Prairie View Christian Church Norway, Iowa PastorTeacher Bill Wenstrom www.prairieviewchristian.org

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Prairie View Christian ChurchNorway,
IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.prairievie
wchristian.org
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Thursday August 23, 2007Romans Romans 214-The
Inherent Law of the Gentiles Tape 54
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Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 21.
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This evening we will continue with our study of
Romans 2, which contains twelve principles
regarding Gods judgment of mankind.
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Thus far in our studies of this chapter we have
noted the first nine, which are the following
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(1) Man is judged by his own standards (Romans
21). (2) Man is judged according truth (Romans
22).
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(3) Gods judgment is inescapable (Romans 23)
(4) Gods judgment is delayed because of His
kindness, tolerance and patience (Romans 24).
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(5) Gods judgment is measured out according to
the accumulation of guilt (Romans 25). (6) God
judges man according to works (Romans 26).
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(7) God judges man according to obedience or
performance in that God rewards obedience and
punishes disobedience (Romans 27-10). (8) God
judges without respect to persons since He is
impartial (Romans 211).
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(9) God judges men according to obedience to Law
and not knowledge of the Law (Romans 212-13).
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This evening we will begin a study of the tenth
principle, which appears in Romans 214-15, and
states that God judges men in direct proportion
to the divine revelation that they have been
exposed to in life.
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In Romans 214, we will study that the Gentiles
inherently possess a law that is manifested when
they obey the principles that appear in written
form of the Mosaic Law.
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Romans 21-15, Therefore you have no excuse,
everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that
which you judge another, you condemn yourself
for you who judge practice the same things.
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And we know that the judgment of God rightly
falls upon those who practice such things. But do
you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment
on those who practice such things and do the same
yourself, that you will escape the judgment of
God?
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Or do you think lightly of the riches of His
kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing
that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
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But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant
heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON
ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS
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to those who by perseverance in doing good seek
for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life
but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do
not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
wrath and indignation.
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There will be tribulation and distress for every
soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and
also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace
to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek.
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For there is no partiality with God. 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 just before God,
but the doers of the Law will be justified.
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For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do
instinctively the things of the Law, these, not
having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that
they show the work of the Law written in their
hearts, their conscience bearing witness and
their thoughts alternately accusing or else
defending them.
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In Romans 214, the word For is the causal
use of the conjunction gar (gavr), which is
connected to Pauls statement regarding the
Gentiles in Romans 212a, For all who have
sinned without the Law will also perish without
the Law.
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Therefore, it introduces a statement that
explains the basis for which the Gentiles will
face eternal condemnation even though they were
not given the Mosaic Law.
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Namely, they inherently possess a moral code in
their souls that is manifested when they obey the
principles that appear in written form of the
Mosaic Law.
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The conjunction is not connected to Pauls
statement regarding the Jews in Romans 213b,
for it is not the hearers of the Law who are
just before God but the doers of the Law will be
justified.
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The reason is that in Romans 214-15 Paul
discusses exclusively the Gentile and not the
Jew.
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Therefore, the conjunction gar does not
introduce a statement that explains the reason
why the self-righteous unregenerate Jew is not
justified before a holy God by simply hearing the
Law but rather by obeying it.
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Rather, the word introduces a statement that
explains the reason why the Gentile will perish
without the Law or the basis for which he will
perish without the Law.
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When is the temporal conjunction hotan (otan)
(hot-an), which is employed with the subjunctive
mood of the verb poieo, do in order to form an
indefinite temporal clause that indicates a
future contingency from the perspective of the
time of the main verb eimi, are that appears in
Romans 214.
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This means that whenever the Gentiles who dont
have the Law obey the requirements of the Law,
they inherently manifest that they possess a law,
which belongs to them that is written in their
hearts and not on tablets of stone as the Jews
received the Law from Moses.
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Gentiles is the noun ethnos (eqno) (eth-nos),
which is used in contrast to the Jews and thus
refers to all those individuals who are not of
Jewish racial descent and thus not members of
the covenant people of God, Israel and by
implication this word refers to all the nations
of the world.
