Romans 2:12

For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) Jew and Gentile alike will be judged, each by the method proper to his case; the Jew by the written Law against which he has sinned, the Gentile by the unwritten law of conscience against which he too has sinned. The mere hearing of the Law will bring no exemption to the Jew; and, on the other hand, the Gentile, who, at the dictates of conscience, acts as if he were subject to law, shall have the full benefit that law can give him. In fact, his conscience is to him a law. He undergoes precisely the same conflict of self- condemnation and self-acquittal as one who has a written law to refer to. All this will be done, this strict measure of justice will be applied, at the last great day of judgment.

In the law.—Rather, in law. Here, as in the phrases which follow, “by law,” “the hearers of law,” “the doers of law,” “the Gentiles which have not law,” &c., the article is wrongly inserted by the Authorised version. Its absence shows that the Apostle Lad in mind, not the particular Mosaic law, but the abstraction of law. “Behind the concrete representation—the Mosaic law itself—St. Paul sees an imperious principle, an overwhelming presence, antagonistic to grace, to liberty, to spirit, and (in some aspects) even to life—abstract law, which, though the Mosaic ordinances are its most signal and complete embodiment, nevertheless is not exhausted therein, but exerts its crushing power over the conscience in diverse manifestations. The one, the concrete and special, is ὁ υόμος; the other, the abstract and universal, is νόμος” (Lightfoot).

Benson Commentary

Romans 2:12. For as many as have sinned — And have not repented and brought forth fruit worthy of repentance; as many as have lived and died in the commission of known sin: he speaks as of the time past, for all time will be past at the day of judgment; without law — Without having had any written law, any express and outward revelation from God; shall also perish — Be condenmed and punished; without law — Without regard had to any written law, or supernatural revelation, being proved guilty by the law written in their hearts. The expression, shall perish, shows the agreement of the manner of suffering with the manner of sinning. He could not so properly say, shall be judged without law. Some understand it of the annihilation of the heathen; but both reason and Scripture assure us they shall be punished for their sins, though in a less degree than those who disobey the greater light of revelation. Since none of mankind ever lived without the law of nature, it is evident the expressions, ανομως, without law, in this clause, and εν νομω, in, or under law, in the following clause, cannot be understood of that law. Neither can they be understood of the law of Moses, seeing it is affirmed in the latter clause, that as many as have sinned in or under the law, shall be judged by the law. For the Jews are not to be judged by the law of Moses. See note on Romans 2:13. In this context, therefore, νομος, law, signifies divine revelation in general. Thus, the oracles of God, with which the Jews were intrusted, Romans 3:2, have the name of ο νομος, the law, often given to them in Scripture; as Psalm 19:7; John 10:34; John 12:34; John 15:25; Romans 3:19; in all which passages, and many others, the law signifies the whole of the divine revelations, taken complexly, as they stand recorded in the Jewish Scriptures. But when these Scriptures are distinguished into parts, as Luke 24:44, where the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms are mentioned; the law, in that division, denotes the five books of Moses only, as it does likewise, Romans 3:21, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. In this restricted sense, the word νομος, generally, though not always, has the article prefixed, the law. And as many as have sinned in, or under, the law — That is, revelation, whether the patriarchal, the Jewish, or the Christian, shall be judged by the law — By the revelation wherewith they were favoured. Though the word κριθησονται sometimes signifies, shall be condemned, in this passage it is rightly translated, shall be judged, because the apostle’s intention is to show, that all who have enjoyed the benefit of an external revelation shall be more severely punished, if wicked, than the Gentiles, who have not had that advantage: an idea which is better conveyed by the expression, shall be judged, than it would have been by shall be condemned. For judgment implies an accurate consideration of all circumstances, whether of aggravation or of alleviation, and the passing such a sentence as appears to the judge equitable, upon due consideration of the whole case. And the meaning here is, that their guilt being aggravated by the advantages which they enjoyed, they shall be punished in proportion to it. See Macknight.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-16 The Jews thought themselves a holy people, entitled to their privileges by right, while they were unthankful, rebellious, and unrighteous. But all who act thus, of every nation, age, and description, must be reminded that the judgment of God will be according to their real character. The case is so plain, that we may appeal to the sinner's own thoughts. In every wilful sin, there is contempt of the goodness of God. And though the branches of man's disobedience are very various, all spring from the same root. But in true repentance, there must be hatred of former sinfulness, from a change wrought in the state of the mind, which disposes it to choose the good and to refuse the evil. It shows also a sense of inward wretchedness. Such is the great change wrought in repentance, it is conversion, and is needed by every human being. The ruin of sinners is their walking after a hard and impenitent heart. Their sinful doings are expressed by the strong words, treasuring up wrath. In the description of the just man, notice the full demand of the law. It demands that the motives shall be pure, and rejects all actions from earthly ambition or ends. In the description of the unrighteous, contention is held forth as the principle of all evil. The human will is in a state of enmity against God. Even Gentiles, who had not the written law, had that within, which directed them what to do by the light of nature. Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness. As they nature. Conscience is a witness, and first or last will bear witness. As they kept or broke these natural laws and dictates, their consciences either acquitted or condemned them. Nothing speaks more terror to sinners, and more comfort to saints, than that Christ shall be the Judge. Secret services shall be rewarded, secret sins shall be then punished, and brought to light.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For - This is used to give a reason for what he had just said, or to show on what principles God would treat man, so as not to be a respecter of persons.

