---
title: Romans 2:14
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-2-14/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-2-14.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 2:14
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 2:14

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "For when people of the nations, who do not have law, do by nature the things of the law, these people, although not having law, are a law to themselves."

## JW Usage

JWs accept that Gentiles outside the Mosaic law may "do by nature the things of the law" — but the lesson is rarely applied to non- Witness neighbours and colleagues, who are primarily framed as members of a "system of things" controlled by Satan rather than as people in whom God's law is written.

## Protestant Usage

Paul anticipates exactly the situation a JW encounters every day — non-Witnesses showing love, integrity, honesty, conscience, self- sacrifice. The categorical "worldly people are corrupt company" framing cannot survive contact with Romans 2. When a JW has been shown genuine kindness by a non-Witness colleague or neighbour, Paul names that experience: it is the work of the law written on their heart, the Spirit's common-grace inscription. Use this verse as the lived-experience falsifier of 1 Corinthians 15:33 read categorically. Bad associations exist — Proverbs 13:20 stands — but the test is character, not organisational membership.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [When 'Bad Associations' Becomes a Categorical Ban](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/worldly-association-1cor15-categorical.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:33 — A Greek Proverb About Resurrection Deniers, Not All Outsiders [Practice]
- [One Death, One Judgment — No Second Chance in the Millennium](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/postmortem-salvation-rebuttal.md) — Hebrews 9:27 / Luke 16:26 / 2 Corinthians 6:2 — postmortem evangelism rebutted [Eschatology]