Laying the Groundwork

Romans 2:13 "(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified."

I've read this chapter over and over again, trying to get the best understanding of it that I can. I think the reason it might seem difficult to understand is because we are used to reading things with the chapter divisions when the Bible wasn't necessarily written that way. If you read chapters 1-2, you get a better understanding of how Paul is laying the groundwork for explaining the Gospel in chapter 3.

Chapter 2 verse 13 is really the key verse to the chapter though. Paul is making the case that the Jew and the Gentile are lost and hopeless without Christ. He is communicating to both that they have sinned, that judgement is coming, and that they are without hope if they are depending on their keeping (or ignorance) of the law.

You would be justified, IF you had faithfully, completely been a doer of the law. But no one (besides Jesus) ever has. Paul is doing the classic "give the bad news, then the good news." The Good News is coming in chapter 3.