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;
For.
Romans 2:14,15 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: …
Romans 1:18-21,32 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; …
Ezekiel 16:49,50 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy…
in the law.
Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Romans 3:19,20 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God…
Romans 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Gentiles had not received the Mosaic covenant given to Israel at Sinai, yet they were not without God’s witness. Creation declares His power and nature, and conscience bears testimony to His moral order. Romans 2:14–15 explains that the work of the law is written on human hearts, exposing wrongdoing even where the written Law was unknown.
1Co 9:21 To those without the law I became like one without the law…
Rom 5:13 For sin was in the world before the law was given;…
Act 14:16 In past generations, He let all nations go their own way.
will also perish apart from the law,
God will judge Gentiles according to the light they possessed, not by statutes never entrusted to them. Their lack of the Mosaic Law does not remove guilt, because sin is rebellion against God Himself. The universal reach of sin establishes the universal need for the redemption God provides in Christ.
Luk 13:3 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, …
Jhn 8:24 That is why I told you that you would die in your sins.…
2Th 1:8-9 in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance…
and all who sin under the law
Israel possessed the written commands, sacrifices, priesthood, and covenant promises. Those privileges brought greater responsibility, since the Law plainly revealed God’s holiness and identified sin. Hearing or possessing the Law could not make anyone righteous while disobedience remained in the heart and life.
Deu 27:26 Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law…
Gal 3:10 All who rely on works of the law are under a curse.…
Jas 2:10 Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at one point…
will be judged by the law.
The Law will stand as the standard of judgment for those to whom it was given. It reveals sin but cannot justify the sinner, for no one keeps its demands perfectly. Both Jew and Gentile therefore stand guilty before God, preparing the way for Paul’s declaration that righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says…
Jhn 5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father.…
Jas 2:12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged…
Paul begins by speaking of those who never received the written Mosaic Law—primarily the Gentiles. Sin is still sin, whether or not a person holds a scroll of commandments in hand. Creation itself testifies to God’s righteous standards (Romans 1:18-20), so no one can plead total ignorance. Even without Sinai’s tablets, the conscience bears witness (Romans 2:14-15). Think of Cornelius before meeting Peter—devout, yet still a sinner in need of the gospel (Acts 10).
“Perish” is sobering: eternal separation from God, not mere physical death (John 3:18; Romans 6:23). The absence of a written code does not grant immunity. Just as a driver ignorant of the speed limit can still be ticketed for reckless driving, so the Gentile faces real accountability. Revelation 20:12-15 pictures all the dead, great and small, judged by what is written in God’s books—not by personal claims of unawareness.
Now Paul turns to those who possess the Law—Israel.
• They enjoy covenant privileges (Psalm 147:19-20).
• They hear the commandments weekly in synagogue (Acts 15:21).
• They are therefore “under the Law” (Romans 3:19-20).
Yet privilege heightens responsibility. Like a student given the answer key, failure to solve the problem leaves no excuse.
The same Law that was a lamp to their feet (Psalm 119:105) becomes the standard at the bar of divine justice. Break one point, and guilt floods in (James 2:10-11). Paul will later write, “All who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse” (Galatians 3:10; cf. Deuteronomy 27:26). The Law exposes sin, silences boasting, and drives us to Christ, who alone fulfilled it perfectly (Romans 8:3-4).
Romans 2:12 establishes two parallel truths: Gentiles without the written Law and Jews with it are alike sinners; both groups face judgment according to the light they have received. Possessing Scripture offers no escape, and lacking it grants no exemption. Only the gospel—“the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16)—rescues either group from perishing or being condemned by the Law.
(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).
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 NIV
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NT Letters: Romans 2:12 For as many as have sinned without (Rom. Ro)