Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

14. “For when the heathens, not having the law, do by nature the things of the law, they not
having the law, are a law unto themselves.” This confirms the gracious possibility for the heathens,
through the light of nature, conscience and the Holy Spirit, actually to do the things of the divine law
and be saved, as doubtless millions have done who are now in heaven. Gentile in E.V. is the very
same word translated heathen. Hence, remember they are synonymous.
14, 15. The Holy Spirit is everywhere substantially revealing the will of God.
“He is the true Light, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9).
Here is a beautiful allusion to heathen conscience, “their conscience bearing them witness, their
thoughts accusing or excusing either with other.” How wonderfully the Holy Spirit, through human
conscience in all the earth, is constantly speaking to every immortal soul, saying, “This is right, that
is wrong,” et cetera. Where Paul speaks of the seared conscience (1 Timothy 4:2) it does not mean
the conscience of men, but of devils. That is a reason why the demons can not be saved. When a
human soul passes the dead line and is abandoned by the Holy Ghost, having committed the
unpardonable sin, so that He ceases to strive, then that soul becomes demonized, the conscience
being cauterized. As the Holy Spirit deals with every human spirit, whether heathen or Christian,
speaking through His telephone, the conscience, He will witness to the condemnation or acquittal
in the Judgment Day.
17. The Jew in Paul’s day stood precisely where all of the fallen churches do to-day. They were
God’s normal people till they rejected Christ. So all the churches are right so long as they are true
to the Holy Ghost, who is none other than the spiritual Christ on earth (John 14:16).
18. “Thou knowest us well, and discriminatest the things which differ, making thy boast from the
law.” We are in a mixed world; soul-poison on all sides, the spiritually dead feeding on it. Though
a dead man has eyes, he sees not; ears, he hears not; a nose, he smells not; a tongue, he tastes not;
nerves, he feels not. Satan has his poison greeting us on all sides. If you eat, you die. Spiritual
resurrection alone can open eyes, ears, olfactory, gustatory, and sentient organs, while sanctification
gives them healthy and efficient activity.
19. “Thou hast confidence that thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of those in darkness,
20. “A teacher of the ignorant, an instructor of the juveniles; having the form of knowledge of the
truth in the law.” If you follow through this prolix sentence, including seven verses, you find this
boastful character all a delusion and a cheat. As in case of the fallen Jew, it is equally true with the
counterfeit Christian of the present day. How grand these achievements if they were only real! Yet
where you will find a genuine case, Satan has a score of counterfeits to counteract the heavenly
influence, and wrap the blind multitude in a still darker delusion.
21. “Wherefore thou that teachest another, doest thou not teach thyself?” What a vivid picture
of the preacher in the pulpit and the member in the pew, like the sign-boards, pointing out a road
they never travel! “Thou who preachest not to steal, doest thou steal?” How significant this
arraignment of the counterfeit professors. If you ever cheated a man out of a dollar, you stole a
dollar. We send to the penitentiary the little rogues who steal a few dollars, while great thieves who