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OET (OET-LV) on that the_day is_judging the god the secrets of_ the _people, according_to the good_message of_me, by chosen_one/messiah Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa).
OET (OET-RV) on the day when God, through Messiah Yeshua, judges people’s private lives, as I’ve shared as part of the good message.
In all of chapter two, Paul wrote as if to someone who disagreed with him. He used the singular “you” throughout the chapter. This form of teaching is called a “diatribe.” Only one person is talking (or writing), but it is as if two people are talking back and forth, asking and answering questions, making objections and responding. Using this diatribe, Paul rebuked those who judged others improperly. The person whom Paul spoke to here was not a believer. His evil deeds store up God’s wrath against him (2:5), and his sins will cause him to perish (2:12).
In this section, Paul addressed someone who judged others as bad but did the same things (2:1). God would punish such a person (2:2–3); it is according to what a person has done (2:6–11) and according to the knowledge of God that a person has (2:12–15).
Here are other possible headings for this section:
The person who does not believe and judges other people as bad yet does the same things
Hypocritical people who do not believe in Jesus
on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus,
And this will also be true on the day when God judges the secret deeds and thoughts of people through Jesus, the Christ/Messiah,
And they will do that at the time when God will authorize Jesus, the one/person whom God appointed to save/rescue people, and he/Jesus will judge the things that people have done secretly,
on the day: Paul now talked about God’s final judgment day. At that time people’s thoughts will also accuse them of wrongdoing and sometimes defend them of doing right. For example:
And so,…this is how it will be on that Day (GNT)
the day is coming (NLT)
So it will be on the day (REB)
when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus: There is a textual issue here about the order of the words Christ Jesus:
The order of the words are Christ Jesus. This emphasizes that Jesus is the Christ. (BSB, RSV, ESV, NASB, NABRE, NLT, GW, NET, REB, NCV)
The order of the words are Jesus Christ. This indicates that Jesus is the Christ but does not emphasize that fact. (NIV, GNT, NJB, CEV, KJV)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because the scholars of the UBS Greek NT believe it to be the correct text.They indicate that they had difficulty in deciding which was the correct text. Moo (on TW) supports option (1).
However, in some languages the order of the words Christ Jesus is not natural. If that is true in your language, emphasize the fact that Jesus is the Christ in a natural way. For example:
God judges the secrets of men by Jesus, who/he is the Christ
God will judge: This phrase refers to a future event. Several English translations use the present tense here. Despite this, in some languages the future tense is more natural. For example:
God…will judge (GNT)
men’s: The Greek word that the BSB translates as men’s is a general word that includes both men and women. For example:
of all (GNT)
secrets: Here, this word refers to deeds that no one saw and words that no one else heard as well as thoughts.
through Christ Jesus: This phrase indicates that God gave authority to Jesus to judge everyone. Jesus will judge everyone. Here is another way to translate this phrase:
by Christ Jesus (ESV)
Christ: The word Christ is a title for Jesus. It means “the anointed one.” The Jews used it to refer to the special person God promised to send. See how you translated this word in 1:1.
as proclaimed by my gospel.
as my gospel about Jesus says.
as the gospel that I preach/teach says.
as proclaimed by my gospel: This phrase indicates that Paul preached that God will judge everyone’s secrets (2:16b). This gospel is what Paul taught about what God did through Jesus.
my gospel: The word my indicates that this gospel is Paul’s teachings about what God did through Jesus. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that the gospel was about Paul. If that is true in your language, indicate that the gospel is about Jesus. For example:
my gospel about Jesus
the gospel that I preach/teach
gospel: The Greek word that the BSB translates as gospel means “good news.” Here this word refers to the good news about what God did through Jesus. Here are other ways to translate this word:
good/sweet news
good news about Jesus Christ
good news from God
message/report that causes joy
Be sure that the term you choose does not refer only to a news report or to a story that is not true.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
ἐν ἡμέρᾳ
on (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ κρίνει ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατά τό εὐαγγέλιον μού διά Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ)
Here, day refers to a point in time when something happens. It does not refer to a 24-hour length of time. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [a point in time is coming]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὅτε κρίνει ὁ Θεὸς
on (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ κρίνει ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατά τό εὐαγγέλιον μού διά Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ)
Paul assumes that his readers will know that the day when God will judge refers to the time in the future when God will judge everyone, as Paul also mentioned in [2:2](../02/02.md) and [2:5](../02/05.md). If it would be helpful in your language, you could state this explicitly. Alternate translation: [at the future time when God finally judges]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / possession
τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ κρίνει ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατά τό εὐαγγέλιον μού διά Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ)
Paul is using the possessive form to describe secrets that men have. These secrets are specifically secret thoughts that people have, as indicated by the word “thoughts” in the previous verse. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a different expression. Alternate translation: [men’s secrets] or [the secrets that men keep]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ κρίνει ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατά τό εὐαγγέλιον μού διά Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of secrets, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [what men secretly think]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
τῶν ἀνθρώπων
¬the ˱of˲_people
Although the term men is masculine, Paul is using the word here in a generic sense that includes both men and women. Alternate translation: [of human beings] or [of people]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / infostructure
κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιόν μου, διὰ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ κρίνει ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατά τό εὐαγγέλιον μού διά Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ)
If it would be more natural in your language, you could reverse the order of these phrases. Alternate translation: [through Christ Jesus, according to my gospel]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιόν μου
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ κρίνει ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατά τό εὐαγγέλιον μού διά Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ)
Paul speaks of the gospel as if it belongs to him. He means that this is the gospel God has entrusted him to preach. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [according to God’s gospel that I preach]
OET (OET-LV) on that the_day is_judging the god the secrets of_ the _people, according_to the good_message of_me, by chosen_one/messiah Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa).
OET (OET-RV) on the day when God, through Messiah Yeshua, judges people’s private lives, as I’ve shared as part of the good message.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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