The Law Written in Their Hearts (Romans 2:12-15)

2023-12-04

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;) (Romans 2:12-15)

Our built-in conscience is an indicator of God’s existence. He placed it there to lead us to Himself. Apart from the grace found in our Lord Jesus Christ, we would be judged by God’s law because within us, there is a concept of right and wrong. We commend ourselves when we do right, and when we do wrong according to this inner standard, we find some excuse as to why we did wrong.

Reading C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, he spoke to some detail concerning this, calling it the Law of Nature. We hold others to a preconceived standard, but when we violate that standard, we find some excuse as to why we broke this law. Unlike other laws, like gravitation, we have a choice whether to obey this inner law.

This standard, while having minor differences from person to person and culture to culture, overall this inner-standard is mostly the same. Lewis used examples such as no culture ever having the virtue of running away from battle or betraying people who were kind to you. Even though we may say that our standard of righteousness is better than another’s standard, we are appealing that there is a perfect standard. We recognize there is a Standard, but that standard is distinct from ours and the others we compare ours to. As Lewis says, “The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other. But the standard that measures two things is something different from either.” There is a real objective right and wrong.

I wrote elsewhere of the Yanomami tribal group that strongly believed in reciprocity. They would revenge all that wronged them. To a degree we all naturally want to do this. We are holding others to some standard, and when they wrong us according to that standard, we go on the offensive. When we wrong others, we excuse ourselves. This is some of what is meant when we read, “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.”

This built-in conscience condemns us, and furthermore, the Lord Himself brings attention to it. “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:3).

The never-ending consciousness of sin is one of the things that must be dealt with. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22). Our conscience becomes clean because we know that Jesus Christ received the penalty for our sins on the cross. We are no longer condemned. This causes us to turn from a life of shame and sin. The Spirit within leads us to righteousness that was pronounced upon us.

This “Law of Nature” is something instilled in us by God as a tool to lead us to the Savior as much as the Law of Moses does. Come to Christ for a clean conscience and a new life.