For You Do the Same Things

Paul turns to those who judge others. Anyone who passes judgment on others while doing the very same things merely believes themselves to be perfect, when in truth they too are capable of that same sin. Such are those who do not see God’s kindness and patience as an opportunity to repent, but instead turn them to their own advantage.

Going to church, reading the Bible and praying give no one the right to condemn those who do not. To boast of them is to boast of doing what ought to be done in any case, and God looks not at the goodness that shows on the outside but at the heart. Like the guest who was invited to the wedding feast yet did not wear the wedding garment, such a person receives grace and forgets how weighty that grace is.

God repays each person justly, according to what they have done. To those who patiently do good he gives eternal life; on those who do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness he brings wrath. Since the only opportunity to repent is now, while we are still in the body, we must put on the garment of salvation that Jesus Christ has given and live holy lives today.