For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
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Romans 2:12-16 sits inside this longer paragraph.
But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
Parallel Translations
-
For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified
(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,
in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
-
But whosoever hath synned with out lawe shall perisshe with out lawe. And as many as haue synned vnder the lawe shalbe iudged by the lawe.
For before god they are not ryghteous which heare the lawe: but the doers of the lawe shalbe iustified.
For if the gentyls which have no lawe do of nature the thynges contayned in the lawe: then they havynge no lawe are a lawe vnto them selves
which shewe the dede of the lawe wrytten in their hertes: whyll their conscience beareth witnes vnto them and also their thoughtes accusynge one another or excusynge
at the daye when god shall iudge the secretes of men by Iesus Christ accordinge to my Gospell.
Show all 3 translations
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For as many as haue sinned without the Lawe, shall perish also without the Lawe: and as many as haue sinned in the Lawe, shall be iudged by the Lawe,
(For the hearers of the Lawe are not righteous before God: but the doers of the Lawe shalbe iustified.
For when the Gentiles which haue not the Lawe, doe by nature, the things conteined in the Lawe, they hauing not the Lawe, are a Lawe vnto themselues,
Which shew the effect of the Lawe written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witnes, and their thoughts accusing one another, or excusing,)
At the day when God shall iudge the secretes of men by Iesus Christ, according to my Gospel.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (106)
- James 1:22-25 (v13) But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like…
- Ecclesiastes 12:14 (v16) For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 (v16) Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the…
- 1 John 3:7 (v13) Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
- James 2:21-25 (v13) Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith worked with his works,…
Show all 100 cross-references
- Romans 1:19-20 (v14) because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of…
- Romans 2:12 (v14) For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
- Romans 2:25 (v13) For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become…
- 1 Corinthians 9:21 (v12) to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who…
- 2 Corinthians 5:11 (v15) Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your…
- Acts 17:31 (v16) because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given…
- Romans 2:27 (v14) Won’t the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of…
- Galatians 2:16 (v13) yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that…
- Galatians 3:10 (v12) For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things…
- Luke 8:17 (v16) For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed; nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
- Luke 8:21 (v13) But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.”
- Acts 10:42 (v16) He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that this is he who is appointed by God as the Judge of the living and the dead.
- Acts 17:30 (v14) The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
- Romans 1:18-19 (v15) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,…
- Romans 10:5 (v13) For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
- 2 Corinthians 1:12 (v15) For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of…
- Galatians 3:11-12 (v13) Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not of faith, but, “The…
- Titus 1:15 (v15) To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience…
- 1 John 2:29 (v13) If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
- Job 27:6 (v15) I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart will not reproach me so long as I live.
- Psalms 147:19-20 (v14) He shows his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. He has not done this for just any nation. They don’t know his…
- John 5:22-29 (v16) For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who…
- Acts 10:35 (v14) but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
- Romans 9:1 (v15) I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit
- Romans 14:10-12 (v16) But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of…
- Ephesians 2:12 (v14) that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the…
- 1 Timothy 4:2 (v15) through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron,
- 1 John 3:19-21 (v15) And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him, because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our…
- Acts 17:30-31 (v12) The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a…
- Romans 2:14-16 (v12) (for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that…
- Romans 3:6 (v16) May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
- Galatians 2:16-19 (v12) yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that…
- 1 Peter 4:5 (v16) They will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
- Romans 1:32 (vv12, 14) who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those…
- Genesis 3:8-11 (v15) They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of…
- Genesis 20:5 (v15) Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister’? She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and…
- Genesis 42:21-22 (v15) They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and…
- Deuteronomy 4:1 (v13) Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land…
- Deuteronomy 4:7 (v14) For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him?
- Deuteronomy 5:1 (v13) Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may…
- 1 Kings 2:44 (v15) The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return…
- Psalms 98:9 (v16) Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
- Psalms 143:2 (v13) Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.
- Ecclesiastes 7:22 (v15) for often your own heart knows that you yourself have likewise cursed others.
- Ezekiel 20:11 (v13) I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he will live in them.
- Matthew 7:21-27 (v13) Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.…
- Matthew 25:31-46 (v16) “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all…
- Luke 10:25-29 (v13) Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is…
- John 12:48 (v16) He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him in the last day.
- Acts 13:39 (v13) and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
- Acts 24:16 (v15) In this I also practice always having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.
- Romans 3:1-2 (v14) Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted…
- Romans 3:30 (v13) since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.
- Romans 4:2-5 (v13) For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham…
- Romans 7:7-11 (v12) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have…
- Romans 8:3 (v12) For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for…
- Romans 16:25 (v16)
- 2 Corinthians 5:10 (v16) For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has…
- 1 Timothy 1:11 (v16) according to the Good News of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
- 2 Timothy 2:8 (v16) Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring of David, according to my Good News,
- 2 Timothy 4:1 (v16) I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom:
- 2 Peter 2:9 (v16) the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
- Revelation 20:11-15 (v16) I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. I…
- Deuteronomy 6:3 (v13) Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your…
- Deuteronomy 30:12-14 (v13) It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?”…
- Psalms 9:7-8 (v16) But Yahweh reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment…
- Psalms 50:6 (v16) The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge.
- Psalms 96:13 (v16) before Yahweh; for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, the peoples with his truth.
- Ecclesiastes 3:17 (v16) I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
- Ecclesiastes 11:9 (v16) Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the…
- Ezekiel 16:49-50 (v12) “ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She…
- Ezekiel 33:30-33 (v13) “As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another,…
- Matthew 11:24 (v12) But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, on the day of judgment, than for you.”
- Matthew 16:27 (v16) For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
- Luke 10:12-15 (v12) I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the…
- Luke 12:47-48 (v12) That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes, but he who didn’t…
- Luke 18:14 (v13) I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who…
- John 8:9 (v15) They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was…
- Acts 23:1 (v15) Paul, looking steadfastly at the council, said, “Brothers, I have lived before God in all good conscience until today.”
- Romans 2:5 (v16) But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the…
- Romans 3:19-20 (v12) Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world…
- Romans 3:20 (v13) Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
- Romans 3:23 (v13) for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
- 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 (v12) But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the…
- Galatians 5:4 (v13) You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.
- 2 Timothy 4:8 (v16) From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to…
- Hebrews 9:27 (v16) Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
- Genesis 18:25 (v16) May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May…
- Deuteronomy 27:26 (v12) ‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ”
- Matthew 11:22 (v12) But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
- Acts 14:16 (v14) who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
- Romans 1:18-21 (v12) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,…
- Romans 4:15 (v12) For the law produces wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.
- 1 Corinthians 11:14 (v14) Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?
- Galatians 1:11 (v16) But I make known to you, brothers, concerning the Good News which was preached by me, that it is not according to man.
