Romans 2:15

Rom_2:15

Which show the work of the law written in their hearts.

The work of the law written in the heart

I know and approve the better, and yet follow the worse, said one of the wisest heathens; yet it did not require any superlative wisdom to arrive at that conclusion. Dr. Livingstone tells us that he found the rudest tribes of Africa ready to admit that they were sinners. Indeed they hold almost everything to be sin which, as such, is forbidden by the Word of God. Nor is it possible to read his clear statement on that subject without arriving at this interesting and important conclusion, that the decalogue is but the copy of a much older law--that law which his Maker wrote on Adams heart, and which, though sadly defaced by the Fall, may still, like the inscription on a time-eaten, moss-grown stone, be traced on ours. See how guilt reddens in the blush, and consciousness of sin betrays itself in the downcast look of childhood. Even when they wallow in sin as swine in the mire, there is a conscience within men which convicts of guilt and warns of judgment. Dethroned, but not exiled, she still asserts her claims, and fights for her kingdom in the soul; and resuming her lofty seat, with no more respect for sovereigns than beggars, she summons them to the bar, and thunders on their heads. Felix trembles; Herod turns pale, dreading in Christ the apparition of the Baptist; while Cain, fleeing from his brothers grave, wanders away conscience-stricken into the gloomy depths of the solitudes of the unpeopled world. Like the ghost of a murdered man, conscience haunts the house that was once her dwelling, making her ominous voice heard at times even by the most hardened in iniquity. In her the rudest savage carries a God within him, who warns the guilty, and echoes those words of Scripture, Depart from evil and do good. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The law written and rewritten in the heart

The moral law is interwoven in mans moral constitution. Man was created in Gods image (Gen_1:27); so in knowledge and holiness (Col_3:10; Eph_4:24). The expression written is an allusion to the two tables of stone (Exo_32:15-16), perhaps also to Roman laws written on brass. Gods law is rewritten in the renewed heart (Jer_31:33; Heb_8:10). In creation it is written as a light to direct and convict; in regeneration it is rewritten as a power to govern and transform. In creation it is written so as to be known and felt; in regeneration it is rewritten so as to be known and loved. (T. Robinson, D. D.)

Their conscience also bearing witness.

The witness of conscience

At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every matter be established. The three in regard to men are God, the Bible, conscience. The latter is--

I. An inward witness. Other witnesses are outside, and so may be set aside. One witness may be produced against another, or circumstances may destroy the testimony given, but it cannot be so with the witness within. A man may as soon fly from God or himself as from conscience. Now that which is thus within a man has the greatest influence upon him either for comfort or terror: so that we had better have all men and all devils for our enemies than our own conscience!

II. A knowing and intelligent witness. None can know what conscience knows but He who knows all things. Human witness are sometimes set aside on account of intellectual feebleness, but conscience penetrates into the secret windings of our hearts; and as--Its discernment is clear, so its judgment is generally true, and what it once knows it never forgets.

III. An authorised and credible witness. Witnesses are sometimes disallowed on the ground of moral blemish; but conscience is the Kings witness, so that he who heareth conscience, heareth God (Rom_9:1).

IV. A faithful and true witness. It will not be bribed: like its Master it accepts of no mans person. It deals impartially with the monarch and the slave; and though it may sometimes speak amiss, yet never contrary to its judgment.

V. A loud witness. The deaf shall hear the voice of conscience. Like the voice of God, it is terrible and full of majesty. Cain found it so. The cry of conscience was as loud as that of his brothers blood. Judas thought it so when he went and hanged himself. How loud does it sometimes speak on a sick and dying bed! The law thunders, and conscience is but the echo of its voice. The law speaks by terrible things in righteousness, and conscience does the same. The law says, The soul that sinneth it shall die; and conscience says, Thou art the man! Many endeavour to drown it in riot, and the hurry of business, but their efforts will be ineffectual. When God bids it speak, it will speak to purpose; and those who would not hear the voice of parents, ministers, providences, or even of the Divine Word, yet shall hear the voice of conscience.

VI. A sufficient witness. It will silence all pleas and excuses, put an end to all subterfuges and evasions, and leave a man self-judged and self-condemned, It is sufficient now; there is no refuting its testimony, or setting aside its verdict, and it will be so at the last day.

VII. An eternal witness. If all other witnesses were dead, conscience lives, and will hereafter bear its testimony unrestrained. Its language will be, Son, remember! (Pro_5:12). Conclusion:

1. Let us take care of sinning against conscience. It is an enemy that no bolts nor bars can keep at a distance. The approbation of conscience, next to Gods, is the greatest blessing this side of heaven.

2. Let us endeavour to keep conscience tender, then attend to its motions, and hearken to its remonstrances. Tenderness is its perfection. God takes notice of it (2Ch_34:27).

3. Above all, let us have our hearts purged from an evil conscience by the blood of Christ.

4. Let wicked men remember that if conscience be ever so silent now, it will be vociferous enough at the great day. As the spectre said to Brutus, I will meet thee at Philippi, so conscience says, I will meet thee at judgment seat! Good men, who at times suffer much from the lashes of their own consciences, learn the importance of having always a conscience void of offence (1Jn_3:21). (B. Beddome, M. A.)

Conscience

The apostle is explaining how the heathen, who had not the written law of God, were yet amenable to an unwritten law impressed on the hearts of all mankind. Their conscience is a witness for or against them.

I. Its nature and office.

1. God has given man a written law as the supreme standard, whose object is to educate and confirm him in his duty to God and man. This law, however, is--

(1) Of late communication. The Old Testament, given only gradually through centuries. The New Testament only when the world was already old.

(2) Of only local extent. Before Moses there was none. In St. Pauls day it was known only to the Jews. In our day vast regions and even in our own country too many have no knowledge of it. If, then, there were only Gods written law, the mass of men, in the past and still, would have no standard of right and wrong--their passions unchecked. Society would be impossible.

2. But the existence of a written moral law implies an already existing moral sense, or unwritten law. Without this our obedience to any law would want a moral character. It would be either mere training and discipline, or submission to force. There would be no sense of obligation to keep it, no choice of the will and heart in doing so.

3. An unwritten law of God, however, does exist. In every race there is an instinct which--

(1) Condemns evil. The judgment day not only in the future. The great white throne, and He that sits on it, are in effect set up in every bosom. No deception is possible. No outward position screens us.

(2) Vindicates the right. The answer of a good conscience is the support of the soul under any trial. Of old it sustained the saints in their fiery trials. Fidelity to principle still bears up many a one. It is the greatest solace in the retrospect of life.

(3) Is given to receive and act up to the higher teachings of the written law. By manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. Imposes on us the duty of learning all the bearings of our obligations.

II. Hindrances to its healthful vigour.

1. Ignorance. In savage life, obscured and limited in its range by circumstances. Imperfect conception of relative duties from the struggle for self-preservation. Now long reign of selfish passion. Violence and hereditary darkness. In criminal life amongst ourselves. The child of a thief, what can it know of right and wrong in some directions?

2. Perversion. Education colours our estimate of the character of acts in many eases. Pascal speaks of morality as varying with latitude and longitude. This is seen--

(1) In religion. Inquisitors torturing and burning for the greater glory of God. Whitefield defending slavery. Paul thinking he honoured God by helping to stone St. Stephen.

(2) In business. Conventional or trade morality. Men do in business what they would shrink from in private life.

3. The seared conscience. The religious faculty may be well-nigh extirpated by neglect; like eyes of cave insects and fishes.

4. The weak conscience. A failing that leans to virtues side. Troubles itself and others by making a principle of what is really indifferent. The disputes in Pauls Epistles, new moons, eating flesh, Levitical laws, etc. So some object to matters of no moral moment.

III. Characteristics of a healthy conscience.

1. It accepts and acts on principle, not its accidental illustration. It guards itself in great matters by fidelity in all. Its rule is, He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much.

2. It is not content with profession, but carries its convictions into practice; not go and went not.

3. It is always humble. Feeling its own weakness and constant need of strength.

4. It is manly. Will not yield to custom, favour, gain.

5. It bases its action on the law of Christ as the ideal of morality.

6. It keeps the example ever before it, and remembers its obligations to honour Him by loyal duty. Conclusion: One may strengthen and enlighten conscience. In any case it grows with the wider realisation of the breadth and sweep of Gods law. In our own day it has widened its sphere. Needs still further quickening in each walk of life; especially in the vital matters of the soul. The deputy of the Almighty. Bring your soul before it. As it asks you, Guilty, or not guilty? answer. If guilty, repentance and a holy life, looking to the great salvation of Christ, will reverse the verdict. (C. Geikie, D. D.)

