Romans 2:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore Paul did not speak in that way. How then? "For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves.

They show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness." For conscience and reason suffice in place of the law.

By this the Apostle again proved that God created man with sufficient powers to choose virtue and avoid evil. Do not wonder that he unfolds the same point once, twice, and more often.

It was very necessary for him to prove this important truth, since there were people who said: Why has Christ come now? Where in earlier times were the workings of God's providence shown?

The Apostle refutes them in passing, proving that even in ancient times, even before the law, the human race was under the same providence.

"What may be known of God is manifest in them" (Rom 1:19). Men knew what was good and what was evil, and therefore judged others.

For this the Apostle reproached them, saying: "In the judgment by which you judge another, you condemn yourself" (Rom 2:1).

To the Jews, however, not only reason and conscience were given, but also the law. Why then did the Apostle add, "their thoughts accusing or else excusing one another"?

For if they have the written law and manifest their works, what finally can reason condemn? But the Apostle applies the word "accusing" not only to the Gentiles, but to the whole human race.

On the day of judgment our own thoughts will stand forth, now condemning, now justifying. At that tribunal a man will need no other accuser. See also Rom 2:25.

They do by nature what the law requires. According to what law? According to the law manifested in works. They do not have the law. Which law? The written law.

They are a law to themselves. How so? By being guided by the natural law. They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts. Which law? The law in works.

Observe his wisdom. He did not strike the Jews as the course of the argument required. According to the argument, he ought to have said this:

When the Gentiles, not having the law, do by nature the things of the law, they are far superior to those instructed in the law.

But the Apostle did not say this. He expressed himself more gently: they are a law to themselves. By this he proves that even in the most ancient times, before the law was given, the human race was under the same Providence.

By this he also stops the mouths of those who say: Why did Christ not come from the beginning to teach the doing of good?

He says that Christ implanted in all men from the beginning the knowledge of good and evil. When He saw that this did not help, then at last He Himself came.

The unbelieving nations will first be judged by the believing nations, as the Lord says to the unbelieving Jews concerning His disciples: "Therefore they will be your judges" (Mt 12:27).

For the faithlessness of the Jews will be judged by the faith of the apostles. They believed, although they too were Hebrews, despite the fact that the Hebrews doubted. ...

After this the nations will be condemned through their own thoughts, if, having touched faith and the power of the Creator, they were unwilling to believe.

Or they will be condemned if, through some folly, they failed to understand that they should believe the words and deeds of the Lord.

On the day of judgment they will defend themselves through conscience, which did not suggest that they ought to believe. For this reason they will be judged not as evildoers, but as ignorant men. ...

Those of whom the Apostle speaks, who by their thoughts will either be condemned or justified on the day of judgment, are Christians who deviate from the catholic truth.

That is, they are those who think otherwise either concerning Christ or concerning the meaning of traditional ecclesiastical institutions: Montanists, Novatians, Donatists, and other heretics.

Their own thoughts will accuse them on the day of judgment. Likewise, the one who acknowledges that the Christian faith is correct, yet refuses to follow it, will condemn himself by his thoughts.

He refuses so as not to show that he has been corrected. He is ashamed to part from what he has so long adhered to. Such a man will condemn himself by his thoughts on the day of judgment.

Therefore one must also imagine the future judgment, and how the conscience of those who lived outside the law will now justify itself, putting forward ignorance as a plea, and now accept accusation.

It will proclaim the justice of the sentence pronounced. So too Abimelech, having within himself the testimony of conscience, said to God: Lord, will You destroy an ignorant and righteous nation?

Did he not himself say to me, "She is my sister"? And she herself said to me, "He is my brother." With a pure heart I did this (Gen 20:4-5).

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.

