¹⁷ Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin.^(A)

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.^(A)

¹⁷ If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.^(A)

²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was handed on to them.^(A)

⁴⁷ That slave who knew what his master wanted but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted will receive a severe beating.^{(A) 48} But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.^(B)

³² They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.^(A)

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God^{(A) 18} and know his will and determine what really matters because you are instructed in the law, ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth,^{(B) 21} you, then, who teach others, will you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?^{(C) 22} You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by your transgression of the law?

²⁰ Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. So they are without excuse,^{(A) 21} for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.^(B)

¹³ Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin that was working death in me through what is good, in order that it might be shown to be sin, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.