“(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
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. Mere possession or hearing (akouō) of the law affords no justification before God. Only the doers (poieō) of the law are declared righteous (dikaiōthēsontai). This statement of the law's own principle—that obedience is what matters—will be the springboard for Paul's argument about humanity's inability to achieve such obedience and thus the necessity of faith.
Church Fathers on Romans 2:13
“For as many,” he says, “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 here, as I said before, he shows not only the equality of the Jew and the Gentile, but that the Jew was even much burdened by the gift of the Law. For the Gentile is judged without law. But this “without law” (Gr. lawlessly) here expresses not the worse plight but the easier, that is, he has not the Law to accuse him. For…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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