Paul here shows the Jews - and the Gentiles - that it is obedience to the law, not knowledge of the law that really matters.

Romans 2:12-16 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 (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 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.

This could have been, at least for some Jews, a slap in the face.  To the degree that the Jews thought that being mere inheritors of the Abrahamic, Siniatic, and David covenants earned them some righteousness before God these Jews would have been offended by Paul’s statements here.  However, if they had read carefully the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel then they would have been more open to the idea that God was going to work internally - in the hearts - to bring a true conscientious obedience to the law among both native Jews and Gentiles.  Look at Ezekiel’s prophecy here:

Ezekiel 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

The primary application I would like to make concerning this text is for the problem of pride.  Maybe as Baptists it is easy to think that this pride of being “God’s chosen people” does not apply to us, but let’s look a little deeper.  The problem here seems to be with anyone who thinks that a mere hearing or awareness of the requirements of God is sufficient.  However, Paul is writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the real way to obey and please God is to obey the law through faith.  God here is showing that He works through the conscience, and that He is either accusing or approving of our actions through our conscience.  This is interesting, because it means that a person can outwardly fool almost everyone except for two people; himself and God.

Here is our application for today.  Forget for a moment what the church thinks about you.  (I’m not saying counsel is not important, stay with me for a moment.)  Forget what everyone else thinks about you.  How is your conscience with God?  You may have prayed a prayer when you were young.  You may have attended church ever since.  You may even be an upstanding citizen in the eyes of your community.  The real question is, “Are you obeying the law of God with a clear conscience?”

This is the Apostle Paul’s master stroke in the letter to the Romans.  He is challenging them all to a conscientious obedience which only God can tell.  This places both Jews and Gentiles upon the same level of righteousness before a Holy God.  This argument should do the same to us.  There is no hierarchy of righteousness in God’s church.  The elders are on par with the youngest child.  The men are on par with the women.  The unifying truth is that there is one way to be saved, to have the law of God written on our heart.  Only when we believe the gospel to we begin to see righteousness in this way, that we cannot earn it, but it must be given to us.  When we have this conscientious sense of the law of God because of the gospel, we are constantly reminded of how short we fall, but we are also constantly reminded of how much Christ has done to cover that short-fall.  Consequently, we begin doing the law not to earn anything, but because Christ has earned everything for us!  This should humble us and cause us to love our neighbor more.