Romans 2:14, commentary and pictures

Gentiles who do not have the written law can still do by nature the things contained in it, and in doing so are a law to themselves, the law in view being the holy law of ten commandments written by the finger of God. Even people of the heathen world with no intelligent knowledge of that law do what it requires when they heed the voice speaking in nature around them, while grace softens their minds and the Holy Spirit touches their hearts, so that they are recognized as God's children though no human messenger has brought them words of life. This proves the work of the law written in hearts, with conscience bearing witness and thoughts accusing or excusing, for in the judgment when God judges the secrets of men only doers of the law will be justified. Every soul will be judged according to the light and knowledge God has allowed to reach him, and those who live up to the light they have will be tested by that light just as surely as those with greater light. To use being a law to oneself to claim that men may be their own moral authority and need not obey God is a deception that exalts self and destroys moral control, for such self-righteousness is death to spiritual life and in the final reckoning lives examined in the light of God's law will be weighed and found wanting.

Words and Setting

The verse means that Gentiles who do not have the written law can still do by nature the things contained in the law, and in doing so they are a law to themselves. It proves the work of the law written in hearts, with conscience bearing witness and thoughts accusing or else excusing, so that God justifies doers of the law and not mere hearers. The law in view is the holy law of the ten commandments written on tables of stone by the finger of God and placed in the ark.

People of the heathen world with no intelligent knowledge of the law do what the law requires because they heed the voice speaking to them in the things of nature around them. Grace works upon their darkened minds to soften their savage nature untaught by the wisdom of men. Their kind actions show that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and they are recognized as God's children even when they have not heard the words of life through human messengers.

Nature's witness makes God's power and governing law known, so that images are unnecessary as aids to knowing or worshiping Him. God gave human beings intellect and reason and power of speech to enable them to obey His law.

Judgment by Light

The law is the standard of character in the judgment, when God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, and only the doers of the law will be justified and prepared to stand in that day. Even Gentiles who do not have the written law are accountable to that same standard, for when they do by nature the things contained in the law they are judged by it, and those who have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. This holy law given by God must be recognized and obeyed as the standard of character He approves, and it will be the standard that judges in the last great day of reckoning. To fear God and give glory to Him and to worship Him as Creator requires obedience to His commandments, for to Him as Creator all beings owe their existence. Faith is essential to keeping the law and to obeying it, for without faith it is impossible to please God and whatever is not of faith is sin.

Every soul will be judged by the knowledge that has come to him, according to the light God has allowed to reach him. Sinners do not perish for want of opportunities and privileges or for lack of means of knowing God's will, but because they are unwilling to come out from the world and be separate from selfish practices to deal with justice and mercy. Those who turn from the presentation of truth and righteousness, refusing to follow God's way and taking their own way, will reap as they have sown, and those who profess to be Christians yet do not the works of a Christian will have no excuse when every case stands out as it is, with the line of demarcation between the obedient and the disobedient, between those who serve God and those who serve Him not, clear and distinct. Catholics who do not have present truth but live up to the light they have are a law unto themselves and will be judged by that light. God will test and prove them just as surely as He has tested those with more light, and their accountability before God will be measured by their willingness to stand the testing of whatever character it may be, and many among them live up to their light far better than many who claim to believe present truth, and a great number of them will be saved. Those who stand aloof and have not seen the full light are judged by the light they have received, and many of them live more in accordance with that light than many with greater light live in accordance with theirs, so that judging those with less light exposes the foolishness of human judging wisdom.

When the Son of man comes in His glory with all the holy angels and sits upon the throne of His glory, Christ displays the love of God by presenting before men not His own work of redemption but the faithful work they have done for Him. He even mentions the work of these heathen who have no intelligent knowledge of the law yet do the very things the law requires because they heed the voice speaking to them in nature, with grace working upon their darkened minds to soften their savage nature untaught by men, as proving true and faithful before the gaze of the whole universe. In the judgment the disobedient will stand before God ashamed and condemned because they would not obey the law He gave intellect and reason and power of speech to enable them to obey, with man as the crowning object of creation dishonoring Him most greatly by that disobedience. Natural moral nature cannot be trusted for that reckoning, and continuing in impure influence and character without a decided change at once to purity and obedience ends in condemnation and sorrow.

