Posted by Ray Kidder on 6/5/2009, 9:33 pm
98.204.216.96
Dear Readers,
In recent months, N.T. Wright, has been mentioned on this board as a modern day Biblical authority. Some of our recent discussions have revolved around the meaning of "repentance". Romans 2 mentions the importance of repentance, and this chapter also mentions Gentiles who do by nature the deeds of the law, right after St. Paul's statement that the doers of the law shall be justified. Here is the passage from Romans 2 (NKJV):
4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:
7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;
8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,
9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;
10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
11 For there is no partiality with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law
13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;
14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
This web page shows some comments on Romans 2 by N.T. Wright:
The Law in Romans 2 by N.T. Wright
Many months ago, I mentioned on this discussion board how I think it is likely that these Gentiles are Christians. It is their Christian religion that produces the faith which worketh by love (Galatians 5:6).
This is an excerpt from this linked web page of N.T. Wright:
"Paul has just stated that those who do not have the law will be judged without the
law, while those who have the law will be judged by means of the law. But at once he
faces an exception; and the fact that this is an exception demonstrates more clearly than
before that we must indeed be dealing with Christian Gentiles at this point. If those who
are a ‘law to themselves’, because ‘the law’ (presumably the Jewish law) is written on their
hearts, are non-Christians, then Paul has been talking nonsense in v. 12 when he suggested
that Gentiles, not having the law, would be judged without the law. But if they are
Christians, then they are in a sense neither fish nor fowl. They are not simply lawless
Gentiles; but the Jewish law, which is now in some sense or other written on their hearts,
and which in some sense they ‘do’, nevertheless has a sufficiently ambiguous relation to
them for them still to be concerned that the eventual issue might be in doubt. Hence, as
judgment day approaches, they may well find inner conflict as they reflect on their
situation. They would not have this inner conflict were they not Christians. The situation
would then be the simply one of v. 12.
We might supplement the argument further by pointing out that the warning of 2.13
(‘it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who shall be justified’ ) anticipates almost exactly the charge of 2.23 (‘you who boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law?’ ) But there is another argument which strongly supports the conclusion that the people here described, as towards the end of the
chapter, are indeed Christian Gentiles – and actual ones, not merely hypothetical figures.
This is v. 15a: they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. It has been
pointed out often enough that this is a direct allusion to Jeremiah 31.33:
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will
put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be
my people."
Apparently, N.T. Wright is of the opinion that St. Paul was thinking of Gentile Christians in Romans 2.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Ray Kidder
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