A Law Unto Themselves

Paul’s masterwork is his letter to the Romans. Paul’s ministry was a tortuous one, a lived lesson in Christian suffering, and a warning to anyone expecting the Christian life to be a comfortable one. Paul undertook three missionary journeys around the Mediterranean, at a time when sea travel was far from luxury. He was arrested multiple times, flogged, and the last we hear of him is under house arrest in Rome, awaiting his chance to plead his case to the Emperor.

His letter to the nascent Roman church had been written some time beforehand. He outlines the new covenant of grace. Martin Luther would attribute his “conversion” to Paul’s introduction to the topic:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17, ESV)

Paul continues with the best bait-and-switch to be found in the Bible. Knowing his audience will be primarily Jewish, he writes:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:18-23, ESV)

So far, so good, for his readers (or rather, listeners; letters were designed to be read aloud in church). But now the hammer drops:

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things. … But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgement will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism. (Romans 2:1-11, ESV, extracts)

Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son addressed two types of people: those who upheld the law but were legalistic; and those who saw the offer of grace as a licence to sin. Neither is Godly, but the legalistic are in greater danger, because they blind themselves to their need to repent.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) (Romans 2:11-15, ESV)

The last part of this is sometimes read as suggesting that conscience is sufficient, that we can be a “law unto ourselves”. But that is clearly not what is meant here, since the emphasis is on our consciences accusing us, showing that we know we are doing wrong. In fact, the idiom is appropriate in this case. People who are a “law unto themselves” are unruly, following in the steps of Adam and Eve who decided that the fruit looked good, even though God’s word told them not to eat it.

Conversely, while it is God’s law we seek to follow, it is because we have already been saved, not in order to be saved. “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. “ (Gal 5:4)