Explanatory Notes: Romans 2:5-16

2:5 And in accordance with your hardness and [your] unrepentant heart you are storing wrath for yourself on the Day of Wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God...
Some interpreters seem to downplay the role that God's wrath plays in Paul's thinking. For example, they might note the feature of Romans 1 where Paul talks of God "handing over" individuals to desires whose punishment is entailed in the very living out of the desires themselves (1:27).

But this verse seems to indicate that Paul believed that God would administer "in anger" on a coming Day of Judgment. On that day, the righteous judgment of God would be revealed, which is at least part of what Paul meant in 1:18 when he spoke of the wrath of God having been revealed from heaven against ungodliness. Whatever we do with it, the conclusion seems unavoidable that Paul looked for a coming day when God would dispense wrath in judgment.

The person with the hard and unrepentant heart is the person Paul has been addressed in 2:1-4. This is a person who sees no need to repent despite God's gracious allowance for it in the face of sin (2:4). It would seem, then, that the person with which he has a problem in 2:1-2 is the person not simply who judges others while doing the same, but who is unrepentant and refuses to admit that they are the same. The ethnic contours of this argument will become clear in 2:17, where we will get the distinct impression that the person Paul has in mind is the one who thinks that because they are a Jew who knows the Law, they will not be judged by the Law.

2:6-7 ... who will repay to each according to his works, eternal life to those on the one hand who by the patience of a good work are seeking glory and honor and incorruption,
It is tempting to think that Paul is giving the default set up for a person prior to Christ, one that no longer applies literally after Christ. If that were the case, then he would here be describing a situation that can never happen literally. Paul would be saying that, in theory, a person might be rewarded with eternal life on the Day of Judgment because of their endurance in good work seeking glory and honor. But in reality no one except Jesus has ever fit in this category.

Alternatively, if we take repentance into account, Paul could be speaking of the person who, while not perfect in their actions, was truly repentant in those instances when they sinned. God would grant eternal life to these.

For reasons we will mention below, however, we have concluded that Paul is being literal here--that those believers who have been justified by faith and have been subsequently empowered by the Spirit to do good (no doubt repenting when they do not) will be judged on the Day according to their deeds.

2:8 ... wrath and rage on the other hand to those who even because of strife disobey the truth and are persuaded in unrighteousness.
This is the opposite side of Paul's coin--the destiny of all who do not repent, the destiny of those not in Christ.

2:9-11 ... tribulation and hardship on every human person who does evil, both Jew first and Greek, and glory and honor and peace to everyone who works the good, both to Jew and Greek, for there is no respect of persons with God.
The question of how to relate "no respect of persons" with Paul's "to the Jew first" requires some thought. At least with regard to justification, ethnic status does not matter, in Paul's mind.

2:12-13 For as many as sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and as many as sinned with the Law will be judged through the Law, for it is not the hearers of the Law who are justified before God but the doers of the Law will be justified.
This is the general statement to which Paul has been building. It is the doers of the Law who are justified, not those who know the Law. The same interpretive options we have mentioned above apply.

1. Paul is building to "all have sinned" and does not believe that anyone will ultimately meet this standard on the Day of Judgment. On that Day we will simply be judged by a different standard, namely, Christ's faithfulness and our faith in Christ.

2. Paul allows for repentance in the doing of the Law. Sure, no one can keep the Law perfectly, but a (truly) repentant person changes after sinning and seeking forgiveness.

3. Paul is thinking of a combination of #2 and the fact that all can be justified by Christ's faithfulness and one's faith in Christ. No one can meet any absolute standard of innocence on the Day, but Christ has atoned for our sins, enabling our justification on the basis of his faith and our faith in him. Then we receive the Spirit, who enables us to keep the Law, then there is repentance and forgiveness from then till the Day.

Given what Paul is about to say, we favor option #3.

2:14 For whenever Gentiles who do not have the Law by nature do the things of the Law, these who do not have the Law are the Law for themselves,
The focus of debate in this verse currently centers on the phrase "by nature." Does the phrase go with the first part of the verse--"whenever Gentiles by nature do the things of the Law"? Does it go with the last part of the verse, "do the things of the Law by nature"? The second reading seems an unusual way to use the phrase "by nature."

We would opt for this sense "who do not have the Law by nature." This sense basically fits with them being Gentiles by nature. It would not seem to fit with Pauline theology in general to see him saying here that some Gentiles who do not know about the Jewish Law or about Christ might be justified because of their nature. This verse has often been taken to imply that some individuals might be accepted by God without ever hearing of Christ or Christianity, a very legitimate question of Christian mission.

But of course exegetically, the question is what Paul was thinking, and here it is not at all likely that he had that issue in mind. Many scholars basically see Paul talking about an impossible thing--there simply are no Gentiles who do this. But Paul seems to have real people in mind in the comment, so--especially given the light of other passages--it seems more likely than not that Paul has Gentile Christians in mind, who keep the essence of the Law.

2:15-16 ... who demonstrate the work of the Law written on their hearts, their conscience corroborating and withe accusing or defending between their own thoughts, on the Day when God judges the hidden things of mortals through Christ Jesus according to my gospel.
The conscience in Paul's writings is the awareness of whether or not you have done wrong. If one's conscience is clear, then one is not aware of doing wrong. By contrast, one's conscience might indicate one has sinned or done wrong.

We should not internalize the conscience too much, as is the tendency of Western culture. The context of this statement, once again, is the Day of the Lord, when one's hidden awarenesses of sin are made known. The context of judgment throughout this section, thus, is not the day one believes that Jesus is the Messiah, but at the final judgment.