Romans 2:13

Rom_2:13

For not the hearers of the law are Just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Hearers

What the apostle says about the Jews is equally applicable to many so-called Christians. Multitudes justify themselves by attendance on a gospel ministry; God only justifies those who practise what they hear. Our congregations are made up of--

I. Those who hear--

1. But do not understand. Often, doubtless, this is the preachers fault, who fails because he is not clear or lacks the power to awaken the dormant intelligence; but it often arises from a want of spiritual perception of, or interest in, the truth by those who hear.

2. Or only admire, the object being in some cases the mere beauty of the truth itself, in others the grace of its setting and the charm of its delivery.

3. Or criticise, the object being the statement in some instances, the method or manner in others.

II. Those who hear and do. Amongst such are those who are--

1. Anxious to understand. They want to know in order that they may do. Hence they bring all their intellectual and spiritual powers to bear upon the message declared. Such seldom go away unsatisfied or become unfruitful hearers.

2. Believe the truth. While not insensible to its intrinsic beauty or to the grace of the form in which it is presented, they regard it as a solemn message from God having a direct bearing on life and destiny. They desire, therefore, not only to understand it, but to assimilate it and make it a power for action.

3. Who reduce the truth to practice. This is the true criterion of hearing which is acceptable to God. Many understand clearly enough, many thoroughly believe as far as intellectual conviction goes--how few do! Let this be a matter of self-examination to thoughtful and orthodox hearers! (Rom_2:17-23).

III. Those who neither hear nor do. One might almost say, Who do not because they do not hear, but for the fact that hearing is not the only source of knowledge. Conclusion:

1. Hearing is a great privilege.

2. As privilege it involves responsibility.

3. For the manner in which we have heard we shall be called into judgment, and judged accordingly. (J. W. Burn.)

Hearing and doing

A consideration--

I. For those seeking salvation by the law. The whole law must be done, not simply heard. Who has, who can do it? Sin has so corrupted our moral nature that we are without strength, and therefore so cannot obtain salvation.

II. For those seeking salvation through an influential gospel. The principle of the text applies much more here. There is no salvation even by the gospel save by acting on its terms--believe, receive, repent, etc.

III. Suggesting the vanity of an evangelical profession without an evangelical life. The gospel has its laws as well as Judaism. (R. Glover.)

Hearing without doing

It is a strange folly in multitudes of us to propound no end in the hearing of the gospel. The merchant sails, not only that he may sail, but for traffic, and traffics that he may be rich. The husbandman ploughs, not only to keep himself busy, but in order to sow, and sows that he may reap with advantage. And shall we do the most excellent and fruitful work fruitlessly?--hear only to hear, and look no further? This is indeed a great vanity and a great misery, to lose that labour which, duly used, would be of all others most gainful; and yet all our meetings are full of this! (T. Leighton.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 2:13. For not the hearers of the law — Those who are only hearers; are — Even now; just — δικαιοι, righteous, that is, accounted and dealt with as righteous persons; before God — Here the apostle condemns the folly of the Jews, who thought themselves sure of eternal life, because God had favoured them with a revelation of his will: as Dr. Whitby has shown by many important quotations, in a note on this verse. But the doers of the law — Whether natural or revealed, that is, they who walk according to the light of the dispensation they are under, “who steadily and universally, in the tenor of their lives, act agreeably to its precepts; they, and they only, shall be justified [acquitted and rewarded] — In the day of final audit and account; whether their knowledge of it were more or less express.” So Doddridge. A most sure and important truth this, which respects the Gentiles also, though principally the Jews. The apostle speaks of the former, Rom 2:14, &c.; of the latter, Rom 2:17, &c. It must be observed, however, that the apostle does not speak of a perfect, unsinning obedience, either to the law of nature, or to any revealed law, whether patriarchal, Jewish, or Christian; but of that obedience of faith, productive of holiness, or that sincere obedience to the dispensation men are under, which, on the ground of the covenant of grace, established for all mankind immediately after the fall, God is pleased graciously to accept instead of that unsinning obedience, which to man, in his fallen state, is impossible. This obedience of faith, with regard to the heathen, implies their believing that God is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and on the ground of this faith, coming to him in prayer for his favour and blessing, and with praise for his benefits, and diligently seeking an acquaintance with him, and with his will concerning them. And with respect to Jews and Christians, it implies a true and lively faith in, and sincere obedience to, the truths, precepts, and promises of the dispensation they are under. The reader must observe, therefore, that merited justification, whether of Jews or heathen, spoken of Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16; or, justification according to the tenor of the law, by performing all the deeds or works enjoined thereby, without the least failure, is not here intended; but a gratuitous justification, founded, not on the accused person’s innocence, or righteousness, but proceeding merely from the mercy of his Judge, who is pleased, out of pure favour, to accept of his faith, producing sincere love and obedience, in the place of perfect righteousness, and to reward it as if it were that righteousness, and all for the sake of Christ.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Rom_2:13. Not the hearers of the law.—Jewish writers held that no circumcised person goes to hell. St. Paul confutes all vain opinions. The literal meaning of δικαιοῦν is to make righteous. In this epistle it is used to mean acquittal.

Rom_2:14.—φύσει, by nature, as distinct from θέσει or written law.

Rom_2:15.—The evidence that what the law of God requires is inscribed on the minds of the heathen is the testimony of their conscience to such moral precepts. συνείδησις, the conscience, from the word meaning to know with or within oneself. In this passage understanding rather than affection is the predominant thought. Reasonings of a man’s mind upon his own actions, habits, and motives.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_2:13-16

The Gentile conscience.—The law as well as the existence of the Creator is written on the heart of man, and he cannot get away from that law. He may make mistakes, but he can get to know the general tenor of that law. He may not have skill to frame a correct ethical system, but he can mark the great broad outlines, and so frame his moral course. The Gentile heart is not a mere blank page—it shows divine handwriting. In its deepest degradation there are obscured traces and marks of moral glory.

I. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by their superiority to their gods.—The God of the Bible is the one perfect God—perfect in His natural and moral attributes. He is a conception of divinity which declares it is not an unaided conception of humanity. We cannot read of any god fashioned after the same perfect moral order as the God of the Bible. Whether we look at the God of the Old Testament or of the New, we must feel that this is a divinity which the highest human reason has not attained. Not withstanding all that may be said against the biblical God, we affirm that there never has been and is not any other deity unto whom we may liken Him. In the wide world’s Parthenon, in the long muster-roll of deities, there is none to be compared with the Christian’s God. The highest ideals are but human conceptions and imperfect: the best of them are but one-sided personifications, and represent one cardinal grace or virtue; the worst of them are personifications of some degrading lust. And this gives us a striking view of the divinity working in heathendom, that the worshipper is often superior to the deity adored. Conscience asserts its power, and the devotee rises above the deity before whom he prostrates in devotion. The written law has stronger force than the personified lust or passion. The gods of the heathen worked towards moral destruction; and the legal writing on human hearts was that saving force which interrupted the process and prevented complete moral ruin.

