Obedience and Natural Law

This post will examine a passage in Romans 2 regarding its (supposed) teaching of natural law. “Natural law is a philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason.” ¹ Some Christian teachers say that human governments should use it as the basis for their legal systems, rather than (or alongside) God’s law recorded in Scripture. These teachers usually say that God’s law is written on everyone’s heart. They often cite Romans 2:12–16 to support their position.² For example, Thomas Shreiner says, 

Gentiles lack the written law, but the moral norms of the law are written on their hearts (Rom. 2:15). Their consciences either accuse or defend their behavior in accord with the law stamped on their hearts. Paul does not intend to provide a treatise here on natural law.… He wants to show that Gentiles are not bereft of moral norms, for God’s requirements are imprinted on their hearts.³

Such interpretations assume Paul’s statement about “the work of the law written in their hearts” refers to both Jews and Gentiles, saved and unsaved alike.

My goal is not to evaluate the idea of natural law, but to show that using Romans 2:12–16 to support it is a mistake. This passage is not about “natural law”; Paul is not saying that unsaved people have God’s law written on their hearts.

Here are Paul’s words:

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 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature (Gr. physis) do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 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) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. (Rom 2:12–16)

I object to the majority view of this passage because it does not fit well within Paul’s argument, especially in the immediate context (i.e., the first three chapters of Romans⁴).

Paul states his purpose for this section in its conclusion: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Rom 3:28). He shows that the gospel establishes God’s purpose for the written law (Rom 3:29–31). The “natural law” passage fits within and supports this summary.

God’s Judgment

Paul’s thoughts here focus on the judgment God will conduct through Christ, especially the final judgment at the end of history. He is thinking of “the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to [his] gospel” (Rom 2:16). He uses legal terms to describe the favorable judgment of some: “Not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified” (Rom 2:13). That is, God will declare them righteous on the day of judgment. 

This fits within the immediate context. Leading up to our passage, Paul shows how, after Adam’s fall, humankind wandered farther and farther from fellowship with God (Rom 1:18–32). They did so, “having known the just decree of God,” ⁵ or “the righteous judgment of God” (Rom 1:32).

The wicked deeds of fallen people deserve God’s condemnation: “We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things” (Rom 2:2). They will not “escape  the judgment of God” (Rom 2:3). Paul envisions “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” The verdict on each person will be either “eternal life” or “indignation and wrath” (Rom 2:5–8).

After our passage, Paul continues his argument, all the while with reference to God’s final judgment. He speaks of the vengeance God is about to take on the Jews. He asks and answers a rhetorical question: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath?… Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Rom 3:5–6). The issue at stake concerns those who will be “justified in His sight” (Rom 3:20).

Paul concludes that God will conduct this judgment without regard to ethnic identity; whether one is a Jew or a Gentile will be of no consequence (Rom 3:27–31).

In Romans 2:12–16, Paul is thinking of people who are “doers of the law.” God will justify them at the final judgment. They are saved people.

This conclusion does not fit the “natural law” interpretation of this passage, which says the term “doers of the law” includes all people, whether saved or unsaved.

The Disobedient

The idea that God has written His law on the hearts of all people, including those who are only “hearers of the law” (Rom 2:13), does not agree with Paul’s description of the unsaved in this section. 

They “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). They know the truth through God’s external witness to them—“the things that are made” in creation (Rom 1:20), not God’s law in their hearts. This outward witness renders them “without excuse.” They have “become futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom 1:21).

Paul says God has given them “up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts,” “to vile passions,” and “to a debased mind” (Rom 1:24, 26, 28). He lists more than twenty sins and says these persons “not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom 1:32).

Paul provides an extended description of unsaved people. Quoting several Old Testament passages, he says,

There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Rom 3:10–18)

How jarring, then, to say that these same people have the law of God written on their hearts, that they “do the things in the law,” and that their works will stand “when God will judge the secrets of men”!

Some “natural law” commentators have felt the force of this observation. Richard Longenecker says some commentators have “argued that Romans 2:14–15 and Romans 2:26–27 are blatantly in conflict with Paul’s main thesis in Romans 1:18–3:20 that all are under sin and so evidence quite clearly that ‘Paul’s mind is divided’ with respect to humanity’s ability to keep the Mosaic law.”⁶

This problem becomes more pronounced when we consider Paul’s descriptions of the unsaved in his other letters. Paul uses this Greek word to describe the condition of those who are outside Christ. He says, “We all … were by nature (Gr. physis) children of wrath” (Eph 2:3). And, “When you did not know God, you served those which by nature (Gr. physis) are not gods” (Gal 4:8). Apart from Christ, people are children of wrath by nature and worship gods that are false by nature. Unless Romans 2 is an exception, the Scriptures nowhere say God has written His law on the hearts of unsaved people.