Conscience

I. Its offices.

1. It is an ever present, true and helpful friend. One who will not be afraid to speak plainly, and whose counsels will be to the point, and, as a rule, wise, kind, true, and good.

2. It is an ever observant and faithful witness--one out of whose sight we can never get, who is diligent to record, careful to remember, and ultimately faithful to bear its testimony.

3. It is an impartial judge. It not only bears witness, but acquits or condemns.

4. In regard to the impenitent, it will be the righteous executioner fulfilling the behests of the Great Judge of all, and the punishment itself--the worm that never dies.

II. The seasons at which it executes its several offices.

1. To an extent at all times--with more or less efficiency.

2. To a more powerful degree--

(1) After some special act of sin.

(2) Under some specially awakening sermon.

(3) Under some severe affliction.

(4) At the hour of death.

III. The circumstances which may for a time interfere with its efficient action.

1. It may be misinformed or ignorant. Conscience can only condemn a man for what he himself believes to be wrong.

2. It may be warped or swayed--

(1) By prevalent customs and notions.

(2) By a mans interest, passions, tastes.

(3) It may be partially stifled and benumbed.

Tampering with conscience will enfeeble its action. A watchdog gave notice of danger to the inhabitants of a log hut; they were disturbed by his bark, and, annoyed, they silenced him--but only when too late. The Indians were upon them, their hut was burned, and their lives sacrificed. Conclusion:

1. Do not trifle with conscience.

2. Seek its enlightenment.

3. Remember that conscience after all is less rigid than the law of God (1Jn_3:20).

4. Let it lead you not only to tremble, but to the Cross. (G. J. Adeney, M. A.)

Conscience

We all know that the word comes from con and scio, but what does that con intend? Conscience is not merely what I know, but what I know with some other; for the prefix cannot 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. His law making itself known and felt in the heart; and the work of conscience is the bringing of the evil of our acts and thoughts as a lesser, to be tried and measured by this as a greater--the word growing out of and declaring that awful duplicity of our moral being which arises from the presence of God in the soul--our thoughts, by the standard which that presence implies, and as a result of a comparison with it, accusing or excusing one another. (Abp. Trench.)

Conscience quickened by the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is to the moral sense what the warm breath of spring is to the hidden seeds of things. This brings them out, this unfolds them into flower and fruit, this makes of a barren expanse a landscape of beauty, fertility, and gladness. (T. Griffith.)

Conscience: its power

This is--

I. Discriminating. By it man--

1. Discovers the reality of moral law.

2. Determines his character according to it.

II. Binding. Conscience--

1. Tells us that we are under obligation to Gods law.

2. Produces consciousness of obligation.

III. Judicial.

1. As a witness.

2. As a judge.

Inferences:

1. The reality of conscience.

2. Its originality.

3. Its universality. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Conscience: susceptible of improvement and injury

I. It may be improved.

1. By use.

2. By reflecting on the moral character of our actions.

3. By obedience to its admonitions, or conscientious acting.

4. By meditating on characters of preeminent moral excellence.

II. It may be injured.

1. By disuse.

2. By neglecting to reflect on the moral character of our actions.

3. By disobedience to its admonitions, or want of conscientiousness.

4. By frequent meditation on vicious characters and actions. Vice seen too oft, familiar with its face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace. (T. Robinson, D. D.)

Conscience

Nothing has done so much to perplex mens speculations about conscience as certain fundamental mistakes respecting its proper nature and functions.

1. In the first place, conscience is not a law, but a faculty; not the decision pronounced in a particular case, but the faculty which pronounces the decision.

2. Again, this faculty is susceptible of instruction and improvement, like other faculties of the human mind; like the understanding, for example, or the taste.

3. There is also another important distinction to be made in respect to conscience. Its authority is sometimes said to be supreme and final. And so it is, in a certain sense; that is to say, it is supreme over every other kind of human motive and inducement; should a conflict arise, our sense of what is right ought to prevail, in all cases, over our sense of what is expedient or agreeable. But the authority of conscience is not final in such a sense as to forbid conscience itself from, if need be, reversing its own past decisions. I may appeal at any time from my conscience less instructed to my conscience more instructed, and under these circumstances what was right to me yesterday may become wrong to me today; and what is right to me today may become wrong to me tomorrow.

4. But if conscience itself is an Improvable faculty, and if, in its legitimate action today, it can revise and reverse its own decisions of yesterday, the question naturally arises, Is there anything in conscience which is fixed and absolute? I answer, Yes. The things which are fixed and absolute in conscience--that is to say, the things which are the same in all consciences, and the same in every conscience at all times--would seem to be these three. In the first place, all consciences make a distinction between actions as being right or wrong secondly, the notion of right, as such, or of wrong, as such, is identical to all minds; and, thirdly, all concur in the feeling that they ought to do what they believe to be right. Each mans conscience is a special development of our common moral nature; and each mans duty in respect to it is, to take care that this special development shall be more and more complete, and more and more effective; in short, that he may have a better conscience to obey, and obey it more faithfully.

5. It remains to consider the means by which this two-fold improvement in conscience and in conscientiousness may be promoted. The first condition is, a habit of attending to the moral aspects of things, and especially of our own dispositions and conduct; in one word, moral thoughtfulness. A second necessary condition of the moral progress required--of progress in both conscience and conscientiousness--is found in a determination to do right, cost what it may; in other words, to moral thoughtfulness we must add an invincible moral purpose. The progress insisted on in this discourse supposes another condition; namely, that we not only obey conscience, but obey it as an echo of the Divine will: in other words, to moral thoughtfulness and a moral purpose we must add a sense of the authority and sanctions of religion. One condition more. To make us more observant of conscience, and, at the same time, to make conscience what it ought to be, we must take our standard of righteousness from the New Testament. (James Walker.)

The law of conscience

(with Joh_8:9):--Like every other mental and moral power, conscience has its own distinct function. It is that faculty of our moral nature Which perceives the right and wrong in our actions, accuses or excuses, and anticipates their consequences under the righteous government of God.

I. Conscience is an original law in mans moral nature. Being so, it is the same in all men, civilised and uncivilised. It cannot be educated any more than the eye can be taught to see, or the ear to hear. The only training a man can be given is in applying the law of conscience to the conduct, and in the art of subjecting the other powers of the soul to its authority. When conscience is spoken of as enlightened and unenlightened, there is applied to it what properly belongs to some of the other powers with which it is associated, particularly the understanding. Being intended for all classes the Scriptures are written not in metaphysical, but in popular language, and therefore, while it is proper to make such distinctions as those we have just indicated, we shall at present treat of conscience in the popular, that is in the Bible, sense. Their own conscience is an expression which suggests these two things, viz., that every man is endowed with this faculty, and that it is an essential part of his being, so really his own as to be inseparable from him, and indestructible. But conscience is not now in any man what it originally was. In consequence of sin, the moral law written at first on the fleshly tables of the heart had lost much of its clearness and certainty, like a scarcely legible inscription on a decaying gravestone. It had therefore to be deeply graven by the finger of God on tables of stone, and afterwards given in the imperishable Book, which could be read in every tongue throughout the habitable globe. But while conscience is not now in anyone what it once was, and has in some reached its lowest possible degree of weakness, in different persons it may exist in different states. Paul speaks of some who had their conscience seared with a hot iron. As that part of the flesh becomes insensible to pain, so conscience, under the habit of sinning, comes to be so familiar with evil that its accusing voice is, if at all, but faintly heard. It is past feeling. Jude speaks of some ungodly men in his day as being twice dead, implying that their conscience had been once quickened, but that it had again sunk into its previous condition of torpor and paralysis, which was little different from death. Having been dead before, it was thus twice dead. The man whose conscience is in this condition will practise lying, dishonesty, intemperance, and uncleanness, without often thinking he is doing wrong, and without at all dreading the consequences of his wrong-doing. A more hopeful condition of conscience is that which is described as a pricking in the heart. This was how the first converts on the day of Pentecost were affected. A more appropriate phrase could not easily be found to portray the same moral change in any who undergo it. Piercing sorrow, sharp mental pain, is what it points to. Yet, distressing though it be, this is an interesting and hopeful state of mind. The thunder is not a more certain presage of a pure and settled atmosphere; the storm is not the more certain forerunner of a calm; the opening buds and genial breezes of spring are not the surer signs of retreating winter than are those prickings of heart, the signs of a spiritual winter breaking up in the soul, and of a spring of life and growth and beauty having come. Then there is also the peaceful conscience. True peace can come from only one source, When a man sees that Jesus Christ has by His obedience unto death borne the penalty of his sin, and when he accepts of Gods forgiveness through Christ, his fears leave him, his conscience is pacified, hope springs up in his breast. He may now and again have his regrets and his fears, but as his knowledge of the Saviour and of His work with his own purity of heart and life increases, so does his peace become fuller and more settled.