II. The Gentiles show the works of the law written in their hearts by the strivings of the many.—Moral darkness has covered the earth; but through that darkness we catch gleams of moral light, and those gleams are the strivings of many of our race after nobler things. If there had not been such strivings, we should have beheld the race sinking deeper and deeper into moral corruption, and bringing upon our planet a catastrophe which the waters of a deluge would not have repaired. We may suppose that the world’s lowest moral state was at the time of the Deluge; but even then a Noah appeared who was not only found striving after righteousness, but had attained to righteousness and was a preacher of the same all his days. Our planet has presented no such miserable moral spectacle, either before or since the period of the Deluge. Men, in spite of lust, passion, pride, and ambition, are found in all countries reaching up above their surroundings towards the pure realm of infinite moralities. The feverish restlessness of humanity speaks to us of a written law in the heart and the workings of a divine conscience. There is an infinite discontent and dissatisfaction in the soul of man which is full of moral significance. It points both inward and upward—inward to the divinely constituted nature of man, and upward to the divine Being whose claims must be met and in whose Son must be realised spiritual repose. Men hear within themselves the voice of conscience, but do not give sufficient attention so as carefully to catch the words that are spoken.

III. The Gentiles show the work of the law in their hearts by the attainments of the few.—It could not be argued from the achievements of a Shakespeare that all men might become great poets and dramatists, from the mathematical grasp of a Newton that all might become mathematicians; but surely it is legitimate to infer from the lofty achievements of one master-mind the large possibilities of other minds. The wide expansion of one mind tells of the possibility of development of others. In the heathen world, as also in the Christian world, the men have been comparatively few who have given practical expression to the belief that in the world there is nothing great but man, in man there is nothing great but mind, and in mind there is nothing great but the moral. Still, there have been such men. It will not do for us to lay the flattering unction to our souls that there is no goodness outside the Christian religion. While we believe that Christianity has raised the morality of the world to a higher tone and given the highest example of spiritual perfection in the person of its Founder, we must not lose sight of the noble names of Socrates, Solon, Plato, and Aristotle. Defective, no doubt, they were in many aspects of their characters and their conduct; but they were in advance of their times, and speak of a divine law written in human hearts. It is indeed wonderful how glimpses of moral truth are given by heathen writers; and we can only account for them on the supposition that the divine hand has been writing and that conscience has been working. The Orphic mysteries seem to have contained the assertion of two deep ideas—the immortality of the soul, and impurity of sin, which required expiation. Historical evidence goes to show that the broad distinctions between crime and virtue have always been marked. Homer is not without morality, though it is uninfluenced by a future life. It is noteworthy that Hesiod contains the same figure to represent virtue and vice which was afterwards consecrated in the mouth of Christ: “The road to vice may easily be travelled by crowds, for it is smooth, and she dwells close at hand. But the path of virtue is steep and difficult, and the gods have ordained that only by toil can she be reached.” It is the steep and difficult pathway of virtue which repels the many from the effort to gain the glorious summit.

IV. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by their reception of the divine interpretation and exposition.—When the preacher of the divine law goes to the heathen, he finds in their nature a response to his message, and this response may act in different directions. Some of the heathen accept the message because it is the interpretation of the law written in their hearts; or others reject the message, not because the revealed law does not harmonise with the law written in the heart, but because a lower nature asserts an ascendency, and then, either to justify rejection or to fortify in a wrong course, they persecute the messenger and seek to obliterate traces of the revealed law The very wrath of the adherents of false doctrine, when the truth is proclaimed, declares in most cases that the true doctrine is that which correctly interprets the symbolic writing on their hearts. If we hold the truth and are confident that we have the truth, why should rage possess our natures when a messenger comes to upset our beliefs? Our confidence in the truth may cause us to look complacently at the efforts of those who come to change our beliefs.

V. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by the witness of conscience.—A man differs from a machine in this: that the one has a law in itself—is moved, as Aristotle would say, κατὰ λόγον; the other is moved μετὰ λόγον, has a law both in and for himself. Now conscience, which is more than mere consciousness, testifies to the presence of that law, interprets, and gives it force. Conscience bears witness to the right, gives emphasis to the ought, and leaves without excuse. Conscience existed before philosophies of right and wrong, taught moral lessons, and led to some strivings after propriety of conduct. The pre-existence of conscience is supposed by the post-existence of moral philosophies. Instinctive acts of nobleness arise from the instinctive promptings of conscience. Plato’s sentence cannot be upheld, that “without philosophy there is no morality.” The presence and practice of morality declare a philosophic spirit and temperament; but Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, who were highly moral, would not be classed as belonging to any philosophical school. They would not be referred to as authorities on the questions which disturb the schools—as to the nature of the concrete and the abstract, as to nature or the non-existent, as to whether there can be either not-being or being. Morality arises, not from the scholastic philosophies, but from the deeper philosophy of conscience bearing witness to the work of the law written in the heart. Conscience bears witness to the divine writing in human nature. If the Gentiles had no witnessing conscience, then apostles and missionaries have no ground of appeal.

VI. The Gentiles show the work of the law written in their hearts by their moral reasonings.—These reasonings are not exemplifications of any logical method. Their thoughts, their moral reflections, are at one time accusing and at another time excusing. Shall we suppose them engaged in the intricate process of distinguishing between right and wrong? Shall we not rather picture the Gentile nature as a court where moral questions are being discussed? The conscience is both witness and judge. The thoughts are as so many advocates, some pleading for and others pleading against, either accusing or excusing. Shall we not still rather consider that the thoughts of the Gentiles accuse when wrong has been done, and excuse when right has been either attempted or performed? There is such a process going on in human nature. In some the process is carried on with clearness, and in others with a certain vagueness. How sad that accusing voices should have reason most constantly to be heard! Yet sadder still if self-righteousness prevents the accusing voices from being properly heard, and excusing voices, in the sense perhaps not meant by the apostle, only are allowed to make themselves heard!

1. Let us beware lest the heathen rise up in judgment against us. How little was their light! How great is ours!

2. Let us not tamper with conscience, for God knows, and will judge the secrets of men.

3. Let the upbraidings of conscience drive us by repentance and faith unto Jesus Christ.

4. The doers of the law are justified before God. We cannot be justified by the law of the carnal commandment; let us find refuge in the higher law of love.