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (106 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (24 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. Whosoever have sinned without law, etc. In the…
12. Whosoever have sinned without law, etc. In the former part of this section he assails the Gentiles; though no Moses was given them to publish and to ratify a law from the Lord, he yet denies this omission to be a reason why they deserved not the just sentence of death for their sins; as though he had said — that the knowledge of a written law was not necessary for the just condemnation of a sinner. See then what kind of advocacy they undertake, who through misplaced mercy, attempt, on the ground of ignorance, to exempt the nations who have not the light of the gospel from the judgment of God.
Whosoever have sinned under the law, etc. As the Gentiles, being led by the errors of their own reason, go headlong into ruin, so the Jews possess a law by which they are condemned; for this sentence has been long ago pronounced,
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“Cursed are all they who continue not in all its precepts.” (Deuteronomy 27:26.)
A worse condition then awaits the Jewish sinners, since their condemnation is already pronounced in their own law.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12–16 He applieth that general accusation of mankind particularly both…
He applieth that general accusation of mankind particularly both to the Gentiles, and to the Jews.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12 For as many as have sinned without law…
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
Ver. 12. Perish without law] Or, though they had no written law, as that of Moses.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–16 By the former he means the Gentiles, by the…
By the former he means the Gentiles, by the latter, the Jews; the like distribution he makes, 1Co 9:20,21.
In the law; i.e. under the law, or against it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16 That is, as many as have sinned without the…
That is, as many as have sinned without the written law, which is the case of the Gentiles or Heathens, shall also perish without that law, being judged and condemned by the law of nature written in their hearts; but as many as have sinned in or under the law of Moses, which is the case of the Jews, shall be judged and condemned by that law.
Observe here, 1. A truth plainly implied, and necessarily supposed; namely, That as some sinners perish, having the written word, and all external means of salvation; so others perish, having not the written word or law of God, and the outward and ordinary means of salvation: As many as have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law. God, in the dispensations of his grace, acteth in a way of sovereignty, according to the measures of strict justice, upon the previous demerits of sinners.
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Observe, 2. That all men shall not be proceeded against in the day of judgment after one and the same manner; but every man according to the demerit of his sin, and according to the creation capacity and relation in which he stood in this life. The Gentiles which had only the law of nature, shall not be judged by the law of Moses: The Jews, which have both the law of nature, and the law of Moses, shall be judged by both: and consequently, Christians, which have the law of nature unwritten, the Mosaical law written, and the Evangelical law, both written and preached, shall lie under greater guilt, and receive a more aggravating condemnation. Christ will exactly proportion every man’s hell hereafter to his sin committed here; the greater light we have quenched, the greater darkness will be inflicted, How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Heb 2:3
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–16 For when the Gentiles which have not the law,....…
For when the Gentiles which have not the law,.... The objection of the Gentiles against their condemnation, taken from their being without the law, is here obviated. The apostle owns that they had not the law, that is, the written law of Moses, and yet intimates that they had, and must have a law, against which they sinned, and so deserved punishment, and which they in part obeyed; for these men
do by nature the things contained in the law. The matter and substance of the moral law of Moses agrees with the law and light of nature; and the Gentiles in some measure, and in some sort, did these things by nature; not that men by the mere strength of nature without the grace of God, can fulfil the law, or do anything that is acceptable to God; and indeed, what these men did was merely natural and carnal, and so unacceptable to God. Some understand this of nature assisted by grace, in converted Gentiles, whether before or after the coming of Christ; others expound the phrase, by nature, freely, willingly, in opposition to the servile spirit of the Jews, in their obedience to the law; though it rather seems to design the dictates of natural reason, by which they acted: and so
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these having not the law, the written law,
are a law to themselves; which they have by nature and use, and which natural reason dictates to them. So Plato distinguishes the law
"into written and un written (q): the written law is that which was used in commonwealths; and that "which was according to custom or nature", was called unwritten, such as not to go to market naked, nor to be clothed with women's clothes; which things were not forbidden by any law, but these were not done because forbidden by the unwritten law;''
which he calls "unwritten", because not written on tables, or with ink; otherwise it was written in their minds, and which by nature and use they were accustomed to.
(q) Laertii Vit. Philosoph. l. 3. in Vita Platon.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–16 For as many as have sinned - He speaks…
For as many as have sinned - He speaks as of the time past, for all time will be past at the day of judgment. Without the law - Without having any written law. Shall also perish without the law - Without regard had to any outward law; being condemned by the law written in their hearts. The word also shows the agreement of the manner of sinning, with the manner of suffering. Perish - He could not so properly say, Shall be judged without the law.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Verse 12. For as many as have sinned without…
Verse 12. For as many as have sinned without law, c.] They, viz. the Gentiles, who shall be found to have transgressed against the mere light of nature, or rather, that true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, Joh 1:9, shall not come under the same rule with those, the Jews, who have in addition to this enjoyed an extraordinary revelation but they shall be dealt with according to the inferior dispensation, under which they lived: while those, the Jews, who have sinned against the law-the positive Divine revelation granted to them, shall be judged by that law, and punished proportionably to the abuse of such an extraordinary advantage.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16 Rom 2:12. For as many as have sinned —…
Rom 2:12. For as many as have sinned — And have not repented and brought forth fruit worthy of repentance; as many as have lived and died in the commission of known sin: he speaks as of the time past, for all time will be past at the day of judgment; without law — Without having had any written law, any express and outward revelation from God; shall also perish — Be condenmed and punished; without law — Without regard had to any written law, or supernatural revelation, being proved guilty by the law written in their hearts. The expression, shall perish, shows the agreement of the manner of suffering with the manner of sinning. He could not so properly say, shall be judged without law. Some understand it of the annihilation of the heathen; but both reason and Scripture assure us they shall be punished for their sins, though in a less degree than those who disobey the greater light of revelation. Since none of mankind ever lived without the law of nature, it is evident the expressions, ανομως, without law, in this clause, and εν νομω, in, or under law, in the following clause, cannot be understood of that law. Neither can they be understood of the law of Moses, seeing it is affirmed in the latter clause, that as many as have sinned in or under the law, shall be judged by the law. For the Jews are not to be judged by the law of Moses. See note on Rom 2:13. In this context, therefore, νομος, law, signifies divine revelation in general. Thus, the oracles of God, with which the Jews were intrusted, Rom 3:2, have the name of ο νομος, the law, often given to them in Scripture; as Psa 19:7; Joh 10:34; Joh 12:34; Joh 15:25; Rom 3:19; in all which passages, and many others, the law signifies the whole of the divine revelations, taken complexly, as they stand recorded in the Jewish Scriptures. But when these Scriptures are distinguished into parts, as Luk 24:44, where the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms are mentioned; the law, in that division, denotes the five books of Moses only, as it does likewise, Rom 3:21, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. In this restricted sense, the word νομος, generally, though not always, has the article prefixed, the law. And as many as have sinned in, or under, the law — That is, revelation, whether the patriarchal, the Jewish, or the Christian, shall be judged by the law — By the revelation wherewith they were favoured. Though the word κριθησονται sometimes signifies, shall be condemned, in this passage it is rightly translated, shall be judged, because the apostle’s intention is to show, that all who have enjoyed the benefit of an external revelation shall be more severely punished, if wicked, than the Gentiles, who have not had that advantage: an idea which is better conveyed by the expression, shall be judged, than it would have been by shall be condemned. For judgment implies an accurate consideration of all circumstances, whether of aggravation or of alleviation, and the passing such a sentence as appears to the judge equitable, upon due consideration of the whole case. And the meaning here is, that their guilt being aggravated by the advantages which they enjoyed, they shall be punished in proportion to it. See Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–16 For - This is used to give a reason…
For - This is used to give a reason for what he had just said, or to show on what principles God would treat man, so as not to be a respecter of persons.
