Romans 12-16
Every child is born knowing right and wrong exists. Knowing that right and wrong exist is not the same as knowing what behaviors are right and wrong. We learn to define right and wrong by the teaching of others and by our experiences.

Everyone, including those who have never heard of the Jewish law, has done things that they know are not right. A non-Jew, who has deliberately done wrong, does not stand condemned by the law; their own conscience condemns them. “Guilty and condemned” is the true condition of every person, both Gentile and Jew. Knowing the law, and being able to use the law to define right and wrong in great detail, does not make a person righteous. God does not define righteousness as knowing what right is. God defines righteousness as doing what is right. On the Day of Judgment, knowledge of the law will not be an advantage, and lack of knowledge of the law will not be a disadvantage.

Paul points out that some Gentiles, having made a commitment to do what is right, kept the law even though they did not have the law. Their commitment to doing right causes them to do by nature things required by the law. This illustrates that even though knowledge informs our behavior, the righteousness of our behavior springs from the heart. The gospel Paul preached declared that Christians were reconciled to God, and restored to right relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. It also taught that God would judge everyone on how well he or she repaired and maintained all of their relationships. On the Day of Judgment, God will judge our secrets. He will judge our actions, and He will judge our relationships. Righteousness is living a life of relationships that God approves of. When our heart is right with God, his Holy Spirit will help us do right by everyone. To be right, we must do right. Law does not dictate what we do; love determines our actions.