II. It is by conscience that conviction of sin is produced. There are no doubt other powers which cooperate with it to bring about this result. There is the understanding. Truth and duty must be known before they can be believed and practised. A man cannot rightly realise his sinfulness until he knows what Gods law requires of him, nor believe the gospel, which is Gods great revelation to us, before he knows what it means. Without a knowledge of its truths there cannot be faith, and without an increasing knowledge of its truths there cannot be much progress in goodness. There is also the will. The renewal of our moral nature presupposes as one of its conditions the subduing of the will, and the bringing of it into harmony with the will of God. There are, it is true, preliminary steps in this inward change, such as the enlightening of the mind with regard to sin and salvation, and the melting of the heart into penitence and contrition, but there is, besides, the bending of the will to choose and to follow the Divinely appointed way of deliverance. And, humanly speaking, it is here the greatest difficulty in the work of conversion is met with. The hardest of all struggles is to conquer a mans self-righteous pride, that he may humbly and thankfully accept eternal life as Gods free gift to the undeserving who believe in His Son.

III. It is by the truth of the gospel that conscience is awakened. The teachings of science and philosophy are powerless here. Only the truth as it is in Jesus can work its way into the deep recesses of mans nature, stir into life its slumbering activities, meet all its wants, and satisfy its highest aspirations. No other truth can give us a fixed and unchanging standard of duty outside of ourselves and not subject to our variations, show us how far we come short of it, and set before us with certainty the fixed and indissoluble connection there is between cause and consequence in the moral universe. No other truth has the same self-evidencing power. (James Black, D. D.)

Conscience: its uses and perversions

The world is under a solemn economy of government, discerning, approving, or condemning. Now it was requisite there should be something in the soul to recognise this; a faculty to feel obligation to, and apprehension of a greater power. And that which makes a man feel so is a part of himself, so that the struggle against God becomes a struggle with mans own soul. Therefore conscience has been often denominated the God in man.

I. This internal judge has not been altogether in vain.

1. Many men have wished they could be rid of it, and in most it may be presumed, therefore, that conscience has had some restraining effect. Criminals would have been still more criminal but for this. It has been one dissentient power among mans faculties, as if among a company of gay revellers there should appear one dark and frowning intruder whom they could neither conciliate nor expel. It has struck on the soul, and said, Listen to that!--that belongs to thee!

2. It has often compelled confessions of great importance to truth and justice. Very generally, in the last scene of life, it has constrained even bad men to give testimony to religion and the guilt and wretchedness of trifling with it.

3. It has often been made effectual to urge men to a persevering application to Divine mercy, as acting through the mediation of Christ. The guilt is too deep for Divine justice to pardon. There must be some grand expedient as a medium of mercy, and here it is.

4. In good men it has been mighty in trial and temptation, consolatory under injustice, and a sublime energy under persecution.

II. But there is a darker side of the subject, i.e., the view of its perversions and frustration.

1. With by far the greatest number of men conscience has been separated from all true knowledge of God. Now God is both the essential authority of conscience and the model for its rectitude. What is its condition then where the one true God is lost from human knowledge? and instead, a tribe of deities whose characters exemplify all varieties of iniquity, dictating absurdities and abominations, blended, indeed, with some better things which are spoiled in such combination. Or (paganism being disclaimed), there is a falsified notion of God, and a perverted apprehension of His will, Think what an authority for conscience to acknowledge. What should it do but correspond to its authorities? He that killeth you shall think he doeth God service. A perpetrator in the St. Bartholomew massacre said, God was obliged to me that day.

2. Conscience has often been beguiled to admit trifling ceremonies as an expiation of great sins, when, had it been in its right state, it would have shaken the whole soul.

3. Conscience may suffer itself to be very much conformed to prevailing customs and notions. That which ought to ever look to the throne and law of God may be degraded to this most irreligious homage to man. So that the superior and eternal order of principles is nearly out of sight, as in some countries they rarely see the sun or the stars.

(1) When, at moments, conscience does attempt to resume a little of the genuine spirit of its office, it is solicited to look out on the world and see whether the common estimates and practices do not warrant that which it is disposed to accuse.

(2) The next consequence is that it will have little to take account of short of positive vices. Therefore it will begin with slight censures at a point where very grave ones are deserved. Supposing the whole of what the Divine law condemns to be measured by a scale of one hundred degrees of aggravation, then, the censure beginning at one, will become extremely severe by the time of rising to fifty. But let this first fifty be struck off as harmless in accommodation to the general notions, then conscience will but begin, and in slight terms, its censures at the fifty-first degree, and so, at the very top of the scale, will produce with but just that emphasis which was duo at the point where it began.

4. Conscience is extremely liable to be accommodated to each mans own interests, passions, and tastes. What will he not do to reconcile it or make it submit to them? He will not part with them, and consequently has great advantages against his conscience. The favourite interest or inclination he sets in the fairest light; palliations of what is wrong in it multiply; it is far less culpable than many things in others which they think very venial, and there is such and such good to which it will turn to account. Now it is not strange if, by this time, his conscience has come to speak in a much more submissive voice. And, melancholy as the fact is, there are few things that gratify a corrupt mind more than to have gained a victory over conscience.

5. Conscience may, in a great degree, be turned to a judgment on bare external actions. Now conscience has a great advantage as a judge over outward observers. It is seated, with its lamp, down in the hidden world among the thoughts, motives, intentions, and wishes. The greater the grievance I but how to obviate it? Labour to think that what is practical is of far greater importance than feelings and thoughts. These are varying and transient; actions substantial and permanent. Inward principles within do injury to none; the right actions do much good. Thoughts and movements within are much involuntary; the outward conduct is the result of will and effort. Look so much on the best parts of conduct as to become emboldened to make the inference--the case is not so wrong within as conscience had attempted to charge, for by their fruits shall men be known. Thus, in a measure, may conscience be beguiled out of its inward watching place, to be content to look only at the outside.

6. When conscience is seriously alarmed, it may be quieted by delusive applications. There will be time enough yet. Sometimes these alarms are frustrated by treacherous presumptions as to the way of propitiating the Divine Justice; men may reconcile God by repentance; satisfy His demands by a reformed conduct; secure final safety by a careful obedience instead of faith in Christ. This last is a deadly treachery practised on conscience; for it is quieting its alarms by inducing it to abjure that very law which is its appointed standard, and of which it is its very office to be the representative and sanction.

7. Conscience can be reduced to a state of habitual insensibility. This is attained by tampering and equivocating with it; by a careful avoidance of all that might alarm it; continual neglect of its admonitions; a determined resistance and repression; and habits of sin. The result of this will be a deep torpor and stupefaction. Think of the advantage of being able to look at others who are troubled by a wakeful, interfering conscience! But why does this dead stillness appear an awful situation? Because it will awake! and with an intensity of life and power proportioned to this long sleep, as if it had been growing gigantic during its slumber. It will awake!--probably in the last hours of life. But if not, in the other world there is something which will certainly awake it.

III. The right treatment of conscience.

1. It should be regarded with deep respect--even its least intimations attended to, not slighted as scrupulous impertinencies, blown away, etc.

2. We should diligently aim at a true judgment of things, because our judgment is the rule by which conscience will proceed, There must be much reflection and retirement.

3. We shall recollect always that the most judicial conscience is less rigid and comprehensive than the Divine law. If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart. Therefore in consulting conscience we should endeavour to realise to ourselves the Divine presence, and implore that our consciences may ever be in the Divine keeping rather than our own.

4. As we often speak of improvements in the Christian life be it remembered that one of them is an improvement in the discerning sensibility, and extent of jurisdiction of conscience. And if this involves an increase of solicitudes, pains, penitential emotions, so much the more desirable will appear that better world where there is no possibility of sin, where the continued improvement of spiritual perception will be a continually augmented exquisiteness of the felicity. (John Foster.)

