“For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:12–16, ESV)
All of us, Jew and Gentile alike are at the defendants’ table in the court room. But are we all to be judged by the same standard? After all, don’t the Jews have an advantage? They have the Law of Moses, after all. Hasn’t God, in a sense, given them the answers before the test? Jew and Gentile may be at the same defendants’ table in the courtroom, but to claim that God is an impartial judge when he’s given an advantage to one group prior to the judgment seems a stretch. Yet this is precisely what Paul does claim.
Yes, it’s true; the Jews have the Law of Moses. So by what standard will they be judged? On the basis of that same Law. But the Gentiles are not without any standard of judgment. Their own hearts have a basic awareness of right and wrong. When they stand in the judgment seat, their own hearts and consciences will be sufficient to bring condemnation. It seems both Jew and Gentile have enough rope to hang themselves.
There remains this theoretical possibility Paul keeps hinting at that people can (again, theoretically) be justified by fulfilling the requirements of the Law. We will find, as Paul’s argument progresses, that he doesn’t believe anyone (save Christ alone) can actually meet that standard. But here Paul makes it plain that this theoretical possibility is equally true for both Jew and Gentile. Any Jew who fulfills the Law in all he does will be justified on the basis of those works in the final judgment. Any Gentile who can stand before this same Judge without his own heart and conscience accusing him will also be justified. Theoretically possible. Highly unlikely.
We should again remind ourselves of what Paul made clear in the previous section. The Judge is merciful. If we will come with soft and repentant hearts, we may just find that he’s made provision for both the satisfaction of his justice and the expression of his love and mercy.
2 Comments
I love the imagery that this Scripture brings to my mind. I have been thinking lately about God being a just Judge. About Him being a Law maker and a Law abider. About His creativity in providing a solution before there was a problem for falling short of the very Law He created but knew we could not keep. About Jesus.
I love that God thought of every excuse He knew we would use to justify our missing the mark. He really has thought of everything! There are no excuses or surprises.
The idea of plea bargaining in today’s court of law must have been inspired by Jesus! I am so grateful for the merciful judge He is.
Thanks again, Alan, for your insight. Again, your dissection of Scripture and your ability to see the forest and the trees enlightens me!
The preambleThere seems to exist between the ground swell of Messianic believers a feeling! These new believers, who for the most part, keep the precepts and statutes of Torah as a way of life much better than the church at large have great trouble reconciling their new faith with the life style what they view as the catholic church universal. As “unsaved” Jews, they lived in more perfect obedience to the Law than what they see most believers to live. What is the meaning of this? Are they as individuals to become Goya in lifestyle in order to Accept this New Life. Common sense would say NO! Answer must be for the church to become more “Righteous in the daily life!”
Response to Romans 2:12-16
The law and grace, the before and after.
The law and grace, the before and after. Two very different paradigm. The before always carries a load of guilt and shame, different for each but really similar for each; person to person. Each day, a day of judgment and by implication of failure, as the law was sent only to provide a target for living and by it’s existence a d-facto contra part to the “agreement” between God and his people by which He provided the Blessings of Obedience. The if then conditional provided that all who “opted-in” would obtain the Blessing and those who did not did not qualify for the “if-then conditional.” Deut 28:1-2 notes that all who “observed to do the law” would obtain the blessing. In a careful reading one is not required perfect obedience , but only perfect “listening with the intent of obeying.” The significance of this is simply that it was not about the body obeying the Law, but about the heart condition and the process of observing to do. Provision was made for imperfect and incomplete obedience in the annual Day of Covering or Yom Kippur. This whole dynamic set up a day to day; even a minute to minute series of acts of self judgment.
Grace
The contrast of Grace sets up a similar series of periodic self judgments in the dynamic of the “if-then conditional;” the difference is that with the Grace we have a added feature that all incomplete performance was “forgiven-released,” some two thousand years ago. This leaves a different atmosphere. The new one is one of success as opposed to failure. This new atmosphere provides great Freedom to live in a dimension of success that when observed by those under the old provision (The Law) might become jealous, desiring such freedom to live and walk in the law with out the weight of guilt, and the stumbling block this guilt becomes.
What to Do?
Trouble is: how many rally walk in this freedom. How many even consider that the precepts of the Law have not changed only the judgment for non-performance?
Conclusion
Just for today, I volunteer to walk in the Right way, to keep as much of the Torah as I can. Where I miss it, I now plead the merits obtained by the Blood Yeshua shed in the process of enduring the Cross and all that it Cost!