Today’s command from Paul finds itself imbedded within this passage.
Romans 2:12-13
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
I want to reemphasize this point again and again. We are not saved by following God’s law. We are saved by grace and grace alone. That is the truth of the Gospel. But as Paul states here, that does not mean the law has no importance in our salvation.
To be justified is to be saved. And Paul directly states that “it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”
If this seems confusing or contradictory, it is not. In order to fully understand scripture, you must interpret it by scripture. We must fall back to the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Then look at Hebrews 10:15-16
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds…”
That verse is a quote from Jeremiah 31:33
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jesus fulfilled the law by writing it on our hearts. And what Paul is saying is that we are to obey the law God has placed within our hearts. We are to obey this law in our hearts because God, in His mercy, has sent Jesus to die on the cross for every single sin we have or we will commit.
Has your heart been changed my friends? If it has, then your attitude about violating the laws of God, is different. This is what repentance is. A change of heart.
Paul goes on to say this in the rest of this passage from Romans 2:14-16,
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
My prayer for each of us today, is that we humble ourselves to the commands of God and let the Holy Spirit, who lives in the heart of all believers, lead us to a righteous life that brings glory to God by showing that the work of the law is written on our hearts.
