Developing his thought about the "natural Torah," Paul contrasts Jews and Gentiles...
Developing his thought about the "natural Torah," Paul contrasts Jews and Gentiles not by a religious criterion, but only on the basis of the attitude of both toward the Torah. Of course, when speaking of the Torah, the apostle considers it not only as legislation, but also as a way that presupposes following the commandments and the laws based on them. For him the Torah is an objective reality; its laws are in force whether people know about them or not. But these are still spiritual laws, and their effect on a person, unlike the laws of nature, depends to a known degree on the relationship between the person and God. A Gentile may know nothing about the Torah, yet he still senses it through its effect on his soul and his heart. In this case Paul uses the expression "the work of the Torah" (v. 15), in fact placing before God Gentiles who fulfill the Torah written in their hearts on the same level as Jews to whom it is known in all its fullness (v. 14).
The "natural Torah" is in no way worse than the written one if it allows a Gentile to find the road into the Kingdom. And the apostle considers the proof that it exists and is perceived by many Gentiles as an undeniable reality of their lives to be the moral struggle that Gentiles know no less well than Jews who sincerely strive to follow the Torah (v. 15). The differences between Jews and Gentiles become relevant not in the Kingdom, and not even on the way to it, but when the issue is violation of the Torah.
Objectively, sin remains sin in every case, and therefore Gentiles who sin without knowing the Torah are threatened with destruction, while Jews who violate the Torah face judgment (v. 12). The difference, as we can see, lies in the fact that God judges those who have consciously accepted the Torah according to what they have accepted, while the rest are judged according to what they could and should have known about sin and righteousness. The Torah is not a guarantee of salvation and not a privilege. It is only an instrument that helps on the way to the Kingdom. And the one to whom it was given bears responsibility for what he received into his hands, especially since this gift is always accepted voluntarily.
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2:12 For as many as have sinned - He speaks as of the time past, for all time will be past at the day of judgment.Without the law - Without having any written law. Shall also perish without the law - Without regard had to any outward law; being condemned by the law written in their hearts. The word also shows the agreement of the manner of sinning, with the manner of suffering. Perish - He could not so properly say, Shall be judged without the law.
2:13 For not the hearers of the law are, even now, just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified - Finally acquitted and rewarded a most sure and important truth,which respects the gentiles also, though principally the Jews.St. Paul speaks of the former, Rom 2:14, etc ; of the latter, Rom 2:17, etc Here is therefore no parenthesis; for thesixteenth verse also depends on the fifteenth, not on the twelfth. Rom 2:16, Rom 2:15, Rom 2:12.
2:14 For when the gentiles - That is, any of them. St.Paul, having refuted the perverse judgment of the Jews concerning the heathens, proceeds to show the just judgment of God against them. He now speaks directly of the heathens, in order to convince the heathens. Yet the concession he makes to these serves more strongly to convince the Jews. Do by nature - That is, without an outward rule; though this also, strictly speaking, is by preventing grace. The things contained in the law - The ten commandments being only the substance of the law of nature. These, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves - That is, what the law is to the Jews, they are, by the grace of God, to themselves; namely, a rule of life.
2:15 Who show - To themselves, to other men, and, in a sense, to God himself. The work of the law - The substance, though not the letter, of it. Written on their hearts - By the same hand which wrote the commandments on the tables of stone.Their conscience - There is none of all its faculties which the soul has less in its power than this. Bearing witness - In a trial there are the plaintiff, the defendant, and the witnesses. Conscience and sin itself are witnesses against the heathens. Their thoughts sometimes excuse, sometimes condemn, them. Among themselves - Alternately, like plaintiff and defendant. Accusing or even defending them - The very manner of speaking shows that they have far more room to accuse than to defend.
2:16 In the day - That is, who show this in the day.Everything will then be shown to be what it really is. In that day will appear the law written in their hearts as it often does in the present life. When God shall judge the secrets of men - On secret circumstances depends the real quality of actions, frequently unknown to the actors themselves, Rom 2:29. Men generally form their judgments, even ofthemselves merely from what is apparent. According to my gospel - According to the tenor of that gospel which is committed to mycare. Hence it appears that the gospel also is a law.