As many - Whosoever. This includes all who have done it, and evidently has respect to the Gentile world. It is of the more importance to remark this, because he does not say that it is applicable to a few only, or to great and incorrigible instances of pagan wickedness, but it is a universal, sweeping declaration, obviously including all.

Have sinned - Have been guilty of crimes of any kind toward God or man. Sin is the transgression of a rule of conduct, however made known to mankind.

Without law - ἀνόμως anomōs. This expression evidently means without revealed or written law, as the apostle immediately says that they had a law of nature, Romans 2:14-15. The word "law," νόμος nomos. is often used to denote the revealed Law of God, the Scriptures, or revelation in general; Matthew 12:5; Luke 2:23-24; Luke 10:26; John 8:5, John 8:17.

Shall also perish - ἀπολοῦνται apolountai. The Greek word used here occurs frequently in the New Testament. It means to destroy, to lose, or to corrupt, and is applied to life, Matthew 10:39; to a reward of labor, Matthew 10:42; to wisdom 1 Corinthians 1:19; to bottles, Matthew 9:17. It is also used to denote future punishment, or the destruction of soul and body in hell, Matthew 10:28; Matthew 18:14; John 3:15, where it is opposed to eternal life, and therefore denotes eternal death; Romans 14:15; John 17:12. In this sense the word is evidently used in this verse. The connection demands that the reference should be to a future judgment to be passed on the pagan. It will be remarked here that the apostle does not say they shall be saved without law. He does not give even an intimation respecting their salvation. The strain of the argument, as well as this express declaration, shows that they who had sinned - and in the first chapter he had proved that all the pagan were sinners - would be punished. If any of the pagan are saved, it will be, therefore, an exception to the general rule in regard to them. The apostles evidently believed that the great mass of them would be destroyed. On this ground they evinced such zeal to save them; on this ground the Lord Jesus commanded the gospel to be preached to them; and on this ground Christians are now engaged in the effort to bring them to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. It may be added here, that all modern investigations have gone to confirm the position that the pagan are as degraded now as they were in the time of Paul.

Without law - That is, they shall not be judged by a law which they have not. They shall not be tried and condemned by the revelation which the Jews had. They shall be condemned only according to the knowledge and the Law which they actually possess. This is the equitable rule on which God will judge the world. According to this, it is not to be apprehended that they will suffer as much as those who have the revealed will of God; compare Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:24; Luke 10:12.

Have sinned in the law - Have sinned having the revealed will of God, or endowed with greater light and privileges than the pagan world. The apostle here has undoubted reference to the Jews, who had the Law of God, and who prided themselves much on its possession.

