Romans 2:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It is possible not only to be a doer without hearing, but also not to be one after hearing. This the Apostle expressed more clearly and forcefully below, saying: "You who teach another, do you not teach yourself?" (Rom 2:21).

We gather here not simply and not in vain, merely so that one may speak and another applaud his words, and then all depart. Rather, we gather so that we may say something useful and necessary for your salvation.

You must receive fruit and great benefit from our words, and with this depart from here. The Church is a spiritual infirmary. Those who come here must receive fitting remedies, apply them to their wounds, and thus leave.

That hearing alone, without fulfillment in deed, brings no benefit, hear from blessed Paul, who says: "Not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified."

And Christ said in His preaching: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Mt 7:21).

Therefore, beloved, knowing that hearing will bring us no benefit if fulfillment in deed does not follow it, let us be not hearers only, but doers.

Then works corresponding to words will serve as the foundation of living speech. Open the bosom of your soul and receive the word concerning fasting.

Truly, when God gave the law, He clearly commanded us to keep it. "All that I have said to you, keep," He said. "And keep My commandments and do them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you."

Again: "Keep the commandments of the Lord your God" (Ex 23:13; Lev 20:8, 22; Deut 6:17; 4:40). God also appointed fearful and terrible punishments and curses for the transgressors of His law.

This is why those who hear the law but do not fulfill it are condemned by the law itself. Hear now the resolution of the second question.

From the section examined concerning the liability of the Jews, the following words of the Apostle Paul must be singled out for special notice: He, that is, the Lord God. "will render to each one according to his works." Also: "For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified" (Rom 2:6, 13).

Why are these words remarkable on the lips of the holy Apostle Paul? Because he is considered, and truly is, the chief and insistent preacher of justification by faith alone, without the works of the law.

Yet here he makes the lot of men depend on the righteous recompense given to each according to his works. He promises justification only to the doers of the law.

Let the Lutheran false teachers, who so love to appeal to the Apostle Paul, understand this. He sets as the condition of salvation not mere faith, but faith that brings forth works.

Or, as he says elsewhere, faith working through love, that is, through works of love toward God and neighbor (Gal 5:6).

"Nothing unclean will enter the Kingdom of God," one interpreter of Paul's words remarks on this matter. "Therefore, when you hear, 'Only believe and you will be saved,' stop your ears. This is the speech of the serpent" (Bishop Theophan).

Like a judge, it rewards good with peace and joy, and punishes evil with the troubled awareness of guilt worthy of punishment.

When the Apostle says that the Gentiles are a law to themselves, he does not grant them the right to act as each one wishes.

He only shows that the law did not come to them from outside as something alien. It is contained in their natural powers.

The heart, as the source of every feeling, prompts one or another good action. Conscience, as an inner judge, approves or condemns the following of this prompting.

The free will of man fulfills it or turns aside from it. Thus whatever a man does, he does voluntarily. Therefore he bears responsibility for his deeds both here on earth and in the life beyond the grave.

He will be judged for them on the day of the dread judgment, when all the powers of man will be more fully revealed. Therefore on the day of judgment human thoughts, now condemning, now justifying, will appear with greater clarity.

"And at that tribunal," says John Chrysostom, "a man needs no other accuser."

But lest anyone think that the future judgment is limited only to this, the Apostle adds: "when God judges through Jesus Christ."

From this it is clear that although their sinfulness will be visible to all themselves, condemnation will follow only by the sentence of the Lord the Judge.

Thus room is left for hope. At the same time, an impulse is given to believe in the Lord Savior and to serve Him with fear throughout life.

Then one may stand before Him not as before a dread Judge, but as before his good Master, whom he was counted worthy to serve in faith and truth throughout earthly life.

It will add no weight to you. Only the doers of the law will be justified. Such is the general law of divine justice, according to which the universal judgment will be accomplished.

The doers of the law will be justified. When? On the day of judgment (Rom 2:16). Therefore verse 16 stands in direct connection with the present verse 13, as its completion.

In verses 14 and 15 the Apostle explains that the Gentiles have their own law. Until now he has said more than once that the Gentiles knew the law and, despite this, sinned, and therefore are without excuse.

But he had not explained how they knew it. He does so now. Having placed Jew and Gentile on one line before the judgment and made each accountable before his own law, he finally had to explain this too.

That the Jew had the law before his eyes requires no discussion. But what law does the Gentile have? The Jew could say: Why do you make him equal with me?

He has no law at all, and all his deeds are sinful and unclean before God. What justification and corresponding reward can he expect?

The Gentile could think: If the law has not been given to me, for what am I to be condemned? Let the Jews alone go into eternal torment.

The Apostle explains how the law is written in the Gentile and why reward is fitting for him, and punishment is not unjust.