ROMANS 2: 12-16
GOD'S UNIVERSALLY KNOWN STANDARD
[James 1:22-24 / Galatians 1: 6-12]
The principle stated in Romans 2:11 that "there is no partiality with God" would shock the Jews. They considered themselves worthy of special treatment by God. Does God's impartiality exclude His taking into account the varying degrees of spiritual light to which people have been exposed?
In reference to the judgment of God what did having the law mean for the Jews? What did lack of access to the law of Moses mean for the Gentiles? Could the Jews expect preferential treatment for having it? Or could the Gentiles plead special consideration for not having it? The conclusion the Bible gives is all have inner knowledge of God's law (CIT) and some have the added blessing and responsibility of the external law. It is not so much which law you have, the one written in everyone's inner being or the one written in God's Word, but how you live in light of what law you have. That law is the one by which you will be judged. Since all have broken God's law, be it the internal or external law, all deserve to be condemned.
I. SIN MEASURED, 12-13.
II. II. SENSED & SHOWN INSTINCTIVELY, 14-15.
III. SECRETS JUDGED, 16.
Now remember Paul's intention in the first part of this letter is to show the responsibility and guilt of all men to verify that all deserve God's punishment for sin. The lack of the law or provision of the law is not the problem, the issue is sin as is seen in verse 12. "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;"
The Law meant here is the Mosaic Law, the written direction of God revealed for our obedience and joy. The punishment for those who have sinned without the law will be assigned without reference to the external Law. Though these sinners are to be condemned they are to be treated less severely than those who enjoyed the full revelation of God. The law brought greater blessing if you obeyed its statutes, but you also deserved greater punishment if you refused obedience to it (Luke 12: 47 & 48; Amos 3:2).
The word perish is ยต - "unloosen, destroy, turn loose from." The fact that they are sinners that will perish is a very important statement. The heathen are lost not because they do not keep the Mosaic Law but because they do not keep the inner law they do have.
The driving force of the argument is verse 13. "For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified."
The Law was read in homes and synagogues for centuries but virtue is not bestowed if only hear the truth, but because obedience the truth (Lev. 18:5; Deut. 27:26). Mere acknowledgment or acceptance that it is true or is God's law does not justify the hearers. The Law made the knowledge of the will of God more complete, but mental or intellectual knowledge alone does not save or justify. Just because a person has been blessed to hear the law and agree it is right does not automatically make them righteous. Only those who put into practice what they hear become righteous. We will learn later that no one "will be justified" (a legal term meaning free from condemnation; vindicated) by works of Law unless they have kept it perfectly. All of man's false hopes are being dashed.
James (1:22-25) also contrasts the hearers from the doers of the Word of God. We too can hear God's Word and even agree that it is correct, but that alone will not sanctify us. We must obey God's Word if it is to change us.
II. SENSED & SHOWN INSTINCTIVELY, 14-15.
Verse 14 teaches that God forged within each person a standard or law. "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves,"
"Not having the Law" again means the external Law of Moses, the Torah. No Gentile will be held responsible for light they did not have but they will be judged on the basis of the revelation God has given them. What revelation from God do all people have? All people instinctively know right and wrong. Instinctively means "without external prompting, a disposition or understanding rising out of man's inner nature" (Gal. 4:8; Eph. 2:3). It is a moral sense that is part of man's original constitution or make-up and not the result of education.
Additionally the Bible says men are a law to themselves. God has created within mankind an inner sense of duty they know they are to obey. God implanted this inner law of right and wrong and duty within every person formed within the mother's womb.
There are moral and ethical requirements that are generally recognize and honored by people. If you traveled around the world you would find evidence in every society and culture of God's moral law. For example all cultures prohibit murder, [and yet in all societies that law has been broken]. It is natural or part of man's natural make-up or part of God's created order.
Why does a criminal justice system exist, or laws concerning divorce, non-Christian benevolent organizations, the desire for honesty in government and business, or that debts should be paid, or parents honored? All men show or have shown by their actions that they know right and wrong and by nature do the things of the law.
Gentiles then "are a law unto themselves." They have in their very nature a rule of duty, a knowledge of what is right and a sense of obligation to it. An absence among animals of moral acts shows they have little sense of right and wrong (survival of the fittest). They are under no moral law. So the performance of such acts by men shows they have a law written on their hearts.
[People who reject ABSOLUTE STANDARDS of right and wrong are often inconsistent. When they think they are being treated unfairly, they appeal to a standard of justice to which they expect everyone to adhere.
A philosophy professor began each new term by asking his class, "Do you believe it can be shown that there are absolute values like justice?" The free-thinking students all argued that everything is relative and no single law can be applied universally. Before the end of the semester, the professor devoted one class period to debate the issue. At the end, he concluded,
"Regardless of what you think, I want you to know that absolute values can be demonstrated. And if you don't accept what I say, I'll flunk you!" One angry student got up and insisted, "That's not fair!" "You've just proved my point," replied the professor. "You've appealed to a higher standard of fairness."
God has given everyone a conscience to tell right from wrong, and His moral standards are written in the Bible. Every time we use the words good and bad, we imply a standard by which we make such judgments. Biblical values are true for any age, because they originate with an eternal, unchanging God. And only God has the right to define what's wrong. [Dennis De Haan- Our Daily Bread]
Within humanity there is an undeniable rudimentary moral sense that verse 15 proclaims is written in human hearts. "In that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,"
Why do Gentiles instinctively do the law and know the law is right and feel guilty when they break it? Because God has written His law on their hearts and their conscience brings it to bear on their thoughts. "The work of the law written in the heart" is that it is a guide for the witness of the conscience or "rightness." The conscience of a man at times pronounces moral judgment upon himself (though if abused or left unattended it will function faulty). He knows he has done wrong, he knows himself a sinner. Everyone that who has lived, at some point in time, has known themselves a sinner.
