Romans 2:13
Romans 2:1313For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.
is, as argument 154 notes, 'the single most abused proof-text in JW encounters.' The JW claim is direct: 'the doers of the law will be justified' proves that salvation is by obedience. The Watchtower pairs this with — God 'will repay each one according to his deeds' and 'will give eternal life to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honour, and immortality' — to build a case that God justifies people who obey. The future tense 'will be justified' is read as a promise of eschatological reward for law-keepers, and the verse is used to override Pauline grace passages by treating it as the plain statement that works earn the final verdict.
The strategy in argument 154 accepts every word of and then keeps reading. Paul states a principle — doers of the law WOULD be justified — but his own argument from through 3:20 proves nobody meets that standard. declares 'all under sin,' says 'no one righteous, not even one,' and concludes 'by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight.' The key insight from argument 154 is that is the law's standard, not a description of anyone who achieves it. Paul is the prosecutor setting the bar; Romans 3 is his verdict that everyone falls short. Argument 158 reinforces this: the future tense in points to the eschatological verdict, but the 'if' — being a doer of the law — turns out to have no human referent, which is why Paul immediately introduces the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ (). The verse is not contradicting ; it is building the case that makes necessary.