Someone sees an offender, and displeasure against him proceeds from the heart, with a compulsion to defend the one offended. Someone receives a benefit, and the heart is filled with gratitude toward the benefactor. A thought of God comes, and reverent worship and devotion to Him are felt in the heart, even if one does not have right concepts of the Godhead. Thus every lawful deed appears written in the heart even of a Gentile. But whence is it in the heart? Is the heart the producer of the lawful prompting, or only its conductor? Is it itself the lawful deed, or does it only manifest and indicate the lawful deed, receiving promptings from elsewhere and serving only as their interpreter? Deeper than the heart, in the spirit, lies conscience, enlivened by the fear of God. With its finger it writes in the heart, at every occasion, the lawful deed, namely how one should act. Sometimes it writes: help. Sometimes: defend. Sometimes: do not touch, this belongs to another. And so forth. The lawful deed both appears written in the heart and is witnessed by the feeling that indicates the manner of action. But is this everything? No. One must reach the fulfillment in deed of what has been prompted through the heart. This proceeds as follows. The feeling of the heart is reflected in consciousness. The ray of consciousness again descends upon conscience and calls forth the obligation to act in this or that way. The heart only sympathizes with the lawful deed, as conscience has prompted it. But conscience, when consciousness has turned to it with the deed, now lays upon it the moral necessity of acting thus and not otherwise. This is what it means that their conscience bears witness with them. Bearing witness with, συμμαρτυρούσης, means co-witnessing. With what? With the feelings of the heart. Conscience says to consciousness, or to the person: yes, yes; one must act as the heart prompts. With this the inner laying down of the law for each occasion is completed. The lawful deed has been indicated and recognized as obligatory. But such a decision has been issued only in the innermost higher chamber, where nothing lawful meets obstacles. For this decision to pass into deed, it must pass through the lower chamber: the soul, with its needs, habits, and outward relations accepted as rules. Every lawful deed enters here. As soon as it enters, it always meets a storm of opposing thoughts. Meanwhile conscience defends its own cause. A struggle occurs within, between thoughts accusing or answering one another. Answering, ἀπολογουμένων, means defending, performing the office of an advocate. On one side condemnation is heard, and on the other defense and justification. Whichever side prevails, the fulfillment follows that side. The lawful deed, laid down as law within, is either rejected or fulfilled in action. Who decides? The free person who acts. No one can determine why this person inclines to one side or the other. His decisions cannot in any way be brought under some laws by which one could foresee them. For now he has one decision, and an hour later another, under entirely equal circumstances. This is the whole production of the moral deed. From it one sees that the moral law is written in man's heart and strengthened by conscience. But from this it does not follow that it is always necessarily fulfilled. It meets thoughts, and in struggle with them it does not always emerge victorious. The author of fulfillment or nonfulfillment is the free man, who will give account for his deeds on the day when the Lord judges the secrets of men. For man's decisions toward deeds are made in secret, and they are what properly fall under judgment and condemnation. We consider verses 14 and 15 to be parenthetical explanatory propositions. Yet it should be noted that our ancient interpreters do not think so, but see here also consecutive speech. What compels us to see a parenthesis here is that otherwise the following text, verse 16, will stand awkwardly: "on the day when God judges." But they connect these words with what immediately precedes. And when interpreting, they write out the whole passage thus: "and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else answering on the day when God judges," and so on. The Apostle showed above that at the judgment all will be judged according to the law that lay upon each one. He then explained that the Gentiles too had and have their own law, written in the heart and confirmed by conscience. Now he says how the judgment itself will take place. Namely, witnesses will not be needed there. In his own thoughts each will pronounce justification or condemnation over himself. Each will see his law and his deeds, compare the two, and decide whether he is guilty or not. Saint Chrysostom says: "The Apostle refers the words 'accusing,' and so forth, to the whole human race. For on the day of judgment our own thoughts will stand forth, now accusing, now justifying. At that tribunal a man needs no other accuser." Theophylact and Ambrosiaster say the same. Oecumenius, besides his own thoughts, also cites the interpretation of Blessed Photius. Theodoret explains here how accusing thoughts will arise, with the following examples. "I do not consider it superfluous to explain this word by some example. When the wondrous Joseph put into action his plan concerning Benjamin and tried to take him as a slave, as though he had stolen the cup, thereby testing the disposition of his brothers as by fire, then the power of the witness of conscience was clearly revealed. For then, precisely then, they were less occupied with the present sorrowful event and remembered the crime committed twenty-two years earlier. Some said: the blood of our youngest brother is required from our hands. And Reuben recalled the admonitions he had made. Therefore one must imagine the future judgment also in this way. The conscience of those who lived outside the law will sometimes justify itself, putting forward ignorance as a pretext. At other times it will accept accusation and proclaim the justice of the sentence pronounced." This interpretation does not contradict the preceding one and does not abolish it. It only indicates a second moment of one and the same judgment. One is manifested in this life, and the other comes in the next. But in essence both are the same. There conscience will likewise judge and condemn, as it does here. There only its voice will be stronger and more decisive, because it will not meet contradictions, as happens here.