5. If we fear the approach of the day when God shall judge, let us seek for that perfect love in and by Christ which casteth out all fear.

6. The voice of the law speaks trouble to the conscience. The voice of “my gospel,” of “the gospel of God,” speaks peace by Jesus Christ to every believing soul; therefore let us cleave above all things to the gospel.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_2:13-16

Law written on the heart.—The Greek poet Sophocles speaks of “the unwritten and indelible laws of the gods” in the hearts of men; and the Platonic philosopher Plutarch speaks of “a law which is not outwardly written in books, but implanted in the heart of man.”

Conversion does not impart new faculties.—Bishop Sanderson says that Paul teaches in this verse that “every man, however unholy, has a conscience, though depraved; and that at the fall of man conscience itself was not lost, but its rectitude and integrity were impaired; and that, when we are born again in baptism, we do not receive the infusion of another conscience, but our conscience, which was before unclean, is washed by the blood of Christ, and is cleansed by faith and is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, in order that it may please God.” In regeneration the man does not receive the infusion of any new qualities. After conversion men possess the same characteristics as they did before the spiritual change had taken place. They obtain new affections, likes, and desires; but they do not receive a power of loving, liking, and desiring which they did not before possess. After conversion they both will and perform the thing which is good: but before conversion the power of volition was present, and also in a degree the power of performance; but it was weak—so weak that it could not overcome the counteracting forces. If a man had by some spiritual process to be remade before he could become a Christian, then how could it be possible, in justice, for him to be accounted a responsible agent? The unconverted heathen have a written law and a witnessing conscience and moral reasonings, and they must act up to their light, and by these must they be judged. And what will be their condition in the future it is not for us to determine. The great question is, not what will become of the heathen, but what will become of us—are we acting according to our increased light and enlarged opportunities? The Gentiles “show the work of the law written in their hearts.” This expression may be taken from the fact that the law of the ten commandments was written on tables of stone. It is a proper expression to represent the impression made by the Creator upon the moral nature of the creature. A thing written is impressed. The hand of God writes upon the heart of man as He writes upon the material creation. The writing is symbolical, but its meaning is plain enough for all practical purposes.

An accusing conscience.—An accusing conscience tells us for what we were designed, that we were made morally in the image and likeness of God, from what we have fallen, and to what depths of depravity we have sunk. Thus it declares our littleness, as we consider our noble resolves, our lofty purposes, our high-born ambitions; and yet our weak performances—our miserable failures to reach the goal to which our virtuous longings point. How sadly often when we would do good evil is present with us! We fall to the doing of iniquity with fatal propensity. Thus conscience indicates our greatness as we contemplate the strife between good and evil which is being waged in the arena of a man’s soul. We are very far from believing the doctrine that the greatest battles are unseen, the mightiest conquests unbloody, and that moral victors are the greatest heroes. Historians make no account of the battle-fields where moral conflicts are waged; but long after the historian’s busy pen has ceased its wizardry, his powerful brain is blended with the common dust, his thrilling pages have perished as the shrivelled parchment scroll, and his Marathons, Thermopylæ, and other scenes of warlike glory have been swept into oblivion, the victories achieved by moral heroes will endure. Soul conflicts are the mightiest, as often they are the severest. Spiritual warfare is the most wonderful, as it is the most mysterious. What a world is that unseen realm where good and evil are engaged in fierce encounter! An accusing conscience is the inward trumpeter that summons the nobler powers to the battle. Alas that ofttimes the trumpet blast falls as it were upon the ears of dead men, and the forces in the town of Mansoul do not muster to the defence! How blessed is it when the trumpet voice is heard and obeyed! Sometimes the believer is depressed as he feels within himself the agony caused by the strife between the good and the evil. He may ask, How is it that there is all this strife, agony, and conflict if my citizenship is in heaven? But strife speaks of life. Dead men do not fight. Dead powers in the soul do not engage in battle. It is as the powers of the soul are awake to the love of the beautiful and the good, and are desirous of being clothed with virtuous qualities, that they contend for the mastery over evil. The more spiritual life there is in the soul, the more feeling will there be in the conscience. The prickings of conscience are painful, but they tell of a living soul. A condemning heart sends agony through the frame, but it declares vitality. A man may even take courage when conscience accuses. All sin brings its punishment in its measure. The wages of sin is death, but not death to the conscience. Sometimes it seems as if the greater the death of the spiritual nature, the greater the life of conscience. Oh, how it darts its awful pangs! How wonderful its constitution! We speak of burying the past; but conscience will not allow the past to be buried. It seems to have lain dormant for years, and then it speaks, and we cannot account for the utterance. No outward circumstances, no laws of association, appear to account for the fact that conscience has spoken to our condemnation. A guilty conscience who can endure? “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” The Good Physician alone has balm with which to heal the wounded spirit.

“O conscience! into what abyss of fears

And horrors hast thou driven me; out of which

I find no way, from deep to deeper plunged!”

Milton.

Darwin himself admits that, of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important.

Self-conscious personality of man.—The bearing of this upon conscience is clear. The Scripture doctrine of man first of all affirms that view of his physical and ethical nature which we have been endeavouring to show is the only one borne out by facts. The self-conscious and self-determining personality of man is an essential part of the divine nature in man. As Dr. Pope says, this element is “essential and indestructible,” while there is a sense in which the image of God in its moral lineaments was “accidental and a missible,” lost in the Fall, and not utterly lost only because redemption intervened. Such a being, however, it is clear, possesses moral capacity, being raised above the circle of nature, and moving in the region of self-consciousness and self-government, and he is prepared by the very constitution of his nature to “know good and evil,” not only after the tempter’s way, through disobedience and yielding to evil, but after God’s way, through free choice of the good. In this brief but significant description of man’s original nature lies the germ of the whole Scripture doctrine of conscience.—W. T. Davidson.

In the Gentile heart a real judgment hall.—How can one help admiring here, on the one hand, the subtle analysis whereby the apostle discloses in the Gentile heart a real judgment hall where witnesses are heard for and against, then the sentence of the judge; and, on the other hand, that largeness of heart with which, alter drawing so revolting a picture of the moral deformities of Gentile life, he brings into view in as striking a way the indestructible moral elements, the evidences of which are sometimes irresistibly presented here by this so deeply sunken life!—Godet.

