Romans 2:13-16

Romans 2:13-16 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 Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. (15) They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them (16) on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

To be justified before God, it did the Jews absolutely no good to have, hear, and know the law unless they obeyed it. And, as Paul explained in verse 12 this obedience must be perfect. Even the Gentiles, who did not have the law, had by nature a sense of right and wrong that was written on their hearts. Therefore, Gentiles are also guilty before God in violating the law written on their hearts by sinning against what they know to be wrong. Their consciences bear witness by accusing them of doing wrong and excusing them when they do right. The ability to recognize good confirms knowledge of what is wrong.

Sin is the problem that both Jew and Gentile share in common, and they are both guilty before God. There are no innocent Jews who perfectly keep the law and there are no innocent Gentiles who perfectly obey their sense of right and wrong written on their hearts. This means there are no innocent natives on remote islands. Sin and evil doing is shared in varying degrees by all of humanity.

On judgment day God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. This judgment will be on the basis of works as verse 6 pointed out. Since God does not grade on a curve, all of mankind who stand before God based on their imperfect works will be judged guilty. In verse after verse of Romans 2, Paul is making the case that man has no hope of salvation in and of himself with or without the law. The message is to abandon all hope in ones self and to look to the good news that begins in Romans 3.