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You are now mixing contexts that have no relationship with each other. James is talking to professed Christians and so is Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:1-6, whereas Romans 2:1-15 is dealing with the self-righteous lost man and waht basis they will be judged on the day of judgement according to their works.

Here the "heart" refers only to the conscience but in the other texts it refers to the whole inner man.

 

I am a slave to the immediate context. This is about standing BEFORE THE LAW to be determine the eternal state. The preceding and following context is describing LOST people not saved people. Saved people shall NEVER stand before THE LAW to have their eternal state judged ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS.

The immediate issue for this specific passage is that Paul is showing how both the LOST Jew and Gentile can be judged with perfect justice in that day. The conscience does "the work of the law" and therefore provides a solid basis for judging Gentiles who were never given the written law of God.

 

The Law of Moses and the conscience which does the work of the written law is the standard set forth to judge their works as verses 10-15 clearly show. Thus to stand before God in judgement is to stand before the Law spelled out in verses 10-16 as it is that Law which God uses to justly judge them according to their works.

 

Repeat of the same post

 

1. First look at the overall topic wherein this section falls that is spelled out in Romans 1:18 and is brought to a conclusion in Romans 3:9-23

2. Second, look at the description of the persons preceding this in Romans 1:22-2:5 - no saved persons

3. Third, look at the sort of people described in verses 17-23 - no saved persons.

4. Fourth, the circumcision of heart in a later section (vv. 24-30) is brought into this section simply to show that external circumcision does not provide justification before God in that day of judgment.

5. Fifth, the continuing subject from 3:1-23 is LOST PERSON who will not be justified under Law - vv. 19-21.

6. Verses 6-16 is set in the middle of Self-RIGHTEOUS lost persons (vv. 1-5; 17-22).

The purpose of this section is to prove that LOST MEN who are SELF-righteous will be judged fairly under the Law of God in the day of judgement.

 

You are missing the contextual problem. It is the immediate contextual claim of the self-righteous lost that Paul is considering, who are claiming by their own works to fit the approval for eternal life ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS under the law (2:4-5; 17-23). Paul's response is that they will indeed get a JUST hearing UNDER LAW and if their works demand what they claim, that is what they will receive UNDER LAW. However, the whole context from Rom. 1:18 to Romans 3:23 is that there is NONE RIGHTEOUS and NONE THAT DOETH GOOD under Law in spite of their claim and therefore NO FLESH shall be justfied UNDER LAW as it is will shut "EVERY MOUTH" according to complete JUSTICE by application of the law to anyone claims anything different.

Romans 2:6-16 is ABSTRACT in application and GENERAL in application of JUST judgement UNDER LAW. Paul's point is that the LAW will judge their claims for approval DUE TO HOW THEY PERCEIVE THEIR WORKS with perfect JUSTICE. Notice that the person who will be approved for eternal life UNDER LAW is one that CONTINUES in keeping the Law as the Law requires and NO FLESH has ever been able to do that (Gal. 3:10-11). This is a context of works UNDER LAW "according to his works" UNDER LAW not according to grace.

 

That is simply not true. The context begins with Romans 1:18 and Romans 1:19-3:8 is provided to lead up to the conclusion drawn beginning in Romans 3:9 and extended to Rom. 6:23. Paul's overall goal within this entire passage is to justify why the wrath of God (due to violating God's Law) is revealed from heaven against THE WHOLE WORD - ALL MEN because there is NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE.

However, you are jerking a couple of texts out of this context and reversing the whole theme of this context.

Moreover, you are ignoring the specific context that immediately precedes and follows 2:6-16 which is there are UNREGENERATED persons who CLAIM a favorable outcome on judgement day SOLELY DUE TO THEIR WORKS which they perceive as JUSTIFIED UNDER LAW. This is explicitly stated by Paul in verses 17-23 that immediately follows concerning the mindset of the self-righteous Jew which Paul repudiates and part of that repudiation is that external circumcision does not justify them UNDER LAW because external circumcision is worthless art from internal circumcision. So internal circumcision is simply brought into this discussion as a GROUNDS FOR CONDEMNING the self-righteous Jew who believes he will be more favored on judgement men day BY EXTERNAL WORKS.