Two principles of justification.—Here we are assured that the “doers of the law shall be justified”; and yet, in the subsequent part of the epistle, it is proved in the most convincing manner that “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” It is obvious that these different passages must refer to different things, otherwise the one would be contradictory of the other. And that they refer to two different principles of justification—the one held by the Jews and heathen, the other laid down in the gospel—cannot be doubted by any person who considers the argument. In the passage before us the apostle speaks of men being justified on the Christian principle, not by a perfect obedience, entitling them to it as matter of justice, but by the righteousness of faith, which God will of His own free mercy accept, and in virtue of the atoning death of Christ follow with everlasting life. When he says that by the deeds of the law “there shall no flesh be justified,” he speaks of the principle of justification implied in the law of nature and relied on by all who rejected the gospel—a justification depending entirely on men’s own actions, requiring an unvarying obedience to the whole law without the least failure, and thus entitling a man to be justified as a matter of right, the conditions being fulfilled on which the attainment of it was originally made to depend. It is this species of justification which he tells us no flesh living can attain—a truth which no person who considers the matter can doubt. These passages, therefore, are entirely compatible with one another; but they relate to different things, and each of them states with perfect correctness the truth in relation to the subject to which it applies. This passage teaches us, first, that in the great day of the Lord our most secret thoughts and actions will be judged by Him who is appointed Judge of the quick and dead. And if we should be afraid or ashamed to have some passages of our life laid open, let this incite us to watch with more circumspection over our dispositions and conduct. It teaches us further that they are not the hearers but the doers of the law who shall be justified. Now we enjoy the knowledge of the divine law in as perfect a degree as it can be enjoyed by man. Does our conduct correspond with our knowledge? This is the important and trying question which it becomes all of us to investigate with the most rigid impartiality. And if we find, as unquestionably will be the case, that our conduct has been in many respects unsuitable to our knowledge, let the discovery incite us to redouble our diligence in the work of the Lord, that so being justified by faith we may have peace with God and the hope of obtaining eternal life.—Ritchie.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2

Rom_2:13. Caracci, the famous artist.—Caracci, the famous artist, while discoursing on the splendours of the ancient sculptures, and especially of the Laocoon, reproached his brother because he did not appear to be paying the slightest attention. When he had finished his description, his brother took a piece of charcoal and drew the statue as if it had been before him. Caracci in astonishment confessed that his brother had taken the most effectual way to show the beauties of the famous sculpture. “Poets paint with words, and the painter with works,” was the reply. The Christian must be a doer as well as hearer of the word.

Rom_2:13. Ariosto and his house.—Ariosto built himself a small house, and on being asked by a friend how he, who had described palaces in Orlando, could be content with so humble a dwelling, replied, “Words are cheaper than stones.” God does not want fictitious words, but living stones, holy deeds.

Rom_2:13. The conscience ring.—How beautifully was the office of conscience set forth in the ring which, according to an Eastern tale, a great magician presented to his prince! The gift was of inestimable value, not for the diamonds and rubies and pearls that gemmed it, but for a rare and mystic property in the metal. It sat easily enough in ordinary circumstances, but so soon as its wearer formed a bad thought or wish, designed or concocted a bad action, the ring became a monitor. Suddenly contracting, it pressed painfully on the finger, warning him of sin. The ring of that fable is just that conscience which is the voice of God within us, which is His law written on the fleshly tablets of the heart. We all know that the word “conscience” comes from con and scie; but what does that con intend? “Conscience” is not merely that which I know, but that which I know with some other; for this prefix cannot, as I think, be esteemed superfluous, or taken to imply merely that which I know with or to myself. That other knower whom the word implies is God.

Rom_2:14-15. Conscience the oracle of God.—Joseph Cook says that “conscience is the compass of the unknown.” Epigrams are apt to be misleading. Can it be said that conscience is the compass of God? Does He require a method of measurement? May it not rather be said that conscience is our compass, if it be enlightened by the Holy Spirit and the word of God. The Gentiles have a conscience, but it is not always a properly regulated instrument of measurement. It points out a wrong and a right, but does not always say correctly which is wrong and which is right. It is the voice of God, but requires tuning.

“Yet still there whispers the small voice within,

Heard through God’s silences, and o’er glory’s din:

Whatever creed be taught, or land be trod,

Man’s conscience is the oracle of God.”

Byron.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:13 obeying the law . . . makes us right in his sight: Regarding the promise of righteousness through obedience, see 2:7; see also Jas 1:22.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 2:13. Οὑ γαρ, for not) A Proposition [Statement of Subject] clearly standing forth, the words of which have respect also to the Gentiles, but are particularly adapted to the Jews; concerning the former, Rom 2:14, etc. treats; concerning the latter, Rom 2:17, etc.; wherefore, also, Rom 2:16 depends on Rom 2:15, not on Rom 2:12. They have caused much confusion, who enclosed within a parenthesis the passage beginning at the 14th, nay, rather at the 13th verse, and ending with the 15.—οἱ ἀκροαταὶ, hearers), inactive, however sedulous [in hearing] they may be.—παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ, before [with] God) Rom 2:2.—ποιηταὶ, doers) namely, if men have shown themselves to be doers, ch. Rom 10:5. They may do things pertaining to the law, but they cannot prove [warrant] themselves to be the doers of the whole law.—δικαιωθήσονται, shall be justified) This verb, in contradistinction to the noun δίκαιοι, which denotes men actually righteous, involves a condition, which is to be performed, and then [the condition being fulfilled] the declaration of their being righteous, as about to follow [as the consequence] in the day of the divine judgment.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_2:13 proves the correctness of the proposition, so much at variance with the fancy of the Jews, ὅσοι ἐν νόμῳ ἥμαρτον, διὰ νόμου κριθήσονται.

The placing of Rom_2:13-15 in a parenthesis, as after Bezas example is done by Grotius, Griesbach, and others, also by Reiche and Winer, is to be rejected, because Rom_2:13, which cannot be placed in a parenthesis alone (as Koppe and Mehring do), is closely joined with what immediately precedes, and it is only in Rom_2:14 that an intervening thought is introduced by way of illustration. The parenthesis is (with Baumgarten-Crusius) to be limited to Rom_2:14-15, as is done also by Lachmann. See on Rom_2:16.

οἱ ἀκροαταί] A reference to the public reading of the Thorah on the Sabbath. Comp Act_15:21; 2Co_3:14; Joh_12:34; Josephus, Antt. v. 1, 26, v. 2, 7. The substantive brings out more forcibly than the participial form of expression would have done the characteristic feature: those, whose business is hearing. Compare Theile, a[639] Jac. i. 22, p. 76.

παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ] ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ Rom_3:20, according to Gods judgment. 1Co_3:9; 2Th_1:6; Winer, p. 369 [E. T. 492].

δικαιωθήσ.] They shall be declared as righteous, normal. See on Rom_1:17. This οἱ ποιηταὶ νόμου δικαιωθήσονται is the general fundamental law of God who judges with righteousness (Gal_3:12); a fundamental law which required to be urged here in proof of the previous assertion ὅσοι ἐν νόμῳ ἥμαρτον, διὰ ν. κριθήσ. Compare Weiss, bibl. Theol. § 87. How in the event of its being impossible for a man to be a true ποιητὴς νόμου (Rom_3:9 ff.) faith comes in and furnishes a δικαιοσύνη ἐκ πίστεως, and then how man, by means of the καινότης ζωῆς (Rom_6:4) attained through faith, must and can fulfil (Rom_8:4) the law completed by Christ (the νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς, Rom_8:2), were topics not belonging to the present discussion. Compare on Rom_2:6. Haec descriptio est justitia legis, quae nihil impedit alia dicta de justitia fidei, Melancthon.

[639] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 2:13 . This is the principle of judgment, for not the hearers of law (the Mosaic or any other) are just with God, but the law doers shall be justified. ἀκροαταὶ tends to mean “pupils,” constant hearers, who are educated in the law: see Rom 2:10 . But no degree of familiarity with the law avails if it is not done. The forensic sense of δικαιοῦσθαι is apparent in this verse, where it is synonymous with δίκαιοι εἶναι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ : the latter obviously being the opposite of “to be condemned”. Whether there are persons who perfectly keep the law, is a question not raised here. The futures ἀπολοῦνται , κριθήσονται , δικαιωθήσονται all refer to the day of final judgment.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 13. “For not the hearers of the law are just before God; but the doers of the law, they shall be justified.” — Why hearers rather than possessors or readers? To describe the position of the Jews who heard the reading of the law in the synagogue every Sabbath, and who for the most part knew it only in this way (Luk 4:16 et seq.; Act 13:15; Act 15:21).

Before God, says Paul; for before men it was otherwise, the Jews ascribing righteousness to one another on account of their common possession of the law. If such a claim were well founded, the impartiality of God would be destroyed, for the fact of knowing the law is a hereditary advantage, and not the fruit of moral action. The judicial force of the term δικαιωθῆναι, to be justified, in Paul’s writings, comes out forcibly in this passage, since in the day of judgment no one is made righteous morally speaking, and can only be recognized and declared such. This declarative sense appears likewise in the use of the preposition παρά (before God), which necessarily refers to an act of God as judge (see on Rom 1:17). The article τοῦ before νόμου, law, in the two propositions, is found only in the Byz. Mjj.; it ought to be expunged: the hearers, the doers of a law. No doubt it is the Mosaic law which is referred to, but as law, and not as Mosaic. Some think that this idea of justification by the fulfilment of the law is enunciated here in a purely hypothetical manner, and can never be realized (Rom 3:19-20). Paul, it is said, is indicating the abstract standard of judgment, which, in consequence of man’s sin, will never admit of rigorous application. But how in this case explain the future “shall be justified”? Comp. also the phrase of Rom 2:27 : “uncircumcision when it fulfils the law,” words which certainly refer to concrete cases, and the passage Rom 8:4, in which the apostle asserts that the δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου, what the law declares righteous, is fulfilled in the believer’s life. It will certainly, therefore, be required of us that we be righteous in the day of judgment if God is to recognize and declare us to be such; imputed righteousness is the beginning of the work of salvation, the means of entrance into the state of grace. But this initial justification, by restoring communion between God and man, should guide the latter to the actual possession of righteousness—that is to say, to the fulfilment of the law; otherwise, this first justification would not stand in the judgment (see on Rom 2:6). And hence it is in keeping with Paul’s views, whatever may be said by an antinomian and unsound tendency, to distinguish two justifications, the one initial, founded exclusively on faith, the other final, founded on faith and its fruits.Divine imputation beforehand, in order to be true, must necessarily become true—that is to say, be converted into the recognition of a real righteousness. But if the maxim of Rom 2:13 is the rule of the divine judgment, this rule threatens again to overturn the principle of divine impartiality; for how can the Gentiles fulfil the law which they do not possess? Vv.14 and 15 contain the answer to this objection.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_2:13

For not the hearers of the law. This verse is connected with the last clause of the preceding, and assigns the reason why the Jews shall be judged or punished according to the law; the mere possession or knowledge of the law would not avail, for it is not the hearers, but the doers of the law that are just before God. The expression hearers instead of readers, is explained by the fact that the law was read in the presence of the people, and by hearing rather than by reading, their knowledge of it was obtained. Comp. Mat_5:21; Joh_12:34; Gal_4:21; Jam_1:22. To be just before God, and to be justified, are the same thing. They are both forensic expressions, and indicate the state rather than the charter of those to whom they refer. Those are just in the sight of God, or are justified, who have done what the law requires, and are regarded and treated accordingly; that is, are declared to be free from condemnation, and entitled to the favor of God. In obvious allusion to the opinion, that being a Jew was enough to secure admission to heaven, the apostle says, It is not the hearers but the doers of the laws that are justified. He is not speaking of the method of justification available for sinners, as revealed in the gospel, but of the principles of justice which will be applied to all who look to the law for justification. If men rely on works, they must have works; they must be doers of the law; they must satisfy its demands, if they are to be justified by it. For God is just and impartial; he will, as a judge administering the law, judge every man, not according to his privileges, but according to his works and the knowledge of duty which he has possessed. On these principles, it is his very design to show that no flesh living can be justified.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall be pronounced just before God’s judgment seat: which is true indeed, if any such could be found that had fulfilled the law: but seeing Abraham was not justified by the Law, but by faith, it followeth that no man can be justified by works.

