Bible Study: Romans 2:12-16

Romans 2:12-16 Condemned With or Without The Law

1. Jew & Gentile Standing Before the Law (2:12-13)

• Unbelieving Gentiles will perish without the Law because it is through the Law that a true knowledge of God and man are known.  Therefore, the ‘man on the island’ is condemned by General Revelation yet cannot be saved by it. (2:12a)
  
• The Jew, though he has the Special Revelation of God and man, he is unable to keep the requirements of the Law without error, so he is likewise condemned before God. (2:12b)
  
• Truly, one cannot only hear the Law and be saved; one must do the Law, and no one except Christ has done that perfectly (2:13)
  

2. Gentiles and General Revelation of Moral Commands Found Within the Law (2:14-16)

• With this passage, we see that God reveals Himself generally in at least two ways: through what He has made (Rom 1:19) and also upon the human conscience. 
  
• Some try to accuse God in not giving Special Revelation to true seekers and then condemning them.  However, this scenario does not exist because such people don’t exist, and Romans 3:11 explains that none are looking for God in the unregenerate state.  Until God moves upon the heart, one is still hostile towards God, for the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to the Law; the Scriptures declares that it cannot submit to God’s Law, and those in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:7-8).
  
• Doing Instinctively the Things of The Law Without Full Knowledge of It (2:14)
  

             A. The Gentiles don’t have the revealed Law, and only a small percentage had exposure to the Mosaic Law. (2:14a)

             B. However, Gentiles would still instinctively do many of the things contained in the Mosaic Law, particularly the general moral commands like those in the Ten Commandments. It is for this reason that many cultures tend to have similar moral codes. (2:14b)

             C. Because Gentiles would practice this morality to some extent, though without true virtue (which only comes when one worships God from the heart), they are then rightly condemned because they then have a law to themselves. (2:14c)

• The Law Written upon Their Hearts (2:15)
  

             A. By obeying some semblance of the Law even in a limited way, it shows that the Law is written in their hearts. (2:15a)

             B. Therefore, their conscience bears witness and their thoughts alternately accuse or defend them. (12:15b)  No one does this perfectly as all fall short of the glory of God, so all are rightly condemned by a Holy Just God. (Rom 3:23)

• The Day of Judgment (2:16)
  

             A. There will come a day when God settles all matters of sin, and none will escape His judgment; this is the gospel that Paul proclaims, and any other gospel is no gospel at all. (2:16a)

             B. God will expose the secret things in the hearts of men, so any form of godliness that was but a show will be revealed and rightly judged. (2:16b)

             C. This Judgment will be through Jesus Christ; all will stand before Him and be welcomed or cast into everlasting Hell. (2:16c)