A Law Unto Themselves

2014-04-04

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; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Romans 2:12-16)

Previously, we saw how those who had access to God’s Law were judged, because someone had to keep the whole law to escape the judgment of God. We concluded that the Law should be seen as a spiritual thermometer rather than a panacea from spiritual death, showing us our sin rather than healing us.

Starting in Romans 2:13, we see that those without the Law have no free pass. It tells us that when the Gentile, ignorant of the Law of Moses, does (or does not do) something contained in the Law they “are a law unto themselves.” There is an intrinsic knowledge of good and evil that began with Adam’s first bite of the fruit in Genesis 3:6.

People today, whether Christian or not, will not all agree on what is good and what is evil. But everyone does agree that there is good and evil; there is that which is right, and that which is wrong. (Some may disagree with that statement, but you could easily show them otherwise. What if they themselves were tortured without mercy and without any cause?) Where did we get this knowledge of right and wrong? This knowledge of good and evil implies there is an object standard of good and evil, whether or not we agree what that standard is. There is a law principle in our innermost being, and our consciences confirm it. This is what Romans 2:14 is talking about.

Whether it is God’s authority in his Law, or whether by our own intrinsic law in our heart, we do two things with it: we accuse or we excuse each other and ourselves.

Using the concordance built into E-Sword (a great free digital Bible!), these seem to be legal terms. This makes sense, since we are talking about laws! The “accusing” is to be a plaintiff, while the “excusing” is to give a defense. We can judge other people by the Law. So-and-so doesn’t do this, so he is not righteous, not saved, and I am better than him. We have seen this earlier in this chapter. Christians do this. I do this. People who think they mean well do this. As you can see, it is foolishness.

But the flipside is that people use it to defend themselves, with the same reasoning above. You are not as righteous as me, because I do all of this stuff and you have failed to do so. This is also foolish. Remember Romans 2:1-6, which we discussed recently. We judge according to the Law or the principle of law in our hearts, but we ourselves fall very short of whatever standard we have chosen. Everyone does it. You may not even be religious, and you have done this. You may even be a Christian; you have done this, too. It is human nature to do this, and elicits the future wrath of God (Romans 2:5).

No matter what, all will be judged by the law, and even the things we thought were secret will be exposed and judged (Romans 2:16).