Shall be judged by the law - This is an equitable and just rule; and to this the Jews could make no objection. Yet the admission of this would have led directly to the point to which Paul was conducting his argument, to show that they also were under condemnation, and needed a Saviour. It will be observed here, that the apostle uses a different expression in regard to the Jews from what he does of the Gentiles. He says of the former, that they "shall be judged;" of the latter, that they "shall perish." It is not certainly known why he varied this expression. But if conjecture may be allowed, it may have been for the following reasons.

(1) if he had a affirmed of the Jews that they should perish, it would at once have excited their prejudice, and have armed them against the conclusion to which he was about to come. Yet they could bear the word to be applied to the pagan, for it was in accordance with their own views and their own mode of speaking, and was strictly true.

(2) the word "judged" is apparently more mild, and yet really more severe. It would arouse no prejudice to say that they would be judged by their Law. It was indeed paying a sort of tribute or regard to that on which they prided themselves so much, the possession of the Law of God. Still, it was a word. implying all that he wished to say, and involving the idea that they would be punished and destroyed. If it was admitted that the pagan would perish; and if God was to judge the Jews by an unerring rule, that is, according to their privileges and light; then it would follow that they would also be condemned, and their own minds would come at once to the conclusion. The change of words here may indicate, therefore, a nice tact, or delicate address in argument, urging home to the conscience an offensive truth rather by the deduction of the mind of the opponent himself than by a harsh and severe charge of the writer. In instances of this, the Scriptures abound; and it was this especially that so eminently characterized the arguments of our Saviour.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. For as many as have sinned—not "as many as have sinned at all," but, "as many as are found in sin" at the judgment of the great day (as the whole context shows).

without law—that is, without the advantage of a positive Revelation.

shall also perish without law—exempt from the charge of rejecting or disregarding it.

and as many as have sinned in the law—within the pale of a positive, written Revelation.

shall be judged by the law—tried and condemned by the higher standard of that written Revelation.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

By the former he means the Gentiles, by the latter, the Jews; the like distribution he makes, 1 Corinthians 9:20,21.

In the law; i.e. under the law, or against it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For as many as have sinned without law,.... This is an instance of the strict justice of God, and proves him to be no respecter of persons; for the Gentiles, who were "without law", the written law of Moses, not without the law of nature in their breasts, nor without some civil laws and statutes of their own; inasmuch as they "sinned" against the God of nature, and the law and light of nature, they

shall also perish without law: not that their condemnation and perdition will be illegal, or not in due course of law; but it will not proceed upon, or according to the law of Moses, they never had; and much less for not believing in Christ, of whom they never heard; but their perdition will be for their sins committed without the law of Moses, against the law of nature: their not having the written law of Moses will be no plea in their favour, or be a reason why they should not be condemned; their persons will not be regarded as with or without the law, but their sins committed by them, to which facts their consciences will bear witness:

and, so on the other hand,

as many as have sinned in the law; who have been in and under the law of Moses, and have sinned against it, meaning the Jews:

shall be judged by the law; and condemned by it, as they were in this world, and will be hereafter: their having this law will be no bar against their condemnation, but rather an aggravation of it; their hearing of it will be no plea in their favour; nor their doing of it neither, unless they could have done it to perfection; for perfect obedience it requires, as a justifying righteousness, otherwise it curses, condemns, and adjudges to death.

Geneva Study Bible

{4} For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

(4) He applies that general accusation against mankind particularly both to the Gentiles and to the Jews.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Romans 2:12. Assigns the ground in point of fact for the proposition contained in Romans 2:11, in special reference to the future judgment of condemnation.[631]

ἀνόμως] i.e. without the standard of the law (without having had it). Comp 1 Corinthians 9:21; Wis 17:2. Those whose sins were not transgressions of the Mosaic law (but of the moral law of nature), the sinful Gentiles, shall be transferred into the penal state of eternal death without the standard of the law, without having their condemnation decided in accordance with the requirements of a ΝΌΜΟς to which they are strangers. The ἈΠΟΛΟῦΝΤΑΙ, which is to set in at the final judgment, not through natural necessity (Mangold), is the opposite of the ΣΩΤΗΡΊΑ, Romans 1:16, of the ΖΉΣΕΤΑΙ, Romans 1:17, of the ΖΩῊ ΑἸΏΝΙΟς, Romans 2:7, of the ΔΌΞΑ Κ.Τ.Λ[633], Romans 2:10; comp John 3:15; Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 1:18. This very ἀπολοῦνται should of itself have precluded commentators from finding in the second ἀνόμως an element of mitigation (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius), as if it was meant to exclude the severity of the law. The immoral Gentiles may not hope to remain unpunished on account of their non-possession of the law; punished they shall be independently of the standard of the law. This is the confirmation of the ἀπροσωποληψία of God on the one side, in regard to the Gentiles.