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

Rom 2:15. Ἐνδείκνυνται, they show) [demonstrate] to themselves, to others, and, in some respects, to God Himself.—τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου, the work of the law), the law itself, with its practical [active] operation. It is opposed to the letter, which is but an accident [not its essence].—γραπτὸν, written), a noun, not a participle, much less an infinitive [to be written]. Paul, by way of contrast, alludes to the tables of Moses. This writing is antecedent to the doing of those things, which are contained in the law; but afterwards, when any one has done, or (has not done) the things commanded, [the demonstration, or] the showing [of the work of the law] follows, and that permanent writing [viz., that on the heart] becomes more clearly apparent—συμμαρτυρούσης, simultaneously bearing witness) An allegory; the prosecution, the criminal, the witnesses are in court; conscience is a witness; the thoughts accuse, or also defend. Nature, and sin itself, bear witness: conscience bears witness along with them.—αὐτῶν) of themselves, or their own.—τῆς συνειδήσεως, the conscience) The soul has none of its faculties less under its own control, than conscience. So συνείδησις and λογισμός are joined, Wis 17:11-12.—μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων, between one another) as prosecutor and criminal. This expression is put at the beginning of the clause for the sake of emphasis, inasmuch as thoughts implicated in the trial with thoughts, are opposed to conscience referred to the law.—τῶν λογισμῶν κατηγορούντων, their thoughts accusing) Some explain [analyse] the words thus: the thoughts, which accuse, testifying simultaneously [taken from συμμαρτυρούσης]; but thoughts accusing [τῶν λογισμῶν κατηγορούντων] is an expression, which stands by itself.—ἤ καὶ, or even) The concessive particle, even, shows that the thoughts have far more to accuse, than defend, and the defence itself (comp. 2Co 7:11, defending or clearing of yourselves) does not extend to the whole, but only to a part of the conduct, and this very part in turn proves us to be debtors as to the whole, Rom 1:20.—ἀπολογουμένων, [excusing] defending). We have an example at Gen 20:4.

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

Rom_2:15. Οἵτινες κ.τ.λ[653]]. quippe qui. See on Rom_1:25. The οὗτοι of Rom_2:14 are characterised, and consequently the ἙΑΥΤΟῖς ΕἸΣῚ ΝΌΜΟς, just asserted, is confirmed: being such as show (practically by their action, Rom_2:14, make it known) that the work of the law is written in their hearts, wherewithal their conscience bears joint witness, etc.

That ἐνδείκνυνται should be understood of the practical proof which takes place by the ποιεῖν τὰ τοῦ νόμου (not by the testimony of conscience, Bengel, Tholuck) is required by the ΣΥΝ in ΣΥΜΜΑΡΤΥΡΟΎΣΗς, which is not a mere strengthening of the simple word (Köllner, Olshausen; comp Tholuck, following earlier expositors; see, on the other hand, Rom_8:16, Rom_9:1), but denotes the agreement of the internal evidence of conscience with the external proof by fact.[655] It is impossible to regard the ἐνδείκνυνται as taking place on the day indicated in Rom_2:16 (Hofmann), since this day can be no other than that of the last judgment. See on Rom_2:16.

τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου] The work relating to the law, the conduct corresponding to it, fulfilling it. The opposite is ἁμαρτήματα νόμου, Wis_2:12. Compare on Gal_2:16. The singular is collective (Gal_6:4), as a summing up of the ἔργα τ. νόμου (Rom_3:20; Rom_3:28, Rom_9:32; Gal_2:16; Gal_3:2; Gal_3:5; Gal_3:10). Compare τὰ τοῦ νόμου above. This stands written in their hearts as commanded, as moral obligation,[656] as ethical law of nature.

γραπτόν] purposely chosen with reference to the written law of Moses, although the moral law is ἄγραφος (Plato. Legg. p. 481 B, Thuc. ii. 37, 3, and Krüger, in loc[657] p. 200; Xen. Mem. iv. 4, 19; Soph. Ant. 450; Dem. 317, 23, 639, 22; Dion. Hal. vii. 41). Compare Jer_31:33; Heb_8:10, and the similar designations among the Rabbins in Buxtorf, Lex Talm. p. 852, 1349. The supplying of ὄν serves to explain the adjective, which is used instead of the participle to denote what continues and is constant. Compare Bornemann, a[658] Xen. Mem. i. 5, 1; Symp. 4, 25. See the truly classic description of this inner law, and that as divine, in Cicero, de Republ. iii. 23; of the Greeks, comp Soph. O. T. 838 ff., and Wunder, in loc[660]

συμμαρτυρούσης αὐτῶν συνειδήσεως, καὶ μεταξὺ κ.τ.λ[661]] While they make known outwardly by their action that the ἔργον of the law is written in their hearts, their inner moral consciousness accords with it; namely (1), in reference to their own, personal relation: the testimony of their own consciences; and (2), in regard to their mutual relation: the accusations or vindications[662] that are carried on between Gentiles and Gentiles (μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων) by their thoughts, by their moral judgments. This view of the sense is required by the correlation of the points αὐτῶν and μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων placed with emphasis in the foreground (μεταξὺ occurring in Pauls writings only here, and therefore all the more intentionally chosen in this case); so that thus both the personal individual testimony of conscience (αὐτῶν) and the mutual judgment of the thoughts (μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων), are adduced, as accompanying internal acts, in confirmation of the ἐνδείκνυνται. The Gentiles, who do the requirement of the law, practically show thereby that that requirement is inscribed on their hearts; and this is attested at the same time, so far as concerns the actors themselves, by their (following) conscience, and, so far as concerns their relation to other Gentiles, by the accusations or the vindications which they reciprocally practise in their moral thoughts, the one making reflections of a condemnatory or of a justifying nature on the other.[663] The prominence thus given to αὐτῶν and μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων, and the antithetical correlation of the two points, have been commonly misunderstood (though not by Castalio, Storr, Flatt, Baumgarten-Crusius), and consequently κ. μετ. ἀλλ. τῶν διαλογ. κ.τ.λ[664] has been taken merely as an explanatory description of the process of conscience, in which the thoughts accuse or vindicate one another (i.e. one thought the other); so that ἀλλήλων is referred to the thoughts, and not, as is nevertheless required by the αὐτῶν standing in contradistinction to it, to the ἜΘΝΗ. This view ought even to have been precluded by attending to the fact that, since ΣΥΜΜΑΡΤ.… ΣΥΝΕΙΔΉΣΕΩς must, in harmony with the context, mean the approving conscience, what follows cannot well suit as an exposition, because in it the κατηγορούντων preponderates. Finally, it was an arbitrary expedient, rendering ΜΕΤΑΞῪ merely superfluous and confusing, to separate it from ἀλλήλ., and to explain the former as meaning at a future time, viz. ἐν ἡμέρᾳ Κ.Τ.Λ[665] (Koppe), or between, at the same time (Köllner, Jatho).

[653] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[655] Where συμμαρτυρεῖν appears to be equivalent to μαρτυρ., it is only an apparent equivalence; there is always mentally implied an agreement with the person for whom witness is borne, as e.g. Thuc. viii. 51, 2; Plat. Hipp. Maj. p. 282 B: συμμαρτυρῆσαι δέ σοι ἔχω ὅτι ἀληθῆ λέγεις, if what is meant is not a testimony agreeing with others (as Xen. Hist. Gr. vii. 1, 2, iii. 3, 2), or, as here, one that agrees with a thing, a phenomenon, a proof by fact, or the like. Compare Isoc. p. 47 A. In the passage, Plat. Legg. iii. p. 680 D, ξυμμαρτυρεῖν is expressly distinguished from μαρτυρ.; for, after the τῷ σῷ λόγῳ ἔοικε μαρτυρεῖν preceding, the ναί· ξυμμαρτυρεῖ γάρ must mean: he is my joint-witness, whose evidence agrees with what I say. If the reference of συμ. in our passage to the proof by fact be not adopted, then αὐτοῖς would need be supplied; but wherefore should we do so? According to Tholuck συμ. indicates merely the agreement of the person witnessing with the contents of his testimony. This is never the case, and would virtually deprive the συμ- of all significance.

[656] This inward law is not the conscience itself, but the regulative contents of the consciousness of the conscience; consequently, if we conceive the latter, and with justice (in opposition to Rud. Hofmann, Lehre vom Gewissen, 1866, p. 54, 58 f.), as presented in the form of a syllogism, it forms the subject of the major premise of this syllogism. Comp. Delitzsch, bibl. Psychol. p. 136 f.

