I never cease to be amazed at the wonderful works of God. I could the spend this whole article listing the evidence of God’s kindness, beauty, majesty, wisdom, power, holiness, and the like. However, one portion of God’s wonderful works comes to mind as we consider Romans 2:12-16. In this passage, we find a classic text of Scripture that teaches that God’s Law is written on every human heart, whether it be the heart of a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or secular humanist, or anything else in between. Just as God has created mankind to have a heart that beats within the chest for life, so this heart (and by this I mean, the soul) by nature has God’s Law.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 2:12, 14-15 wrote, “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 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 law is written on their hearts, while their conscious also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.”
You are judged by what you know. What does the Apostle mean by “judgment”? He is speaking about the future judgment that awaits every man, woman, boy, and girl. Here the Apostle is making clear (as is taught elsewhere in Scripture) that there are two groups of people who are condemned. First, those who never explicitly knew the Word of God and its explicit demands (here he is thinking of the gentiles). Second, those who received the Word of God and knew its explicit demands but ignored them and disregarded them. Both groups of people are held accountable by God.
How can this be if only the second group knew what was expected of them? It appears on first glance as if God is being unfair. In order to address this issue, we must discuss natural law. Although this first group, the gentiles (that is, non-Jewish people), do not have the Word of God externally and in written or oral form, they still “by nature do what the law requires.” That is, by their actions they demonstrate in a broad sense an innate awareness of right and wrong.
R. C. Sproul summarized this passage in this way, “They don’t obey the whole of the law, for they don’t love God with all their hearts … But this partial obedience reveals that there is a certain sense in which the law is written in their hearts.” In God’s Word we learn most basically why every culture and society have an underlying principle of morality: God’s Law within their hearts.
There is nothing more relevant today than the question surrounding, “What is a human?” For example, our society is determined to deal with gender issues as they see fit but cannot agree on the most basic of questions such as: “What is a man?” or “What is a woman?”
I love that as Christians we do not have to grope blindly in the dark following whatever new winds of dogma or cultural ideals emerge. We stand on God’s Word which most basically reveals that to be human is most fundamentally to be made in the image of God. We are creatures in God’s world. As Moses wrote, “So God created man in his own image, the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:27)
As we speak of the law, we are speaking of God’s moral Law that was revealed in summary fashion in the Garden of Eden in Adam and Eve and then later in larger form in the Ten Commandments. It is this very Law that is written on every human heart. That means, that every person you meet is not only worthy of dignity and respect because they are made in God’s image, but also that you can be certain that God’s Law and expectations are on their very hearts. This is why we can find virtuous pagans who may be wonderful neighbors, trustworthy friends, and relatively excellent human beings. This internal Law of God is the innate source of their morality. This Law is the root of the civil, religious, and moral norms in every culture.
But sin corrupts every faculty of our nature. So even though we have this natural Law, this law is imperfectly followed because we are not in the same ethical state as Adam and Eve. We are born in a fallen condition. The Law may be in our hearts, but it is “a shadow of that full and perfect, exact copy of the whole and holy law” as Thomas Goodwin wrote. The Law of God is there within us, but it’s marred by sin as if someone put graffiti over the letters of the Law. Some parts are visible, but others are covered. This is why we find people generally know right and wrong, and others can have that awareness but ignore it going from bad to worse.
This all the more shows why we need Christ. We cannot save ourselves. Our pride must be dashed to the ground. We are not just a little sinful, but entirely wicked for we don’t love God and others as He demands. Our good works are still not so good. We are sinners, hopeless sinners, who must abandon our piety and “morality” and say, “Christ, Son of David have mercy upon me, a sinner.” The glory of the Gospel is that He will. Christ has never met a sin that could not be engulfed by His righteousness, and He never will. Come to this Savior with your failures and sin. Come and see how He can purify your heart, wash away the muck, and help you delight in a life of perfect freedom and gratitude in obedience to Him. Learn what it means to be truly human from the One who formed you from your mother’s womb.