As many - Whosoever. This includes all who have done it, and evidently has respect to the Gentile world. It is of the more importance to remark this, because he does not say that it is applicable to a few only, or to great and incorrigible instances of pagan wickedness, but it is a universal, sweeping declaration, obviously including all.
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Have sinned - Have been guilty of crimes of any kind toward God or man. Sin is the transgression of a rule of conduct, however made known to mankind.
Without law - ἀνόμως anomōs. This expression evidently means without revealed or written law, as the apostle immediately says that they had a law of nature, Rom 2:14-15. The word “law,” νόμος nomos. is often used to denote the revealed Law of God, the Scriptures, or revelation in general; Mat 12:5; Luk 2:23-24; Luk 10:26; Joh 8:5, Joh 8:17.
Shall also perish - ἀπολοῦνται apolountai. The Greek word used here occurs frequently in the New Testament. It means to destroy, to lose, or to corrupt, and is applied to life, Mat 10:39; to a reward of labor, Mat 10:42; to wisdom 1Co 1:19; to bottles, Mat 9:17. It is also used to denote future punishment, or the destruction of soul and body in hell, Mat 10:28; Mat 18:14; Joh 3:15, where it is opposed to eternal life, and therefore denotes eternal death; Rom 14:15; Joh 17:12. In this sense the word is evidently used in this verse. The connection demands that the reference should be to a future judgment to be passed on the pagan. It will be remarked here that the apostle does not say they shall be saved without law. He does not give even an intimation respecting their salvation. The strain of the argument, as well as this express declaration, shows that they who had sinned - and in the first chapter he had proved that all the pagan were sinners - would be punished. If any of the pagan are saved, it will be, therefore, an exception to the general rule in regard to them. The apostles evidently believed that the great mass of them would be destroyed. On this ground they evinced such zeal to save them; on this ground the Lord Jesus commanded the gospel to be preached to them; and on this ground Christians are now engaged in the effort to bring them to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. It may be added here, that all modern investigations have gone to confirm the position that the pagan are as degraded now as they were in the time of Paul.
Without law - That is, they shall not be judged by a law which they have not. They shall not be tried and condemned by the revelation which the Jews had. They shall be condemned only according to the knowledge and the Law which they actually possess. This is the equitable rule on which God will judge the world. According to this, it is not to be apprehended that they will suffer as much as those who have the revealed will of God; compare Mat 10:15; Mat 11:24; Luk 10:12.
Have sinned in the law - Have sinned having the revealed will of God, or endowed with greater light and privileges than the pagan world. The apostle here has undoubted reference to the Jews, who had the Law of God, and who prided themselves much on its possession.
Shall be judged by the law - This is an equitable and just rule; and to this the Jews could make no objection. Yet the admission of this would have led directly to the point to which Paul was conducting his argument, to show that they also were under condemnation, and needed a Saviour. It will be observed here, that the apostle uses a different expression in regard to the Jews from what he does of the Gentiles. He says of the former, that they “shall be judged;” of the latter, that they “shall perish.” It is not certainly known why he varied this expression. But if conjecture may be allowed, it may have been for the following reasons.
(1) If he had a affirmed of the Jews that they should perish, it would at once have excited their prejudice, and have armed them against the conclusion to which he was about to come. Yet they could bear the word to be applied to the pagan, for it was in accordance with their own views and their own mode of speaking, and was strictly true.
(2) The word “judged” is apparently more mild, and yet really more severe. It would arouse no prejudice to say that they would be judged by their Law. It was indeed paying a sort of tribute or regard to that on which they prided themselves so much, the possession of the Law of God. Still, it was a word. implying all that he wished to say, and involving the idea that they would be punished and destroyed. If it was admitted that the pagan would perish; and if God was to judge the Jews by an unerring rule, that is, according to their privileges and light; then it would follow that they would also be condemned, and their own minds would come at once to the conclusion. The change of words here may indicate, therefore, a nice tact, or delicate address in argument, urging home to the conscience an offensive truth rather by the deduction of the mind of the opponent himself than by a harsh and severe charge of the writer. In instances of this, the Scriptures abound; and it was this especially that so eminently characterized the arguments of our Saviour.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 Whosoever have sinned without the law. That is, without…
Whosoever have sinned without the law. That is, without the written law of Moses, against their reason and conscience, &c. And also those who being Jews, have sinned under this written law, shall be judged, even with greater severity, for having transgressed against the known law. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16 For as many as have sinned--not "as many as…
For as many as have sinned--not "as many as have sinned at all," but, "as many as are found in sin" at the judgment of the great day (as the whole context shows).
without law--that is, without the advantage of a positive Revelation.
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shall also perish without law--exempt from the charge of rejecting or disregarding it.
and as many as have sinned in the law--within the pale of a positive, written Revelation.
shall be judged by the law--tried and condemned by the higher standard of that written Revelation.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. For—Paul shows this strict impartiality of God in…
12. For—Paul shows this strict impartiality of God in dealing with Gentile as with Jew. In the present verse he declares that unrepented sin, whether without or with the written law, equally incurs perdition.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. For as many as have sinned] The equality…
12. For as many as have sinned] The equality of Jew and Gentile is here pursued, not (as might have been expected from Rom_2:11) in the direction of privilege, but in that of responsibility and judgment. The reason for this direction is, no doubt, that the main subject of the Epistle here is sin and its results.—“Have sinned” is literally in the Greek sinned; an aorist, not a perfect. It is not safe to press far the distinction of these tenses in N. T. Greek. (See on Rom_1:19.) But the aorist, if taken strictly, would here point to the time when earthly life is closed, and judgment is come; to the sinner’s actions as looked back upon from that point.
sinned without law] Lit. lawlessly. The context here shews that the word means “in the absence of a law;” and that this means “in the absence of an explicit, revealed law;” other law than the law of conscience. Similarly, the context proves that to “perish without law” means to perish not “arbitrarily,” but “without an explicit code as the standard of guilt.” This verse no doubt implies the truth, elsewhere so clear, that no man shall be condemned for ignorance of what was in no wise revealed to him; but its main purpose is to teach the awful truth that even without the revealed law there is yet real sin and real doom.