[657] n loc. refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

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

[660] n loc. refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[661] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[662] The καί added to the ἤ is based on the view taken of the moral state of the Gentiles, that the κατηγορεῖν forms the rule. See Baeumlein, Partik. p. 126.

[663] Compare Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 277: It is testified by the conscience, which teaches them to judge the quality of their own and others actions.

[664] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[665] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

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 2:15 . οἵτινες ἑνδείκνυνται : the relative is qualitative: “inasmuch as they shew”. τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου is the work which the law prescribes, collectively. “Written on their hearts,” when contrasted with the law written on the tables of stone, is equal to “unwritten”; the Apostle refers to what the Greeks called ἄγραφος νόμος . To the Greeks, however, this was something greater and more sacred than any statute, or civil constitution; to the Apostle it was less than the great revelation of God’s will, which had been made and interpreted to Israel, but nevertheless a true moral authority. There is a triple proof that Gentiles, who are regarded as not having law, are a law to themselves. (1) The appeal to their conduct: as interpreted by the Apostle, their conduct evinces, at least in some, the possession of a law written on the heart; (2) the action of conscience: it joins its testimony, though it be only an inward one, to the outward testimony borne by their conduct; and (3) their thoughts. Their thoughts bear witness to the existence of a law in them, inasmuch as in their mutual intercourse ( μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων ) these thoughts are busy bringing accusations, or in rarer cases ( ἢ καί ) putting forward defences, i.e. , in any case, exercising moral functions which imply the recognition of a law. This seems to me the only simple and natural explanation of a rather perplexed phrase. We need not ask for what Paul does not give, the object to κατηγορούντων or ἀπολογουμένων : it may be any person, act or situation, which calls into exercise that power of moral judgment which shows that the Gentiles, though without the law of Moses, are not in a condition which makes it impossible to judge them according to their works. The construction in Rom 9:1 suggests that the συν views the witness of conscience, reflecting on conduct, as something added to the first instinctive consciousness of the nature of an action. συνείδησις does not occur in the Gospels except in Joh 8:9 ; twice only in Act 23:1 ; Act 24:16 , both times in speeches of St. Paul; twenty times in the Pauline epistles. It occurs in the O.T. only in Ecc 10:20 (curse not the King, ἐν συνειδήσει σου = ne in cogitatione quidem tua): the ordinary sense is found, for the first time in Biblical Greek, in Sap. 17:11. It is a quasi-philosophical word, much used by the Stoics, and belonging rather to the Greek than the Hebrew inheritance of Paul.

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

15. οἵτινες explains the preceding phrase.

ἐνδείκνυνται, ‘give proof of’; cf. Rom 9:17; cf. 2Co 8:24; Eph 2:7; i.e. by their actions. The fact that moral goodness is found in Gentiles is assumed throughout this argument as much as the fact that all sin.

τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου. Not the law itself, but that effect which is produced by the law in those who have it. Not = “the course of conduct prescribed by the law” (S. H.); that could hardly be described as ‘written in the heart’; but “the knowledge of GOD’S will, of right and wrong,” which is found in all human consciousness, and in a heightened degree in those who have an external law; cf. Rom 7:7 f.; |[88] therefore to Rom 1:19; Rom 1:21, and different from Rom 3:20; Rom 3:28; cf. Gal 5:19; perhaps Jas 1:4; 1Th 1:3; 1Co 9:1; Mat 11:19. (Ewald, de voce συνειδήσεως p. 17, after Grotius, qu. S.H.)

[88] | parallel to

γραπτὸν ἐν τ. κ. α. Cf. for the metaphor 2Co 3:2. On καρδία the seat of knowledge and will, see above, Rom 1:24. cf. Weiss, Theol. p. 250.

συνμαρτυρούσης κ.τ.λ., explain the nature of the ἔνδειξις; cf. Rom 1:21. The cpd v[89] only here and Rom 8:16, Rom 9:1. In the two latter places the force of the συν- is clear from the context. Here apparently the other witness is ‘their actions’; cf. 2Co 1:12. It is possible, however, that the συν- is merely ‘perfective.’ cf. Moulton, p. 113.

[89] vb verb

τῆς συνειδήσεως. The primary idea of the word is (1) ‘consciousness’ as due to reflection, on the model of the use of the verb συνειδὲναι ἑαυτῷ τι, ‘to be conscious of an experience good or bad’; on this follows the meaning (2) ‘experience’ as the sum of reflective consciousness or self-knowledge, subjective always; and (3) so the ‘feeling’ which admits or rejects as alien a new candidate for admission into a man’s sum of experience; then (4), as a special development of the last meaning, ‘conscience’ as suggesting moral judgments. See Add. Note, p. 208. Here = (2) ‘their conscious experience’; the effect of the law is recognisably part of their mental equipment or consciousness, their stock of ideas; the next clause then explains how their consciousness bears this witness.

μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων = as between each other, in mutual intercourse: it is the mutual intercourse of men which arouses the moral judgment, even when that moral judgment is exercised upon the man’s own experience, as here; cf. S.H. This is an instance of the development of personality by social relations. cf. Ward, The Realm of Ends (1911), p. 366.

τῶν λογισμῶν. Their thoughts exhibit moral judgments, presupposing that knowledge which is the effect of the law. For λογισμοί cf. 2Co 10:5 only, freq. in LX[90]. Here = reflexion passing moral judgment on the contents of consciousness. (In 4 Macc. = reason as master of the passions and champion of piety.) This interpretation seems to be necessitated not only by the regular use of λογισμός but also by the context; n. esp. τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, 16.

[90] LXX the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament

ἤ καὶ ἀπολογουμένων. The approval of conscience rarer than the condemnation, but not unknown.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

A. συνείδησις, c. Rom 2:15

The word is found only in the Pauline writings (Romans , 1 and 2 Corinthians , 1 and 2 Tim., Tit., 1 Pet., Heb.) except [Joh 8:9], and Act 23:1; Act 24:16 (speeches of S. Paul). The verb (σύνοιδα) only in 1Co 4:4. In the LXX[341] it occurs only in Wis 17:11 (R.V. conscience), Ecc 10:20 (R.V. heart), and perhaps Sir 42:18 (R.V. knowledge). The verb, Job 27:6; Lev 5:1; 1Ma 4:21; 2Ma 4:41. The two passages which make clear the use of the word are Job l.c[342], οὐ σύνοιδα ἐμαυτῷ ἄτοπα πράξας, and Wisdom l.c[343], πονηρία … ἀεὶ προσείληφεν τὰ χαλεπὰ συνεχομένη τῇ συνειδήσει. In both these passages it is the state of mind which is conscious of certain actions in their moral aspects.

[341] LXX. the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament

[342] l.c. locus citatus

[343] l.c. locus citatus

The customary meaning of the substantive follows the use of the verb. σύνοιδά τινί τι = to be privy to the action of another; σύνοιδα ἐμαυτῷ τι or τι πράξας = to be privy to an action or thought of my own; but, as a man in general cannot help being privy to his own thoughts and actions, the phrase is used with the special meaning of the recognition or feeling of the character, and especially the moral character, of one’s own thoughts or actions. So we get first the simple meaning, the feeling or knowledge that we have done or thought certain things imputed to us, and, secondly, the more definite meaning, the feeling or knowledge that such thoughts or actions are right or wrong. This feeling can be appealed to as a witness to character, either by the man himself appealing to his self-consciousness in support of a statement, or by others appealing to the man’s own consciousness of himself. So Wis 17:11, R.V. “Wickedness, condemned by a witness within, is a coward thing, and being pressed hard by conscience (τῃ συνειδήσει) always forecasts the worst lot,” the consciousness of being wrong makes a coward of the man. Here the conscience or consciousness is an incorruptible witness before whose evidence the man trembles. Cf. Polyb. XVIII. 26.13, οὐδεὶς οὔτως μάρτυς ἐστὶ φοβερὸς οὔτε κατήγορος δεινὸς ὡς ἡ σύνεσις ἡ ἐγκατοικοῦσα ταῖς ἑκάστων ψυχαῖς, where the last phrase = ἡ συνείδησις. It is rather as a witness than as a judge that ἡ συνείδησις is regarded in ordinary Greek use: and it is only as a witness that it is appealed to in N. T.