He preventeth an objection which might be made by the Jews, whom the Law doth not excuse, but condemns, because that not the hearing of the Law, but the keeping of the Law doth justify.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

For not the hearers, &c.--As touching the Jews, in whose ears the written law is continually resounding, the condemnation of as many of them as are found sinners at the last involves no difficulty; but even as respects the heathen, who are strangers to the law in its positive and written form--since they show how deeply it is engraven on their moral nature, which witnesses within them for righteousness and against iniquity, accusing or condemning them according as they violate or obey its stern dictates--their condemnation also for all the sin in which they live and die will carry its dreadful echo in their own breasts.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. For not the hearers of the law, c.] It does not follow, because one people are favoured with a Divine revelation, that therefore they shall be saved while the others who have not had that revelation, shall finally perish: this is not God's procedure; where he has given a law-a Divine revelation, he requires obedience to that law; and only those who have been doers of that law-who have lived according to the light and privileges granted in that revelation, shall be justified-shall be finally acknowledged to be such as are fit for the kingdom of God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. For the hearers of the law, etc. This anticipates an objection which the Jews might have adduced. As they had heard that the law was the rule of righteousness, (Deuteronomy 4:1,) they gloried in the mere knowledge of it: to obviate this mistake, he declares that the hearing of the law or any knowledge of it is of no such consequence, that any one should on that account lay claim to righteousness, but that works must be produced, according to this saying, “He who will do these shall live in them.” The import then of this verse is the following, — “That if righteousness be sought from the law, the law must be fulfilled; for the righteousness of the law consists in the perfection of works.” They who pervert this passage for the purpose of building up justification by works, deserve most fully to be laughed at even by children. It is therefore improper and beyond what is needful, to introduce here a long discussion on the subject, with the view of exposing so futile a sophistry: for the Apostle only urges here on the Jews what he had mentioned, the decision of the law, — That by the law they could not be justified, except they fulfilled the law, that if they transgressed it, a curse was instantly pronounced on them. Now we do not deny but that perfect righteousness is prescribed in the law: but as all are convicted of transgression, we say that another righteousness must be sought. Still more, we can prove from this passage that no one is justified by works; for if they alone are justified by the law who fulfill the law, it follows that no one is justified; for no one can be found who can boast of having fulfilled the law.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) For not the hearers of the law.—The parenthesis should not be placed here (as usually in the Authorised version), but at the beginning of the next verse. The present verse is explanatory of that which precedes. “Judged, I say, by the Law; for they must not suppose that the mere fact of their being under the Law will exempt them from this judgment. The only exemption will be that which is given to those who have kept the Law, and not merely had the privilege of hearing it. And,” the argument follows—the Apostle digressing for a moment to pursue this point to its conclusion—“this exemption, may apply quite as much to Gentile as to Jew.”

Hearers of the law.—Strictly (as above), hearers of law—i.e., those who have a law to which they can listen, and by which they may be guided. (Comp. Act_13:27; Act_15:21, “Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath”; and for the opposition between hearing and doing, Jas_1:22-23; Jas_1:25.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. for not the hearers] A parenthesis is usually begun here, and continued to the close of Rom_2:15. We prefer to dispense with it, for reasons to be given there. The present verse is naturally connected with the close of Rom_2:12.—“The hearers of the law:”—as we too speak of “hearers of the Gospel,” even now when reading is so vastly prevalent.

before God] See last note Rom_2:11. The Gr. is the same here.

the doers of the law shall be justified] See Gal_3:12. For the express citation cp. Lev_18:5 : “Ye shall keep my statutes … which if a man do, he shall live in them; I am the Lord.” How deep the tendency of the Jew was to build safety upon privilege and knowledge, appears from Mat_3:9; Joh_7:49. See on Rom_2:3, and Appendix A.

shall be justified] The future tense, perhaps, refers to Lev_18:5 just quoted; “shall live.” Supposing the law kept, this stands in God’s word as the promised result.

The meaning of the verb “to justify” will be fully illustrated as we proceed. Here it is enough to remark that it signifies not amendment, but acquittal; or, rather, a judicial declaration of righteousness. See for an excellent illustration from the O. T., Deu_25:1. (The LXX. there employ the same Gr. word as St Paul’s here). The present verse does not, of course, assert (what would be so clearly contradicted by e.g. Rom_3:20) that the law ever is, or can be, so kept as to justify the keeper. It merely states the conditions of legal justification, whether fulfilled in fact or not.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which show the work of the law written in their hearts,.... Though the Gentiles had not the law in form, written on tables, or in a book, yet they had "the work", the matter, the sum and substance of it in their minds; as appears by the practices of many of them, in their external conversation. The moral law, in its purity and perfection, was written on the heart of Adam in his first creation; was sadly obliterated by his sin and fall; upon several accounts, and to answer various purposes, a system of laws was written on tables of stone for the use of the Israelites; and in regeneration the law is reinscribed on the hearts of God's people; and even among the Gentiles, and in their hearts, there are some remains of the old law and light of nature, which as by their outward conduct appears, so by the inward motions of their minds,

their conscience also bearing witness; for, as the Jews say (r) , "the soul of a man witnesses in him"; for, or against him:

and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another; and this the Heathens themselves acknowledge, when they (s) speak of

"tameion dikasthrion kai krithrion thv suneidhsewv, "the conclave, tribunal and judgment of conscience"; and which they call , "the most righteous judge": whose judgment reason receives, and gives its suffrage to, whether worthy of approbation or reproof; when it reads in the memory as if written on a table the things that are done, and then beholding the law as an exemplar, pronounces itself either worthy of honour or dishonour.''

(r) T. Bab. Chagigah, fol. 16. 1. & Taanith, fol. 11. 1. (s) Hierocles in Carmina Pythagor. p. 81, 206, 209, 213, 214.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Ver. 13. But the doers of the law] The Scriptures are verba vivenda non legenda, as Egidins, Abbot of Nuremberg, said of the 119th Psalm. Boni Catholici sunt qui et fidem integram sequunfur, et bones mores. (Aug.) Lessons of music must be practised, and a copy not read only but acted. Divinity must be done as well as known.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For not the hearers ... - The same sentiment is implied in Jam 1:22; Mat 7:21, Mat 7:24; Luk 6:47. The apostle here doubtless designed to meet an objection of the Jews; to wit, that they had the Law, that they manifested great deference for it, that they heard it read with attention, and professed a willingness to yield themselves to it. To meet this, he states a very plain and obvious principle, that this was insufficient to justify them before God, unless they rendered actual obedience.

Are just - Are justified before God, or are personally holy. Or, in other words, simply hearing the Law is not meeting all its requirements, and making people holy. If they expected to be saved by the Law, it required something more than merely to hear it. It demanded perfect obedience.

But the doers of the law - They who comply entirely with its demands; or who yield to it perfect and perpetual obedience. This was the plain and obvious demand, not only of common sense, but of the Jewish Law itself; Deu 4:1; Lev 18:5; compare Rom 10:9.

