Apostle Paul Refutes the Antinomian: Gentiles and the Law

"Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
     let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
Let them praise His name with dancing,
     making melody to Him with tambourine and lyre!
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; 
     He adorns the humble with salvation.
Let the godly exult in glory;
     let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
     and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
     and punishments on the peoples,
to bind their kings with chains
     and their nobles with fetters of iron,
to execute on them the judgment written!
     This is honor for all His godly ones.     
      Praise the Lord!"
- Psalm 149:2-9

In debates between Seventh-Day Adventists and evangelicals, I often see the evangelicals argue that the judaizing of the Adventists is wrong because, they claim, the Law was only for Israel. I don't know whether that doctrine originates in dispensationalism, but I do know that it is just as wrong as the Adventists' holding on to Old Testament food laws.

These antinomians appeal to comments in Paul, such as Romans 2:14: "Gentiles, who do not have the Law." Yet, they pass over what he says just before that: "For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law" (verse 12). So, the Gentiles, who are not under the Law, yet sin. What is the definition of sin? "Sin is lawlessness" (I John 3:4). So, what constitutes sin is defined by the Law. Therefore, the question must be, If the Gentiles are not subject to the Law, as the antinomian asserts, then how can he be said to sin? The antinomian cannot answer.

However, the same passage gives us the solution: "They [i. e., the Gentiles] show that the work of the Law is written in their hearts" (Romans 2:15). Therefore, the Gentiles certainly do have, and have always had, the Law. They have simply not had the written Law. The standards of right and wrong applied to the Gentile just as they applied to the Jew. However, the Jew had two advantages: first, he had the law written, and thus was not dependent on his fallen conscience to direct his life; and second, he had the ceremonial Law, which pointed him to the coming Messiah who would redeem him from his sins and their consequences. Not having the written Law, the Gentiles were without the hope of forgiveness and sanctification. 

To show the Old Testament foundation for Paul, I direct your attention to the Psalm above. It starts with the pleasure that God has in His redeemed people. However, it also tells us of the judgment on His enemies. How can the antinomian see any justice in that vengeance if God had provided no means for the Gentiles to know moral truth?