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Who do not have is composed of verb echo (exw)
(ekh-o), who dohave, which is negated by
negative particle me (mhv) (may), not.
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In Romans 214, the verb echo means, to possess
a particular object, which is identified as the
Law.
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Therefore, Paul is saying that the Gentiles did
not possess the Law of God in written form as
the nation of Israel did through Moses.
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Psalm 14719-20, He declares His words to Jacob,
His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. He has
not dealt thus with any nation And as for His
ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the
LORD!
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The Law is the noun nomos (novmo) (nom-os),
which is a reference to the Mosaic Law.
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Do is the verb poieo (poievw), which is
transitive and means, to obey because in
context, its direct object is the substantive use
of the definite article, which means, the
things and the articular genitive form of the
noun nomos, the Law.
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To obey means, to comply with or follow the
commands, prohibitions, and instructions of
another, to respond conformably in action to
another, to submit something.
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If we paraphrase these definitions, we would say
that the verb poieo is used with reference to a
Gentile complying with, following the commands
and prohibitions of, responding conformably in
action to, submitting to the principles of the
moral code of the Mosaic Law.
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Instinctively is the noun phusis (fuvsi),
which refers to that which impels an object to
behave as it does.
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The basic idea of phusis denoted the growing of
the cosmos and of all things contained in it from
their own laws according to Burkert (Greek
Religion, page 312 Cambridge Harvard University
Press, 1985).
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To the Greek philosopher, the created order came
to be regarded as ordered by laws called phusis,
which governed its behavior and made it
predictable.
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Aristotle understood phusis teleologically, which
refers to the study of the evidences of design or
purpose in nature.
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The phusis of a thing was what this thing was as
the end product of its development (Koster,
phusis, Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, volume 9, page 258).
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All things had movement, that is, they were
driven by an innate impulse toward some
predetermined end and that impulse was phusis
(Ross, Aristotle, pages 66-68).
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In Romans 214, the noun phusis refers to the
innate impulse in man that governs his behavior.
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The word innate means that which is inherent in
the essential character of mankind.
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The English word instinct accurately reflects
the meaning of phusis in Romans 214 since it
refers to an innate or natural impulse,
inclination or tendency.
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Romans 214, For when Gentiles who do not have
the Law do instinctively the things of the Law,
these, not having the Law, are a law to
themselves.
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The things of the Law refers to the principles
that appear in the moral code of the Mosaic Law,
otherwise, known as the Ten Commandments, or
Decalogue.
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As we noted in our detailed study of the noun
nomos in Romans 212, it is common to divide the
Mosaic Law into three parts, but though this is
helpful for analysis and the study of the Mosaic
Law and the way it functions, such a division is
never stated as such in Scripture but rather it
is seen as a unit.
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Part 1 The Moral Law or the Ten Commandments.
This part of the Law governed the moral life
giving guidance to Israel in principles of right
and wrong in relation to God and man (Exodus
201-17).
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Part 2 The Ordinances or the Ceremonial Law.
This was the spiritual portion of Law, which
guided and provided for Israel in her worship and
spiritual relationship and fellowship with God.
It included the priesthood, tabernacle and
sacrifices (Exodus 25-31 Leviticus).
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Part 3 The Judgments, or the Social Law. This
part of the Law governed Israel in her secular,
social, political, and economic life (Exodus
2112313).
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In the New Testament, the Greek word used for law
is nomos, which means that which is assigned,
hence, usage, custom, and then law, or a
rule governing ones actions.
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Thus Gods law is His system of rules by which He
shows and instructs in His will and administers
the affairs of the world.
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A system of rules may be tailored for different
times, peoples, or purposes and as a result, in
the progress of Gods revelation to man, we can
see a number of different systems of law in the
Scripture.
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One of which is the Law of Nature (Natural or
Inherent), which Paul mentions in Romans 214,
For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the
law, do by nature the things required by the law,
these who do not have the law are a law to
themselves.
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The inherent law or law of nature refers to
Gods revelation of Himself in creation as we
noted in Romans 118-23 and falls under the
category of the eternal law of God for the Ten
Commandments, which did not begin with Sinai, but
originate in the essence of God Himself (see 1
Pet. 116).
