When I was a kid, I spent many weekends driving around town with my dad in his white 1976 Ford Pinto. Whether we were heading to Begman’s hardware store to pick up supplies or to the Dairy Queen for a banana split on a warm summer evening, you could bet that the windows were rolled down (yes, manually rolled down) and there would be music blaring from the speakers in our subcompact muscle car. These were the days before digital car radios and you had turn a finicky dial to sift through the static to tune in a station. For my dad, this wasn’t a problem because he only ever played one station: 94.5 3WS—“All oldies all the time.”
Thanks to my dad, I grew up wasting time with Otis Redding just “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” and singing along with the Tommy James and the Shondell’s “My Baby Does the Hanky Panky” and “Crimson and Clover” over and over and over! But one of my favorite oldies was the catchy hit by the Bobby Fuller Four titled “I Fought the Law (And the Law Won.)” The song’s popularity has been carried through the decades by the likes of country music star Hank Williams Jr. and the modern rock band Green Day.
This little chorus shaped my early expectations and experiences with the law. It is true: The law is the law! And if you pick a fight with the law, the law usually wins! As I got a little older, I discovered that this truth applies to many areas of life. I remember changing the song lyrics to: “I fought my mom and my mom won!” In my younger days, I fought the laws of my family, my junior high principal, the Pennsylvania State police, and God Almighty himself. And the law won every single time!
Have you ever fought the law? If so, you probably recognize the truth in Bobby Fuller’s ballad. This is especially true when it comes to God’s law!
In Romans 2:12-29, the Apostle Paul continues to proclaim the bad news of the gospel by introducing the subject of God’s law. The term “law” is very tricky when used in the Bible. Sometimes it refers to the Ten Commandments, which was a summary of the legal code God gave to Israel. Sometimes “law” refers to the actual legal code with its 613 individual statutes found in the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. And sometimes it refers to the first five books of the Bible or Mosaic Law, which the Jews call “Torah.” Here in Romans, Paul is using the term in the latter sense to refer to God’s standards of ethical behavior and right living as laid out in the Torah.
As the Roman church was composed of Jewish and Gentile Christians, there was some tension over how God’s law applied to each category of people. Although Jews and Gentiles had a different relationship with God’s law, Paul explains how both groups have broken God’s law and are therefore subject to God’s righteous judgment. Hence, the main theme is stated in verse 12 when he says, “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.” The first statement is about the Gentiles, who although they did not have full knowledge of God’s law, would still perish because they sinned against God’s law. The second statement is about the Jews, who although they had complete knowledge of God’s law, broke it anyway and therefore were judged by it. Verse 13 clarifies this by arguing that more or less knowledge of the law doesn’t make anyone righteous before God, but only those who actually obey the law are justified before God.
Although our church is primarily composed of Gentiles, we have all had different access to God’s law throughout our lives. As we gain a better understanding of God’s law and how it applies to our lives today, this passage will help us see the ramifications of our sin and our great need for a Savior! Let’s take a closer look!
The Gentile’s Relationship with the Law: Breaking the Law Unknowingly (14-16)
After Paul announces that both Gentiles and Jews will face judgment for breaking God’s law in verses 12-13, he focuses on how this applies specifically to the Gentiles in verse 14-16. He affirms that the Gentiles did not have access or exposure to God’s law. In the Old Testament we read how God gave his law to Moses to be the governing documents for his people Israel. The other nations and peoples around Israel had their own law codes, but the Gentiles were simply ignorant of the specific laws that God gave his people. Paul also acknowledges that in some cases the Gentile’s law codes overlapped with God’s law and therefore they may have obeyed God’s law without even knowing it. This frequent conformity to many of the requirements of God’s law (i.e. do not murder, steal, commit adultery) shows that the Gentiles did have a basic understanding of God’s moral requirements.
Paul’s use of the word conscience in verse 15 helps explain this. God has built into all people a basic sense of right and wrong. Only the Jews had the law in complete form, but all people have the requirements of God’s law written on their hearts. The Gentile’s innate knowledge of God’s law leads them often to do what is right. When this happens, their consciences, along with their thoughts, “defend” them, convincing them that they are doing what God requires. But they will not always obey, and when they do not, the conscience has the opposite effect: It “accuses” them. This is why people naturally feel guilty when they do something wrong. (Moo 86)
The conscience is not always a reliable moral compass. Although Paul doesn’t discuss it here, he mentions in his first letter to Timothy that sin can “sear the conscience as with a hot iron.” (I Tim. 4:2). In other words, over time habitual sin can erode, suppress, and warp our consciences to the point of utter dysfunction. Have you heard someone say, “He lies so much that he actually believes his lies?” When the conscience is seared, this can actually happen!
