Romans Part 09
Paul is describing Gentiles who did not grow up with God's revealed law yet behave according to the law. This demonstrates that human beings possess a conscience and a basic moral awareness.
Before examining Romans 2:14–16, it is helpful to place Romans 2:13 alongside other clear passages of Scripture. In Luke 8:21, Jesus said,
"My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."
Likewise, in Luke 11:28, He declared,
"Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
James echoes the same teaching in James 1:22:
"Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
This is basic Christian doctrine. Jesus taught it, Paul taught it, and James taught it. God's people must not merely hear His instruction. They must do it.
Paul then gives a difficult parenthetical statement in Romans 2:14–16 concerning the Gentiles:
"For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel."
Because this passage is easy to misunderstand, it must be handled carefully. It does not mean that Gentiles in the Church have no law. It does not mean that a person's conscience replaces God's revealed law. It does not teach that people are saved by being sincere according to their own culture, that God judges each person by whatever standard his culture happened to teach, or that the gospel is unnecessary for those who have never heard it. Such conclusions would contradict the very argument Paul is making. Romans 1:18 says God's wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Romans 2:13 says the doers of the law will be justified. Romans 3:23 will conclude that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Rather, Paul is describing Gentiles who did not grow up with God's revealed law, yet still do things contained in the law. This demonstrates that human beings possess a conscience and a basic moral awareness. Every person has some sense that right and wrong exist. A person's conscience may accuse or excuse him according to what he understands. However, conscience is not always properly informed. Human culture can distort a person's understanding of right and wrong, but God's objective standard remains the law He has revealed.
Conscience is real, but conscience is not the final standard. A conscience must be informed by the laws of God. A person can sincerely believe he is doing right and still be violating God's law.
This also helps answer a common misunderstanding. Some conclude that a person who has never heard the Bible or the name of Jesus Christ may be saved simply by living faithfully according to whatever he knows. The difficulty with that view is that it makes the gospel unnecessary, or even harmful. If ignorance saves, then preaching the gospel would remove a person's plausible deniability. It would also imply that sinful cultural practices become righteous simply because a culture approves them.
History shows the weakness of that reasoning. If a culture approves of murder, headhunting, or child sacrifice, those practices do not become righteous before God. The Canaanites accepted practices such as child sacrifice within their culture, yet God judged those practices as evil. Human culture may agree with parts of God's law, distort parts of it, or reject parts of it altogether, but culture does not define righteousness.
God has established one objective moral standard for all people. Exodus 12:49 declares that there was to be one law for the native-born and for the stranger. God's standard does not change based on nationality, ethnicity, or culture. There is one law for all, and God judges all people according to that righteous standard.
Romans 2:14 says that Gentiles "by nature" do the things contained in the law. That phrase can be confusing, but Romans 11:24 provides a helpful comparison. There Paul describes Gentiles as branches from a wild olive tree, while Israelites are pictured as the natural branches. The issue is not that one group possesses a superior kind of human nature. Rather, the distinction is one of origin, background, and what a person was born into.
In the same way, the phrase "by nature" in Romans 2:14 can refer to one's origin, birth, or national and cultural background. The Gentiles were not born into the covenant nation that had received God's law, while the Jews were. That difference gave the Jews an advantage because they possessed God's revealed law, but it did not make them righteous automatically.
In verse 16 Paul says that God will judge "the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" according to the gospel. This reminds us that there is a future day of judgment. God will judge not only outward actions, but also the secret things of the heart, including motives, thoughts, and hidden actions.
Paul also makes it clear that this future judgment is part of the gospel he preached. This differs from the common idea that every person is finally judged at the moment of death and immediately sent to heaven or hell. Instead, the Bible repeatedly points to a coming day when God will judge mankind. Paul's gospel includes not only grace and forgiveness, but also accountability before Jesus Christ.
UYA Team | uya@ucg.org
United Young Adults (UYA) primarily serves the 18–32-year age group for the United Church of God. There are three main areas of contribution to the lives of young adults: Promoting Spiritual Growth, Developing Meaningful Relationships and Making the Most of Your Talents. The Know Your Sword series is a daily expository message introducing God’s Word from a trusted perspective.