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perish] “Be doomed to death;” lose the soul. The Gr. word, which some have held to imply annihilation of being, by no means does so. Its true import is rather ruin and loss in regard of condition. The Latin perditio exactly renders the idea.
in the law] Where it is revealed; within range of its explicit precepts.
judged by the law] To “judge” here means practically, as so often when the context is clear, to “condemn:” so e.g. Heb_13:4.—“By the law,” as the instrument of the doom; as used in determination of the doom.
The whole argument of this passage sufficiently decides what is meant by the Law. It is the Moral Law, the revealed Divine Will concerning right and wrong in respect both of God and man. That it is not specially the Ceremonial Law (which was a divinely-given but temporary and special code) is plain from Rom_2:14 of this chapter, where the witness of conscience must, of course, concern not the legal ceremonies but the principles of duty.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 (12) Jew and Gentile alike will be judged, each…
(12) Jew and Gentile alike will be judged, each by the method proper to his case; the Jew by the written Law against which he has sinned, the Gentile by the unwritten law of conscience against which he too has sinned. The mere hearing of the Law will bring no exemption to the Jew; and, on the other hand, the Gentile, who, at the dictates of conscience, acts as if he were subject to law, shall have the full benefit that law can give him. In fact, his conscience is to him a law. He undergoes precisely the same conflict of self- condemnation and self-acquittal as one who has a written law to refer to. All this will be done, this strict measure of justice will be applied, at the last great day of judgment.
In the law.—Rather, in law. Here, as in the phrases which follow, “by law,” “the hearers of law,” “the doers of law,” “the Gentiles which have not law,” &c., the article is wrongly inserted by the Authorised version. Its absence shows that the Apostle Lad in mind, not the particular Mosaic law, but the abstraction of law. “Behind the concrete representation—the Mosaic law itself—St. Paul sees an imperious principle, an overwhelming presence, antagonistic to grace, to liberty, to spirit, and (in some aspects) even to life—abstract law, which, though the Mosaic ordinances are its most signal and complete embodiment, nevertheless is not exhausted therein, but exerts its crushing power over the conscience in diverse manifestations. The one, the concrete and special, is ὁ υόμος; the other, the abstract and universal, is νόμος” (Lightfoot).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16 For as many as have sinned without Law (anomwv)…
For as many as have sinned without Law (anomwv) shall also perish without Law (anomwv). Their perdition, if it ensues, will not be due to transgression of a code they had not, but to sin against such light as they had; if without knowledge of Law they sinned, without reference to Law their doom will he, And as many as have sinned in Law (or, under Law. En nomw denotes the condition in which they were; cf. en peritomh and en okrobustia , Rom_4:10) shall be judged by Law. The requirements of the Law which they knew they will be held accountable for transgressing kriyhsontai here, instead of apolountai , because a definite standard of judgment is supposed. (cf. Ps 1)
Vers. 12-24. Law and guilt.
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God, as the Judge, is utterly impartial. But how, then, shall the differences between Jew and Gentile, especially in respect of the Law, be dealt with in that day? Sin shall be judged, condemned, in Jew or Gentile. The Gentile shall perish according to the measure of his sin; the Jew according to the measure of his. For law must pass into life, otherwise it is void and useless, save for condemnation. We have here the Gentiles and the Jews in their respective relations to Law; and the supreme sin of the Jews.
I THE GENTILES AND THE JEWS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE RELATIONS TO LAW. The Gentile might have pleaded that his ignorance should save him; the Jew certainly did assume that his knowledge would save him. Paul will lay to their charge "that they are all under sin", (Rom_3:9) and to this end he now shows that they are all under law before God.
1. Gentiles.
(1) The law of instinctive impulse: "by nature;" "a law unto themselves." A correct and complete philosophy of the religious nature and relations of man seems almost impossible to us now; but doubtless we must recognize here the fact that man has still, more or less, the native impulses of righteousness moving in the heart, which but for the Fall would have been perfect and all-containing in us, and but for the redemption would have been altogether lost. This, then, is one part of man"s primal constitution as a moral and religious being; he is moved to love and serve God, and to work righteousness, by an original instinct of his nature. Hence heroism, generosity, etc., in ancient and modern world. God works in man, and so far forth man does not suppress God"s working.
(2) The law of reflective consciousness: "their conscience bearing witness therewith;" "their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them." Man does not show his true moral nature till the instinct of the heart is obeyed with the intelligent approbation of the reflective consciousness. The instincts of the heart, so far as they approach completeness, afford the essential contents of the moral law; but it is for man to discern, embrace, and obey. And, till righteousness is wrought thus of deliberate choice, it may scarcely be called righteousness. For there are other impulses, which may lead to wrong; and, till the discerning judgment has checked the native impulse, there is hardly moral worth in the one more than in the other. The "thoughts" must excuse or accuse; then the will may act.
2. Jews. But man"s heart is corrupt and man"s mind is dark by reason of hereditary sin; therefore to the Jews God gave, in trust for the world, a Law, to correct and confirm the law of the heart and mind. The coincidence of the Law of Sinai with the true law of the heart and mind; the convincing authority of that Law, in its Divine power of awakening and purifying the law within. Hence to the Jew there was added the Law of revelation. He was doubly taught his duty.
II THE SUPREME SIN OF THE JEWS. But to what end was the Law given, whether of nature or of revelation? To teach righteousness. And therefore the man who wrought unrighteousness, according to his knowledge of the Law, whether Jew or Gentile, frustrated the purpose of God, was under condemnation, and would perish. " Yet the Jew gloried in his enlightenment, oblivious of its purport and intent!
1. The Boast.
(1) Personal.
(a) His name Jew." Called by God, indeed, but for work rather than privilege. He perverted his call by a narrow, selfish exclusion.
(b) Resting upon the Law. Knowledge was safety, he thought; whereas knowledge was duty (see vers. 18, 20).
(c) Glorying in God: a merely national God to him, and One who would merely "save.
(2) Relative.
(a) Guide of the blind.
(b) Light of them that are in darkness.
(c) Corrector of the foolish.
(d) Teacher of babes.
2. The shame.
(1) Inconsistency (vers. 21-23).
(2) Crime (vers. 21-23).
(3) Blasphemy (ver. 24). Their God indeed; what must he be!
