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The clear answer is they cannot do any of these things and a righteous God will
recognize this. A crude orthodoxy may consign them to hell for eternity, but the teaching
of the passage we are considering in Romans does nothing of the kind. It deals with them
along the lines of conscience and the circumstances that surround them and states that
they are a "law unto themselves" (2: 14). They are a special case in other words, and the
"faith obedience" to the gospel to which chapter 1: refers, cannot apply to them.
However, the Apostle goes on to deal with the Jew who did have a knowledge of God
and His truth. He points out to them that it was useless for such to rest in the fact that
they were the custodians of God's law. This law was only of use if it was obeyed. Apart
from this it could only condemn him. A Jew who breaks the law is no better than a
Gentile. In fact a Gentile who carries out the spirit of the law will condemn a Jew who
breaks it, no matter how well versed he may be in the O.T. Scriptures, or how much he
rests upon the law revealed therein.
He imagined that this provided him with a sure standing before God as did the fact
that he was born one of the chosen people. The Apostle proceeds to strip from the Jew
these false props:
"Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your
relationship to God; if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you
are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light
for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because
you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth--you, then, who teach
others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You
who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonour
God by breaking the law? As it is written: God's name is blasphemed among the
Gentiles because of you" (Rom. 2: 17-24, N.I.V.).
The law of God was only profitable if it was obeyed and carried out in practice,
otherwise it could only condemn and render guilty. So Paul continues "Circumcision has
value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you
had not been circumcised" (2: 25 N.I.V.).
It was futile for a Jew to look on circumcision as though it was a passport to salvation.
It had an internal meaning without which it was an empty rite. The putting off of the
flesh stood for the abandonment of human effort and merit, and in its place was put a
complete reliance (faith) in God and His provision of righteousness. Regarding the law,
Galatians reinforces the argument of Romans, "every man that is circumcised . . . . . is a
debtor to do the whole law" (Gal. 5: 3). Without this, the law became man's enemy, not
his friend, for a broken law could only lead to God's curse (Gal. 3: 10), and moreover it
made the sacrifice of Christ valueless:
"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified the law; ye
are fallen from grace" (Gal. 5: 4).
But what of the Gentile who, though uncircumcised, pleased God? He would
certainly show up the shortcomings of the disobedient Jew and judge him even though he