The καί before ἀπολ. is the also of a corresponding relation, but not between ἀνόμως and ἀνόμως, as if Paul had written καὶ ἀνόμ. ἀπολ., but between ἥμαρτον and ἀπολ.: as they have sinned without law, so shall they also perish without law. In this way ἀνόμως retains the emphasis of the specific how. Compare the following. The praeterite ἥμαρτον is spoken from the standpoint of the time of the judgment.

καὶ ὅσοι ἐν νὁμῳ κ.τ.λ[635]] This gives the other aspect of the case, with reference to the Jews, who do not escape the judgment (of condemnation) on account of their privilege of possessing the law, but on the contrary are to be judged by means of the law, so that sentence shall be passed on them in virtue of it (see Deuteronomy 27:26; comp John 5:45).

ἘΝ ΝΌΜῼ] Not on the law (Luther), which would be εἰς νόμον, but the opposite of ἈΝΌΜΩς: with the law, i.e. in possession of the law, which they had as a standard,[637] Winer, p. 361 [E. T. 482]. On νόμος without the article, used of the Mosaic law, see Winer, 117 [E. T. 152]. So frequently in the Apocrypha, and of particular laws also in classical writers. To question this use of it in the N. T. (van Hengel, Th. Schott, Hofmann, and others) opens the way for artificial and sometimes intolerable explanations of the several passages.

κριθήσ.] an unsought change of the verb, suggested by διὰ νόμου.

[631] Only in reference to the judgment of condemnation, because the idea of a Messianic bliss of unbelievers was necessarily foreign to the Apostle; as indeed In vv. 7 and 10 he was under the necessity of describing those to whom Messianic bliss was to be given in recompense, in terms of a Christian character.

[633] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[635] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[637] This opposition does not extend beyond the νόμον μὴ ἔχειν and νόμον ἔχειν, ver. 14. Therefore ἐν νόμῳ is not: within the law as the divine order of common life (comp. Romans 3:19) as Hofmann takes it.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 2:12. ἀνόμως means “without law,” not necessarily “without the law”. In point of fact, no doubt, there was only one law given by God, the Mosaic, and Paul is arguing against those who imagined that the mere possession of it put them in a position of privilege as compared with those to whom it was not given; but he expresses himself with a generality which would meet the case of more such revelations of God’s will having been made to man. As many as sin “without law” shall also perish “without law”. Sin and perdition are correlative in Paul. ἀπώλεια (Romans 9:22, Php 1:28; Php 3:19) answers to ζωὴ αἰώνιος: it is final exclusion from the blessedness implied in this expression; having no part in the kingdom of God. Similarly, as many as sin “in law” shall be judged “by law”. The expression would cover any law, whatever it might be; really, the Mosaic law is the only one that has to be dealt with. The use of the aorist ἥμαρτον is difficult. Weiss says it is used as though the writer were looking back from the judgment day, when sin is simply past. Burton compares Romans 3:23 and calls it a “collective historical aorist”: in either case the English idiom requires the perfect: “all who have sinned”.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. For as many as have sinned] The equality of Jew and Gentile is here pursued, not (as might have been expected from Romans 2:11) in the direction of privilege, but in that of responsibility and judgment. The reason for this direction is, no doubt, that the main subject of the Epistle here is sin and its results.—“Have sinned” is literally in the Greek sinned; an aorist, not a perfect. It is not safe to press far the distinction of these tenses in N. T. Greek. (See on Romans 1:19.) But the aorist, if taken strictly, would here point to the time when earthly life is closed, and judgment is come; to the sinner’s actions as looked back upon from that point.