Our higher privilege, in the matter of law: Christ, and the Spirit. Our graver peril: orthodoxy, and the name of Christian. "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?". T.F.L. (Luk_6:46)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12–16 For as many as have sinned without the law…
Rom_2:12
For as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.
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The law and sin
All sin--
I. Implies law.
II. Must be measured by the law under which it is committed.
III. Must be visited accordingly. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The responsibility of man
I. The text divides the race into two classes--those who have sinned without law and those who have sinned in the law. What is meant by law? Rule. Here, then, are some without and some within rule--the Gentiles not having and the Jews having a revealed rule.
II. The text affirms a certain amount of obligation connected with each division; for we cannot understand those who have sinned and shall consequently perish without law to mean a class to be judged without any standard whatever by which to try their guilt or innocence. As between man and man we insist, before judgment is passed upon us, on having the opportunity of knowing the rule by which we are to be judged. Before the statute law of this country is proclaimed no one is guilty of any violation of it, and of course it must be the same as between God and man; and so the passage before us would appear to direct our attention to law of some kind applying to each party, and therefore human responsibility appears to arise.
III. Human responsibility seems to arise from the relation in which both classes stand to God. The law revealed to the Gentiles is the law of nature, that to the Jews is the law of the Word of God. Now if both are in substance the same, then we must admit that the responsibility resting on man in a state of nature is as decidedly proved as that resting on him when under revelation.
1. Nature discovers indications of kindness on the part of a fatherly Creator, and of brotherhood among the creatures. Everything is so constructed that all must harmonise to a certain extent with one another or perish together. Different countries have different climates and productions that there may be an intercommunity between the various regions, from all which we conclude that it is the duty and interest of this common family to connect their common wants, safety, and comforts, that they may rejoice together in the same grace of life. To infringe, therefore, this law of nature is to rebel against God, and consequently to incur responsibility for this rebellion. Can we look out on nature, and see what its Author meant, and then set that meaning at naught, and say that we will follow the bent of our own minds and passions, and then say that we feel no accusation of ourselves in our own hearts? We cannot. There is a sense of responsibility to God when we discover what God intends.
2. But to rise into a higher sphere. Are there not intimations in nature that we owe to God an acknowledgment of His being and a veneration for His character? Are there not, e.g., feelings that indicate to us the duty of children to respect their parents? Well, surely we are as much bound to honour the Universal as the particular parent; and so we further establish the responsibility of man, which, when we come to Scripture, is confirmed beyond question.
IV. But it may be said that, admitting all this, there may be an internal inability to meet the rule so cleanly seen. The heathen may see that God is his Father, has kindness and authority, but he may feel within him an indisposition to act accordingly because he is corrupt, and the same may be said about a man who has Gods Word in his hands. Does this, then, relieve from responsibility? Let the answer be derived from individual experience. For what is responsibility? That state which is created by a clear discovery of law to one who is a free agent. And what is inability? A man is physically unable to walk, e.g., when he is chained to his prison, in which case he cannot be blamed for his inability, because it arises from another, not from himself, and this other has the responsibility for all the consequences of his bondage, i.e., whenever the inability is external, and comes not from ourselves, the responsibility is not recognised. So morally, if a man is bound by another his responsibility is at an end. But where is the man whose moral faculty is bound by another? You can tie your neighbours hand, but you cannot bind his will. You can work upon the outward, but you cannot touch the inner man. The moral inclination of man is his own, and can be restrained by none. Why, then, if man is thus free, does he not obey the law? Because he is corrupt, and acts according to his own nature; and is responsible because he so acts. He acts under no foreign influence, but according to the principles by which his own normal nature is moved. And so--to return to our text--those who have had no revelation will be tried by the illustrations of their duty which nature gives, and those who have by the illustrations of duty which it furnishes. And if they are found guilty it will be found to arise, not from inability, but from dislike; and let no man say because he dislikes God therefore he is unaccountable--a delusion which is in itself absurd and an encouragement to all wickedness. Conclusion: Let us acknowledge our responsibility. This will lead us to ask for and to secure power to discharge it, and to find in its discharge peace of conscience in this life and an eternal reward in the life to come. (J. Burner.)
Future of the heathen
A clergyman once travelling in a stagecoach was abruptly asked by one of the passengers if any of the heathen would go to heaven. Sir, replied the clergyman, I am not appointed Judge of the world, and consequently I cannot tell; but if ever you get to heaven you shall either find some of them there or a good reason why they are not there--a reply well fitted to answer an impertinent question, dictated, at best, by an idle curiosity.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. For as many as have sinned without law.…
12. For as many as have sinned without law. As many as shall be found in sin, at the judgment, without a special revelation of the law of God. While the Mosaic law is in the mind of the apostle, the statement is general. The principle is one of universal application. Those have sinned who have not lived up to their light. Shall perish without law. They shall be judged and condemned without reference to the standards of revealed law. Law, in this verse, has no article in the Greek. When so used it means law in general. When, as occurs so often in Romans, it has the Greek definite article before it, the Mosaic law is meant. Observe that the Revision omits the article (the) in this verse. As many as have sinned under the law. Under a revelation of God's will. These shall be judged by it, and condemned for disobedience to its commands.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v13 Rom_2:13. Not the hearers of the law.—Jewish writers held…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_2:13. Not the hearers of the law.—Jewish writers held that no circumcised person goes to hell. St. Paul confutes all vain opinions. The literal meaning of δικαιοῦν is to make righteous. In this epistle it is used to mean acquittal.
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Rom_2:14.—φύσει, by nature, as distinct from θέσει or written law.
Rom_2:15.—The evidence that what the law of God requires is inscribed on the minds of the heathen is the testimony of their conscience to such moral precepts. συνείδησις, the conscience, from the word meaning to know with or within oneself. In this passage understanding rather than affection is the predominant thought. Reasonings of a man’s mind upon his own actions, habits, and motives.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_2:13-16
The Gentile conscience.—The law as well as the existence of the Creator is written on the heart of man, and he cannot get away from that law. He may make mistakes, but he can get to know the general tenor of that law. He may not have skill to frame a correct ethical system, but he can mark the great broad outlines, and so frame his moral course. The Gentile heart is not a mere blank page—it shows divine handwriting. In its deepest degradation there are obscured traces and marks of moral glory.
I. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by their superiority to their gods.—The God of the Bible is the one perfect God—perfect in His natural and moral attributes. He is a conception of divinity which declares it is not an unaided conception of humanity. We cannot read of any god fashioned after the same perfect moral order as the God of the Bible. Whether we look at the God of the Old Testament or of the New, we must feel that this is a divinity which the highest human reason has not attained. Not withstanding all that may be said against the biblical God, we affirm that there never has been and is not any other deity unto whom we may liken Him. In the wide world’s Parthenon, in the long muster-roll of deities, there is none to be compared with the Christian’s God. The highest ideals are but human conceptions and imperfect: the best of them are but one-sided personifications, and represent one cardinal grace or virtue; the worst of them are personifications of some degrading lust. And this gives us a striking view of the divinity working in heathendom, that the worshipper is often superior to the deity adored. Conscience asserts its power, and the devotee rises above the deity before whom he prostrates in devotion. The written law has stronger force than the personified lust or passion. The gods of the heathen worked towards moral destruction; and the legal writing on human hearts was that saving force which interrupted the process and prevented complete moral ruin.
