Romans 2:12-16

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Paul is reminding people that sowing disrespect of God’s Person and/or disobedience of God’s law reaps eternal condemnation. Now bear in mind that throughout this section Paul is trying to bring conviction of heart for those Jews who have rejected the gospel. He wants the Jews to run to God through the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy. The Jews have said, “No, Paul, we’ve got the law. We don’t need your gospel.” One of Paul’s responses is, “Well, you haven’t understood the law. If you understood the law, you would understand that the law was never given to justify you.” Romans 3:20 “Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Another response is, “Though you have the law, you don’t obey the law.” Hearing the law doesn’t do any good unless you do it; it just intensifies guilt because only the one who does it is justified. The 2 problems Paul is dealing with here are hypocrisy and self-justification: either saying, “I know the law,” and not doing it, or attempting to justify one’s self by the obeying the whole law, which is impossible.

By the way, why is obedience impossible? Obedience is impossible due to our sin nature. Christ is the only one Who could (and would) obey, because He lacked the sin nature. The sin nature affects desire. James 1:15 “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” Our sin nature gives us evil desires, which keep us from obedience. But the Spirit is life.

When Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. Here we have Paul’s answer to the common objection we mentioned earlier. In chapter 1, Paul answered the objection regarding those who don’t know God. He said that everybody knows God! And here, the objection is that people don’t have the law. How could God judge them for disobedience if they don’t know the law? Paul says they know the law. It’s written on their hearts, and when they disobey it, their consciences let them know it. So if you say, “The person who has not heard the gospel cannot be condemned to hell, because they have not rejected Christ,” Paul will say, “But that person can and will be condemned by the law, for that person has broken the law, and they know it.” There is no one who is not culpable for their sin. In other words, Paul is saying everyone stands under the just condemnation of God. And even our conscience confirms it. All of mankind knows God, knows how they ought to behave, knows that they have not lived up to these standards, and knows that failing to live rightly deserves eternal condemnation, regardless of whether they are Jew or Gentile. This is what all men know, yet they suppress it and turn against God, claiming unrighteousness or injustice in Him.

According to John MacArthur, there are 6 bases for God’s judgment: truth, knowledge, guilt, deeds, motive, and impartiality. God judges on the basis of those six things. He judges men on the basis of the truth, on the basis of their knowledge, on the basis of their guilt, on the basis of their deeds, and on the basis of their motives, all with impartiality. All of these appear throughout the first 16 verses of Romans 2.

This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. The gospel message inherently explains the final judgment of God. We tell people that they need to be saved, and that implies a coming judgment. The gospel of grace, God’s grace, requires judgment. Think about that. A lot of people think grace and justice cannot co-exist. They think a gracious, merciful God could not also be just. But grace is not the opposite of justice. Injustice is the opposite of justice. So a just God could not be unjust. But grace and justice can co-exist. In fact, there could be no grace for us apart from the justice of God; because God’s grace for us is based upon His enacting of His justice upon His Son. Until we understand our deserving of judgment, until we understand the seriousness of sin, until we believe that God’s judgment is just, then we will never understand how amazing grace is. But it is precisely because of the seriousness of sin and the reality of final judgment that God’s grace is so amazing.