Still, the “natural law” view of Romans 2:12–16 affirms that unsaved people “do the things in the law” and have “the work of the law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:14–15). 

This affirmation contradicts Paul’s other descriptions of unbelievers in this context and elsewhere.

The Obedient

Who, then, does Paul have in mind when he speaks of people who “do the things in the law”? Let’s find the answer in the context.

At the beginning of the letter, he says, “Through [Christ] we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name” (Rom 1:5). The Apostle aimed to create obedient Gentiles. He also meant to defend them against all opposition, especially that from Jews who said circumcision and other ceremonial elements of the law were necessary for salvation (cf. Acts 15:1).

Toward that end, Paul shows that Gentiles and Jews are equal before God. He says,

[God] “will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Rom 2:6–11)

Disobedient Jews and Gentiles receive the same condemnation; obedient Jews and Gentiles receive the same reward. For our purposes, we should note that Paul includes Gentiles who are “doing good,” a statement identical to them being “doers of the law” (Rom 2:13). Here, such persons receive eternal life (Rom 2:7). In our passage of interest, they are justified in God’s sight (Rom 2:13). 

A few verses later, Paul compares a Gentile who “fulfills the law” to a Jew who is “a transgressor of the law” (Rom 2:27). The former receive praise from God, but the latter are judged (Rom 2:27, 29).

The Apostle shows that these obedient and justified people are those who have faith in Christ. They possess “the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:22). They are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). Their obedience to the law of God is not the basis of their justification; it is the evidence that they are saved.

Returning to our passage of interest, Paul says these Gentiles “show the work of the law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:15). This “written in their hearts” idea is a fundamental element of God’s new covenant with His people. God wrote the Old Covenant on stone tablets, but He promised to write the New Covenant on the hearts of His people (Jer 31:31).⁷ The apostles proclaim that God has established that New Covenant through our Lord Jesus:

He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.… For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Heb 8:7–10)

Paul thinks of his Gentile converts in these New Covenant terms: “You are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Cor 3:3). Paul never elsewhere speaks of unsaved people having “the law written in their hearts.”

Perhaps the crux of the argument for natural law in this passage is that people do the things in the law “by nature (Gr. physis)” (Rom 2:14). That is, according to some proponents of natural law, in their natural, or unsaved, condition. The fact that Paul uses this word to describe unsaved people in this context (Rom 1:26) tends to support this reasoning. 

However, Paul says that saved Gentiles who are “wild by nature (Gr. physis)” are grafted “contrary to nature (Gr. physis)” into the olive tree of salvation (Rom 11:24). They then are “partakers of the divine nature (Gr. physis)” (2 Pet 1:4) and “by [their new] nature do the things of the law.” (Rom 2:14).

Conclusion

The disobedient people in this passage are those who:

1. “Suppress the truth” (Rom 1:18)
2. Have “foolish hearts” (Rom 1:21)
3. Are unclean “in the lusts of their hearts” (Rom 1:24)
4. Have “vile passions” (Rom 1:26)
5. Have “debased minds” (Rom 1:28)
6. Are only “hearers of the law” (Rom 2:13) 
7. Are depraved (Rom 3:10–18)
8. Practice all manner of wickedness (Rom 3:32)

The obedient here are those who:

1. Are the fruit of Paul’s ministry (Rom 1:5)
2. Do “what is good” (Rom 2:7)
3. Are “doers of the law” (Rom 2:13)
4. Have “the works of the law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:15)
5. Fulfill the law (Rom 2:27)
6. Have faith in Christ (Rom 3:22)
7. Are justified (Rom 3:24)

These characteristics show the destiny of each class of persons in the judgment of God (Rom 1:32; 2:2, 3, 5, 16; 3:4, 6).

Applying Paul’s statements about obedient people in Romans 2:12–16 to unsaved persons is a mistake. He is not speaking about those who obey “natural law,” but about those who follow the law of God through the new nature God has given them. 

1. Wikipedia contributors, “Natural law,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Natural_law&oldid=1312399619 (accessed October 16, 2025).
2. I am using the paragraph divisions in the NKJV.
3. Thomas R. Schreiner, 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law, ed. Benjamin L. Merkle (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2010), 77–78.
4. This agrees with the divisions by William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, NTC (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1953–2001), 30
5. James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1–8, vol. 38A of WBC (Dallas: Word, 1988), 68–69.
6. Richard N. Longenecker, The Epistle to the Romans: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC, eds. I. Howard Marshall and Donald A. Hagner (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016), 262.
7. The image in this file is Moses Smashing the Tablets of the Law by Rembrandt (1606–69). This file is in the public domain..