II. The Gentiles show the works of the law written in their hearts by the strivings of the many.—Moral darkness has covered the earth; but through that darkness we catch gleams of moral light, and those gleams are the strivings of many of our race after nobler things. If there had not been such strivings, we should have beheld the race sinking deeper and deeper into moral corruption, and bringing upon our planet a catastrophe which the waters of a deluge would not have repaired. We may suppose that the world’s lowest moral state was at the time of the Deluge; but even then a Noah appeared who was not only found striving after righteousness, but had attained to righteousness and was a preacher of the same all his days. Our planet has presented no such miserable moral spectacle, either before or since the period of the Deluge. Men, in spite of lust, passion, pride, and ambition, are found in all countries reaching up above their surroundings towards the pure realm of infinite moralities. The feverish restlessness of humanity speaks to us of a written law in the heart and the workings of a divine conscience. There is an infinite discontent and dissatisfaction in the soul of man which is full of moral significance. It points both inward and upward—inward to the divinely constituted nature of man, and upward to the divine Being whose claims must be met and in whose Son must be realised spiritual repose. Men hear within themselves the voice of conscience, but do not give sufficient attention so as carefully to catch the words that are spoken.
III. The Gentiles show the work of the law in their hearts by the attainments of the few.—It could not be argued from the achievements of a Shakespeare that all men might become great poets and dramatists, from the mathematical grasp of a Newton that all might become mathematicians; but surely it is legitimate to infer from the lofty achievements of one master-mind the large possibilities of other minds. The wide expansion of one mind tells of the possibility of development of others. In the heathen world, as also in the Christian world, the men have been comparatively few who have given practical expression to the belief that in the world there is nothing great but man, in man there is nothing great but mind, and in mind there is nothing great but the moral. Still, there have been such men. It will not do for us to lay the flattering unction to our souls that there is no goodness outside the Christian religion. While we believe that Christianity has raised the morality of the world to a higher tone and given the highest example of spiritual perfection in the person of its Founder, we must not lose sight of the noble names of Socrates, Solon, Plato, and Aristotle. Defective, no doubt, they were in many aspects of their characters and their conduct; but they were in advance of their times, and speak of a divine law written in human hearts. It is indeed wonderful how glimpses of moral truth are given by heathen writers; and we can only account for them on the supposition that the divine hand has been writing and that conscience has been working. The Orphic mysteries seem to have contained the assertion of two deep ideas—the immortality of the soul, and impurity of sin, which required expiation. Historical evidence goes to show that the broad distinctions between crime and virtue have always been marked. Homer is not without morality, though it is uninfluenced by a future life. It is noteworthy that Hesiod contains the same figure to represent virtue and vice which was afterwards consecrated in the mouth of Christ: “The road to vice may easily be travelled by crowds, for it is smooth, and she dwells close at hand. But the path of virtue is steep and difficult, and the gods have ordained that only by toil can she be reached.” It is the steep and difficult pathway of virtue which repels the many from the effort to gain the glorious summit.
IV. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by their reception of the divine interpretation and exposition.—When the preacher of the divine law goes to the heathen, he finds in their nature a response to his message, and this response may act in different directions. Some of the heathen accept the message because it is the interpretation of the law written in their hearts; or others reject the message, not because the revealed law does not harmonise with the law written in the heart, but because a lower nature asserts an ascendency, and then, either to justify rejection or to fortify in a wrong course, they persecute the messenger and seek to obliterate traces of the revealed law The very wrath of the adherents of false doctrine, when the truth is proclaimed, declares in most cases that the true doctrine is that which correctly interprets the symbolic writing on their hearts. If we hold the truth and are confident that we have the truth, why should rage possess our natures when a messenger comes to upset our beliefs? Our confidence in the truth may cause us to look complacently at the efforts of those who come to change our beliefs.
V. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by the witness of conscience.—A man differs from a machine in this: that the one has a law in itself—is moved, as Aristotle would say, κατὰ λόγον; the other is moved μετὰ λόγον, has a law both in and for himself. Now conscience, which is more than mere consciousness, testifies to the presence of that law, interprets, and gives it force. Conscience bears witness to the right, gives emphasis to the ought, and leaves without excuse. Conscience existed before philosophies of right and wrong, taught moral lessons, and led to some strivings after propriety of conduct. The pre-existence of conscience is supposed by the post-existence of moral philosophies. Instinctive acts of nobleness arise from the instinctive promptings of conscience. Plato’s sentence cannot be upheld, that “without philosophy there is no morality.” The presence and practice of morality declare a philosophic spirit and temperament; but Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, who were highly moral, would not be classed as belonging to any philosophical school. They would not be referred to as authorities on the questions which disturb the schools—as to the nature of the concrete and the abstract, as to nature or the non-existent, as to whether there can be either not-being or being. Morality arises, not from the scholastic philosophies, but from the deeper philosophy of conscience bearing witness to the work of the law written in the heart. Conscience bears witness to the divine writing in human nature. If the Gentiles had no witnessing conscience, then apostles and missionaries have no ground of appeal.
VI. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by their moral reasonings.—These reasonings are not exemplifications of any logical method. Their thoughts, their moral reflections, are at one time accusing and at another time excusing. Shall we suppose them engaged in the intricate process of distinguishing between right and wrong? Shall we not rather picture the Gentile nature as a court where moral questions are being discussed? The conscience is both witness and judge. The thoughts are as so many advocates, some pleading for and others pleading against, either accusing or excusing. Shall we not still rather consider that the thoughts of the Gentiles accuse when wrong has been done, and excuse when right has been either attempted or performed? There is such a process going on in human nature. In some the process is carried on with clearness, and in others with a certain vagueness. How sad that accusing voices should have reason most constantly to be heard! Yet sadder still if self-righteousness prevents the accusing voices from being properly heard, and excusing voices, in the sense perhaps not meant by the apostle, only are allowed to make themselves heard!
1. Let us beware lest the heathen rise up in judgment against us. How little was their light! How great is ours!
2. Let us not tamper with conscience, for God knows, and will judge the secrets of men.
3. Let the upbraidings of conscience drive us by repentance and faith unto Jesus Christ.
4. The doers of the law are justified before God. We cannot be justified by the law of the carnal commandment; let us find refuge in the higher law of love.