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The Ten Commandments (1) You shall have no gods
before Me. (Exodus 203)
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(2) You shall not make for yourself an idol, or
any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the
earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
You shall not worship them or serve them
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for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children, on the third and the fourth generations
of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness
to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My
commandments. (Exodus 204-6)
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(3) You shall not take the name of the LORD your
God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him
unpunished who takes His name in vain. (Exodus
207)
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(4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your
God in it you shall not do any work, you or your
son or your daughter, your male or your female
servant or your cattle or your sojourner who
stays with you.
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For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the
earth, the sea and all that is in them, and
rested on the seventh day therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
(Exodus 208-11)
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(5) Honor your father and your mother, that your
days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD
your God gives you.(Exodus 2012)
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(6) Honor You shall not murder. (Exodus 2013)
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(7) You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 2014)
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(8) You shall not steal. (Exodus 2015)
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(9) You shall not bear false witness against
your neighbor. (Exodus 2016)
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(10) You shall not covet your neighbor's house
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his
male servant or his female servant or his ox or
his donkey or anything that belongs to your
neighbor. (Exodus 2017).
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The content of the Ten Commandments is not really
new since the book of Genesis reveals the fact
that these formalized laws were already followed,
or assumed as a moral standard.
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All Ten Commandments had been part of the Law of
God previously written on hearts instead of
stone, for all ten appear, in one way or another,
in Genesis.
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They are as follows (1) Genesis 352, Get rid
of the foreign gods.
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(2) Genesis 3139, Laban to Jacob, But why did
you steal my gods?
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(3) Genesis 243, I want you to swear by the
Lord.
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(4) Genesis 23, God blessed the seventh day and
made it holy.
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(5) Genesis 2741, The days of mourning my
father are near.
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(6) Genesis 49, Where is your brother Abel?
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(7) Genesis 399, How then could I do such a
wicked thing and sin against God?
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(8) Genesis 444-7, Why have you stolen my
silver cup?
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(9) Genesis 3917, Joseph came to me to make
sport of me but he ran.
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(10) Genesis 1218 203, You are as good as
dead because of the woman you have taken she is
a married woman.
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Romans 214, For when Gentiles who do not have
the Law do instinctively the things of the Law,
these, not having the Law, are a law to
themselves.
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These is the demonstrative pronoun houtos
(ou!to) (hoo-tos), which refers to the Gentiles
who do not possess the Mosaic Law.
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Not having is the negative particle me (mhv)
(may), not and the verb echo (exw) (ekh-o),
having, which functions as a concessive
participle implying that Gentiles possess
inherently a law for themselves in spite of the
fact that they do not possess the Law in written
form.
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Are is the verb eimi (ei)miv) (i-mee), which
means, to possess certain inherent
characteristics and thus denotes a Gentile
possessing inherently the principles that
appear in written form in the moral code of the
Mosaic Law.
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Actually, the verb echo means, to manifest that
one possesses a certain inherent characteristic
since the word is coupled with poieo, which
denotes obedience.
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What Paul is actually saying with the verb eimi
and poieo is that the Gentiles are manifesting
that they possess inherently a law that belongs
to them and governs their conduct when they obey
the principles of this moral code.
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A law is the noun nomos (novmo) (nom-os),
which refers to a moral code that is inherent
within the soul every human being that helps to
govern their conduct.
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To themselves is the reflexive personal pronoun
heautou (e(autou) (heh-ow-too), which emphasizes
the Gentiles participation in possessing
inherently or innately a law, which belongs to
them and governs their conduct.
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The reflexive pronoun heautou functions as a
dative of possession meaning that the Gentiles
possess inherently a law, which belongs to them
in contrast to the law that Moses received in
writing from the Lord.
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The law of the Gentiles to whom Paul was writing
was not in code but in conscience.
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They did not have a specific set of rules but
they did have the basic moral concepts which are
contained in the Law and in particular the Ten
Commandments.
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Anthropologists know by research what God has
revealed in His Word.
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There is absolutely no societal group that is
devoid of law in the sense of a standard of right
versus wrong.
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Also, all men know that they break their own laws
and they suffer guilt.
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