Shall be justified - This expression is evidently synonymous with that in Lev 18:5, where it is said that “he shall live in them.” The meaning is, that it is a maxim or principle of the Law of God, that if a creature will keep it, and obey it entirely, he shall not be condemned, but shall be approved and live forever. This does not affirm that anyone ever has thus lived in this world, but it is an affirmation of a great general principle of law, that if a creature is justified by the Law, the obedience must be entire and perpetual. If such were the case, as there would be no ground of condemnation, man would be saved by the Law. If the Jews, therefore, expected to be saved by their Law, it must be, not by hearing the Law, nor by being called a Jew, but by perfect and unqualified obedience to all its requirements. This passage is designed, doubtless, to meet a very common and pernicious sentiment of the Jewish teachers, that all who became hearers and listeners to the Law would be saved. The inference from the passage is, that no man can be saved by his external privileges, or by an outward respectful deference to the truths and ordinances of religion.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This and the two following verses are included in a parenthesis, and they serve to obviate an objection against what was said, Rom 2:12. The Jews might plead, that they were superior to the Gentiles, and should be exempted or privileged, in judgment, forasmuch as they knew and professed the law of God, which the Gentiles did not. To this he says, that to know and learn the law was not sufficient, unless in all things they yielded obedience to it, which they neither did nor could. The scope of the apostle is not simply to show how sinners are now justified in the sight of God; but to show what is requisite to justification according to the tenor of the law, and that is, to do all that is written therein, and to continue so to do. And if there be any man that can bring such perfect and constant obedience of his own performing, he shall be justified by God; but inasmuch as no man, neither natural nor regenerate, can so fulfil the law, he must seek for justification in some other way. The text, thus expounded, doth no way militate with Rom 3:30, and Gal 3:11, which at first reading it seems to do. And it further shows, that the Jews are comprehended under the general curse, as well as the Gentiles, and are bound to have recourse to the righteousness of God by faith.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Hearers of the law—No possessing, or hearing, or learning the law avails to the Jew without obedience to it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For not the hearers of Law are just before God, but the doers of Law shall be justified; In this verse, as in the previous one, nomou is anarthrous according to the best-supported readings, though the Textus Receptus has tou before it. It has, therefore, been rendered above simply as Law, not as either the law, or a law, as the same word will be below, whenever it stands by itself without either the article or any modifying genitive. Much has been written by commentators on the senses in which this word nomov is to be understood, as used by St. Paul with or without the article. In an Appendix to the Introduction to the Epistle to the Romans in the "Speaker"s Commentary" will be found a summary of the views taken by critics of repute, with exhaustive references to the usage of the word in the Septuagint, in the New Testament generally, and in the writings of St. Paul. It has not been thought necessary in this Commentary to discuss further what has been so amply discussed already. It may suffice to state certain principles for the reader"s guidance, which appear plainly to commend themselves to acceptance.

(1) O nomov , with the article prefixed, always means the Mosaic Law.

(2) Nomov , without the article, may have, and often has, specific reference to the Mosaic Law; but, if so, the emission of the article is not arbitrary, but involves a difference of meaning. The article in Greek is prefixed to a word when the latter is intended to convey some definite idea already familiarized to the mind, and "the natural effect of its presence is to divert the thoughts from dwelling on the peculiar import of the word, and is adverse to its inherent notion standing out as a prominent point in the sense of the passage" (quoted from "Grammar of the New Testament Dialect," by T. S. Green, in Appendix to Introduction to Romans in the "Speaker"s Commentary"). Hence the omission of the article, where it might have been used, before a word has often the effect of emphasizing and drawing attention to the inherent notion of the word. We may take as an instance ver. 17 in this chapter, where the Textus Receptus has epanapauh tw nomw but where the preferable reading omits the article. In either case the Mosaic Law is referred to; but the omission of the article brings into prominence the principle of justification on which the Jew rested viz. Law, which exacts entire obedience. In the following verse (the eighteenth), in the phrase, kathcoumenov ek tou nomou the article is inserted, the intention being simply to say that the Jew was instructed in the well-known Law of Moses. The same difference of meaning is intimated by the omission or insertion of the article in ver. 23 and elsewhere in other parts of the chapter and of the whole Epistle. (see especially Ro 7) The apostle, who, however spontaneous and unstudied might be his style of writing, by no means used phrases at random, would not surely have thus varied his expressions so often in one and the same sentence without intended significance.

(3) Nomov without the article seems evidently in many passages to be used by St. Paul to denote law in the abstract, without any exclusive reference to the Mosaic Law at all, or to any particular code of law. Doubtless the Mosaic Law, in which he had been educated, and which he had painfully proved the impossibility of keeping perfectly, had been to him the grand embodiment and representative of law; but he had hence been led to an abstract conception, ever before his mind, of law as representing the principle of exaction of full obedience to requirements; and when he says, as he so often does, that by law no man can be justified, he means that none can be so on the principle of complete conformity being required to the behests of Divine righteousness, whether as revealed from Mount Sinai or through the human conscience, or in any other way; for by law is the knowledge of sin and consequent guilt, but not the power of avoiding sin. Those who ignore the distinction as above explained, saying, as some do, that nomov , whether with or without the article, always means simply the Law of Moses, fail to enter into the depth and generality of the apostle"s argument. The distinction will be observed in this translation throughout the Epistle (o nomov being translated "the Law," and nomov "law"), and it will be found always to have a meaning. (For one instance in which it is hardly possible to suppose St. Paul to have omitted and inserted the article in the same sentence without a meaning, cf. Gal_4:21)

Hearers and doers.

It is impossible to overlook the resemblance which this passage bears to words of the great Teacher uttered towards the close of the sermon on the mount. In this, as in so many places, the apostle is evidently indebted for his thoughts, and almost his very words, to the Divine Fountain of all the streams of spiritual wisdom and life.

I A PRINCIPLE OF CONDEMNATION.

1. It is possible to hear the Law, and yet not to obey it.

2. In the case of the disobedient, the continued hearing of the Law may be the occasion of continued and even increased insensibility, indifference, and hostility.

3. Thus the very hearing and the familiarity resulting from it may become the ground of condemnation, because an aggravation of the offence. Thus the abuse of what is best leads to the worst results. The Law is holy, just, and good; but it is the severest condemnation of the rebellious and impatient.

II A PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.

1. In the case of those who perfectly fulfil the righteous Law of God, the consequence of their perfect obedience is justification by works. It is needless to say that no member of the human race has ever fulfilled this condition. There is none whom the Law thus justifies. One only among the sons of men has fulfilled all righteousness even the Son of God himself, who came to fulfil the Law, not only by his teaching, but in his life.

2. Yet the very violation of the perfect Law of God is the means of calling men"s attention to the need and the provision of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus.

