Question:
Are we to understand that the Gentiles, in Romans 2:12–16, who are not supposed to know Christ, are justified?
Answer:
We only know what the Word of the Lord says. He tells us that “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: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.” In the beginning, God wrote His law in every heart, and no tables of stone were needed. Thank God there are conceptions of righteousness remaining even in this dark, sin-cursed earth. Believing in Christ doesn’t mean one knows Him by His Hebrew, Greek, or English names. One comes into a knowledge of the Saviour of all by yielding all to walk in the light that is seen, and seeking and trusting God to give us strength to do it. The so-called heathen who yields with all his heart to follow all the light he has, though it may be one ray in the darkness, who lets that one ray dominate his life; in that ray of light, he finds Christ. “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9). “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart [not knowledge] is perfect toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9). But he who has all light and rejects one ray, in that ray rejects Christ.