Immediately prior to this passage Paul says:

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

He is specifically addressing the HYPOCRIT who THINKS he will do better on judgement day because how he PERCEIVES himself on the basis of his own works in contrast to others. This is a lost man as the next two verses show.

However, this brings us to the intent and design of verses 6-16 which is spelled out in verse 6 that Paul is strictly considering the day of judgement to THIS CONTEXTUAL LINE OF THINKING strictly according to the JUST MERITS determined by the Law of God concerning their WORKS. They see their works from their point of view as MERITING UNDER LAW favor with God. Paul throughout this entire context denies that very point of view UNDER LAW and so sets forth the JUST perimeter's or guidelines that God will apply to THEIR WORKS BY THE LAW. You don't understand this because you want to bring saved UNDER GRACE without works into this text and mix the two together when that is not the context or Paul's point. Paul's point is to repudiate the idea that THEIR WORKS OF HYPOCRITS are better than the works of what Jew regarded as unclean dirty sinners.

The passage then carefully sets out the PERIMETERS or GUIDELINESS for JUST consideration of THEIR WORKS UNDER LAW (not under grace). Part of the JUST perimeters is that works which MEET the Law's Just demands will be JUSTIFIED for eternal life by the law - that is their hope but that is Paul's overall denial which he begins to prove beginning with verse 17 through Romans 3:20.

Instead, your interpretation is repudiating the very point Paul is attempting to prove, that UNDER THE LAW nobody's works will be justified, NO FLESH will be justified, EVERY MOUTH will be shut and he is including THE WHOLE WORLD, which your interpretation repudiates as your interpretation states that SOME will be justified BY THEIR WORKS UNDER THE LAW as verses 6-16 is specifically dealing with "ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS" under law as to thier MERITED outcome.

 

Again, you are failing to comprehend the contextual development. You are simply reading into the text what it does not say or suggest.

Romans 2:1-23 shows how the Law offers NO ADVANTAGE to the Jew over the Gentile in the day of judgement because EXTERNAL obedience to the Law cannot provide "works" that the Law will justify on judgement day - thus the works of the Jew under Law is no better than the works of the Gentiles without the written Law.

With verse 24 he proves his point with the law of circumcision. The Jew thinks because he has obeyed the law of circumcison externally and the Gentile has not, that this external obedience gives him advantage over the Gentile in the day of Jugdement. The Jew thinks this way because he fails to see the Law is spiritual and demands an internal conformation in addition to external conformation and the external is more important than the external. Thus if the Gentile's heart is circumcised, but his flesh is not the internal trumps the external. His point is that the Law as interpreted and kept by the jew offers no advantage over the Gentile in the day of judgement. The Gentile with a circumcised heart has advantage over the Jew in the day of Judgment because it is not HIS WORKS that will be judged but CHRIST'S WORKS in his behalf.

However, that does not mean the Law does not provide the Jew with great advantages over the Gentile BUT NOT IN THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT (3:1-5). It's advantages are NOW according to the design God gave the Law to them (vv. 20-21) to reveal their utter inability to keep the Law and lead them to faith in Christ to have KEPT IT IN THEIR PLACE (vv. 24-5:1).

So, Romans 3:1 simply outlines the advantages that the Law gives the Jews NOW - AT THIS TIME - in regard to God's design for it - which was never to provide a way of justification but to define and reveal them as SINNERS under judgement so they would turn from WORKS done in their bodies and turn by faith to Christ's works performed in His body as the basis for justification.

So it is a contrast between the disadvanage of the Law for the Jew in regard to the day of judgement as the law is perceived by the Jew, versus the advantage of the Law to the Jew NOW as perceived by God according to its proper use.