3. And in the case of those who are saved by grace, the Law of God becomes the standard of conduct, to attain which is the aim of all who are led by the Spirit of God. The whole moral life of the true Christian is an endeavour to fulfil that Law which was formerly the principle of condemnation, but has now become a principle of life.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, ver. 14, &c.; of the latter, ver. 17, &c. Here is therefore no parenthesis; for the sixteenth verse also depends on the fifteenth, not on the twelfth. Rom. ii, 16, 15, 12.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the law a law.

The statement is general, true of "a law," any law.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, not the bare hearers of the law shall, upon that account, be just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified; that is, accepted of God, as acting suitable to their holy profession. It is notoriously known, that Jews gloried in, and rested upon, their outward privleges for salvation, because they were Abraham’s seed, because they were circumcised, because they were employed in reading and hearing of the law; they concluded this sufficient to render them acceptable with God; therefore, says the apostle, not the hearers, but the doers of the law shall be justified; that is, the persons whom God will accept and account righteous for the sake of Christ.

Note here, That the doers of the law or word of God, are the best hearers, yea, the only hearers in the account of God. Hearing is good, but it must not be rested in; a great understanding may a man have by much reading the word and law of God; but a good understanding only have they that do the word and will of God; the praise and fruit of that endureth forever. Psa 111:10

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. “For not the hearers of the law shall be just with God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” This does not teach legal justification, but the fact that God’s true people are always obedient. A beautiful emphasis is here laid on doing, confirmatory of the significant fact that obedience to the law of God is the normal fruit of true faith in every case, invariably as the shadow follows the substance. “Make the tree good and the fruit will be good; make the tree evil and the fruit will be evil” (Jesus).

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified [Of course, the Jew had a great advantage over the Gentile in that he possessed the law--Paul himself concedes this ( Rom_3:1-2 ); but this mere possession of the law, and this privilege of hearing and knowing the will of God, by no means justified the sinner. Jews and Gentiles alike had to seek justification through perfect obedience to their respective laws, and no one of either class had ever been able to render such obedience. The Jew had the advantage of the Gentile in that he had a clear knowledge of the Lord's will, and a fair warning of the dire consequences of disobedience. The Gentile, however, had advantages which offset those of the Jews, thus making the judgments of God wholly impartial. If the law which directed him was less clear, it was also less onerous. In a parenthesis the apostle now sets forth the nature of the law under which the Gentiles lived; he evidently does this that he may meet a supposed Jewish objection, as though some one said, "Since what you say applies to those who have a divine law given to them, it can not apply to the Gentiles, since they possess no law at all." It is to this anticipated objection that Paul replies];

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. For not the hearers of the law. Not the law, but a law, as in the Revision. The possession of a revelation will not save, but obedience to it. While a general statement is made, Paul has an eye upon the Jews. Their law could not make them righteous unless it was obeyed. Justified. Accounted righteous; not held to be guilty.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Paul continues to let the reader know that perfect obedience to God's law is required even for those who never had God's law.

For

Verses 14 and 15 interrupt Paul's main argument to give the reader extra information. If you have a way to mark an interruption like this in your language, you can use it here.

it is not the hearers of the law

Here "the law" refers to the law of Moses. AT: "it is not those who only hear the law of Moses" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

who are righteous before God

"whom God considers righteous"

but it is the doers of the law

"but it is those who obey the law of Moses"

who will be justified

You can translate this in an active form. AT: "whom God will accept" (See: Active or Passive)

Gentiles, who do not have the law ... are a law to themselves

The phrase "law to themselves" is an idiom that means that these people naturally obey God's laws. AT: "have God's laws already inside them" (See: Idiom)

they do not have the law

Here "the law" refers to the law of Moses." AT: "they do not actually have the laws that God gave to Moses" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

law

righteous

just

Gentile

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

13. οὐ γὰρ justifies the latter clause of 12. If law is a ground of sinning, law must be done, if a verdict of acquittal is to be gained.

δικαιωθήσονται. A clear case of the forensic use of δικαιοῦν = shall be acquitted. See Introduction, p. xxxvi.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13.] This is to explain to the Jew the fact, that not his mere hearing of the law read in the synagogue (= his being by birth and privilege a Jew) will justify him before God, but (still keeping to general principles and not touching as yet on the impossibility of being thus justified) the doing of the law.

τοῦ has been apparently inserted in both cases in the later mss. from seeing that νόμος was indisputably the law of Moses, and stumbling at the unusual expression οἱ ἀκροαταὶ νόμου. But the οἱ in both cases is generic, and ἀκροατὴς-νόμου, ποιητὴς-νόμου (almost as one word in each case), ‘a hearer-of-the-law,’ a ‘doer-of-the-law.’ So that the correct English for οἱ ἀκροαταὶ νόμου is hearers of the law, and for οἱ ποιηταὶ νόμου, doers of the law. It is obvious, that with the omission of the τοῦ in both places, the whole elaborate and ingenious criticism built by Bp. Middleton on its use, falls to the ground. (See Middleton, Gr. Art. in loc.) His dictum, that such an expression as οἱ ἀκροαταὶ νόμου is inadmissible, will hardly in our day be considered as deciding the matter.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. οἱ ἀκροαταὶ νόμου: cf. κατηχούμενος ἐκ τοῦ νόμου ver. 18; also Pereq R. Meir 6 (Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, ed. Taylor, p. 115) ‘Thorah is acquired … by learning, by a listening ear,’ &c. It is interesting to note that among the sayings ascribed to Simeon, very possibly St. Paul’s own class-mate and son of Gamaliel his teacher, is this: ‘not learning but doing is the groundwork; and whoso multiplies words occasions sin’ (Pirqê Aboth. i. 18, ed. Taylor; reff. from Delitzsch).

νόμου sine artic. bis א A B D G. The absence of the art. again (as in the last verse) generalizes the form of statement, ‘the hearers and the doers of law’ (whatever that law may be); cf. 7:1.

δικαιωθήσονται. The word is used here in its universal sense of ‘a judicial verdict,’ but the fut. tense throws forward that verdict to the Final Judgement. This use must be distinguished from that which has been explained above (p. 30 f.), the special or, so to speak, technical use of the term Justification which is characteristic of St. Paul. It is not that the word has any different sense but that it is referred to the past rather than to the future (δικαιωθέντες aor. cf. 5:1, 9); the acquittal there dates from the moment at which the man becomes a Christian; it marks the initial step in his career, his right to approach the presence of God as if he were righteous. See on ver. 6 above.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hearers [ακροαται] . Like the Jews, who heard it regularly in the synagogues. Only here in Paul. Three times in James. It brings out, better than the participle oiJ ajkouontev those that hear, the characteristic feature; those whose business is hearing.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.