Romans 2:12-16 Response Able
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. 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.
What about people who never hear the gospel? How can God judge them? The law of Moses, that shows so clearly that no one can keep it, was given hundreds of years after Abraham. Genesis 15:6, “ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Evidently, belief in God is available to everyone. Also, through all human history people have had conscience. Whether in the form of internal or external locus of control, conscience is always there. Conscience forms a basis for judgment against everyone who ever lived.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2019-02-11-seven-moral-rules-found-all-around-world
Seven moral rules found all around the world
Anthropologists at the University of Oxford have discovered what they believe to be seven universal moral rules.
The rules: help your family, help your group, return favours, be brave, defer to superiors, divide resources fairly, and respect others’ property, were found in a survey of 60 cultures from all around the world.
These common rules of humanity remind me of Matthew 22:37-39, “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
So if we have only natural revelation or have the law or have the gospel we are subject to judgment.
Revelation 20:11-15, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
“And books were opened” Consider these ‘books’ to represent the conscience of every individual in all that multitude before the judgment seat. Notice that no one is judged on their knowledge or intentions but by their actions, their works.
Faith is proved by action. Have you ever done a trust fall? No amount of asserting your trust in the group’s ability to catch you will match the act of actually falling.
We have the revelation of Jesus Christ and the good news of salvation. Our ‘work’ is believing/trusting/faithing and living out our belief/faith/trust.
Luke 12:48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
brotherpayne 