God instilled an understanding of what is right and wrong in the hearts of all people – even those who do not yet know God have a sense of the natural law, a sense of what is right or wrong. This natural law is evidenced in man’s conscience and reasoning. Even those who do not accept God’s written law can live lives that do what the law requires – they can love others, know not to steal, be truthful. The danger in relying only on our own conscience, which is knowledge shared with oneself, is that sometimes the verdict we come to on our own is not the same as what God would say! We are blessed to have God’s revealed law available to us so we might live our lives as God intended. But even in knowing the law we fall short of God’s standards – we sin. Our salvation is ultimately won by the transformation we make in our life when we understand that Christ died to save us. No matter what we think about our own behavior, God will impartially judge us all by how we have lived our life and only His grace will be able to ultimately save us.
When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all. [Romans 2:14-16 NIV]
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