፣ በመንፈስ የልብ ግዝረት ሲኖር ነው። እንዲህ ያለው ሰው ምስጋናው ከሰው ሳይሆን ከእግዚአብሔር ዘንድ ነው።
God Judges Fairly
1If you judge someone else, you have no excuse for it. When you judge another person, you are judging yourself. You do the same things you blame others for doing. 2We know that when God judges those who do evil things, he judges fairly. 3Though you are only a human being, you judge others. But you yourself do the same things. So how do you think you will escape when God judges you? 4Do you disrespect God’s great kindness and favor? Do you disrespect God when he is patient with you? Don’t you realize that God’s kindness is meant to turn you away from your sins?
5But you are stubborn. In your heart you are not sorry for your sins. You are storing up anger against yourself. The day of God’s anger is coming. Then his way of judging fairly will be shown. 6God “will pay back each person in keeping with what they have done.” (Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12) 7God will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good. They want glory, honor, and life that never ends. 8But there are others who only look out for themselves. They don’t accept the truth. They go astray. God will pour out his great anger on them. 9There will be trouble and suffering for everyone who does evil. That is meant first for the Jews. It is also meant for the Gentiles. 10But there will be glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good. That is meant first for the Jews. It is also meant for the Gentiles. 11God treats everyone the same.
12Some people do not know God’s law when they sin. They will not be judged by the law when they die. Others do know God’s law when they sin. They will be judged by the law. 13Hearing the law does not make a person right with God. People are considered to be right with God only when they obey the law. 14Gentiles do not have the law. Sometimes they just naturally do what the law requires. They are a law for themselves. This is true even though they don’t have the law. 15They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts. The way their minds judge them proves this fact. Sometimes their thoughts find them guilty. At other times their thoughts find them not guilty. 16This will happen on the day God appoints Jesus Christ to judge people’s secret thoughts. That’s part of my good news.
The Jews and the Law
17Suppose you call yourself a Jew. You trust in the law. You brag that you know God. 18You know what God wants. You agree with what is best because the law teaches you. 19You think you know so much more than the people you teach. You think you’re helping blind people. You think you are a light for those in the dark. 20You think you can make foolish people wise. You act like you’re teaching little children. You think that the law gives you all knowledge and truth. 21You claim to teach others, but you don’t even teach yourself! You preach against stealing. But you steal! 22You say that people should not commit adultery. But you commit adultery! You hate statues of gods. But you rob temples! 23You brag about the law. But when you break it, you rob God of his honor! 24It is written, “The Gentiles say evil things against God’s name because of you.” (Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:22)
25Circumcision has value if you obey the law. But if you break the law, it is just as if you hadn’t been circumcised. 26And sometimes those who aren’t circumcised do what the law requires. Won’t God accept them as if they had been circumcised? 27Many are not circumcised physically, but they obey the law. They will prove that you are guilty. You are breaking the law, even though you have the written law and are circumcised.
28A person is not a Jew if they are a Jew only on the outside. And circumcision is more than just something done to the outside of a man’s body. 29No, a person is a Jew only if they are a Jew on the inside. And true circumcision means that the heart has been circumcised by the Holy Spirit. The person whose heart has been circumcised does more than obey the written law. The praise that matters for that kind of person does not come from other people. It comes from God.