5. If we fear the approach of the day when God shall judge, let us seek for that perfect love in and by Christ which casteth out all fear.
6. The voice of the law speaks trouble to the conscience. The voice of “my gospel,” of “the gospel of God,” speaks peace by Jesus Christ to every believing soul; therefore let us cleave above all things to the gospel.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_2:13-16
Law written on the heart.—The Greek poet Sophocles speaks of “the unwritten and indelible laws of the gods” in the hearts of men; and the Platonic philosopher Plutarch speaks of “a law which is not outwardly written in books, but implanted in the heart of man.”
Conversion does not impart new faculties.—Bishop Sanderson says that Paul teaches in this verse that “every man, however unholy, has a conscience, though depraved; and that at the fall of man conscience itself was not lost, but its rectitude and integrity were impaired; and that, when we are born again in baptism, we do not receive the infusion of another conscience, but our conscience, which was before unclean, is washed by the blood of Christ, and is cleansed by faith and is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, in order that it may please God.” In regeneration the man does not receive the infusion of any new qualities. After conversion men possess the same characteristics as they did before the spiritual change had taken place. They obtain new affections, likes, and desires; but they do not receive a power of loving, liking, and desiring which they did not before possess. After conversion they both will and perform the thing which is good: but before conversion the power of volition was present, and also in a degree the power of performance; but it was weak—so weak that it could not overcome the counteracting forces. If a man had by some spiritual process to be remade before he could become a Christian, then how could it be possible, in justice, for him to be accounted a responsible agent? The unconverted heathen have a written law and a witnessing conscience and moral reasonings, and they must act up to their light, and by these must they be judged. And what will be their condition in the future it is not for us to determine. The great question is, not what will become of the heathen, but what will become of us—are we acting according to our increased light and enlarged opportunities? The Gentiles “show the work of the law written in their hearts.” This expression may be taken from the fact that the law of the ten commandments was written on tables of stone. It is a proper expression to represent the impression made by the Creator upon the moral nature of the creature. A thing written is impressed. The hand of God writes upon the heart of man as He writes upon the material creation. The writing is symbolical, but its meaning is plain enough for all practical purposes.
An accusing conscience.—An accusing conscience tells us for what we were designed, that we were made morally in the image and likeness of God, from what we have fallen, and to what depths of depravity we have sunk. Thus it declares our littleness, as we consider our noble resolves, our lofty purposes, our high-born ambitions; and yet our weak performances—our miserable failures to reach the goal to which our virtuous longings point. How sadly often when we would do good evil is present with us! We fall to the doing of iniquity with fatal propensity. Thus conscience indicates our greatness as we contemplate the strife between good and evil which is being waged in the arena of a man’s soul. We are very far from believing the doctrine that the greatest battles are unseen, the mightiest conquests unbloody, and that moral victors are the greatest heroes. Historians make no account of the battle-fields where moral conflicts are waged; but long after the historian’s busy pen has ceased its wizardry, his powerful brain is blended with the common dust, his thrilling pages have perished as the shrivelled parchment scroll, and his Marathons, Thermopylæ, and other scenes of warlike glory have been swept into oblivion, the victories achieved by moral heroes will endure. Soul conflicts are the mightiest, as often they are the severest. Spiritual warfare is the most wonderful, as it is the most mysterious. What a world is that unseen realm where good and evil are engaged in fierce encounter! An accusing conscience is the inward trumpeter that summons the nobler powers to the battle. Alas that ofttimes the trumpet blast falls as it were upon the ears of dead men, and the forces in the town of Mansoul do not muster to the defence! How blessed is it when the trumpet voice is heard and obeyed! Sometimes the believer is depressed as he feels within himself the agony caused by the strife between the good and the evil. He may ask, How is it that there is all this strife, agony, and conflict if my citizenship is in heaven? But strife speaks of life. Dead men do not fight. Dead powers in the soul do not engage in battle. It is as the powers of the soul are awake to the love of the beautiful and the good, and are desirous of being clothed with virtuous qualities, that they contend for the mastery over evil. The more spiritual life there is in the soul, the more feeling will there be in the conscience. The prickings of conscience are painful, but they tell of a living soul. A condemning heart sends agony through the frame, but it declares vitality. A man may even take courage when conscience accuses. All sin brings its punishment in its measure. The wages of sin is death, but not death to the conscience. Sometimes it seems as if the greater the death of the spiritual nature, the greater the life of conscience. Oh, how it darts its awful pangs! How wonderful its constitution! We speak of burying the past; but conscience will not allow the past to be buried. It seems to have lain dormant for years, and then it speaks, and we cannot account for the utterance. No outward circumstances, no laws of association, appear to account for the fact that conscience has spoken to our condemnation. A guilty conscience who can endure? “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” The Good Physician alone has balm with which to heal the wounded spirit.
“O conscience! into what abyss of fears
And horrors hast thou driven me; out of which
I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!”
Milton.
Darwin himself admits that, of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important.
Self-conscious personality of man.—The bearing of this upon conscience is clear. The Scripture doctrine of man first of all affirms that view of his physical and ethical nature which we have been endeavouring to show is the only one borne out by facts. The self-conscious and self-determining personality of man is an essential part of the divine nature in man. As Dr. Pope says, this element is “essential and indestructible,” while there is a sense in which the image of God in its moral lineaments was “accidental and a missible,” lost in the Fall, and not utterly lost only because redemption intervened. Such a being, however, it is clear, possesses moral capacity, being raised above the circle of nature, and moving in the region of self-consciousness and self-government, and he is prepared by the very constitution of his nature to “know good and evil,” not only after the tempter’s way, through disobedience and yielding to evil, but after God’s way, through free choice of the good. In this brief but significant description of man’s original nature lies the germ of the whole Scripture doctrine of conscience.—W. T. Davidson.
In the Gentile heart a real judgment hall.—How can one help admiring here, on the one hand, the subtle analysis whereby the apostle discloses in the Gentile heart a real judgment hall where witnesses are heard for and against, then the sentence of the judge; and, on the other hand, that largeness of heart with which, alter drawing so revolting a picture of the moral deformities of Gentile life, he brings into view in as striking a way the indestructible moral elements, the evidences of which are sometimes irresistibly presented here by this so deeply sunken life!—Godet.