The holy law of ten commandments written on tables of stone by the finger of God and placed in the ark is the standard of righteousness for the obedient and the disobedient. Departure from right principles blinds the understanding to truth, but in the last great day the law will appear before all and the wicked will be convicted. They will see their actions came from a depraved character and carried on the rebellion begun in the heavenly courts, with all cruelty and wickedness dishonoring the Creator and filling the world with wretchedness. The law they disobeyed was their life, and obedience would have made their characters as fine gold and their principles as the golden wedge of Ophir, kept them in happiness and peace, borne fruit in sanctified love and beauty of character, and filled the world with holiness and purity.

True and False Obedience

To twist being a law to oneself into permission to be one's own moral authority and to set aside God's law is deception that exalts self and makes nothing of God, weakening restraint upon vice and destroying moral control and the sense of duty owed to one another. Christ's commandments are to be reverenced and cherished and obeyed as the controlling power in life, for He is over all creation and guided Israel in the pillar of fire. To make human beings their own rule is the tempter's supposition that He has removed His seat of honor and power so that men need no longer exalt His character and obey His law, a sophistry that discounts and makes nothing of God, lets restraint upon vice grow feeble, produces a world that neither loves nor fears Him, causes those without love or fear of God to lose all sense of obligation to one another, and leaves them without God and without hope in the world.

Being a law to oneself in this false sense is self-righteousness, and self-righteousness means death to spiritual life and is inconsistent with being children of God, so that Christ can have little influence on such a person. Those who take this course have perverted spiritual perception and do not see the evil of transgression, and their religion is sick unto eternal death and needs reform. They follow the enemy's subtle philosophy of being religious in a way that keeps within so-called consistency, pacifies conscience, and wins public sentiment to endorse their sentiments, but public sentiment favoring egotism and pride that seems impossible to break down is to be cast away, and if they are saved the truth as a two-edged sword must cut away their false sentiments. To be a law to themselves in this way means trusting in their own righteousness and refusing to submit to God's will and bow to His authority and meet His standard of righteousness. In the day of final accounts, when all lives are examined in the light of God's law, they will meet a plain Thus saith the Lord and be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and found wanting.

Without the law of God in the heart humanity does not obey its principles, for the human heart without that law is corrupt and utterly unreliable, so human attempts to get others to bring in a supposed new order of things fail. This was exposed by the fraudulent, guilty actions tried in connection with San Francisco and Oakland, which awaken people to see the truth, and it is seen in lawyers, not one of whom is obeying God's law that He came from heaven to make known precept after precept, bringing upon them the woe pronounced upon lawyers. An enlightened conscience acting with the requirements of God is a moral restraint upon society, and acknowledging and obeying both holds back wrongdoing, so that complicated and expensive human arrangements to restrain and punish crime would be unnecessary. Where moral restraints have broken down a great work of reform is needed to bring men to obey God and conscience and let that better influence be felt.

There is a good conscience that is pure and elevating and ennobling, and there is a bad conscience that is not. Making oneself one's own law is not safe when taking a course in harmony with perverted, hereditary, and cultivated taste in indulgence of appetite, and claims of conscientiousness in such a course are not of heavenly birth. It is not safe to follow human impulses in this way, nor by precept and example to encourage others in indulgence of appetite entirely contrary to the light God in mercy has given. Gentiles who do not have the written law but by nature do the things contained in the law prove the work of the law written in their hearts, with conscience bearing witness and thoughts accusing or excusing, showing that God justifies doers of the law and not mere hearers. That standard rebukes professed believers who have great light and boast in God and the law as guides and teachers of others, yet cherish idols such as pride in dress and outward display and do not teach and correct themselves. Their outward appearance testifies against the inward working of the heart instead of showing transformation of mind and character, and what is required is zeal according to knowledge and doing of the Word.