(3) God’s law (1:12-24). Paul’s statement in Romans 2:11, “For there is no respect of persons with God,” would shock the Jews, for they considered themselves deserving of special treatment because they were chosen by God. But Paul explained that the Jewish law only made the guilt of Israel that much greater. God did not give the law to the Gentiles, so they would not be judged by the law. Actually, the Gentiles had “the work of the law written in their hearts” (Rom. 2:15). Wherever you go, you find people with an inner sense of right and wrong, and this inner judge, the Bible calls “conscience.” You find among all cultures a sense of sin, a fear of judgment, and an attempt to atone for sins and appease whatever gods are feared.

The Jew boasted in the law. He was different from his pagan neighbors who worshipped idols. But Paul made it clear that it was not the possession of the law that counted, but the practice of the law. The Jews looked on the Gentiles as blind, in the dark, foolish, immature, and ignorant. But if God found the “deprived” Gentiles guilty, how much more guilty were the “privileged” Jews. God not only judges according to truth (Rom. 2:2), and according to men’s deeds (Rom. 2:6), but He also judges “the secrets of men” (Rom. 2:16). He sees what is in the heart.

The Jewish people had a religion of outward action, not inward attitude. They may have been moral on the outside, but what about the heart? Our Lord’s indictment of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 illustrates the principle perfectly. God not only sees the deeds but He also sees the “thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). It is possible for a Jew to be guilty of theft, adultery, and idolatry (Rom. 2:21-22) even if no one saw him commit these sins outwardly. In the Sermon on the Mount we are told that such sins can be committed in the heart.

Instead of glorifying God among the Gentiles, the Jews were dishonoring God, and Paul quoted Isaiah 52:5 to prove his point. The pagan Gentiles had daily contact with the Jews in business and other activities, and they were not fooled by the Jews’ devotion to the law. The very law that the Jews claimed to obey only indicted them!