Paul concludes this section with a vivid reminder in verse 16, that according to his gospel, God will judge all the secrets of men when Jesus returns. All people will be judged on the basis of God’s law. Even though the conscience is not always dependable, God will hold everyone accountable for how they used it.
Have you ever broken a law unknowingly? Last summer when our family was driving from Pennsylvania to Tennessee, we were surprised to see red and blue lights flashing behind our vehicle on a state highway in Maryland. Jennifer was driving so I knew we weren’t speeding. So, we wondered why we were being stopped. When the officer came to the window, he informed us that there was a law that required all drivers to turn on their headlights on this particular stretch of state highway. Since it was a bright sunny afternoon and I could see no good reason to turn our headlights on, I almost launched into a diatribe about dumb Maryland laws. But thankfully, I thought better of it. I knew if wasn’t worth fighting the law, because the law always wins! The officer took pity on us and left us go with just a warning. Even though we were not aware of the Maryland headlight law, we were still held accountable for breaking it.
This is exactly what Paul is getting at in these verses. We may not know, understand, or like all of God’s laws, but we are still held accountable for breaking them. Some of us grew up in Christian homes, were taught God’s Word from an early age, and have had a clear understanding of what God says is right and wrong. Others, like myself, did not grow up with access to God’s Word or know his ethical standards. But God has given all of us a conscience. And when we do something against our conscience, we break God’s law and are subject to his righteous judgment.
The Jews Relationship with the Law: Breaking the Law Willfully (17-29)
Whereas the Gentiles have sinned without a clear knowledge of God’s law, the Jews would be judged for their willful breaking of God’s law. Paul begins his indictment of the Jews in verse 17 with a series of “if” clauses that enumerates many of the privileges enjoyed by the Jews. Paul uses a bit of sarcasm because he knew that the Jews prided themselves in possessing the name “Jew” (17), relying on the law (17), boasting about their relationship with God (17), know God’s will (18), approve what God considers excellent (18), instructed in the law (18), consider themselves a guide for the blind and a light for those in the dark (19), instructors of the foolish (20), and teachers of children (20). Generally speaking, the Jews thought of themselves as morally and spiritualy superior to the Gentiles because they had the embodiment of God’s law and truth. They knew God’s law, but they just willfully broke it.
But notice Paul’s cynicism when he addresses the Jews hypocrisy with a series of rhetorical questions in verses 21-24. The Jews were quick to preach against stealing, committing adultery, and robbing temples, but they did not practice what they preached. Yes, the Jews bragged about having God’s law, but they consistently dishonored him by breaking it.
Notice the consequence of the Jews hypocrisy when he quotes from the prophet Isaiah (52:5) in verse 24: “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” The pagan Gentiles mocked God because of his people’s moral hypocrisy.
I hope we all hear what Paul is saying here! Even though these words were addressed to the ancient church in Rome, they have deep significance for us today. As modern Christians, may we be careful to avoid the pathway of pride and the highway of hypocrisy. May we never consider ourselves morally superior because we grew up in a Christian home, go to church, read the Bible, listen to Christian music, or abstain form certain “secular” practices. Instead, may we be humble and grateful that God has revealed himself and his Word to us. And let us show our love for him by actually obeying his law!
When I think about the hypocrisy Paul highlights here, my mind always drifts back to a penetrating quote I heard from the Hindu civil rights leader Mahatma Gandhi. When a Christian missionary once asked him: “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming a Christian?” His reply was clear: “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
May we ask Christ to forgive us for hindering people’s faith because of our hypocrisy!
As I conclude this morning’s message, let’s go back to verse 13 for a moment. Paul makes it clear that just hearing God’s law won’t make anyone righteous. Whether someone is like the Gentiles that had little access to God’s law or the Jews who had a full knowledge of God’s law, only doers of the law will be justified.
How does that make you feel? Does it make you feel good? Does it get you all pumped up to be a doer of God’s Word? Well, I have some bad news…you’re gonna fail! That is the whole point Paul is trying to make. None of us will be justified before God by obeying his law because we can’t do it! And this is precisely why we need Jesus Christ!
Paul doesn’t explicitly say this yet, but he is going to! As we walk through the Book of Romans, you will see how he is setting us up to understand that we are all lawbreakers and sinners—and our only hope of salvation from God’s righteous judgment is to put our faith in the crucified and risen Christ!
If you fight the law, the law will win every time! Let Jesus do it for you!