In Romans the word occurs three times, Rom 2:15, Rom 9:1, Rom 13:5. In Rom 2:15 and Rom 9:1 it is used of a man’s knowledge of himself, his motives and thoughts, called as a witness to his true character. In Rom 2:15 the Gentiles’ self-consciousness, knowledge of their own minds, witnesses to their possession, in a sense, of law, and so confirms the evidence of their acts. In Romans 9 :1 S. Paul’s knowledge of himself, as controlled by the ‘Holy Spirit, witnesses to the pain and distress he feels for Israel, and confirms the witness of the assertion which he makes as in Christ. In Rom 13:5 there is no idea of witness, but the consciousness of their own motives and feelings as shown in the fact that they willingly pay tribute, is appealed to as an argument for obedience.

Closely parallel to Rom 9:1 is 2Co 1:12, where the consciousness of motive is alleged as a witness to the truth of his confident assertion.

With Rom 13:5 may be grouped the passages in which an epithet is attached (Act 23:1, ἀγαθή, Act 24:16, ἀπρόσκοπος; 1Ti 1:5; 1Ti 1:19, 1Pe 3:16; 1Pe 3:21, ἀγαθή; 1Ti 3:9, 2Ti 1:3, καθαρά. Cf. Heb 9:14, καθαριεῖ τὴν συνείδησιν; Heb 13:18, καλή; Heb 10:22, πονηρά). In all these passages it is clear that the word indicates the self-consciousness which includes good or bad contents, as matter of feeling and experience, as simply a matter of self-knowledge, without any direct thought of judgment. So 1Pe 2:19, διὰ συνείδησιν θεοῦ, a remarkable phrase, seems to mean, owing to a feeling of or about GOD, bringing Him as it were into the field of conscious motive. This feeling or consciousness can be dulled by evil courses (1Ti 4:2; Tit 1:15). External ordinances leave it untouched (Heb 9:9), but it can be cleansed (Heb 9:14; Heb 10:21-22).

In 2Co 4:2; 2Co 5:11 the Apostle appeals, for the recognition of his claim, to the conscious experience (συνείδησις) which others have acquired of his character and life, their inner knowledge of him; in this use we have the substantival form of the verbal phrase σύνοιδά τινί τι. And it is possible that we have the same use in 1Co 10:28-29, where the συνείδησις may = the weak brother’s knowledge of and feeling about the acts of the strong.

In 1Co 8:7-12 we have the remarkable epithet ἀσθενής, where if we translate συνείδησις as ‘conscience,’ we have the paradox of calling a sensitive conscience weak. We can hardly get a nearer translation here than ‘feelings.’ The man ‘feels’ that to eat εἰδωλόθυτα, is wrong. This ‘feeling’ cannot be justified by reason; it is due to association (τῇ συνηθείᾳ ἕως ἄρτι τοῦ εἰδώλου), and he cannot shake it off: it is called ‘weak,’ because in it the man is not really master of himself. The argument of the passage is directed to gaining from the strong a tender consideration for those who are in this weak state of feeling. It is a pity that the true character of many ‘conscientious objections’ of the present day is obscured by their association with our modern term ‘conscience,’ when they should be really described as συνείδησις ἀσθενής.

On the whole, then, we may say that in the N.T., as in common Greek use, συνείδησις describes rather a state of consciousness, than a faculty or act of judgment: some uses of the word ‘conscience’ correspond to this meaning of συνείδησις; but in more cases than not the meaning will be adequately given by such renderings as ‘consciousness,’ ‘self-knowledge,’ or even simply ‘heart.’

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.

Rom_2:15

Who show the work of the law written on their hearts. Here, as in Rom_1:25, and often elsewhere, the relative has a causal force: They are a law unto themselves, because they show the work of the law, etc. Wolf, Tholuck, and others make ἔργον τοῦ νόμου a periphrase for the law itself; Grotius, the effect of the law, that is, a knowledge of right and wrong; most modern commentators make τὸ ἔργον equivalent to τὰ ἔργα. The same works which the Jews have prescribed in their law, the Gentiles show to be written on their hearts. It is by doing the things of the law, that the Gentiles show they have this inward rule of duty; their conscience also bearing witness. Grotius, Koppe, and Tholuck, take συμμαρτυρεῖν in the sense of the simple verb. Comp. Jer_11:7, in the lxx, Rom_9:1; Rom_8:16. Their conscience bearing witness, that is, to the fact that there is a law written on their hearts. But as συμμαρτυρεῖν is properly unâ testari, and as the context presents no reason for departing from the common meaning of the word, the great majority of commentators give the σύν its proper force. That with which conscience joins its testimony is the honestas vitae, the moral acts of the heathen; and the fact to which this joint testimony is born, is that they are a law unto themselves. The apostle appeals not only to their external conduct, but to the inward operations of their moral nature. Συνείδησις is the conscientia consequens is, the inward judge, whose acts are described in the following clause: Their thoughts alternately accusing or even excusing. Our version takes, μεταξὺ as an adverb, and makes ἀλλήλων the object of the following participles, And in the meanwhile, their thoughts accusing, or else excusing one another. Köllner defends this interpretation, and declares that, μεταξύ, between, cannot mean vicissim. It is used, he asserts, only of time, between two portions of time, i.e., during; or of space, between two places, persons, or things. It is not, however, so much the signification of the word μεταξὺ, as the sense of the phrase μεταξὺ ἀλλήλων, that is expressed by the translation, vicissim, sive alternate sententiâ. Between one another, implies reciprocal or alternate action; comp. Mat_18:15. The order of the words is obviously opposed to the separation of ἀλλήλων from μεταξὺ, and to making the former the object of the following participles; which are rather to be taken absolutely. Their thoughts alternately accusing and excusing, viz., their conduct. The inward monitor acquits or condemns, as the case demands. Bengel remarks on the ἢ καί, or even, that καί is concessive, and shows cogitations longe plus habere quod accusent, quàm quod defendant.

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

This knowledge is a natural knowledge.

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

their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing--that is, perhaps by turns doing both.

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 15. Which show the work of the law] In acting according to justice, mercy, temperance, and truth, they show that the great object of the law, which was to bring men from injustice, cruelty, intemperance, and falsity, is accomplished so far in them: their conscience also bearing witness - that faculty of the soul, where that Divine light dwells and works, shows them that they are right; and thus they have a comfortable testimony in their own souls of their own integrity: their thoughts, the mean while, accusing, or else excusing one another; or rather, their reasonings between one another accusing or answering for themselves. As if the apostle had said: - And this point, that they have a law and act according to it, is farther proved from their conduct in civil affairs; and from that correct sense which they have of natural justice in their debates, either in their courts of law, or in their treatises on morality. All these are ample proofs that God has not left them without light; and that, seeing they have such correct notions of right and wrong, they are accountable to God for their conduct in reference to these notions and principles. These seems to be the true meaning of this difficult clause. See below.

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

15. Who show the work of the law written, etc.; that is, they prove that there is imprinted on their hearts a discrimination and judgment by which they distinguish between what is just and unjust, between what is honest and dishonest. He means not that it was so engraven on their will, that they sought and diligently pursued it, but that they were so mastered by the power of truth, that they could not disapprove of it. For why did they institute religious rites, except that they were convinced that God ought to be worshipped? Why were they ashamed of adultery and theft, except that they deemed them evils?

Without reason then is the power of the will deduced from this passage, as though Paul had said, that the keeping of the law is within our power; for he speaks not of the power to fulfill the law, but of the knowledge of it. Nor is the word heart to be taken for the seat of the affections, but only for the understanding, as it is found in Deuteronomy 29:4,

“The Lord hath not given thee a heart to understand;”

and in Luke 24:25,

“O foolish men, and slow in heart to believe.”

Nor can we conclude from this passage, that there is in men a full knowledge of the law, but that there are only some seeds of what is right implanted in their nature, evidenced by such acts as these — All the Gentiles alike instituted religious rites, they made laws to punish adultery, and theft, and murder, they commended good faith in bargains and contracts. They have thus indeed proved, that God ought to be worshipped, that adultery, and theft, and murder are evils, that honesty is commendable. It is not to our purpose to inquire what sort of God they imagined him to be, or how many gods they devised; it is enough to know, that they thought that there is a God, and that honor and worship are due to him. It matters not whether they permitted the coveting of another man’s wife, or of his possessions, or of any thing which was his, — whether they connived at wrath and hatred; inasmuch as it was not right for them to covet what they knew to be evil when done.