God has written His moral laws that govern life and living in every heart. Man hardens his heart in order to silence the voice of his conscience. Someone has said that guilt is the SMOKE DETECTOR with which God has equipped us. It sets off an inner alarm when the smoke of moral wrong seeps into our conscience. Smoke detectors are nerve- racking when they go off. The noise is unlike any other sound around the house. It shocks us. It grates on the nerves. It pierces the eardrums. But then, that's what a smoke detector is designed to do. It warns of possible danger. But there are ways to head off that unnerving sound. A battery can be taken out. A wire can be disconnected. A circuit breaker can be thrown or a fuse removed. As with a smoke detector, some succeed in disconnecting their guilt mechanism. A person will eventually feel no guilt at all if he continues to ignore the alarm of his conscience and burn out his sin warning mechanism.
Every man also knows within himself when he is headed in the right direction, the way God would have him go. And if he follows it he will be lead to Jesus Christ. The heart, or the mind, will, and emotions, along with the natural order of creation, and the inherent knowledge of God are avenues through which God reveal Himself to individuals and the pagan world (Romans 1:20, 21, 28, 32; Ps. 19:1-4; Acts 17: 26-28).
There is a story of an ORIENTAL PRINCE who received from a magician a ring set with diamonds, rubies, and pearls. "This ring" said the magician, "has more value than the beautiful gems with which it is adorned. You will discover that it has a rare and mystic property." The prince soon found that whenever he had a bad thought or committed an evil action, the ring would press painfully on his finger.
Thank God Such a ring is not the exclusive property of kings. The poorest of us may posses this inestimable jewel, for the ring in the fable is like the conscience within us when we do wrong.
III. SECRETS JUDGED, 16.
Verse 16 proclaims that on the last day God will reveal the hidden recesses of human hearts and judge them accordingly. "On the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus."
"On the day when," indicates the day of judgment. If a man heard the Mosaic Law he will be judged as one responsible for responding to the Mosaic Law. If he did not, he will be judged as one responsible for responding to the moral law written on his heart. No matter what law it is, the Mosaic or the internal law of man a person sins against, he is a transgressor and deserves to be treated as a transgressor. Based on these principles laid down in Chapter 2, NO PERSON CAN EXPECT TO BE JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD.
The judgment will deal with men's secrets (literally, the hidden things of men). The secrets are men's thoughts, motivations, words, actions, and the knowledge each one possesses of God within their hearts. On that day the proof of man's conscience bearing witness and condemning their own thoughts and actions will be made clear, brought to light. Paul says that this is according to his gospel. Does that mean that there are many gospels or many interpretations of the gospel? Does that mean that everyone should have their own interpretation about the Gospel and that their interpretation is right for them? Let us read Galatians 1: 6-12.
The agent of divine judgment is Jesus Christ. He is the one who will judge men's hearts and actions according to God's standard of righteousness. The God that knows what goes on in the secret places will reveal all and we will stand condemned (1 Cor. 4:5; Mt. 25: 31-36; Jn. 5:22; Acts 17:31; 2 Cor. 5:10).
[Although man's guilt will be established by the law, judgment will be rendered through JC. There is no judgment apart from the gospel. In His inscrutable wisdom (11 :33) God will judge men's secret only through Christ, who in perfect love satisfied God's exacting justice. 'Thus, in the midst of humanity's dire condition and inescapable guilt, we find grace. The Judge who brings charges against us is the same Judge who saves all those who call upon Him in truth.]
In a British museum resides the ELGIN MARBLES. When Lord Elgin conquered Greece, he took to London the incomparably beautiful pieces of statuary from the front of the Parthenon. Phidias carved the beautiful statues and placed them high up at the front of the Parthenon.
Phidias was one of the greatest sculptors the world ever knew. He was working meticulously, zealously, and painstakingly on the back side of one of the statues. He was conscientiously carving the fold in the garment and carefully chiseling the falling tresses of the hair. Someone came to Phidias and asked, "Why are you working so carefully on the back of these figures? They are to be placed high above the people at the top of the temple and no one would ever know."
Phidias replied, "But God sees it."
The story is true. The incomparable artist and sculptor had as beautifully carved the back where only God could see as he had the front where the people can see. Only God can see your heart, but He does. Do you work as hard on your inner beauty toward Him as you do on your outer appearance to man?
CONCLUSION
People are condemned not for what they don't know, but for what they do with what they know. Those who are bless to have God's written Word and His law will be judged by them. Those who have never seen a Bible still know right from wrong, and they will be judged because they did not keep even those standards that their own consciences dictated. Our modern-day sense of fair play and the rights of the individual often balks at God's judgment. But keep in mind that people violate the very standards they create for themselves.
All mankind stands condemned under the moral judgment of God. For everyone knew the difference between right and wrong, everyone has written within their hearts, their minds, will, and emotions the law of God and all have been given a conscience to bear witness to the rights and wrongs of man.
Our conscience has attempted time and time again to not only stop our thoughts, words, and deeds but to bring us to acknowledge God and His truth and establish Him and His principles in our heart. Man has no excuse for not coming to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We who have no righteousness in ourselves must seek the Savior's righteousness for ourselves if we would be justified.
