Romans 2:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Romans 2:15
Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
hearts
καρδίαιςkardiais
G2588
the heart · noun — dative plural feminine
their
αὐτῶνautōn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
conscience
συνειδήσεωςsuneidēseōs
G4893
co-perception · noun — genitive singular feminine
witness
συμμαρτυρούσηςsummarturousēs
G4828
to testify jointly · verb — present active participle, genitive singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
thoughts
λογισμῶνlogismōn
G3053
computation · noun — genitive plural masculine
while
μεταξὺmetaxu
G3342
betwixt (of place or person) · preposition
accusing
κατηγορούντωνkatēgorountōn
G2723
to be a plaintiff · verb — present active participle, genitive plural masculine
else
ἢē
G2228
disjunctive · conjunction
excusing
ἀπολογουμένων,apologoumenōn
G626
to give an account (legal plea) of oneself · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, genitive plural masculine
another
ἀλλήλωνallēlōn
G240
one another · reciprocal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Corinthians 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your con…
Romans 1:18-19 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
2 Corinthians 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grac…
Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is def…
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Romans 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
1 Timothy 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1 John 3:19-21 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Romans 2:1-16
In the former chapter the apostle had represented the state of the Gentile world to be as bad and black as the Jews were ready enough to pronounce it. And now, designing to show that the state of the Jews was very bad too, and their sin in many respects more aggravated, to prepare his way he sets himself in this part of the chapter to show that God would proceed upon equal terms of justice with Jews and Gentiles; and now with such a partial hand as the Jews were apt to think he would use in their favour.
I. He arraigns them for their censoriousness and self-conceit (Rom 2:1): Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. As he expresses himself in general terms, the admonitio…
their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing--that is, perhaps by turns doing both.
Adam Clarke on Romans 2:15
Which show the work of the law - In acting according to justice, mercy, temperance, and truth, they show that the great object of the law, which was to bring men from injustice, cruelty, intemperance, and falsity, is accomplished so far in them: their conscience also bearing witness - that faculty of the soul, where that Divine light dwells and works, shows them that they are right; and thus they have a comfortable testimony in their own souls of their own integrity: their thoughts, the mean while, accusing, or else excusing one another; or rather, their reasonings between one another accusing or answering for themselves. As if the apostle had said: - And this point, that they have a law and…
Which show the work of the law written in their hearts,.... Though the Gentiles had not the law in form, written on tables, or in a book, yet they had "the work", the matter, the sum and substance of it in their minds; as appears by the practices of many of them, in their external conversation. The moral law, in its purity and perfection, was written on the heart of Adam in his first creation; was sadly obliterated by his sin and fall; upon several accounts, and to answer various purposes, a system of laws was written on tables of stone for the use of the Israelites; and in regeneration the law is reinscribed on the hearts of God's people; and even among the Gentiles, and in their hearts, th…
The Church Fathers
Compare this with 1 John [3:20]: "Dearly beloved, if our own hearts condemn us, God is greater than our conscience."
Nature produces a law in their hearts through the witness of their conscience. Or it may mean that the conscience testifies to the fact that it has its own law, because even if the sinner is afraid of no one the conscience is worried when he sins and rejoices when that sin is overcome.
For the man who, though listening not, doeth, is better than the man who is constant in listening and empty of works, even as the word of the apostle Paul teacheth us, "For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified: for if the Gentiles which have no law do by their own nature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto themselves; and they show the work of the law written upon their hearts, and their conscience testifieth concerning them". The hearing of the law is good, for it bringeth to the works thereof, and reading and meditation in the Scriptures, which purify our secret understanding from thoughts of evil things, are good, but if a man is constant in reading, and in hearing, and in the meditation of the word of God, and yet perfecteth not by his reading the labour of works, against this man hath the Spirit of God spoken by the hand of the blessed David, rebuking and reproving his wickedness.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Conscience — That faculty of the mind, or inborn sense of right and wrong, by which we judge of the moral character of human conduct. It is common to all men. Like all our other faculties, it has been perverted…
Fall of man — An expression probably borrowed from the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom, to express the fact of the revolt of our first parents from God, and the consequent sin and misery in which they and all their…
Heart — According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. “Heart” and “soul” are often used interchangeably (Deut. 6:5; 26:16; comp.…
Judgment, The final — The sentence that will be passed on our actions at the last day (Matt. 25; Rom. 14:10, 11; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:7-10). The judge is Jesus Christ, as mediator. All judgment is committed to him…
Law — A rule of action. (1.) The Law of Nature is the will of God as to human conduct, founded on the moral difference of things, and discoverable by natural light (Rom. 1:20; 2:14, 15). This law binds all…
Resurrection of the dead — Will be simultaneous both of the just and the unjust (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28, 29; Rom. 2:6-16; 2 Thess. 1:6-10). The qualities of the resurrection body will be different from those of the body laid in…
Conscience · 20:12; — 20:12;
Conviction · OF SIN — OF SIN
Doer · OF THE WORD — OF THE WORD
Gentiles · UNCLASSIFIED SCIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCIPTURES RELATING TO
Heathen, The · Have: The testimony of conscience — Have: The testimony of conscience
Romans 2:14-16
14. 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:
14. Quum enim Gentes, qu? Legem non habent, natura qu? Legis sunt faciant, ips?, Legem non habentes, sibi ips? sunt Lex:
15. Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
15. Qu? ostendunt opus Legis scriptum in cordibus suis, simul attestante ipsorum conscientia et cogitationibus inter se accusantibus aut etiam excusantibus,
16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ accordi…
The Gentiles who know his law when they instinctively obey it may be Gentile Christians, especially since written in their hearts (2:15) alludes to the prophecy of the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34). Or they could be non-Christian Gentiles who know God’s general moral law through their consciences. In this case, Paul would be using the notion of natural law to show how all people could be held accountable for certain basic moral requirements.
Judgment, The · Of Heathen, by the law of conscience — Of Heathen, by the law of conscience
Law · 28:4,5; — 28:4,5;
Law Of God, The · Conscience testifies to — Conscience testifies to
Man · Possessed of: Conscience — Possessed of: Conscience
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
