Romans 2:12-16 (NIV)
All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
Here Paul is attacking the common Jewish belief that to be born of a Jewish mother was enough to put a person squarely into the fold of God’s chosen people. Many rabbis taught that ultimately it was more important to be of the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to be circumcised than to be meticulous about all the fine points of the law.
But Paul, who at one point prided himself on being a “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5), had come to know the truth first voiced by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:9). When we deal with God, genealogy is not enough to save or condemn a person. Instead, it is obedience to God’s commands and alignment with His character that count.
If a gentile, one who has not received the written law given through Moses, sins by actions that are contrary to what God has written in their conscience, that sin utterly condemns them. At the same time, if a Jewish person, one who has received the law, sins by violating either his or her conscience or the clear commands in the law, that sin condemns them just as utterly as the gentile’s sin; genealogy has no effect.
This applies to those in the Church as well, which is why Paul includes the argument in his letter to the Christians in Rome, Christians who had come from both Jewish and gentile backgrounds. Jesus has left us many commands of His own as well as the Ten Commandments and some other parts of the law that He especially emphasized. He commands us to diligently teach these things He commanded to new believers (Matthew 28:20), to obey them ourselves as a sign of the love and devotion we have for Jesus (John 14:15.
In this paragraph, Paul gives a very clear definition of righteousness. It is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. John uses this same definition in 1 John 3:7, and it is the basis for using what people have done as the basis for their final judgment (Revelation 20:12-13).
Notice that Paul has high regard for the human conscience. He understood that God had put into people’s hearts an instinctive understanding of right and wrong, so that people, even gentiles and pagans, are without excuse when they violate it. The conscience can be ignored, suppressed, and ultimately seared so that it insensitive and silent through disobedience and rebellion (1 Timothy 4:2).
Paul is not saying that it is possible for someone to be saved and live a sin-free life purely on the basis of conscience. That would contradict his statement in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned, either through violating the written law or violating the law in their conscience. Salvation always requires faith in Jesus. But he is saying that in matters of obedience, the Jews are not given a pass because of who they are, or because they know that law. Instead, they are just as condemned by their disobedience as the gentiles.
Father, it is an easy error to fall into, even in the Church. It is not enough to have a heritage among the “pillars of the Church”, or to have Your word in the Bible, or even to read Your word. To be considered righteous by You we must live in obedience to Your word. Thankfully, when You live in our hearts by the presence of the Holy Spirit, You can enable us to live exactly that kind of obedient life so that we can be genuinely righteous in Your sight. Thank You for this amazing knowledge. Amen.