“For whosoever have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law; and whosoever have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these having not the law are a law to themselves: who shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts between themselves accusing, or also defending one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
The King of Kings will “render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:6). It is in the way of kings to condemn enemies without a hearing, but their own citizens through judgement, thus those who have lived sinfully without the words of Christ are entirely outside His domain: “Lift up thyself, thou that judgest the earth, render a reward to the proud. How long shall sinners, O Lord: how long shall sinners glory?” (Psalm 93:2-3). Thus, it is the loving Lord’s plea to His people to “Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), for Jesus “will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). You are a soldier of Christ, one to bring His love even to His enemies that His garden may flourish: “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees” (Song 5:1). Without any knowledge of God’s ways, people go so easily astray, but the commandments and the lifting up of grace will bring others to know His merciful love. Now, those who know the commandments of God will dialogue with Jesus about their lives: “He that despiseth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). You can enter into dialogue with Jesus concerning His law through colloquial prayer and reading His words, to see in what you are lacking, and asking for the grace to keep His ways: “O Lord, my portion, I have said, I would keep thy law. I entreated thy face with all my heart: have mercy on me according to thy word” (Psalm 118:57-58). In this you can know the law of love, and receive the love to uphold it, confessing what falls short of perfect love and going to the Merciful Savior to receive His gentle judgement: “Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more” (John 8:11). When St. Paul discusses the hearers of the law, it incorporates a narrowing of the way of your life. To sit at your Master’s feet and hear His words is life itself: “But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). However, “Be ye not many masters, my brethren, knowing that you receive the greater judgement” (James 3:1). To know the ins and outs of the ways of the Lord, to hear His words and long for His ways is to call you into action, for to simply listen, without implementing what you hear, is injustice, and the more you know, the more will be expected of you. However, this is not to put a stricter grading curve upon you, but to realize that Jesus, the gentle encourager, is calling you to more: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Love pulls your soul out of hiding to run to the beloved, and He urges you to strive to the narrowest way, that you may do all things solely for Him: “I do all things for the gospel’s sake: that I may be made partaker thereof” (1 Corinthians 9:23); “How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:14). St. Paul then commends those who upheld the moral precepts put forth by the law, in accord with human reason, such as blessed Job: “There was a man in the land of Hus, whose name was Job, and that man was simple and upright, and fearing God, and avoiding evil” (Job 1:1). However, “They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one” (Psalm 13:1). O poor little people, so reliant on love, so needing to be held and cherished by grace and prayer that goodness may proceed: “Lead me into the path of thy commandments; for this same I have desired” (Psalm 118:35). Yet this opens the way to knowing the loving tenderness of God, for natural goodness is admirable, as St. Paul here says, but the one that knows and relies on Him by grace is better: “But he that is the lesser in the kingdom of God, is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). Because “they that are whole, need not the physician: but they that are sick” (Luke 5:31), it is in your broken, imperfect places that you can most know the love of God, rather than in your glorious virtues. He will infuse into you by love the ability to love Him well, “He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me” (Song 2:4), and by what comes of it you may know that He has worked abundantly in you: “And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to know whose gift it was: I went to the Lord, and besought him” (Wisdom 8:21). Therefore, the Gospel will be the measure of the secrets of the hearts of all: “For ever one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved. But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God” (John 3:20-21), and for you, o Theophila, this means to let love reign in your heart: “The love of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us” (Romans 5:5), that anything else may be blotted out: “I have blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist: return to me, for I have redeemed thee” (Isaias 44:22). Let nothing remain in your heart but the love of God, and He will bring you far beyond what men can attain by natural virtue alone.