Their conscience at the same time attesting, etc. He could not have more forcibly urged them than by the testimony of their own conscience, which is equal to a thousand witnesses. By the consciousness of having done good, men sustain and comfort themselves; those who are conscious of having done evil, are inwardly harassed and tormented. Hence came these sayings of the heathens — “A good conscience is the widest sphere; but a bad one is the cruelest executioner, and more fiercely torments the ungodly than any furies can do.” There is then a certain knowledge of the law by nature, which says, “This is good and worthy of being desired; that ought to be abhorred.”

But observe how intelligently he defines conscience: he says, that reasons come to our minds, by which we defend what is rightly done, and that there are those which accuse and reprove us for our vices; and he refers this process of accusation and defense to the day of the Lord; not that it will then first commence, for it is now continually carried on, but that it will then also be in operation; and he says this, that no one should disregard this process, as though it were vain and evanescent. And he has put, in the day, instead of, at the day, — a similar instance to what we have already observed.

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.

(15) Which.—Rather, Inasmuch as they.

The work of the law.—The practical effect or realisation of the law—written in their hearts as the original Law was written upon the tables of stone, (Comp. Jer_31:33; 2Co_3:3.)

Also bearing witness.—Or, witnessing with them, as margin. There is a double witness; their actions speak for them externally, and conscience speaks for them internally.

The mean while.—Rather, literally, as margin, between themselves—i.e., with mutual interchange, the thoughts of the heart or different motions of conscience sometimes taking the part of advocate, sometimes of accuser.

This seems, on the whole, the best way of taking these two words, though some commentators (among them Meyer) regard this quasi personification of “the thoughts” as too strong a figure of speech, and take “between themselves” as referring to the mutual intercourse of man with man. But in that mutual intercourse it is not the thoughts that accuse or defend, but the tongue. The Apostle is speaking strictly of the private tribunal of conscience.

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

15. which shew] The relative pronoun is the same as in Rom_1:25, where see note. It marks a condition: “they are a law to themselves, inasmuch as, &c.”

shew the work of the law written in their hearts] “The work of the law” has been explained as if collective for “works;” but this is ill-supported by real parallels. It is better to explain it as “what the law does,” than as “what is done for the law’s sake;” and thus it means the teaching of the Difference of right and wrong (see Rom_3:20). This “work,” done in an intense degree by the law, is done in a lower degree by conscience alone; but the work is the same in kind. The sense of wrong and right, which it is the law’s work to produce fully, is somehow and in some measure, without the law, “written” in heathen “hearts.” (On the word heart see note to Rom_1:21.)—“They shew:”—this word may of course refer to subjective discovery; each man shewing it to himself, finding it in his experience. But it better suits the word to take it of mutual manifestations: language and conduct, in heathen communities, shewing the objective reality of the convictions which individuals are aware of.—“Written:”—for this metaphor, no doubt suggested by the tablets of Sinai, cp. 2Co_3:2-3.

their conscience also bearing witness] Lit. bearing witness with, bearing concurrent witness. What is the concurrence? It may be “of conscience with itself,” in its different verdicts. But, on our view of the passage, it is “with the common conviction.” Individual consciences affirm the common conviction of moral distinctions which they find around them.

In Rom_9:1 the witness of conscience is again appealed to, with the same verb: lit. “bearing witness with me” See note there.

and their thoughts, &c.] Better, and between one another their reckonings (or reasonings) accusing, or, it may be, defending. The Gr. of “thought” specially means reasoning thought, not intuition. It can hardly be a mere synonym of conscience, which (at least in practice) is intuitive. The meaning is either “their consciences are ratified in their verdicts by their private reasonings on particular cases;” or, as seems better on our view, “the fact of their moral sense is evinced by their reasonings on right and wrong;” e.g. by Treatises and Dialogues in which ethical questions are discussed. “Between one another” thus refers not to one mind’s balance of thought with thought, but to arguments of man with man. St Paul says nothing of the Tightness of these reasonings in particular cases, but of the moral significance of the fact of them.

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.

Behold, thou art called a Jew,.... From hence to the end of the chapter the Jews are particularly addressed; their several privileges and characters are commemorated, which by an ironical concession are allowed them; several charges are brought against them, even against their principal men; and the plea in favour of them, from their circumcision, is considered; and the apostle's view in the whole, is to show that they could not be justified before God by their obedience to the law of Moses: "behold"; take notice, observe it, this will be granted: "thou art called a Jew"; thou art one by name, by nation, and by religion; but no name, nor outward religion, nor a mere profession, will justify before God:

and restest in the law; which may be understood of their having the law and the knowledge of it, what is to be done and avoided easily, without any fatigue and labour; of their pleasing and applauding themselves with the bare having and hearing of it; of their trust and confidence in it; and of their inactivity and security in it, as persons asleep; and so of their coming short of the knowledge of the Gospel, and of Christ the end of the law for righteousness, their whole confidence being placed in that: so the Targumist in Jer 8:8 paraphrases the words,

"we are wise, "and in the law of the Lord", , do we trust;''

and makest thy boast of God. There is a right boasting of God in opposition to boasting in the creature, when men ascribe all the blessings of nature and grace to the Lord alone, and praise him for all their enjoyments, temporal and spiritual; and when they trust in, and glory, and make their boast of Christ as the Lord their righteousness, in whom alone they are, and can be justified. But the boasting here spoken of, was such that was not right; these men boasted of their bare external knowledge of the one God, when the Gentiles around them were ignorant of him; of their being the covenant people of God, when others were aliens and strangers; and of their having the word and worship of the true God, which other nations were unacquainted with; and, on these external things they depended, which was their fault.

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

15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

Ver. 15. Their thoughts meanwhile] Or, between whiles: or in every interim of this life, μεταξυ. Other faculties may rest; an obscene dream by night shall not escape conscience’s record; it is index, iudex, vindex, informer, judge and defender, God’s spy and man’s overseer; and it is better to have it sore than seared.

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.

Which show - Who thus evince or show.

The work of the law - The design, purpose, or object which is contemplated by the revealed Law; that is, to make known to man his duty, and to enforce the obligation to perform it. This does not mean, by any means, that they had all the knowledge which the Law would impart, for then there would have been no need of a revelation, but that, as far as it went, as far as they had a knowledge of right and wrong, they coincided with the revealed will of God. In other words, the will of God, whether made known by reason or revelation, will be the same so far as reason goes. The difference is that revelation goes further than reason; sheds light on new duties and doctrines; as the information given by the naked eye and the telescope is the same, except, that the telescope carries the sight forward, and reveals new worlds to the sight of man.

Written in their hearts - The revealed Law of God was written on tables of stone, and then recorded in the books of the Old Testament. This law the Gentiles did not possess, but, to a certain extent, the same requirements were written on their hearts. Though not revealed to them as to the Jews, yet they had obtained the knowledge of them by the tight of nature. The word “hearts” here denotes the mind itself, as it does also frequently in the Sacred Scriptures; not the heart, as the seat of the affections. It does not mean that they loved or even approved of the Law, but that they had knowledge of it; and that that knowledge was deeply engraved on their minds.

Their conscience - This word properly means the judgment of the mind respecting right and wrong; or the judgment which the mind passes on the morality or immorality of its own actions, when it instantly approves or condemns them. It has usually been termed the moral sense, and is a very important principle in a moral government. Its design is to answer the purposes of an ever attendant witness of a man’s conduct; to compel him to pronounce on his own doings, and thus to excite him to virtuous deeds, to give comfort and peace when he does right, to deter from evil actions by making him, whether he will or no, his own executioner: see Joh 8:9; Act 23:1; Act 24:16; Rom 9:1; 1Ti 1:5. By nature every man thus approves or condemns his own acts; and there is not a profounder principle of the divine administration, than thus compelling every man to pronounce on the moral character of his own conduct. Conscience may be enlightened or unenlightened; and its use may be greatly perverted by false opinions. Its province is not to communicate any new truth, it is simply to express judgment, and to impart pleasure or inflict pain for a man’s own good or evil conduct. The apostle’s argument, does not require him to say that conscience revealed any truth, or any knowledge of duty, to the Gentiles, but that its actual exercise proved that they had a knowledge of the Law of God. Thus, it was a witness simply of that fact.

Bearing witness - To bear witness is to furnish testimony, or proof. And the exercise of the conscience here showed or proved that they had a knowledge of the Law. The expression does not mean that the exercise of their conscience bore witness of anything to them, but that its exercise may be alleged as a proof that they were not without some knowledge of the Law.

