Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 2:13

"for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified:" — Romans 2:13 (ASV)

For not the hearers of the law.—The parenthesis should not be placed here (as is usual in the Authorized Version), but at the beginning of the next verse. This present verse explains what precedes it. “Judged, I say, by the Law; for they must not suppose that the mere fact of their being under the Law will exempt them from this judgment. The only exemption will be that which is given to those who have kept the Law, and not merely had the privilege of hearing it. And,” the argument follows—the Apostle digressing for a moment to pursue this point to its conclusion—“this exemption may apply quite as much to Gentile as to Jew.”

Hearers of the law.—Strictly (as above), hearers of law—that is, those who have a law to which they can listen, and by which they may be guided. (Acts 15:21, Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath; and for the opposition between hearing and doing, James 1:22–23; James 1:25.)