“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 the 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
The law spoken of here is God’s special revelation to Israel, via Moses, in the Old Testament. The distinction is between Jews and everyone else. The principle in play is in effect right now, this very minute. And it’s alarming.
This is how to read this: If a non-Christian does what’s right, let’s say they give to charity, or show kindness to a homeless person, they show that God’s law is written on their hearts. Evolution doesn’t teach them this. Darwinism would, logically, lead to the conclusion that we should kill the weak, not feed them. Thus, when a non-believer does “by nature” what God’s moral law requires, they’re a law unto themselves…they show that moral law is real.
Do you see what this means? It means that they must be doers of the law. The whole law (verse 13). To be good to one but not the other is a serious problem in that the non-believer is living by the standard that they’re a righteous person. The whole objection about God putting people in hell – that’s it’s a colossal overreaction, like putting a person in prison for life for jaywalking or something – is based on the presumption of human goodness. But what does the Scripture say? The very fact that one acts in accordance to a moral law shows that they know God. No standard of morality can exist unless God exists at the bottom of it all.
But there’s more.
This shows that people know they’re establishing their bonafides through their knowledge of the moral law. God says here that they’ll be judged by that law. He says that Christ Jesus will judge “the secrets of men” who have been living under the pretense of “I’m a pretty good person.” This ought to scare the bejabbers out of us all and send us running for dear life to the cross of Christ.
First, we’ve already established that all non-belief is a lie and a suppression of the truth. The claim of being a good person through varied good works is evidence of our knowledge of God. Sinners talking about morality are like an adulterer, pretending he’s unmarried, unwittingly mentioning his wife. The very mention of right and wrong, or good and evil, exposes the con.
Second, who in blazes thinks that all our hidden thoughts and secrets aren’t going to make us squirm? Judgment Day, outside of faith in Christ, will be an ethical audit of one’s entire life. And it won’t merely be one’s mistakes on the judgment seat, but the motives behind the good things too. Were they pure? Were they intended to bring glory to ourselves or to God? And what about the good that we should have done that we didn’t? It’s for this reason that the Christian rejoices! To not have the avalanche of our sins bury us is the sweetest fact of life in Christ.
This is the context of Paul’s argument. In Romans 1 we dealt with the inexorable slide into moral madness that the great exchange starts. Refusing to acknowledge God, we become futile in our thinking. We’re thankless. Unbelief is revolt. Malcolm Muggeridge once remarked that sinful man either raises the fist in rebellion against God through political revolts or the phallus in varied fornications. That’s a pretty good encapsulation of Romans 1. But Romans 2 zeroes in. It’s like a Google Earth map going from an overhead to a street view. What do we see on the road that we didn’t see from the air? Self-righteousness. Romans 2 obliterates that deceit.
Have you noticed that those who are anti-Christian are incapable of speaking about life without passing moral judgments? Watch for it. Watch yourself for it. Watch for the principle of autonomy guiding one’s evaluations. The principle of sin is self-justification. The principle of sin is that God didn’t really say and that I’m not so bad as He says I am. Our moral compass is broken, pointing wildly in different directions. Sin shows us north as south and east as west. It’s all upside down and backwards. False religion abounds in the vacuum created by the great exchange of Romans 1 – the exchange of the truth about God for a lie. We’re always accusing others and excusing ourselves. Be warned, beloved. Turn to Christ now while there’s time because on that Day there will be no excuses whatsoever. All claims to righteousness outside of Christ will bring wrath.
Finally, Judgment Day will, Paul tells us, include God applying our own standard back to us. “So, you knew that love was greater than hate, did you? Then why did you hate such-and-such? Why did you slander so-and-so?” Ah, have you forgotten your evils? Do you think God doesn’t see? Do you think He’s deaf? Do you recall how others have slandered you, sullied your name, questioned your honor, and maligned you? Do you think that God has missed how you’ve done that to Him? Do you not see that by saying “I’m a pretty good person” means that you’re calling the eternal, all-powerful, and perfect God a liar and daring Him to find one flaw or contradiction?
The way to see this whole tragedy is to be wise to the charade of secular humanism. The lifestyle of a sinner is, in a manner of speaking, a life of calling God’s character into question. The life of a sinner, based on their presumed goodness, and insistence upon judging matters for themselves rather than through Scripture, is a life of judging God. The rejection of His gospel is the rejection of His life raft, sent to rescue you from the sea of sin and death that is the cesspool let loose by your own premises. When the rescue ship sails away, and you see it disappear on the horizon as the sun sets on a life of arrogance, all that’s left is the emptiness of self-deceit. The proof that this is true is the very fact that one must always make moral judgments. One must always have a standard of right and wrong.
Turn to Christ now and be saved. And watch your thoughts soberly. By what standard do you judge? How is it that you know this thing or that thing is right or wrong? Who is it that gets the glory? Choose Christ now or stand against Him on the last Day – and stand against Him who knows every thought and secret. Only sin’s madness would reject so great a salvation.
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