And their thoughts - The word “thoughts” (λογισμῶν logismōn) means properly reasonings, or opinions, sentiments, etc. Its meaning here may be expressed by the word “reflections.” Their reflections on their own conduct would be attended with pain or pleasure. It differs from conscience, inasmuch as the decisions of conscience are instantaneous, and without any process of reasoning. This supposes subsequent reflection, and it means that such reflections would only deepen and confirm the decisions of conscience.

The mean while - Margin, “Between themselves.” The rendering in the margin is more in accordance with the Greek. The expression sometimes means, in the mean time, or at the same time; and sometimes afterward, or subsequently. The Syriac and Latin Vulgate render this mutually. They seem to have understood this as affirming that the pagan among themselves, by their writings, accused or acquitted one another.

Accusing - If the actions were evil.

Excusing - That is, if their actions were good.

One another - The margin renders this expression in connection with the adverb, translated “in the mean while,” “between themselves.” This view is also taken by many commentators, and this is its probable meaning. If so, it denotes the fact that in their reflections, or their reasonings, or discussions, they accused each other of crime, or acquitted one another; they showed that they had a law; that they acted on the supposition that they had. To show this was the design of the apostle; and there was no further proof of it needed than what he here adduced.

They had a conscience, pronouncing on their own acts; and, Their reasonings, based on the supposition of some such common and acknowledged standard of accusing or acquitting, supposed the same thing. If, therefore, they condemned or acquitted themselves; if in these reasonings and reflections, they proceeded on the principle that they had some rule of right and wrong, then the proposition of the apostle was made out that it was right for God to judge them, and to destroy them; Rom 2:8-12.

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

By the work of the law, either understand the sum of the law, which is, To love God above all, and our neighbour as ourselves; or the office of the law, which consists in directing what to do, and what to leave undone; or the external actions which the law prescribes.

Written in their hearts; this seems to be a covenant promise and privilege, Jer 31:33; how then is it predicated of the Gentiles?

Answer. Jereramiah speaks there of a special and supernatural inscription or writing in the heart by grace; and the apostle here, of that which is common and natural.

Their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; interchangeably, now one way, anon another. Not as though the thoughts did, at the same time, strive together about the same fact; nor is it meant of divers men, as if good men were excused, and bad men accused, by their own thoughts; but in the same persons there were accusing or excusing thoughts and consciences, as their actions were evil or good.

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

15. Work of the law… hearts—The work of the law may mean either the practice which the law enjoins, or the operation of the law itself. The former makes the clearer sense. The work of the law is the deed or duty marked out by the law. The written law or decalogue is mostly prohibitory; the unwritten law of the heart is positive, enjoining a course and a work. The heart is, as it were, a tablet; and as the non-work was written on the tablet of stone, so the positive work is written on the tablet of the heart.

In the human consciousness a just philosophy finds a standard of right and wrong, a moral sense, which affirms the right and disaffirms its opposite.

Their conscience also—Three elements are found here in man’s moral nature: First, a law written on the heart, that is, the natural sense, idea, standard, or rule of right and wrong. Second, the conscience, bearing witness; that is, the moral consciousness testifying whether our volitions or actions, or even our emotions and mental states, agree or disagree with this standard or rule. Third, the accusations, excusations, or commendations, moral judgment, pronouncing the subject condemnable or otherwise. These three elements are at the present day usually comprehended under the complex term conscience.

By the English translation the thoughts are made to accuse or excuse one another; that is, thoughts to accuse thoughts. And this makes the better sense. The moral thought does accuse the wicked thought, feeling, or volition. But commentators generally understand it of thoughts accusing the men themselves.

The existence and power of this conscience is often beautifully and forcibly attested by later classic writers. The Greek historian Polybius says: “No witness is so fearful, no accuser is so terrible, as the conscience dwelling in every individual soul.” The Roman poet Juvenal says: “Do you expect those to escape whom the mind, conscious of direful crime, holds confounded? By night and by day they carry the witness within their own breasts.”

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

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.

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

in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them) [The meaning here may be quickly grasped in the following paraphrase: Jews and Gentiles are alike sinners, yet each had a chance to attain legal justification; the former by keeping an outwardly revealed law, the latter by obeying an inwardly revealed one. Now, the Gentiles have such a law, as appears from their general moral conduct; for when those who do not have the law of Moses, do, by their own inward, natural promptings, the things prescribed by the law of Moses, they are a law unto themselves, having in themselves the threefold workings of law, in that the guidance of their heart predisposes them to know the right, the testimony of their conscience bears witness with their heart that the right is preferable, and lastly, after the deed is done, their thoughts or inward reasonings accuse or excuse them according as their act has been wrong or right. These well-known psychological phenomena, observable among the Gentiles, are proof conclusive that they are not without law, with its power and privilege of justification. Therefore, all are not sinners because there is respect of persons with God, for all have the possibility of attaining justification];

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.

15. Which shew. Such Gentiles, not having the law, are a law to themselves, for they show forth in their lives that the essential principles of the law are written in their hearts. Not only do their outward acts testify, but their consciences, which condemn or approve their own acts, or those of others. That is, their consciences testify as to distinctions between right and wrong. They have a moral sense.

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.

By this they show

"By naturally obeying the law they show"

that the actions required by the law are written in their hearts

Here "hearts" is a metonym for the person's thoughts or inner person. The phrase "written in their hearts" is a metaphor for knowing something in their mind. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "that God has written on their hearts what the law requires them to do" or "that they know the actions that God wants them to do according to his law" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor and Active or Passive)

bears witness to them, and their own thoughts either accuse or defend them to themselves

Here "bears witness" refers to the knowledge they gain from the law that God has written in their hearts. AT: "tells them if they are disobeying or obeying God's law" (See: Idiom)

on the day when God will judge

This finishes Paul's thought from Romans 2:13. "This will happen when God judges"

translationWords

law

written

heart

conscience

testimony

judge

good news

Jesus

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

15.] ἐνδείκν., by their conduct shew forth,—give an example of.

τὸ ἔργ. τοῦ νόμου = τὰ τοῦ νόμου above: but sing. as applying to each of the particular cases supposed in the ὅταν.… ποιῶσιν. If it had here been τὰ ἔργα τοῦ νόμου, it might have been understood to mean the whole works of the law, which the indefinite ὅταν prevents above.

γραπτὸν ἐν τ. κ. αὐτ.] Alluding to the tables of stone on which the law was written: see a similar figure 2Co 3:3.

συμμαρτ. αὐτ. τ. συνειδ.] This is a new argument, not a mere continuation of the ἔνδειξις above. Besides their giving this example by actions consonant with the law, their own conscience, reflecting on the thing done, bears witness to it as good.

συμμ., not merely = μαρτ., as Grot., Thol., nor = una testatur, viz. as well as their practice,—but confirming by its testimony, the συν signifying the agreement of the witness with the deed, as con in contestari, confirmare:—perhaps also the συν may be partly induced by the συν in συνειδήσεως,—referring to the reflective process, in which a man confers, so to speak, with himself.

καὶ μετ. ἀλλ. κ.τ.λ.] and their thoughts (judgments or reflections, the self-judging voices of the conscience, which being corrupted by sinful desires are often divided) among one another (i.e. thought against thought in inner strife) accusing, or perhaps excusing (these two participles are absolute, describing the office of these judgments,—and nothing need be supplied, as ‘them,’ or ‘their deeds’). Notice the similarity of this strife of conscience, and its testimony, as here described, to the higher and more detailed form of the same conflict in the Christian man, ch. 7:16.

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

Which shew [οιτινες ενδεικνυνται] . Rev., better, in that they shew, the double relative specifying the class to which they belong, and therefore the reason for what precedes. Shew, properly, in themselves [εν] .

The work of the law. The conduct corresponding to the law.

Their conscience also bearing witness [συμμαρτυρουσης αυτων της συνειδησεως] . For conscience, see on 1Pe 3:16. The force of oun with the verb is therewith; i e., with the prescript of the law, respecting the agreement or disagreement of the act with it. So Rev.

The meanwhile [μεταξυ] . Rev. renders with one another. Their thoughts one with another. The phrase metaxu ajllhlwn is variously explained. Some alternately, now acquitting and now condemning. Others, among themselves, as in internal debate. So Alford, "thought against thought in inner strife." Others again, accusations or vindications carried on between Gentiles and Gentiles. As the other parts of the description refer to the individual soul in itself and not to relations with others, the explanation expressed in Rev. - the mutual relations and interchanges of the individual thoughts - seems preferable.

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