Two principles of justification.—Here we are assured that the “doers of the law shall be justified”; and yet, in the subsequent part of the epistle, it is proved in the most convincing manner that “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” It is obvious that these different passages must refer to different things, otherwise the one would be contradictory of the other. And that they refer to two different principles of justification—the one held by the Jews and heathen, the other laid down in the gospel—cannot be doubted by any person who considers the argument. In the passage before us the apostle speaks of men being justified on the Christian principle, not by a perfect obedience, entitling them to it as matter of justice, but by the righteousness of faith, which God will of His own free mercy accept, and in virtue of the atoning death of Christ follow with everlasting life. When he says that by the deeds of the law “there shall no flesh be justified,” he speaks of the principle of justification implied in the law of nature and relied on by all who rejected the gospel—a justification depending entirely on men’s own actions, requiring an unvarying obedience to the whole law without the least failure, and thus entitling a man to be justified as a matter of right, the conditions being fulfilled on which the attainment of it was originally made to depend. It is this species of justification which he tells us no flesh living can attain—a truth which no person who considers the matter can doubt. These passages, therefore, are entirely compatible with one another; but they relate to different things, and each of them states with perfect correctness the truth in relation to the subject to which it applies. This passage teaches us, first, that in the great day of the Lord our most secret thoughts and actions will be judged by Him who is appointed Judge of the quick and dead. And if we should be afraid or ashamed to have some passages of our life laid open, let this incite us to watch with more circumspection over our dispositions and conduct. It teaches us further that they are not the hearers but the doers of the law who shall be justified. Now we enjoy the knowledge of the divine law in as perfect a degree as it can be enjoyed by man. Does our conduct correspond with our knowledge? This is the important and trying question which it becomes all of us to investigate with the most rigid impartiality. And if we find, as unquestionably will be the case, that our conduct has been in many respects unsuitable to our knowledge, let the discovery incite us to redouble our diligence in the work of the Lord, that so being justified by faith we may have peace with God and the hope of obtaining eternal life.—Ritchie.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Rom_2:13. Caracci, the famous artist.—Caracci, the famous artist, while discoursing on the splendours of the ancient sculptures, and especially of the Laocoon, reproached his brother because he did not appear to be paying the slightest attention. When he had finished his description, his brother took a piece of charcoal and drew the statue as if it had been before him. Caracci in astonishment confessed that his brother had taken the most effectual way to show the beauties of the famous sculpture. “Poets paint with words, and the painter with works,” was the reply. The Christian must be a doer as well as hearer of the word.
Rom_2:13. Ariosto and his house.—Ariosto built himself a small house, and on being asked by a friend how he, who had described palaces in Orlando, could be content with so humble a dwelling, replied, “Words are cheaper than stones.” God does not want fictitious words, but living stones, holy deeds.
Rom_2:13. The conscience ring.—How beautifully was the office of conscience set forth in the ring which, according to an Eastern tale, a great magician presented to his prince! The gift was of inestimable value, not for the diamonds and rubies and pearls that gemmed it, but for a rare and mystic property in the metal. It sat easily enough in ordinary circumstances, but so soon as its wearer formed a bad thought or wish, designed or concocted a bad action, the ring became a monitor. Suddenly contracting, it pressed painfully on the finger, warning him of sin. The ring of that fable is just that conscience which is the voice of God within us, which is His law written on the fleshly tablets of the heart. We all know that the word “conscience” comes from con and scie; but what does that con intend? “Conscience” is not merely that which I know, but that which I know with some other; for this prefix cannot, as I think, be esteemed superfluous, or taken to imply merely that which I know with or to myself. That other knower whom the word implies is God.
Rom_2:14-15. Conscience the oracle of God.—Joseph Cook says that “conscience is the compass of the unknown.” Epigrams are apt to be misleading. Can it be said that conscience is the compass of God? Does He require a method of measurement? May it not rather be said that conscience is our compass, if it be enlightened by the Holy Spirit and the word of God. The Gentiles have a conscience, but it is not always a properly regulated instrument of measurement. It points out a wrong and a right, but does not always say correctly which is wrong and which is right. It is the voice of God, but requires tuning.
“Yet still there whispers the small voice within,
Heard through God’s silences, and o’er glory’s din:
Whatever creed be taught, or land be trod,
Man’s conscience is the oracle of God.”
Byron.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv12–14 12. “For so many as sinned without law, shall…
12. “For so many as sinned without law, shall also perish without law; while those who sinned under the law, shall be judged by the law.” From this verse we find there will be three distinct varieties of judgment in the great day. The heathens will not be judged by the Bible, but simply by the laws of nature, the light of conscience and the Holy Ghost. The old Jews will be judged by the Old Testament only, while all who have enjoyed the light of Christendom will be judged by the whole Bible. Hence many heathens will be acquitted and saved whose moral lives have not measured up to the stature of many nominal Christians who will go down under condemnation, because the former walked in all the light they had and the latter did not. Hence we see an infinite diversity of judgments in that great and notable day of the Lord.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv12–16 For as many as have sinned without the law…
For as many as have sinned without the law [Gentiles] shall also perish without the law [i. e., without being judged by the expressed terms of the law]: and as many as have sinned under the law [the Jews] shall be judged by the law [i. e., his conduct shall be weighed by the terms of it, and his punishment shall be according to its directions. Thus the Gentiles, having the lesser light of nature, and the Jews, having the greater light of revelation, were alike sinners. By his altars, sacrifices, etc., the Gentile showed that nature's law smote his conscience as truly as the clear, expressed letter of the Mosaic precept condemned the Jew. Thus both Jew and Gentile were condemned to perish; i. e., to receive the opposite of salvation, as outlined in Rom_2:7 ];
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv12–13 Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
sinned
Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul continues to let the reader know that perfect obedience to God's law is required even for those who never had God's law.
Read full note →
For
Verses 14 and 15 interrupt Paul's main argument to give the reader extra information. If you have a way to mark an interruption like this in your language, you can use it here.
it is not the hearers of the law
Here "the law" refers to the law of Moses. AT: "it is not those who only hear the law of Moses" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
who are righteous before God
"whom God considers righteous"
but it is the doers of the law
"but it is those who obey the law of Moses"
who will be justified
You can translate this in an active form. AT: "whom God will accept" (See: Active or Passive)
Gentiles, who do not have the law ... are a law to themselves
The phrase "law to themselves" is an idiom that means that these people naturally obey God's laws. AT: "have God's laws already inside them" (See: Idiom)
they do not have the law
Here "the law" refers to the law of Moses." AT: "they do not actually have the laws that God gave to Moses" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
law
righteous
just
Gentile
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 13, 14, 16 2:12 destroyed: This common New Testament word describes the…
2:12 destroyed: This common New Testament word describes the fate of the wicked after death (see also 9:22; 14:15; 1 Cor 1:18; 15:18; 2 Cor 2:15; 4:3; Phil 1:28; 3:19; 2 Thes 2:10; 1 Tim 6:9). Condemned sinners do not cease to exist, but they suffer eternal punishment, which includes the everlasting destruction of all good in their identity and experience. • the Jews, who do have God’s law: The Jews were given the law of Moses, while the Gentiles never had God’s written law. In the New Testament period, Jews emphasized their possession of the law as a mark of God’s favor and even as a guarantee of salvation.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.