Romans 2:27

And shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law?

The words "by nature" in this verse are made the basis of referring this statement to pagans, or Gentiles, of the nobler variety, who were presumably living up to all the light they had; and, in that vein of thought, Hodge declared:

The idea is that the obedient uncircumcised heathen would be better off; he would stand on higher ground than the disobedient circumcised Jew.[21]

While Hodge's paraphrase might in itself be true, in a sense, it is the conviction here that the words "if it fulfill the law" absolutely preclude Paul's having had any such thing in mind. The only way that the law can possibly be fulfilled is "in Christ," and that mountain fact solidly identifies the "uncircumcision which is by nature" as those Gentiles who had become Christians, the expression "which is by nature" being but another way of saying they had been Gentiles. Any notion that unregenerated Gentiles had indeed "fulfilled the law" dissolves in light of Paul's extensive argument in Romans 1:18-21, where Hodge's noble unregenerated Gentile is simply not visible!

However that may be, that author, in the very next sentence makes one of those deductions from this verse which no Christian should allow. He said,

It is only putting the truth taught in this verse into different words to say "the unbaptized believer shall condemn the baptized unbeliever."[22]

The fallacy in this corrupt deduction is startlingly clear, for it is resident in the fact that God never required of any Gentile that he should be circumcised. Therefore the uncircumcised Gentile was not violating any ordinance of God by remaining so; but this is nowise the case with so-called "unbaptized believers." Consider the monstrosity of the "unbaptized believer," who in truth does exist necessarily for that small time between the coming of faith in his heart and his actual submission to God's ordinance of baptism, but who is not the "unbaptized believer" spoken of by the commentators. All no, he is presented with full status as a believer with no intention of being baptized; and what of him? He is a contradiction of terms, because no believer can remain a believer in the true sense while willfully continuing in an unbaptized state. May God open men's eyes to see the truth. Charles Hodge was selected out of many exponents of this false teaching imported into these verses, because of the clarity of his views and obvious sincerity of his arguments.

Judge thee ... refers to the same thing Jesus mentioned when he declared that the people of Nineveh should rise in judgment and condemn that (the Lord's) generation (Matthew 12:41).

[21] Charles Hodge, op. cit., p. 64.

[22] Ibid.