sinned without law] Lit. lawlessly. The context here shews that the word means “in the absence of a law;” and that this means “in the absence of an explicit, revealed law;” other law than the law of conscience. Similarly, the context proves that to “perish without law” means to perish not “arbitrarily,” but “without an explicit code as the standard of guilt.” This verse no doubt implies the truth, elsewhere so clear, that no man shall be condemned for ignorance of what was in no wise revealed to him; but its main purpose is to teach the awful truth that even without the revealed law there is yet real sin and real doom.

perish] “Be doomed to death;” lose the soul. The Gr. word, which some have held to imply annihilation of being, by no means does so. Its true import is rather ruin and loss in regard of condition. The Latin perditio exactly renders the idea.

in the law] Where it is revealed; within range of its explicit precepts.

judged by the law] To “judge” here means practically, as so often when the context is clear, to “condemn:” so e.g. Hebrews 13:4.—“By the law,” as the instrument of the doom; as used in determination of the doom.

The whole argument of this passage sufficiently decides what is meant by the Law. It is the Moral Law, the revealed Divine Will concerning right and wrong in respect both of God and man. That it is not specially the Ceremonial Law (which was a divinely-given but temporary and special code) is plain from Romans 2:14 of this chapter, where the witness of conscience must, of course, concern not the legal ceremonies but the principles of duty.

Bengel's Gnomen

Romans 2:12. Ὅσοι γὰρ, for as many) the Gentiles: and as many, the Jews.—ἀνόμως) This word occurs twice by antanaclasis,[28] in the sense, not in the law, not by the law, (ὀυκ ἐν νόμῳ, ὀυ διὰ νόμου) as is evident from the antithesis.—ἥμαρτον) sinned: the past tense, [past] in reference to the time of judgment [shall then be found to have sinned].—καὶ ἀπολο͂υνται, they shall also perish) the word, also, denotes the correspondence between the mode of sinning, and the mode of perishing; he says, they shall also perish; for it was not convenient to say, in this instance, ἀνόμως, they shall be judged without law, as he presently after says aptly, they shall be judged by law.—ἐν νόμῳ) [in, or] with the law, not, [as the heathen], ἀνόμως, without law, i.e. since they had the law.—διὰ νόμου, by the law) ch. Romans 3:20.

[28] See Appendix.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - For as many as have sinned without Law (ἀνόμως) shall also perish without Law (ἀνόμως). Their perdition, if it ensues, will not be due to transgression of a code they had not, but to sin against such light as they had; if without knowledge of Law they sinned, without reference to Law their doom will he, And as many as have sinned in Law (or, under Law. Ἐν νόμῳ denotes the condition in which they were; cf. ἐν περιτομῇ and ἐν ὀκροβυστίᾳ, Romans 4:10) shall be judged by Law. The requirements of the Law which they knew they will be held accountable for transgressing - κριθήσονται here, instead of ἀπολοῦνται, because a definite standard of judgment is supposed (cf. Psalm 1.). Romans 2:12

Vincent's Word Studies

Without law (ἀνόμως)

Both law in the abstract and the Mosaic law. The principle laid down is general, though apparently viewed with special reference to the law of Moses.

In the law (ἐν νόμῳ)

Rev., under law, i.e., within the sphere of. No decision as to the reference to the law of Moses or otherwise can be based on the presence or absence of the article. Νόμος law, is used both with and without the article for the Mosaic law. Cremer correctly says that "the article is usually wanting when the stress is laid, not upon the historical impress and outward form of the law, but upon the conception itself;" or, as Bishop Lightfoot, "law considered as a principle, exemplified no doubt chiefly and signally in the Mosaic law, but very much wider than this in its application."

Shall be judged (κριθήσονται)

The antithesis shall perish suggests a condemnatory judgment. There is no doubt that the simple κρίνω is used in the New Testament in the sense of condemning. See John 3:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:12; Hebrews 13:4. The change from perish to judge is suggested by by the law. "The Jews alone will be, strictly speaking, subjected to a detailed inquiry such as arises from applying the particular articles of a code" (Godet). Both classes of men shall be condemned; in both the result will be perishing, but the judgment by the law is confined to those who have the law.