AUGUSTINE AND ROMANS 2

St. Augustine in the Spirit and the Letter argues that the mark of New Covenant believers is they have “the law written in their hearts” and that this group is the same as those Gentiles described in Romans 2:4 who “by nature do the things in the law.” And while the first proposition is absolutely true, the second is an unwarranted, and possibly dangerous, hermeneutical faux pas. This article will explore if the Second Chapter of Romans speaks about those who by the Spirit’s power, keep God’s holy law. We say no, on contextual, hermeneutical and logical grounds. The main reason is that the second chapter of Romans is not referring to New Covenant believers who by the Spirit’s power are able to keep the law (read Romans 2:7). Such an interpretation is irresponsible and denies the logical flow of Paul’s argument in the Book of Romans. In the broader context of the book this chapter comes in the middle of the apostle’s argument for the universal sinfulness of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles. Please note that Paul does not get to the gospel until 3:21.  Up and to that point all the apostle is trying to show is that God’s judgment is absolutely free of bias and according to truth (2:2). Jews are guilty because they have disobeyed the law given to them through the Mosaic covenant.  Gentiles are guilty because as those created in God’s image, they have violated the law written on their consciences. Gentiles, says Paul, know God’s law not by statute but “by nature.”  This is simply an expansion on what Paul said in chapter one of Romans that all men “knew God” but they “did not worship Him as God” not wanting to “retain God in their knowledge” and this all despite the fact that they know “the righteous judgment of God” (1:21; 28, 32).  In other words, all men are imbued with God’s moral code stamped upon their consciences.  Man, therefore, is ‘without excuse’ (1:20; 2:1).  Romans two is designed to prove one thing, the universal guilt of man, nothing more, nothing less.  A second reason that Romans two is not speaking of saved Gentiles is found in the text itself. Paul is not saying that these people “keep” the law but that “they do the things contained in the law” (2:14).  In verse 15 he explains what that means. Doing things in the law simply means they act with a conscience which always sounds that alarm which brings upon them that feeling of guilt. This, Paul will go on to say, is why men show themselves to be moral agents as they accuse or excuse one another. Paul is NOT saying these Gentiles are keeping the law. He’s saying the exact opposite. He is saying that the law’s standards are so high and so inward (2:20) that no man could possible earn eternal life through the law. Those saved under the law would be described as those who “by patient continuance in doing good, seek for glory, honor and immortality” (2:7).  What’s the apostle’s point?  That many people under the gospel do this very thing and are saved?  No. HIs point is that for someone to be saved under the law it would take a continuing and perfect obedience to the law, forever and always. And who does that, Paul will ask later. His summary is final, “For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin” (3:9). This is Paul’s point in chapter 2. He’s dragging humanity down, down, down, to the place of despair, in order to lift humanity up, up, up to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The great Augustine was wrong on Romans 2 as are so many today who force the Scriptures to conform to their presuppositions that good Christians live up to the standard of the law, not perfectly but acceptably.

This does not mean that New Covenant believers are not able to move toward honoring God through their daily lives. Jeremiah chapter 31 (as Augustine noted) makes it clear that the Law is put into the heart of every New Covenant believer by the work of the Holy Spirit. This is the great gift of the New Covenant. And certainly because New Covenant believers are imbued with the very life of God, one would expect there to be a movement toward honoring the law of God in their lives.  But Jeremiah has a very different focus from Romans two. Jeremiah is talking about reveling in the beautiful advantages of the New Covenant but he is not including moral perfection among those advantages. And neither is Romans chapter 2. Again, Paul’s argument here is that all men are eternally guilty under the law because innocence under law is only realized through moral perfection. Unfortunately Augustine’s misdiagnosis of Romans 2 has been used by many today to advocate that there can be a life that pleases God with ‘less than perfect’ conformity to the law.  All this does is send believers (or non-believers) back to their own efforts as that which aids and abets their salvation. This view of Augustine partly explains why the Roman Catholic church loves the Bishop of Hippo because they see him advocating a partial works righteousness in the scheme of salvation.  What is mystifying is that many Protestants, who once firmly held to sola fide, are saying the same thing. This is all part of a glacial movement in Christendom to introduce some measure of human merit into the gospel. But as Paul said many years ago, no matter how well-intentioned these movements are, if they add any measure of human works into the salvation paradigm they are preaching an accursed gospel.  About a thousand years after Augustine penned his thoughts, another Roman Catholic monk would come along and banish all human works from God’s scheme of salvation. He would say, “Although the works of man always appear attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be mortal sins” (Martin Luther Heidelberg Disputation proposition #3).  Luther would go on to say that the only good works are the works of Christ alone, and those imputed to us, not experienced by us. And so we close by saying that when the church forever abandons the doctrine of human righteousness and looks for her righteousness alone in Jesus Christ, that this is the day the church will again prosper as she holds up the cross of Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation so that His name will once more “be exalted in all the earth.”