Text:

Brothers and sisters: 10 … Glory and honor and peace to everyone who does what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For everyone who has sinned without the law will perish without the law, and everyone who has sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts among themselves, accusing or excusing themselves, 16 in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men. People according to my gospel of Jesus Christ.

the explanation:

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul shows that “Jews and Greeks are all under sin… for all have turned aside, they have together become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one, because there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 2:9-18). Thus he makes clear that the Jews do not necessarily have an advantage over the Gentiles because they knew God’s will directly from the Law. He also makes clear that the fate of the Gentiles is not necessarily destruction, “if by nature they do the things contained in the Law. These, even if they do not have the Law, are a law to themselves.”

Thus the text of the letter comes in the context of the second chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and in it the apostle moves from talking about the sin of the pagan nations on the one hand to talking about the sin of the Jews on the other hand. In the first chapter (verses 18-32) the apostle talks about the error of the pagan nations, because although “what can be known about God is evident to them, for God has made it known to them, and because His invisible attributes, even His eternal power and Godhead, have been clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made,” they “did not glorify God… and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for an image made like mortal man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” In the second chapter (verse 17) to the third chapter (verse 8), the apostle talks about the Jews’ transgression of the law, since they were not faithful to the words and will of God, but by transgressing the law they dishonored God.

We know from the Old Testament that the Jewish people were dedicated to serving the will of God expressed in the Law, but God “did not leave Himself without witness” (Acts 14:17) among the pagan nations, “but in every nation whoever fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him” (Acts 10:35). Therefore the Apostle Paul says, “There is no respect of persons with God,” meaning there is no distinction between people according to race, since God’s praise comes to those who do good, whether they are Jews or Greeks.

Thus the Apostle Paul makes clear that the touchstone of judgment is not necessarily the law, in response to a group of Judaizing Christians who were (and still are) roaming the churches and calling for the application of circumcision and the law with faith in Jesus Christ to obtain the perfection of righteousness. There is no longer any need to apply the law now, “For the righteousness of God was manifested without the law, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22). As for Jesus Christ, it is the one whom the Apostle preaches “his gospel.” The word gospel is an Arabization of the Greek word “evangelion,” which means good news, and in its use by Paul it means the content of Christian teaching as the Apostle saw it (the death and resurrection of the Savior).

It is clear from the text of the letter that God will judge all peoples because God is present in all peoples either by the law (Jews) or by conscience (pagans). There is no longer any difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, because all are one in Christ (Galatians 3:28), since God has poured out His grace on all through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Quoted from my parish bulletin
Sunday, June 20, 1993 / Issue 25